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In his 56th Discourse (On faith and those who say it is not possible to live in the world and achieve the perfection of the virtues), Saint Symeon the New Theologian  presents us with the following story. “In our own time, there was a young man, about twenty years old, by the name of George, who lived in Constantinople. He was a good-looking specimen, elegant in shape, manners and gait… During the day, he was in the palace of a patrician, from which he went out on a daily basis and managed everything necessary for the people in the palace… At night, he shed tears from his eyes and did ever more prostrations, down to the ground. When he stood in ...

When people are trying, they see for themselves just how much God looks after them personally and how greatly He’s concerned with the details of their life. And so their faith increases. If they’re faced with various difficulties and temptations, they don’t think themselves unhappy, because Christ Crucified is behind the difficulties and gives them the strength they need to deal with them. Blessed are they who really live with Christ, breathe with Him and die with Him in this life.

The Decline of Asceticism and Spirituality The frenzy spread by the demand for “social progress” throughout the nineteenth century diminished the interest in asceticism and the spiritual life. People’s relationship to the Church was limited to “spiritual responsibilities.” Monasticism, under the influence of pathological phenomena that were imposed by the architects of the ethnic life, was marginalized as a parochial historical phenomenon of degeneration and decline that obstructed the progress of society. The spirit of secularism entered into the monastic environment itself, with the demand for monastic justification, not as it was, but with a “more active participation” in the life of society and the world. The study of our colleague, Mr. Al. Gousidis, emphasizes relevant claims: 1) the nomination of monks into ...

Because they don’t need anything, self-contained people are closer to God than others are.

But those who are united to God by faith and recognize Him through action are indeed enabled to see Him by contemplation. They see things of which I am unable to write. Their minds sees strange visions and is totally illumined so that it becomes like light, though they are unable to conceive these things or describe them. Their mind is itself light and sees all things as light; the light itself has life and imparts light to those who see it. They see themselves entirely united to the light and, as they see, they concentrate on the vision {and are as they were}. They perceive the light in their soul and are in ecstasy. In their ecstasy they see ...

Let nothing seem difficult for you.

The degradation of the quality of the environment in which we live is an incontrovertible fact. For decades now, many people have recognized the importance of this, though, unfortunately fewer have been moved to take practical steps and undertake action, even though we all suffer the consequences of this decline. Scientific discourse is unavoidably involved in this question.  In the first place, circumstances are such today that it’s accorded, as if by right, a part in any kind of discussion which takes place in the public sphere. And also because technological applications shoulder a large part of the burden  of responsibility for the ecological crisis, or because the solutions to many of the problems are expected to come from scientific thinking.   In ...

There’s no other factor that’s so effective as the various afflictions, either deliberate or otherwise, which bring the mind to a humble outlook. The impossibility of its redemption teaches it in a practical manner just how insignificant and wretched it is. Then Christ words ‘You can do nothing without me’ (Jn.15, 5) become abundantly clear, and, with the help of Grace, the mind is transported to the real world of the kingdom above.

Our Christ and God calls to us every day through his Gospel: “blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. When we hear this, we ought to be pay attention and examine ourselves carefully, to see whether we are really such poor people to the extent that we are aware in our souls that the kingdom of heaven will certainly be ours. Whether we possess its riches to such an extent that we feel without doubt that we exist within it and rejoice by plunging ourselves into the good things it has to offer. Because the Lord said that it is within us.             Signs and proof that the kingdom is within people are that they ...

Look at people who are scornful, malicious and proud as no more than puffs of wind. Don’t be hurt by their wickedness, their pride and their malice. Make sure you stay calm. The enemy’s attempting to annoy you by involving your human passions or by planting suspicion and flights of fancy in your heart.

