In English

My soul, my soul arise. Why are you sleeping? The end draws nigh and soon you will be troubled. Take heed, then, that Christ your God may spare you. For he is everywhere present and fills all things. In parishes, the Great Canon is sung independently of Matins, on the evening of Wednesday in the fifth week of Lent. We begin by reading Small Compline and immediately thereafter start to sing the Great Canon with each verse followed by the refrain ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy on me’. The Great Canon was composed by Saint Andrew of the Jerusalem brotherhood, Archbishop of Crete, and is one of the most wonderful hymns of our Church, a hymn of profound contrition and ...

Don’t show off with eloquent words, nor embellishments in singing. Don’t give conceited and pompous speeches, but rather remove hyperbole from everything you do. Saint Basil the Great

It’s impossible to love and know the Lord if we don’t live in accordance with his commandments. We’re not able to observe God’s commandments on our own. This is why Jesus said: ‘Ask and it will be given to you’ (Matth. 7, 7). If we don’t ask, we torture ourselves and lose the grace of the Holy Spirit. Saint Silouan the Athonite

The body and soul are like a pair of scales: if you load one of the plates, the other one necessarily becomes lighter. So, if the body’s having a good time, the soul becomes inert and listless. On the other hand, when the soul is elevated with virtue, the desires of the flesh wither. Elder Cleopa Ilie

Sorrow that brings joy is from God. Sorrow that begets melancholy and despair is from the devil. When the devil brings this sorrow of despair, make sure you sing hymns and pray, so that you get rid of it. Elder Germanos Stavrovouniotis

Wherever God is there’s no evil. Everything that flows from God has peace within it and leads us to self-criticism and humility. Saint Seraphim of Sarov

In a marriage, if the wife regards her role towards her husband as servitude, she’ll want to be liberated and show herself superior to him. If the husband considers the wife’s love for him to be a weakness and dependence, he’ll abuse it and be domineering towards her. But this is all wrong. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos  

In the eyes of God, Who knows our heart, if you try to do something and can’t, it’s as if you actually did do it. That’s true of both good and evil. Saint Mark the Ascetic

Hope in God never leads to despair. Temptations bring humility. God knows how much each of us can bear and allows temptations commensurate with our strength. But we should also be vigilant and careful so that we don’t put ourselves into the path of temptation of our own volition. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

In the wonderful book The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John the Sinaite speaks of the struggle against the passion of telling lies. And in presenting the disastrous consequences thereof he says: ‘Lying is the obliteration of love, and false testimony is the denial of God’. An incomparably worse deed than mere lying to other people, then, is the use of a false oath, because if we mock God in this way, we are in essence denying him and estranging ourselves from him. The concession of the divine oath The oath was a means of confirmation which was allowed under Mosaic law because of the spiritual infancy of the people of God. In his love for us, God agreed to be called ...

‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief’ This phrase shows the real struggle which Orthodox Christians are called upon to wage. Faith isn’t a philosophical construct nor an abstract concept but an actual experience. The Creed which we say isn’t simply something we read; it’s something we first experience and then confess. In the Gospel excerpt which is read on the 4th Sunday of Lent (Mark 9, 17 – 31), the likely consequences of a lack of faith on our part are revealed. Today’s world may seem very different from that of the time of the Gospel, but if we examine it more closely, it has the same passions and the same misguided mindset. The technological and philosophical achievements may have changed, but ...

In this time of Great Lent, we can see a common theme throughout the Holy Services (Great Compline, the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, and the Divine Liturgy), as well as the Gospel lessons (including today’s). It is asking for God’s protection from the attacks of the evil one. The Lord Himself left us a prayer (“the Lord’s Prayer”) in which we are called to ask our Heavenly Father to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). We are in dire need of this protection, because we are unable to face him alone. But who is the wicked one? Originally, his name was Lucifer, which means “light.” God created him as a bright Archangel, and head of an entire order of angels, like ...

