In English

There's nothing more important than realizing your weakness and your lack of knowledge. The first step to wisdom is to recognize your mistakes. Knowledge of ourselves and of our errors is the beginning of our salvation. Those who know their sins are half-way to their justification.

Between 7 and 9 May 2015, the 1st International Conference of Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care (DMOPC15 – Living Water) was organized in Athens by Pemptousia, in collaboration with the Orthodox Internet portals ‘Orthodox Christian Network’ (www.myocn.net, Organ of the Synod of Canonical Bishops of the United States of America) and Bogoslov (www.bogoslov.ru, of the Department of Theological Training of the Moscow Patriarchate). 72 speakers from 21 countries and with a variety of specialities and ecclesiastical rank took part in the conference. The proceedings highlighted the advances, but also the concerns, which have arisen from the use of the Internet. The content of the proceedings is now available to anyone interested, so that all who wish to benefit from it can have ...

People who have a spiritual life see with the eyes of their soul how the evil one sets his traps, how the angels guide us. How the Almighty Lord allows temptations and how He comforts us

We’ll start by quoting some selected passages from the Scriptures, in order to cover as many aspects of the vine and wine as we can. Wine as a material good/Preservation of wine: The Wisdom of Sirach says (39, 26): ‘The principal things for the whole use of people’s lives are water, fire iron and salt, flour of wheat, honey, milk and the blood of the grape, and oil and clothing’. Corn, wine and oil are considered to be essentials (Ps. 4, 8). Wine is important in life because it’s a tonic, especially for those walking long distances. Saint Paul tells Timothy: ‘Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses’ (1 Tim. ...

It's better for parents to talk more to God about their children than to talk to their children about God.

There’s a worse inundation than water: if you're inundated by the passions. When the passions start to burn, when they begin to smoke and blacken everything, when they give off their stench and it gets everywhere. Where will people go then and who will save them? Only under the hand of God, only under His protection, in the refuge from above. The flood of the passions almost engulfed David but he fled from them and found refuge in the strong arm of the Lord Most High: He escaped the fire, the smoke and the stench of the passions that were pursuing him. He escaped to the protection from above.

The danger in setting the period between conception and implantation as an acceptable time to destroy the already conceived child is that it is both arbitrary and artificial without any real medical, scientific or theological meaning. It has instead the meaning each individual involved cares to give it. Therefore, while one person may speak scrupulously and compassionately only about cases of rape and incest, the less scrupulous will use this "dispensation" — not oikonomia — to cover every "traumatic" pregnancy. And, by accepting for whatever "good" reason the legitimacy of the termination of pregnancy after conception, there is no way to intellectually or theologically forbid the taking of that life at a later stage for reasons which may be less ...

When children are hurt and wounded by something serious, don't let it bother you if they behave badly. They don't really want to, but can’t help it when it's hard for them. They're sorry afterwards.

But what is the criterion for assessing such a presence or absence of Christ within a person’s being? How is this presence «measured», that is, how does it become visible, how does it become perceptible? How is it revealed, if, indeed it is revealed, this «Christification» to recall a word used by Father Justin Popović? How does the spirit become flesh? The answer is simple and not at all theoretical. The fundamental criterion for Christification, the discovery of the Christ-bearer, is the revelation of the identity of the energy of Christ and the Christ-bearer by imitation and type. Just as the Church is an image and type of the Holy Trinity, so the human person is made in the image ...

Wine and the Holy Scriptures: the books of the Bible, texts inspired by God are full of poetic hymns to the vine and its produce and contain numerous symbolic references to them. How can we forget Psalm 103, that wonderful hymn to God, the Maker of heaven and earth, Who gave us food brought forth from the earth, wine to gladden our heart, oil to make our face shine and bread to strengthen our heart (verse 15)? In Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, it mentions that, after the flood, Noah became a farmer. He began to cultivate the earth and, among other things, planted a vineyard. From the grapes he produced, he made wine. One day, he drank ...

The Myrrh-bearing women were those who followed Christ and His Mother. They stayed with Him at the time of His saving Passion and anointed the Lord’s body with myrrh. When Joseph and Nicodemus asked Pilate for the Lord’s body, they took it down from the Cross, wrapped it in a sheet and with choice spices laid it in the hewn-out tomb. They then rolled a large stone to cover the entrance to the tomb and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sat opposite the tomb. The ‘other Mary’ certainly refers to the Mother of God. They weren’t alone, however, since Saint Luke mentions that that there were also other women there. The Lord’s resurrection is the renewal of human nature, a reconstruction, ...

We should not be disturbed in our spiritual life by any hostile force. On the contrary. we should have trust in the words of God: ‘Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it, for God is with us, the Lord our God. He it is you are to regard as holy, he it is you are to fear’ (Cf. Is. 8, 12-13)

Very often, in our minds we think that the religious life has to do with God and that sin also has to do with Him. This is a mistake. The Church is a sanatorium, the disease is our own and we go there to be cured. The Doctor’s well, so we haven’t done Him a favour by going to hospital. His commandments are our medication. But even if we take the medication, we think we’re doing it for Him, so that He’ll be satisfied. Christ came into the world and showed us the mystery of the Church so that we could be cured. Very often we think that what we’re doing- fasting, labouring, praying, or anything else it might be- ...