Saint Dimitrios, the patron saint of Thessaloniki, occupies a special place in the liturgical tradition of the city. The magnificent basilica, with the Grace-giving relics of the saint, is a source of consolation and blessing. The famous mosaics, the catacombs, and the Byzantine icons in the chapel of Saint Efthymios are some of the notable characteristics of the church. The tradition of Church singing was also cultivated in the choir stalls of Thessaloniki, with the exceptional choirmaster, the late Chrysanthos Theodosopoulos. In honour of the choir and the work of the late choirmaster, we offer this live recording of the choir of the church singing liturgical hymns in the first plagal tone, in an arrangement by Konstantinos Psakhos. %audio%

Blessed David was born at the beginning of the 16th century in the sea-side village of Gardinitza, opposite the island of Evia. His father was a devout and virtuous priest. When David was no more than three years old, Saint John the Baptist appeared to him one night and took him to the nearby church which was dedicated to him. He remained standing there, barefoot, for six days, lost in the vision, in front of the icon of the Forerunner. Nourished from an early age on the principles of obedience to his parents, asceticism and ceaseless prayer, he left his family home at the age of fifteen, in search of a spiritual father. He found him in the person of ...

1.1 The Life and Work of Fotios the Great Fotios (Photius) the Great (810-893) was born in Constantinople into a rich, aristocratic family. His father was called Seryios (Sergius), a genuinely Orthodox man, as Fotios himself would later say, and his mother was Eirini (Irene) a virtuous and godly woman. His mother’s brother had married the sister of the Empress Theodora, who supported the veneration of icons, and his father’s brother was Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople. Fotios received an excellent education and devoted himself to the study of the Classical Greek and Patristic literature. During the second period of the iconoclast controversy (815-843), Fotios’ family suffered persecution for their support of the icons and Fotios himself was excommunicated because of his ...

Christianity flourished in an­tiquity in the face of seeming­ly insurmountable odds. In de­fiance of odds of a different kind, the odds of chance, a pair of physician brothers came into the service of Christ. Less than five hun­dred years later they were fol­lowed by two different sets of brothers of identical n  ame and purpose in the service of the Lord. The result is that all six have become saints of the Church. Evidence of divine purpose in this succession of saints demon­strates that the precise science of mathematical probabilities has a hand in the spiritual affairs of mankind. The original pair of brothers were born Cosmas and Damian during the early years of the Christian Church. They were raised in ...

The Lord allows all sorts of things to happen to us which are against our will, because, if everything always went the way we wanted, we wouldn’t be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven. Neither heaven nor earth look kindly on those who insist on imposing their own will. God has His divine plan for each of us and we should submit to this. We should accept life as it’s handed to us, without asking ‘Why did this happen to me?’

Christ brings a new ethos into the world. To those who sought power, honour and glory, He said: ‘I didn’t come to be served but to serve. And to give my life as a ransom for people’. This is His radical message to His disciples and to all those who wish to follow Him. The effort of love is the most noble expression of the Christian ethic. It’s relevant to Christians who live in the world and to monastics who’ve left the world, even to the remote hermits. We read in the narratives about the saints how persons of repute renounced the world and became ‘innkeepers’, welcoming the poor on a daily basis and feeding them from the wealth they’d ...

In recent years there has been a rash of new religions erupt­ing on the community skin, a kind of social disease to which the seasoned Christian is immune, but which afflicts the well-intentioned but more impressionable young. The merchants of these new reli­gions, which can  be better described as cults, achieve a measure of ephemeral success for which' they are indebted not so much to the validity of their ideology as to the modern tools with which some people could be persuaded to become stockholders of the Brooklyn Bridge. The power of the public relations counsel, sometimes known as press agent, is augmented by the far-reaching effects of the newspapers, radio, and the awesome television set, with which the Pied ...

A wicked conscience is when people transgress God’s moral law, living in order to impose their own will, which is whatever their ego dictates. The conscience of these people has been distorted by their darkened understanding and the dominion of the law of sin. It no longer reacts, nor does it protest against the violations of the moral law.