Dear Friends, We would like to announce that the Web Magazine Pemptousia organizes the “1st Digital Fellowship with Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi Mount Athos and Priests Wives“ which will take place on Tuesday, April 13 at 19:30 (Greek Time). The total duration of the meeting will be 2 hours. Romanian and English simultaneous interpretation will be available. You could watch the e-Meeting live on our pages here: Pemptousia: www.pemptousia.gr or https://www.facebook.com/pemptousiagr or https://www.youtube.com/user/PemptousiaWebTv  Orthodoxia News Agency:  www.orthodoxianewsagency.gr or https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxianewsagency   Official Facebook page of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi here: https://www.facebook.com/VatopediMonastery Doxologia.ro:  https://www.facebook.com/doxologia.ro

We’ve learned about a God who determines people’s fate, who decides what will happen to us without consulting us first, who’s revealed as the ruler over the whole world. In the face of such a God, who can doubt or deny Him without fear of the consequences? A God like that you either accept and submit to or reject. This is the God of all religions. But Orthodox teaching and tradition tells us about a Triune God and therefore love. Real love is inseparable from freedom. Since our love is usually confined to compassion or excessive interest in the person we love, it’s difficult for us to equate freedom with love, which is why we interfere in the way of life ...

According to the Synaxari, on the 3rd Sunday in Lent, or the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross as it’s also known: ‘we celebrate the Veneration of the Precious and Life-giving Cross’. The day is known as the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross because on that day the Orthodox Church exhibits it for the faithful to venerate, in order to strengthen them in the fast and in their struggle to defeat the passions. This is precisely what the Note to the Synaxari for the day says: ‘By your own power, Christ our God, preserve us from the attacks of the evil one and enable us to venerate your divine Passion and life-bringing Resurrection, once we have spent ...

This article keeps coming to mind as I celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to thinking of fasting in the midst of such a feast. Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the word “mystery” (for example), popular speech never uses it in the manner of the Church. I cannot remember using the word “fullness,” or even “fulfilled,” in normal speech. More contemporary words have come to replace these expressions. This doesn’t mean that an English speaker has no idea of what the words mean ...

Don’t ask other people to honor you. If you seek honor, it leaves you. If you avoid honor it follows you and becomes an advocate for your humility. Saint Isaac the Syrian

How beautifully our peoples in the Balkans decorate eggs, especially when they’re for Easter. For increasing the joy of Easter. To make guests happier. Sometimes these dyed eggs are real works of art. But if these dyed eggs are kept too long, they go off and stink horribly. In the end they dry out completely. Then the colored shell contains nothing but death. Even worse is Christ’s image of the hypocrites, who are ‘like whitewashed sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness’ (Matth. 23, 27). ‘Take heed that you do not give alms before others, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in ...

The Holy Cross holds a unique place, both in the Christian faith and in the worship of the Orthodox Church.  It is the symbol of love and sacrifice, as well as foreshadowing the Resurrection.  It has influenced Christian art, architecture, painting, poetry, and music, more than anything else. From an early age, majestic churches were built in the shape of a cross, with a cross erected at the top of each one.  The iconostasis and everything used in common worship are decorated with the cross.  Ornate crosses of blessing are placed on the Holy Table (the Altar), for the celebrant Bishop or Priest to bless the people.  The cross is worn by newly baptized Christians to protect them (from visible and ...

The Holy Fathers wisely dedicated the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent to the honouring and veneration of the Precious Cross. We’ve already passed three weeks of fasting and struggle, and the precious Cross comes in the middle of Holy Lent to reinforce the faithful so that we can continue along the path that will lead to the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. An instrument which, in antiquity, represented the most horrendous of deaths was transformed by Jesus Christ into ‘a weapon against the devil’. Just as, before Christ’s coming, we were cut off from God because of the ancestral sin, so, after his resurrection, our relationship with God was restored. Our attitude is defined by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in ...