In English

"Other monks and nuns lived out their days alone....in small wood-and-mud huts; they kept a cow or two, and accepted gladly the gifts of an occasional loaf or basket of vegetables from local farmers. The desire for a solitary life and time to spend simply yearning for God...must have drifted through the hearts of even the busiest abbot in the most bustling monastery." (Bitel, op.cit.) Monastic life was seen as an absolutely essential part of Christian life-the norm for all Christian life, not the exception-, and monks and nuns, hermits and hermitesses were the great heroes of the common people, who saw them, as St. Guthlac put it, as "tried warriors who serve a king who never withholds the reward from those ...

Avarice The passion for the acquisition of wealth, said the Fathers, is not part of human nature and is due to a lack of faith and people’s sick way of thinking. This is why it requires no small effort to combat this passion, if, with the necessary vigilance over ourselves, we wish to achieve real salvation and the fear of God in our lives. If this passion takes root in us it becomes the most tyrannical of all. And if we become subject to its encouragement and habits, then we’ve lost everything, because Saint Paul says “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (I Tim. 6, 10), that is of anger, sorrow and everything else. Indeed, the Fathers ...

St. John the Evangelist St. John, in the prologue of his gospel, says the following: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father (John 1:14). In his first Epistle he says the following: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen ...

Souls that are slothful avoid any effort and don’t seek to be completely, not only partially, sanctified in this life, have no hope of communion with the Holy Spirit and of being freed from the passions of evil. They may have been granted Divine Grace, but because they’ve been deceived by evil, they abandon every spiritual care because they’ve received a little spiritual sweetness. So it’s easy for these souls to fall into pride, because they don’t try to reach perfect freedom from the passions. Since they’re satisfied with a little dose of Grace, and make progress not in humility but pride, at some stage they’re denuded even of the gift they’ve got. Because if a soul loves God, no ...

Icon of the Crucifixion One early morning not long ago I woke with a strange physical sense of myself as the product of eons, rather than my usual tired twenty-first-century self. In the period between dream and waking I had the sense of being the son of a son of a son.... And you can go on way back, to a period where our ancestors slept in dens around fires in winter breathing bone dust—even to a period before language. That particular morning I knew that I was here now because of millennia during which human beings were formed by cooperation and cannibalism, compassion and violence. It is into this flesh that the Lord became incarnate, with all its mercies and ...

The Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son and rightly ‘straightway,’ in a natural way. The Holy Spirit, similarly, proceeds from the Father, rests in the Son and glorifies Him, heralding the content of the life of the Son and guiding the disciples of Christ ‘into all truth’, which is to say into all the fullness of divine love. Christ is He Who manifested the substance of His Divine Person in reference to His Heavenly Father, keeping obedient to His commandment and in a perfect way ‘dwelling in Him in love’. In reference to man, He showed also perfect love: ‘Having loved his own that were in the world he loved them until the end.’ In order that ...

Above all else, don’t forget the poor, but support them to the extent of your power. Give to the orphan, protect the widow, and don’t let the mighty destroy another person. Don’t take the life of the just or the unjust, nor order such a deed. Destroy no Christian soul even if they’re subject to death. When you speak either good or evil, don’t swear by the name of God, nor cross yourselves, because it’s unnecessary. Whenever you kiss the Cross to confirm an oath made to your brethren or to any other man, first test your heart as to whether you can abide by your word, then kiss the Cross, and after once having given your oath, abide by it, ...

On the occasion of the presentation of his book 'The Ladder of the Beatitudes' in Greece on 10 October, the author and theologian Jim Forest has given an exclusive interview to Pemptousia, which we're delighted to be able to air today. Pemptousia: One of your books is about love to the enemy. Do you think this is Orthodoxy's characteristic, it belongs to Christianity in general or it refers to any man who feels a deep sense of charity in him? Jim Forest: If love of enemies is understood in a Christian sense, it refers to a non-sentimental attitude in which one sees in the other, even an enemy, the possibility of a changed relationship. It is not easy, for the Christian anymore ...

I’d like to assure you that the Holy Mountain calls those people who themselves desire, themselves wish to follow Christ. They come because in their heart they’ve received Christ’s call: ‘Follow me’. Christ said ‘Follow me’ to the twelve disciples, but He continues to offer it to this day to those who genuinely desire Him and love Him.

