In English

Today’s Epistle reading preaches with assurance the paradoxical and antinomical truth that in the life of the disciples of Christ, sorrow and joy, death and life depend on each other and alternate, as long as there is faith in God and surrendering to the love of Jesus Christ. Before the fall there was no pain nor sorrow. After the fall, however, man was deprived of the life-bearing relationship he had with the all-holy God, and the poison of death entered his life. Death was not created by God, but was the result of man’s self-will and God’s justice. It was the just retribution for disobedience to the divine will, but also the means to put an end to evil. In ...

The greatest and most blessed event in the history of mankind was the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to earth for His salvific work. Many of us may envy the people who lived at that time in Galilee and Judea, because they were privileged to see our Lord Jesus Christ-God Himself, with their own eyes. They witnessed the sick being healed of incurable diseases, and men being freed from demonic forces. It truly would have been wonderful to be alive in those times, being able to see Christ ourselves! Let us reflect more deeply on this question: Did the Son of God come down from Heaven only for the benefit of those who were alive in Palestine at the time, ...

‘Therefore become merciful, as your Father is merciful’. If we read the literature of the ancient Greek sages and, indeed, that of wise people from all over the world, we see that, in their efforts to define what is just, proper, legitimate and good, they have written screeds, and have constructed long-winded dialogues and tracts. They have, on occasion, succeeded in saying and writing important things, though they’ve also, often enough, managed to confuse people thoroughly. Instead of enlightening people, much of what the sages wrote cast them further into the darkness. On the other hand, when the most holy Word of God came to earth and assumed our flesh, he brought back to the surface the innate law of human beings, ...

The most prominent ‘torchbearer’ in the Church, Saint Paul the Apostle, lit his torch from the uncreated light of Christ, though he lost his bodily sight: ‘he who is to illumine the world is darkened’, says one of the hymns from his feast-day. God the giver of light ‘in the person of Jesus Christ’, ‘imprisoned’ Paul outside Damascus and ‘shone in his heart to illumine the knowledge of his glory’. The newly-enlightened Paul also lost the Pharisaical self-assurance that, through his own ‘virtues’, he’d be able to keep burning the torch which Christ had lit. He now realized that he was no more than an ‘earthen vessel’, who certainly contained within himself a priceless treasure, but also continued to be ...

Don’t castigate yourself for being in the depths of wickedness. It’s an opportunity for fortitude, a time of long-suffering, a time to heal, a time to put things right. You’ve slipped; get up. You’ve sinned; be calm. Don’t stand on the path of sinners, but get out of there. Because when you flee and mourn, then you’ll be saved. As health comes from hard work, so salvation comes from perspiration. Saint Gregory the Theologian

Negligence is like a drought that doesn’t let anything grow. Vainglory affects those who’ve borne some fruit, who’ve made some progress, but negligence harms everybody. It hinders those who want to make a start and stops those who’ve made some progress. It doesn’t allow the ignorant to learn and it prevents the return of those who’ve gone astray. It doesn’t let people who’ve fallen to get up and, in general is a total disaster for all those who are in thrall to it. Saint Iosif the Hesychast  

All God’s promises are an inexpressible gift from him to us. But only those people who work in tandem with God, who identify their will with that of God, who transcend all pettiness, selfishness and the passions that attract us to this world of wickedness, who show the bravery necessary to succeed in the invisible warfare, only these are able to taste the ineffable blessings and gifts of God. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

(From a letter to a school-teacher and her mother). Both you and your elderly mother are interested in the Orthodox faith. Since you began to fulfil the commandments of fasting, prayer, charity and communion, the secrets of the truth have become ever more apparent to you. And this, indeed, is the proper path: by practicing what we know, we arrive at the unknown. Silent prayer over long years reveals the truth. But your heart is burning with the desire to direct many others onto the path of truth. People are people, however: in one, the mind is darkened by lies; in another, the heart is hardened by the passions; and what you desire won’t come easily. It requires much cleansing, many washings ...

So make haste. Say the prayer all the time. Don’t let your mouth stop at all. In this way you’ll become accustomed to it internally and then it’ll be taken up by the mind. Don’t be put off by negative thoughts, because then you’ll become feeble and besmirched. ‘Force continuous prayer, against nature’, and see what grace you’ll receive. Our life is sorrow, son, because we’re living in exile. Don’t seek perfect ease. Christ took up the cross, and we shall, too. Provided we endure sorrows, we’ll find grace from the Lord. This is why the Lord allows us to be tempted: to test the zeal and love we have for him. This is why we need patience. Without patience, people ...

