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On September 1st, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the Ecclesiastical New Year. Before the Greek (or Constantinopolitan) Indiction was introduced by St. Constantine the Great in 312 and decreed by the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325 A.D.), the day of Indiction varied based on local tradition. The word Indiction is birthed from the Latin word meaning to proclaim. It established the annual land tax to support the needs of the empire and its armed forces and was issued for 15-year cycles. It was the month of September when the harvest was gathered and thanksgiving offered to God (see Exodus 23:16), a festival connected to the Saviour’s entry into the synagogue in Nazareth whose passage from the ...

A soul that’s been wounded by divine love is always glad, it rejoices, it leaps and dances, because it’s as buoyant in the love of the Lord as if it were riding on calm waters. No distressing event in the world can disturb its serenity and peace, nor deprive it of its joy and delight. 

When divine Grace comes, let’s stand with concentration, self-control and prayer

Magician, witch or priest of the religion of Zoroastrianism for the people of Media: in classical antiquity this role referred to the priestly art of divination of Mazdaism (Zoroastrianism), who's practitioners were also known as magicians or “magi.” During the Hellenistic period the magicians of Persia travelled throughout the world offering their services to Roman Society at large. These services which they provided were enthusiastically accepted by those lacking formal education, who were then able even to penetrate into the Imperial Court of the Roman Emperors. However, this does not mean that these practices were accepted by those more culturally developed who manifestly disdained the magicians. For exactly this reason men of high culture began to use the term “magic” ...

Cutting off the will and rejecting the ego get rid of any malice from the soul. Then purity and peace, the highest aims of life, come and reside in the heart.

God did not give the command to the forefathers to abolish the freedom from their personality. As we have already said, the universe as “being caused” cannot exist by itself. Therefore, not only does it not possess its own “being” but neither does it contain the “well being” or the “eternal existence” by its own ability. It takes this from the Creator. By adhering to the commandment it continues to communicate and relate to Him. This is an existential necessity. In the nature of the command we see God’s ineffable philanthropy, who wants to keep man near Him. God did not cause man’s fall, but the defection of created beings from Self-Life. The Scriptures justifiably say that “God did not ...

Lenten service When we take our eyes off our own failings, shortcomings, and sins, we notice the failings of others. As the sins of others get our attention, our focus turns away from our own struggles with the passions, and we begin to fall further into sin, our eyes having turned away from the Lord. When our focus is no longer turned towards the conquering of our own passions, our hearts become vulnerable, and we begin to expend our energy on picking apart our neighbor. Their sins become the hot topic with our gossiping friends, and we fall further into the rottenness of our own sins. At this stage, Abba Sisoes asks,  "How can we guard the heart if the tongue ...

Even if you experience all the pleasures of the world, the greatest of misfortunes is still hanging over you. When you sin, you become God’s enemy. You find yourself in the great danger of losing eternal life when you couldn’t care less and don’t perform works worthy of repentance.

The institution of the family is in a state of crisis throughout the world today. St. John Chrysostom, who we celebrate this year (2007), 1600 years after his repose, is regarded as the one who developed the theology of everyday life. This article presents positions and counsels of St. Chrysostom regarding the most important aspect of everyday life, the family. God, knowing beforehand what would happen after the creation of humans, created them biologically ready for the “communion of marriage.” Creation refers, initially, only to Adam. “When Adam lay down to sleep, the woman was created.” St. John Chrysostom notes that Moses does not use the verb “create” when he speaks of Eve, but rather the verb, “build” , wanting ...

St. Theophan St. Theophan tells us that freedom is part of the divine nature that God has implanted in human beings and that freedom is the gift that we have to offer back to God.  However, freedom itself is a faculty of our being that is not easy to identify.  Freedom is not the same thing as choice.  Much of what we generally identify as freedom is nothing more than a lack of constraint on our passion-driven, culturally-formed urges.  Freedom in our culture merely means that no one can tell me what to do--I am "free" to destroy myself in whatever ways my passions drive me and my culture tells me are trendy. And even when we are "free" to do ...

God gives His mercy abundantly. But it’s up to us, with our free will, whether we accept it or reject it, as well as whether we accept it whole-heartedly or hypocritically. Because on this earth, weeds grow so quickly, they put down deep roots and spread wildly.

1) Towards the end of August 2001, someone asked him to pray to Saint Nektarios to help him and the Elder said: -“Let the Saint be, my child. He is now in the United States and tries to save lives”. On September 11th, the disaster at the Twin Towers took place. Some months earlier he had seen what was going to happen and had warned that it was going to change history. -Wow to the States. A great disaster will start there and not just in September! He had given this warning to the Metropolitan of Sisaniou, Antony, in one of the latter’s visits, in the presence of other people. However, he did not give any explanation. - Your Eminence, wait and see what calamity ...

To mention just one of many examples, St. John Cassian, who lived in the 5th century A.D. and travelled to the monasteries of Egypt, the Thebaid, the Mountain of Nitria, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Pontus, preserves conversations and experiences of the life of Christian ascesis which point to the activities of the unconscious in the development and progress of the spiritual life. According to the account preserved for us by St. John Cassian in a letter to Leontius, the main goal of the monks of the East, in their efforts at individual introspection and knowledge of the self, was to investigate and neutralize the unconscious. One time, St. John Cassian writes, he heard the Monk Germanos ask the experienced spiritual father ...

Ptocheia (Houses for the Poor) The Byzantines maintained a special institution for the poor named ptocheion or ptochotropheion. A man was designated as “poor” if his revenues and possessions were worth less than fifty nomismata. This legal distinction of the sixth century was in­corporated and maintained by Byzantine legislation of later cen­turies as well. Among other disadvantages the poor were for­bidden to stand as witnesses. We have no statistical evidence as to the proportion of the poor people in the Byzantine Empire to the rest of the popula­tion. John Chrysostom, in one of his sermons delivered in Antioch between 386 and 388  when the imperial government had im­posed an increase in taxation, estimated that the poor of Antioch amounted to one tenth ...

I grew up at the edge of Springfield, Illinois, across the street from open spaces, an active farm with cattle and corn growing in a field that adjoined the pasture. Beyond the farm was a forest, and another forest lay a few houses away from the north side of our house. After a few years the farm died but the fields remained, and the fields and forests were great places to explore and play in. I loved one tree in particular; its branches grew in a way that made it perfect for climbing. When I was nine or ten I would climb it nearly to the top, which was as high as the roofline of our house, and when storms ...

Doing away with our will can be achieved smoothly: by loving Christ and observing His commandments.

The greatest ecological disaster described in the Scriptures is the flood during Noah’s times; it took place because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6, 5). Man rebelled absolutely against God and against anything which had to do with his spiritual existence. Because of the prevailing wickedness those days, which was the result of man abusing his freedom, the Lord is forced to say: “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh” (Genesis 6, 3). By ‘flesh’ it is meant ‘man’s carnal attitude, his beastly and full of passions life’. Thus the flood was not imposed by the Lord ...

Recently, after finishing my meal at a Chinese restaurant, I received a very interesting fortune cookie that said, “You are surrounded by fortune hunters!” I don’t believe these fortune cookies tell any true fortune. I read them just for fun. When I first read mine, I thought the words were very amusing. “I am a priest,” I laughed to myself. What kind of “fortunes” can people seek around me in the places I go or the things that I do?” I am either at church performing public services or private services and prayers; or I am visiting the sick, the poor and the distressed. Since many people believe that going to church is a waste of time, they choose to do other ...

Any place can be a place of Resurrection, as long as you live in Christ’s humility.