Ξένες γλώσσες

The ‘forgive me’ which comes from a heart in pain over a mistake breaks down the hard wall of remoteness, of animosity, and unites that which was divided. This is why it’s neither easy nor painless. Because the easy and painless ‘forgive me’, expressed as a formula for restoring relations on a superficial level, isn’t capable of breaking down walls. There’s ‘forgive me’ to God and to other people, to our neighbor. In reality, it’s one and the same, since according to the Fathers, ‘if you sin against your brother or sister, it’s as if you sin against God’. Or, as Abba Apollo puts it: ‘If you’ve seen your brother or sister, you’ve seen God’. The excuse that ‘Things are fine ...

‘When our conscience tells us to do something and we ignore it, and when it then tells us to do something else and we don’t do it, we steadily and relentlessly stamp upon it; we bury it and it can’t shout aloud within us any more, because of the weight that’s covering it’ (Abbas Dorotheos). Nowadays, our conscience has been banished from the stage of upbringing, education, and our desire to identify with other people. The law has been transformed into social obligation, we ‘have’ to observe it to prevent society becoming a jungle and to ensure that there’ll be boundaries. But we don’t feel any chastisement from within us if we choose as our priority our own opinion and will. ...

Those who are measured in their language, are also measured in their deeds. Those who examine the words they’re about to say, also examine the actions they’re about to perform. In this way, they never overstep the bounds of good, virtuous behavior. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

The more you love God, the more love you have for other people. You love them as icons of God, with respect, tact and holiness. Saint Amfilohios Makris

2nd e-Meeting with Elder Ephraim and Romanian Faithful with the Blessings of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Subject: “The spiritual relation of Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi and Elder Dionysios Kolitsiotis” Friday, Oct 15, 2021 – 19:30 Athens EET Dear friends, You are invited to participate in the “2nd e-Meeting with Elder Ephraim and Romanian Faithful”, organized by the web magazine PEMPTOUSIA and TRINITAS TV with the Blessings of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The e-Meeting will take place Friday, Oct 15, 2021 – 19:30  Athens EET. Elder Ephraim will speak in Greek and we will offer real-time Romanian Interpretation for the entire session, including the homily as well as the questions & answers. Please register in advance for this meeting by ...

Every human character is considered to be ailing if divine grace is absent from it, because this grace perfects and maintains everything, since ‘it cures sicknesses and supplies what is missing’. The Lord stresses this when he says: ‘without me, you can do nothing’ (Jn. 15, 5). But, apart from the presence of grace, it’s also necessary for us to possess the human willingness to cooperate, in accordance with the moral rules of reason and the divine commands, since this will invite divine intervention. People who are quick to judge others do so because they’re accustomed to investigating the thoughts and actions of others rather than their own. They forget the words of Scripture: ‘Do not judge, so that you may ...

The salvation of the whole of creation is the exquisite providence of the Creator. In his compassion, the Lord supports all those who are in danger of falling and raises all those who have, in fact, fallen and been crushed. Saint Thalassios the Libyan

‘Whoever falls is pitiable. But more wretched is someone who entices another into falling because that person then bears the burden of both, as well as the burden of pleasure tasted by the other’ (Saint John of Sinai, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, discourse 15). The saint is discussing the carnal lapses which are caused by the passion of lasciviousness, the ‘mother’ of which is sinful pleasure. Indeed, love of sensual pleasure, together with its ‘sisters’, ambition and avarice, complete the triptych in which the tree  of ‘hell’, egotism or selfishness, is rooted. How can you describe those who fall into carnal sins? Wretched. And they lose their connection with God because, in order to reach the point of carnal fall, ...

We might say that real monastics are more social than those who live in society, because they communicate directly with the most social Being, God, the Creator of society. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

Saint John came from Thives of Egypt and was raised by a rich family. After he took his monastic order from his grandfather ,he said goodbye to the Elder and went to the Holy Land of Jerusalem. He wasn’t blessed with the Orthodox Church ,because he rejected the holy fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalkidona. After his desire to worship the Holy Land, he sees in a vision that he worked too hard and struggled to go inside to worship the Holy Cross,but he couldn’t find the entrance.Although he wasn’t sad,he heard a voice that told him that:those who aren’t united to the Orthodox catholic Church ,aren’t worthy to worship the Cross and after he woke up ,he appeared and united ...

From the moment when our first ancestors ‘inclined their ears’, paid attention, to the proposition of the devil that they set aside God’s commandment and eat the fruit which wasn’t blessed for their consumption, they suffered death. Their decision to eat that fruit resulted in the severance of their relationship with God and the acceptance of death. Just as the separation of the soul from the body means the death of the body, so the separation of the soul from God is the death of the soul. For the soul, life was its relationship with God. In order for this relationship to exist, God wanted us to share in his own life, which is why he endowed us with his ...

Surrender willingly and completely to the providence and will of God. Don’t be sad if you lose some material thing or any visible object in general. Don’t rejoice in profit. Your sole joy should be in gaining the Lord himself, because when we lack faith in his providence many ills befall us. Saint John Kronstadtskij

Be good to your friends, kind to your dependents, tolerant to the rude and generous to the despised. Saint Basil the Great

God is a many-eyed God and sees everywhere. Before your mind even moves to form a negative thought, God knows. So why don’t you see it? The sight of God is knowledge of God. Saint Iosif the Hesychast

‘Justifying ourselves, following our own opinion and satisfying our own will are the progeny of ungodly pride’ (Abba Dorotheos). When we’re accused of something, our first reaction  is to defend ourselves. To explain why it’s not like that, even if it is. And that doesn’t apply only to the youngest any more. Grown-ups are lacking in backbone in that, even if the reality is clear, we still try to justify ourselves. ‘I’m human, what can I do?’; ‘I’m at fault but…’; ‘Circumstances are to blame’. Particularly nowadays, when the antidote is to interpret everything, with the emphasis on the psychological method, which is that in order to feel better I have to examine why something’s happened to me and how I ...

The Lord loves people and appears to them as he deems fit. When a soul sees the Lord, it humbly rejoices over the Master’s loving-kindness and is incapable of loving anything else as much as it loves its Creator. Even if it sees all things and loves all people, it will still love the Lord above everything else. Saint Silouan the Athonite

When we have the peace of God within us and the soul is convinced that God is indeed our Father, who governs creation, and that we are children of this Almighty God, who sustains creation, we’re in no danger and need not fear anything. When we’re at peace with God, we’re also at peace with other people. We cease to see others as our enemies, but, instead, see them as our God: ‘If you’ve seen your brother or sister, you’ve seen the Lord your God’. For people of God, each person is ‘very good’, as God the Creator made them. The heart of the people of God cannot speak evil, since evil doesn’t exist for them. Of course, they aren’t ...

People who go to church and don’t take communion (unless they have a penance from their confessor) are like people entering Noah’s ark to escape the flood and then dying of starvation. Because holy communion is the nourishment of the soul. Dimitrios Panagopoulos

The important thing is to enter the Church. To unite with other people, with the joys and sorrows of all. We should feel close to them, should pray for everyone, be concerned over their salvation, forget ourselves. We should do everything for them, as Christ does for us. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

‘A big hare hides in a small bush’. Let’s not belittle anyone. People you don’t esteem, who live unremarkable lives, have Christ within them. But when it comes to great names, then you’re let down. Hieromonk Chrysostomos Stavronikitianos