Saint John Koukouzelis, a native of Dirrachia (now Bulgaria), was orphaned in childhood. Endowed with a very fine voice, he entered the Constantinople court school. He found favor with the emperor John Comnenos (1118-1143) and became a chief court singer. The sumptuousness and luxury of the imperial court bothered the pious youth. Once, when asked what he had eaten for dinner, he replied, “Beans and peas.” The name Koukouzelis (beans and peas) stuck with him ever after. John began to seek ways to escape the enticements of the court, as well as a marriage arranged for him by the emperor. By the will of God, John met an igumen from Mt. Athos who had come to Constantinople on monastery business. John ...

Back in the old days, he was a child raised in the Church, the right hand of the priests. He attended to all the jobs that were to be done and was always the first to get to the services. He knew the psalms and prayers by heart, and served with reverence in the altar at every liturgy. He really enjoyed singing. Sometimes he’d make his way to the choir stall, with the singers, and wanted very much to sing to God. But they kicked him out: the boy had a tin ear. So much so that they didn’t even know what he thought he was singing. They couldn’t bear to listen to him. They used to say to him: ‘Romanos, do ...

The monk who strives to offer the Lord a mighty love, as He showed unto us, and tries to invent ways to find stronger contact with Christ so that his heart may confess this mighty love towards Him, will surely make progress. Monasticism is indeed a matter of love. I once told Father Sophrony that without the love of Christ it is better for man not to live even one day upon earth. He took it even further and increased my tension, answering: ‘Without the love of Christ it is better for him not even to come upon earth.’ The hymns of the Church say: ‘Thou hast shown us a mighty steadfast love, O Lord, for Thou didst give Thine Only-begotten ...

We also encounter the presence of animals later, in ascetic literature. After the time of the persecutions, the figure of the ascetic began to appear. Ascetics were Christian hermits who chose a life dedicated to God and the ascetic struggle. For this reason, they made their way into neighboring deserts and, living in caves, spent their time in prayer, praise of God and daily asceticism. They understood the wild animals living in these inhospitable places to be instruments of the devil, as temptations aimed at deflecting the tenacity of the hermit. Of course, Platonism played an enormous role in this attitude, because it had affected the whole of human thought at that time. So wild animals were presented as passions ...

People enlightened by God say that when people take their last breath, their actions are tried in a pair of scales. If the right arm is weighted more heavily than the left, it’s clear that the dying person will yield their soul to the holy angels. If the arms are level, then certainly God’s love for us will prevail. Even if the scale dips a little to the left, the theologians say, God’s mercy will provide what’s needed. These are the three judgments of the Lord: the first is just; the second is merciful, the third is abundantly good. After these comes the fourth, when the sinful actions are much more serious. Then woe betide you. But this judgment is ...

Even if we were to fill an ocean with our tears of repentance, it wouldn’t be enough to thank God for the gift of his body and blood which wash away the filth of our soul, purify us, give us new life and resurrect us. Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Our love for our neighbor shouldn’t end with our words, but should expand into deeds. Real love illumines with supernatural light the face of those who love. Those face of those who hate is scowling, saturnine and even dark. Elder Germanos Stavrovouniotis

Today the Church honours and celebrates the sacred memory of Blessed Kyriakos the Anchorite, who was born in Corinth in 408. His father was called Ioannis and was a priest, while his mother was Evdoxia. The then bishop of Corinth, Petros, who was Kyriakos’ uncle on his father’s side, ordained him reader. But Kyriakos did not find inner peace in Corinth and so, at the age of eighteen, he left for Jerusalem. There were many monasteries there at that time and some great ascetics, among whom he wished to live. His soul took wings and soared with divine love; he was captured and drawn by the eremitic life. Going to Jerusalem, Saint Kyriakos found Saint Eythymios who made him a monk ...

In Saint Mark’s Gospel, in the course of the narrative of Christ’s sojourn in the wilderness, we see the Lord living with wild animals and interacting with Satan and the angels (Mk. 1, 13). So, for the forty days that Christ dwelt in the wilderness, he had no contact with any other human person. The order in which the beings he encountered begins with the most dangerous and ends with the ministrations of the angels. The wild animals are in the middle and represent the animal kingdom. The phrase in the narrative ‘and he was with the wild animals’ has been interpreted in two main ways. The first considers that the existence of wild animals is an indication of the trial ...

In our prayers, we should say: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, heal your servants who are in hospital, help those in prison, help such and such a sinner’. And someone in prison will see the light, some sinner will be saved. And you say: ‘How did that person come to repent. How did that happen?’. It comes from the prayers of all of us. Abbess Makrina, the Holy Monastery of the Guide, Portaria

When we find ourselves in the tempest of sorrows, what we should ask for isn’t for our senses to be dulled, nor for some method of making us immune to feeling, but the art of accepting and patiently bearing any sadness. Saint Makarios of Optina