I was once asked to give a talk atWashington’s National Cathedral on prayer in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. I brought with me a large icon, one familiar to many people, showing the Holy Trinity as the three visitors who came to Abraham (Gen. 19:1-8); it was painted by St. Andrei Rublev in 1410. I set up the icon on an easel, but after saying a few words about it, focused on the Jesus Prayer. This simple, epetitive prayer—“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”— was developed by the Desert Fathers, as a help toward learning to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). But when we re-gathered for a workshop later on, I found that the participants wanted to know more about ...

Prayer of St. Columban of Iona "Kindle in our hearts, O God, The flame of that love which never ceases, That it may burn in us, giving light to others. May we shine forever in Thy holy temple, Set on fire with Thy eternal light, Even Thy son, Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Redeemer." Eileach An Naoimh (Little Isle of The Saints, aka The Saint’s Mill Race), Garvellach IslesEarly monastic site associated with Saint Brendan the Navigator With the imagery of fire and light contained in this wonderful prayer I want to move immediately to a recorded incident in the life of St. Columban, a description which shows how he himself personally experienced this "light" - which of course Orthodox Christians recognize as a vision of the Uncreated ...

The other day, March 19,  I read an article entitled Ολίγη Σοβαρότης δεν Βλάπτει (“There’s no Harm in a Little Seriousness”) about a senior politician giving an interview about how, since childhood, he’d been a fan of the best-supported football team in Greece. The author of the article suspected that the timing of the interview may have something to do with the forthcoming elections. This sent me to my books, one of which took me back to my days as an undergraduate at Oxford. It’s called A Historical Russian Reader and is an anthology put together by two of my then professors, John Fennell and Dimitri Obolensky, whom I was fortunate enough to get to know quite well through the ...

Last Sunday, my wife and I attended the Divine Liturgy at the church of the Entry of the Mother of God in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, where we stumbled upon five metropolitans/ bishops, as well as priest and deacons representing the Churches of Antioch, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Poland and Cyprus, as well as, of course, Bulgaria. l. to r. Pakhomij of Varna (Serbia), Demetri of Safita (Antioch), Serafim of Nevrokop, Christoforos of Karpasia (Cyprus) and Grigorij of Branitsa (Bulgaria). Photographs courtesy of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria They were there for a conference chaired by Metropolitan Serafim of Nevrokop, the local hierarch, who, though young (42) and newly-elected (2014) has already won the hearts of his flock with his kindly demeanour and the dignity ...

While there’s time, let’s visit Christ. Let’s look after Him, feed Him, clothe Him. Let’s get Him together so that we can welcome Him. Let’s honor Him. Through those who are in need, let’s offer loving kindness to Christ Himself, our Lord.

  In my memory, the most poignant children’s books were those about time travel. The characters would fall into the past, form friendships through shared adventures, and then be snatched back to the present, to grieve over the loss of loved ones who were real but no longer accessible. Until now, Christianity seemed to me like an attempt at time travel. Belief was a groping hand reaching blindly along a wall, seeking a door that was no longer there. Until now, my leap of faith comprised an unfounded urge to imagine my way back to some place I had never seen or felt, hoping to catch a glimpse of The Man that could magically set fire to the ashes of my childhood ...

Something similar occurs with our natural gifts: when man puts all his confidence in them, giving them absolute value, then his very gifts obstruct the road that leads to the acquisition of supernatural gifts that are conferred by God in His goodness. In our relationships, we notice the same thing: if they are not founded upon the assurance of our holy relationship with God, they will be weak and brittle, always ready to collapse and in danger of becoming an unending source of grief and torment. That is why the Lord says that every wise man who is taught the mystery of the Kingdom of God ‘bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old’. This means that he ...

Growing up Lutheran I always believe the veneration of saints by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians was a form of idolatry. They were idolaters because they "worshiped saints". This worship of the saints was a major stumbling block for most protestants, since worship was only to be offered to God. The distinction between veneration and adoration was unknown to us. Adoration is reserved for God alone, while veneration is the respect we show to the saints. The historic Church has always venerated the saints because the Church is undivided. The Church Triumphant (in heaven) and the Church Militant (on earth) is one, undivided. When the Church is at worship the cloud of witnesses (those who've won the battle and are in ...

In 2002, Nicolas Hayek, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Swatch, the Swiss watch company, and one of the richest people in the world at the time, was in Greece. He gave an interview to the Greek newspaper BHMA (30/6/2002), in which he said, among other things: ‘What’s the good of standing out, if nobody respects you? Nobody’s ever been made happy by having an enormous bank account. In any case, in biological terms our real survival needs are very few. Just two and a half thousand calories…’ Q. What is it that makes people think only of themselves and no-one else? A. It’s the new situation that’s going on all around us. This new ideology has led to a society of ...