Ξένες γλώσσες

It’s an open secret that even the smallest amount of praise concerning any real or, more commonly, imagined gifts we may have is almost always the occasion for conceit and vanity. Imagine if we heard someone say to us: ‘You are the light of the world’. There would be no greater temptation for vanity, or the risk of brain damage. Encouragement to vanity or to the struggle? Quoting today’s Gospel reading, Saint John Chrysostom reads the words of Christ to his disciples and asks him: ‘What is this? You’re telling us to live a life at the forefront of attention, so that we’ll be honored?’. He then has Christ reply: ‘Not at all. I don’t mean anything of the sort. I didn’t ...

‘Wretched and pitiful are those who have no patience, because it is against them that the ‘Woe’ in Holy Scripture is directed. It says woe to those who have lost patience. So really, woe betide those who have no patience, because such people are tossed hither and thither like a leaf in the wind. They can’t abide being challenged, and they’re faint-hearted in sorrows. They’re quick to quarrel, they rail against patience, and react badly to discipline. They’re dilatory in their prayers and are exhausted at vigils. They scowl during the fasts and are careless about self-restraint. They go about their duties unwillingly and are bad workmen at their jobs. They’re unsurpassed in cunning and are dictatorial in their actions. ...

We’re becoming great criminals if for no other reason than we selfishly try to conceal our indifference, so as to appear to be in the right. And we do so at a time when we see our neighbors in danger and could easily provide them with support. Such silence will certainly be a calamity for all concerned. Abba Cassian

We should always bear whatever befalls us gladly. Our life is but a moment compared to eternity, which is why, as Saint Paul says: ‘Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us’ (Rom. 8, 18). Saint Serafeim of Sarov

The grace of God helps. I’ve always believed in the power of God which transforms everything and organizes it for the benefit of our soul. People who are without Christ see everything as difficult and dark. Saint Amfilohios Makris

Unto the Most Reverend and Right Reverend Hierarchs, Pious Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, Presidents and Members of...

On the occasion of the feast of the translation of the Holy Relics of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople,...

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Today marks the anniversary of the repose in the Lord of beloved Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos. The...

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, will arrive on his ancestral island of Imvros on Sunday,...

The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, His Holiness Kirill, conveyed his blessing and best wishes to Russian athletes that...

Pay no attention to the slanders of the enemy against other people, to his hatred, his wickednesses and his selfish actions. Look upon everyone as images of God and behave towards them with simplicity and respect. Don’t think badly of anyone without reason. Saint John Kronstadstskij

Through habit, unceasing vigilance, and continuous prayer, you become a difficult target for the evil one. If, together with those, you also cultivate love, mercy, faith, empathy, contrition, self-awareness, hope in God, regular confession and regular holy communion, you’ll acquire a strong armory. You’ll give yourself the armor of God’s grace and make yourself almost impervious to the deadly arrows of the devil. Elder Haralambos Dionysiatis

Those who remember that their body and soul belong to God have a respect and a secret fear for them, which contributes to wanting to keep them pure and free of every stain, in uninterrupted communion with him, by whom they are sanctified and fortified. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

‘Do not become accustomed to being defeated in the spiritual war, because habit becomes second nature’ (Saint Efraim the Syrian). The great Saint Efraim the Syrian makes a profound psychological and also spiritual observation, the truth of which we can all confirm from our daily experience. Who doubts the power of habit? If we do something once and then repeat it, it becomes difficult to stop. So much so, that repetition of what we’ve become used to ends up as second nature. Any effort to stop a habit is often experienced as tearing up roots. This is where the importance of habit in spiritual warfare becomes clear, in the struggle waged by the faithful in their efforts to follow the path of ...

On 26 January, the Church celebrates and honors the sacred memory of the Blessed Xenofon and his family. Saint Xenofon, his wife Mary and their two sons, Arkadios and Ioannis, are a model of a holy family, very instructive, particularly in our own day and age. There is a general concern and anxiety that the institution of marriage and of the family is undergoing a serious crisis and all right thinking people are seeking ways to support this fundamental constituent of the body politic, the family. Examples such as the saints we celebrate today are particularly edifying for us Christians. In any case, this is precisely why we’re encouraged by the Church to read the Lives and Works of the ...

Among the multitude of the saints, that is the people who loved Christ ‘with all their heart’ and who expressed this love through denial of the self and acceptance of their cross, there are the so-called ‘fools for Christ’. Usually monastics, they presented themselves to the world as lunatics, acting contrary to common sense, saying and doing things which made them look insane and immoral. Their behavior, however, concealed their conquest of the passions, their faith, their gifts and their sanctity. This kind of spiritual struggle was a gift from God, not a personal choice. It was a particular gift granted to certain people in specific circumstances, in a specific society. Most often the society was one of secularized Christianity which ...

For a good number of years now there’s been a virus going round infecting societies. It’s the illusion that ignorance is as compelling as knowledge. This means that, in order for people take a stand in the public arena, they choose to be disgustingly rude and to exercise violence in order to get their point across. The strange thing is that this behavior gains viewers and admirers. This is particularly true in politics, though it has spread from there into society at large, through the mass media. The desire to be right, not because you have anything of value to say but by any means possible, inevitably leads to incivility and boorishness. This is the competition of personal survival, the ...