Ξένες γλώσσες

In many of his homilies, Saint John Chrysostom emphasized the great importance of attending church on Sundays, and what a great sin it is to avoid doing so. He said that the Jews had to give a tithe of their income as an offering to the Temple (i.e. to God) (Mal. 3, 8). ‘I give a tithe of all I possess’, said the Pharisee (Luke, 18, 22). In order to get them to pay their ‘tenth’, the Lord ordered them to pay much more than they actually gave: ‘I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will ...

You’re still worried. Tell me, why is that so? ‘Everything’s going well externally’; you’ve re-examined and sorted everything internal; you’ve taken your decision. So where are these worries coming from? They’re all from the enemy. All of them. From nowhere else. How else could it be? What else could happen? Are you expecting to run your life all by yourself, through your own abilities and efforts? If that’s the case, I advise you to change your mind straight away, otherwise you’ll never be free of confusion and turmoil. Take another look at yourself or remember what I’ve pointed out to you or what’s happened throughout the whole time of our correspondence.  Remember, as well, the outcome of your reflections on life. ...

We glorify God in body and soul first when we remember that we’ve been sanctified by him and united to him. And again when we unite our will with that of God, so that we always execute his good, pleasing and perfect will. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

The establishment of the Great Mystery of the Divine Eucharist is the fruit of the complete and perfect love of our Lord Jesus Christ towards His Apostles (who would continue His work), and all those throughout the ages who would believe in the Gospel and be baptized. On many occasions, the Lord expressed His sacrificial love towards His Disciples, both in word and deed.   Let us recall some of these words of our Lord, which were said with great tenderness to his Disciples on Holy Thursday:  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you…Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends“ (John 15:9,13).  It is here that the Lord expressed what ...

In the previous sermon, we established that the believer is united with the resurrected Body of Christ by partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord in the Divine Eucharist. By this the words of the Lord are fulfilled: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56).  In order to fully understand the broader dimensions of the Great Mystery of the Eucharist, it is necessary to answer the following question: Why is it called the Mystery of Holy Eucharist? According to the Holy Evangelists,  it was during the Last Supper that Jesus took the bread, offered a prayer of thanksgiving, divided it and then gave it to His Disciples, saying, “Take ...

It’s not unknown for young people not to have anything to do with Church activities (services, fasts and sacraments), yet they continue to be curious, to wonder, to enjoy talking about God and what emanates from him as a way of life. Anyone would think that these people were unversed in the spiritual life, without experience of the grace of the Holy Spirit and that they were merely chatting about ways of improving their life, of finding the calm and peace which they were lacking. Yet, beyond the outward appearances, there’s a search for something they once had and have now lost. In his book about his Elder, Saint Silouan, Saint Sophrony notes that the Elder had this idea that God could ...

Within the Church we become one with every unhappy, suffering and sinful person. Nobody should want to be saved alone, without the others also being saved. It’s wrong to pray for yourself, for your own personal salvation. We have to love others and pray that nobody will be lost. That they’ll all come into the Church. That’s the important thing. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

Don’t trust your negativity in judging other people, because this negativity is piled high with   wickedness and so produces wicked thoughts. Keep a watch on your negativity and stay away from wickedness, lest your mind be darkened and it see everything as a muddle. Saint Thalassios the Libyan

We should pay great attention to the prayers before Holy Communion. And when we’re going up to receive the sacrament, we should pray and say: ‘God forgive me and have mercy upon me’. We should approach with great care. And when we return, we should have words of praise on our lips; we should glorify God for receiving us. Theosemni. Abbess of the Holy Monastery of Chrysopiyi, Crete.

The Lord is known through the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit fills our whole being: soul, mind and body. This is how God is known, in heaven and on earth. Saint Silouan the Athonite

We should do what we think is right and what our conscience dictates, being careful not to scandalize anyone. But if anyone is scandalized by this, that’s not our responsibility. We can’t please everyone. Hieromonk Chrysostomos Stavronikitianos

This is why we have to have love and affection with great discretion, so that we can bring up our spiritual children with a double dose of health. When they’re little, we don’t want them to be harmed, even by their naïve, indiscriminate enthusiasm. Saint Païsios the Athonite

False humility and sanctimonious speech aren’t always signs of  humility. People can be humble and you’d never guess. What indicates a humble person? According to the Fathers, their first attribute is that they don’t get angry. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

The notion that God loves only his own ‘good children’, who rigorously apply his will, and rejects the prodigals and the sinners is very widespread, not only among non-Christians but also among quite a number of Christians themselves. A God who doesn’t love everyone, as his children, however they live, can’t be ‘the God of our fathers’. Such a God isn’t love and if God isn’t love, he doesn’t exist. Speaking to Christians, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: ‘If he’s the divinity, he’s certainly love’. So when we present God as being almighty and dominant, harsh and rigid in his decisions, opposed to diversity, continually chastising inept and weak people, silent in the face of injustice and exploitation on the part of ...

‘Elder, sometimes temptations come one on top of the other and I can’t resist’. ‘The only way to avoid temptations is to make a pact with the devil. Why are you laughing? You don’t like that solution? Let me explain. When we strive, we’re going to have difficulties and temptations. The harder you try to avoid temptations, the more the devil will oppose you. But sometimes, if we use them properly, temptations are an opportunity to make our un-Gospel-like lives more “evangelical”’. ‘Does the devil declare war on people who pay careful attention to themselves?’ ‘Satan doesn’t bother with useless people, he goes for those who are striving, to tempt them and to put them out of action. He doesn’t waste his time ...

Through the simplicity and clarity of his parables, the Lord reveals an astonishing reality.  He shows us the love of God and the tragic state of people who are suffering from pride. The parable initially describes the comforts of a rich man and the hardships of a poor man, Lazarus. The two people in the parable, the rich man and the poor one, each represents the class to which they belong. Two people who are not unacquainted; they know each other and their paths cross. In the parable, they’re presented as occupying two spaces and conditions, both on earth and in eternity. There’s a huge chasm between the rich man and poor Lazarus, not only after their death, but also ...

‘Right’ and ‘Left’ don’t only have to do with political alignments. The terms were also used to define two categories of temptation in the spiritual life. Indeed, because it’s less perceptible, the temptation ‘from the right’ was considered the more dangerous. When does a temptation come from the right and when from the left? Here’s an example. If the devil presents you with the suggestion that you should cheat a co-worker for your own benefit, that’s a temptation ‘from the left’. You know where it’s coming from and you either accept it or reject it. But if the evil spirit whispers that we’re in a crisis, that your co-worker doesn’t have a family and so you’re justified in cheating them for ...

Satan’s an optician. He makes us wear his own kind of glasses, so we see the failings of others magnified and our own errors minimized. Dimitrios Panagopoulos

‘Humility is an anonymous grace of the soul, which can be named only by those who know it from experience. It’s inexpressible riches, it’s an appellation of God, a gift of God’ (Saint John the Sinaite, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, discourse 25, 3). We need to be very careful with the virtue of humility. You may think you have it because, perhaps, you see yourself as a simple sort of person, but, in fact, you’re working with your egotism and with the evil devil. This is because false humility presents itself in a variety of guises which have no more than an external resemblance to it. Sanctimoniousness, for example, and unctuousness, which are hypocritical ways of behaving and speaking that ...

The whole of life is like a wave. Either we’ll become like Saint Peter and walk on the waters, or we’ll sink, like the Prophet Jonah. Abbess Gavriilia