Acquisition of divine love makes us angels, immortal, incorruptible. The pure flame of love extinguishes all other desire for earthly longings. You get the impression that those who love God aren’t interested in anything else, not even nourishment, since they’ve tasted God and been sweetened by Him.
‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’. In the parables used by the Lord, He repeats the phrase ‘the kingdom of heaven is like… (Matth. 22,2) that is, He compares the kingdom of heaven with ten virgins, with a precious pearl, with a field or a lost coin and so on. In today’s Gospel, he speaks in a parable, but shows a real situation and His own revealed self, which is why He says ‘when the son of man comes in his glory’ (25,31), which means that the reading fully expresses the truth concerning the final judgment of humankind. God’s mercy and our loving-kindness One property of God is His mercy. We’re ...
It’s an unshakeable and irrefutable truth that every day of our earthly life is- apart from anything else- another step that brings us ever closer to our biological death. Despite the fact that this is the most certain event which will occur to each and every one of us, rich and poor, powerful and weak, in everyday practice we nevertheless are forgetful of it. We underestimate it, so it no longer functions for us as a compass showing the bearings to our destination, which is its advent. In the Orthodox faith and theology, the truth isn’t a subject for our intellectual ingenuity, but has been revealed to the world as incarnate Self-Truth in the Person of Christ. It’s a matter of ...
Be very careful and strict regarding any feeling of pride. Pride manifests itself imperceptibly, particularly in moments of anger and irritation towards someone else, over something entirely insignificant. » Saint John of Kronstadt
Our subject is ‘The Holy Memorial Services’, that is the supplications made by the Church on behalf of our departed brothers and sisters. Initially, we shall attempt to give a historical view of the subject, that is, a review of the tradition and practice of the Church regarding the services, from the beginning until they became established liturgical order. The reference to tradition in relation to our subject here, and in the case of all matters of worship, is not merely the result of historical curiosity but, rather, there is an important reason for pursuing it. It is in this way that we safeguard the legitimacy of our liturgical practice- in this case intercessions made by the Church for the ...
In their flesh, people are like a burning candle. The candle is destined to melt, as people are to die. But our souls is immortal, which is why we should turn our attention more towards it than to the body. ‘For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their soul? Or what will they give in exchange for their soul?’ (Matth. 16, 26). » Saint Seraphim of Sarov
In the second part of his interview in Pemptousia Anthimos Ananiadis talks about the great worth of Orthodox Faith for every Greek’s soul and for every human being as well. God is teaching us respect and love for every person.
Avoid profligates, as well as profligacy. Avoid degenerates and also degeneracy.
Fr. Jonah from Taiwan speaks on the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15, 11-32).
Give your heart entirely to God, not to the world. Those who’ve given their heart to the world are enemies of God. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite
…Here is Paradise and Hell’s here, too (Greek folk song) … as the shepherd separates the goats from the sheep (the Gospel) There are many people, both in older times and now, who reject the metaphysical version of the continuation of our lives in a state of Paradise (perfect bliss) or of Hell (the agony of permanent and total loneliness). They therefore laugh at the folk-art engravings which depict Hell as a ‘pit’ of fire and bodily tortures and Paradise as a ‘garden’ with a freshly-mown lawn, full of beautiful flowers, where idle simpletons, replete with virtues, stroll around at their leisure. They claim that such notions are groundless and that therefore ‘Here is Paradise and Hell’s here, too’. But let’s look at ...
Spend your life wisely, live purely, repent, pray not to be surprised by sudden death and God’s dread anger. Many people have lain down to sleep and not risen again. We, too, lie down and don’t know if we’ll wake the next morning.
Among the many saints- that is, the people who loved Christ, ‘with all their heart’ and expressed their love through self-denial and shouldering their cross- there are those we know as ‘fools for Christ’. Usually monastics, they present themselves to the world as mad, opposed to common sense, saying and doing things that make them look senseless and immoral. But this behaviour concealed their faith, gifts, sanctity and freedom from the passions. This type of asceticism was a call from God, not a personal choice. It was a special gift given to certain people for a particular reason in a particular society. In most cases this was a society which, in Christian terms, had become secular, had lost the true meaning ...
Just as the body can’t survive without nourishment, neither can the soul without the divine word. It dies eternal death. If the soul dies, the damage is incalculable.
‘And the younger of them said to his father: “Father, give me my share of the inheritance’”. One of the best-known and most popular Gospel readings is the parable of the Prodigal Son. Although it’s known as the ‘parable of the prodigal’, which intimates that the younger son will be the leading figure, our attention usually centres on the mercy of the father or the callousness of the elder son, who chose not to share in the celebrations over the return of his prodigal brother because he found the love and forgiveness shown by his father to be unacceptable. Both of these persons certainly carry considerable weight in the parable. On the one hand, in the figure of the father, Christ portrays ...
The secret is to seek union with Christ unselfishly, without saying ‘Give me this or that’. It’s enough to say ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy on me’. God doesn’t need to be told about our various needs. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
Αν έφαγες πολύ ή υποχώρησες σε κάποιαν άλλη αδυναμία, μην ταραχθείς, μην προσθέσεις πληγή πάνω στην πληγή. Πάρε με ανδρεία τον δρόμο προς τη διόρθωση και προσπάθησε να διατηρήσεις την ειρήνη της ψυχής. Όσιος Σεραφείμ του Σάρωφ
Η μεγαλύτερη ελεημοσύνη πού μπορείς να προσφέρεις σε έναν άνθρωπο, είναι να προσεύχεσαι για αυτόν. Δημήτριος Παναγόπουλος, ιεροκήρυκας
Στα πλαίσια των εκδηλώσεων για την 106η Επέτειο Απελευθέρωσης της Κόνιτσας από τον οθωμανικό ζυγό, ο Δήμος Κόνιτσας και το Μουσείο Αλή Πασά και Επαναστατικής περιόδου των Ελλήνων (Συλλογή Φώτη Ραπακούση) συνδιοργανώνουν από τις 24.02.2019 έως και 3.03.2019 στη ΛΑΦ Κόνιτσας έκθεση με τίτλο «Η Ήπειρος του ασημιού». Η ασημουργική τέχνη, που στους νεότερους χρόνους κορυφώθηκε στα μέσα του 18ου αιώνα, αποτέλεσε μία από τις χαρακτηριστικότερες χειροτεχνίες του Ηπειρωτικού χώρου. Τα εργαστήρια των Ιωαννίνων και των Καλαρρυτών ήσαν από τα πλέον γνωστά, καθώς ανέδειξαν σπουδαίους τεχνίτες του ασημιού, τα έργα των οποίων κοσμούν σήμερα εκκλησιαστικά μνημεία και μουσεία και ιδιωτικές και δημόσιες συλλογές στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό. Με βάση τις έως τώρα έρευνες, αντίστοιχα εργαστήρια αναπτύχθηκαν και στην ευρύτερη περιοχή της ...
Χορός Ψαλτών του Ιερού Ναού Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου 40 Εκκλησιών, υπό την διεύθυνση του κ. Πάρη Γκούνα, ερμηνεύει ύμνους σε μέλος Θεόδωρου Βασιλικού σε εκδήλωση τιμής προς τον Άρχοντα Μουσικοδιδάσκαλο του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου Θεόδωρο Βασιλικό, που που πραγματοποίησαν οι φοιτητές του Τμήματος Θεολογίας του ΑΠΘ την Τετάρτη, 20 Φεβρουαρίου στο Α’ Αμφιθέατρο της Θεολογικής Σχολής.
