Ξένες γλώσσες

The logicality of the Christian faith is often so paradoxical and strange, especially for Orthodox Christians today, that we need to delve into the texts of the Fathers in order to have a feel for it and attune ourselves to it. Though it must be said, of course, that the acceptance and gradual familiarization with this reasoning leads to the ‘jolt’ of the taste of the other way of life which was brought by Our Lord Jesus Christ- to the opening of the eyes and spiritual senses so that the faithful can see and feel eternal life even in what’s considered this narrow and wretched life. So that they can see the unseen and eternal, as Saint Paul says. To be ...

At its historical core, the narrative has the experience of the danger Jesus’ disciples once felt on a stormy sea and the way in which the presence of their teacher saved them. The event took place immediately after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, which is the subject of the Gospel reading on the previous Sunday. Apart from the actual experience, which shook the disciples emotionally, the Evangelists preserved the event because they saw in it a more profound meaning for the Church. The crowd which had witnessed the multiplication of the loaves was in a frenzy of messianic enthusiasm, believing that the moment had arrived when their needs would be met. Jesus knew that this fervor could mean the ...

After the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fishes in the desert and the feeding of the multitude, the Gospel states that Jesus ‘constrained’ His disciples to board the ship and go to the other shore of the lake so as to disperse the crowds. The multitude had been following the Lord and were amazed at the signs He was performing. However, they had not been able to enter into the mystery of His word. Having been satisfied by the bread and fish, and, of course, the blessing that went with them, the crowd were ready to declare Christ King, in the worldly sense. Before the Resurrection and, more specifically, before the coming down of the Holy Spirit, the disciples ...

All the sins and passions are ready to invade the soul. Fight against them vigilantly and with courage to your last breath. See your sins and passions as dreams of your fantasy, as illusions from the evil spirits. Saint John Kronstadtskij

We’re engaged in an on-going spiritual struggle, because we’re continuously being attacked by an enemy who ‘prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

All people have the same nature. It’s so natural for us to love other people, that those who cease to do so cease to be human beings. Elder Efstratios Golovanski

We must absolutely test whether God exists, and there’s a way. Our Fathers, the saints of the Church even showed us the tool to use to discover whether God exists. What is it? The heart. Christ said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’. The organ of sight, the organ through which we’ll locate and see God is none other than our heart, and the method is cleansing of the heart. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

Real love is giving without expecting to get anything. Abbess Gavriilia Papayianni

We can’t stop the passions bothering the soul and attacking us. But stopping wicked thoughts from becoming in-dwelling and activating the passions is something that depends on us. The first is without sin, because it doesn’t depend on us. If, in the second case, we resist boldly and then triumph, that’s a herald of crowns; but if, through laxity and cowardice, we’re defeated, that’s a harbinger of punishments. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

At the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God we kiss the holy icon which depicts her falling-asleep. The whole icon is not only a pictorial representation of what happened at the funeral service of Our Lady, but also shows us what the Church is. It’s an icon which shows in the sharpest relief exactly what the mystery of the Church is. The Church isn’t a human organization, but the theanthropic Body of Christ. It’s the union of God and humankind in the person of Christ. In the holy icon of the Dormition,  we see that, at the center, the Church has Christ and his Mother, Our Lady, and the Apostles around them, the Bishops and the Angels. Then it’s ...

The Fathers make quietude the first step towards repentance. It’s living free from concerns. It’s removal from the things which cause us to fall and be defeated, in particular for those of weak character, but also on the part of him who ‘prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ (2 Peter 5, 8). Through quietude, those engaged in the struggle are removed from vain and pointless occupations and thus, if they wish, they’re allowed to turn their thoughts and exertions to God. Enlightened by divine grace, they discover their real self, which is a necessary duty. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos  

Pure prayer can’t be acquired unless you exercise great patience, living close to God with a genuine and innocent heart. Because he’s the one who gives prayer to the person praying and teaches us knowledge. Saint Theodore of Edessa

‘Apostles gathered here from the ends of the earth…’ The assembly of the apostles from all parts of the earth, coming together in one place, as well as all the local Gethsemanes, that is wherever paraclitic canons are sung to the Mother of God at this time of year- that is everywhere- makes every country, each city, village, monastery, church, chapel and household into the whole world. With arms open to the world. Here, there and everywhere in this small, wide and infinite apse of the Mother of God Broader than the Heavens, the whole world is to be found. The Dormition of the Mother of God, by the Cretan iconographer priest, Victor. (detail) Benaki Museum (Though it’s never seen by the billionaire tourists/astronauts ...

August is exclusively dedicated to the person of the Mother of God. Our veneration for Our Lady is justified since, as the most beautiful, demure, humble and holy woman in the world, she’s the best humankind has to offer to the deity. During this period, everything’s inundated with the joy of her. The liturgical spirit of the days means that every evening for the first two weeks of the month we perform services of intercession in honor of the Mother of God. Everyone goes to church to set ‘all their hope’ on her. The culmination of this honor to Our Lady is 15 August, when we celebrate her dormition, burial, and, most importantly, her assumption into paradise. The feast of the Dormition ...

Beloved in the Lord, May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you always. I acknowledge the financial hardships that our communities are experiencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the difficulties faced by many Christians. Our Holy Archdiocese is also experiencing financial difficulties resulting from the corona virus. Despite this, we must not remain unmoved by the scope of the unprecedented disaster brought about by the fires in Greece. With this letter, I ask all the Reverend Clergy, the Councils of our Communities, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, as well as all pious Christians to give a helping hand to our fatherland Greece. A Special tray ...

Philanthropy has been given by God. God has allowed poverty, poor people, so that we can show our love for others through alms-giving. You should know that those we’ve helped and given to will be defence witnesses for us at the time of the judgement. Dimitrios Panagopoulos

For many people, the Church is identified with the parish and the actual building of the church. They think it’s a company, an association, an organization, a charity shop, a wonderful ideology which is financially sound and has very extensive property holdings. There are a good number who think of the Church as a powerful economic organization, a good business, which fools the naïve and the incompetent. Others again think that in church they’ll make friends, find company, a job, their metaphysical demands will be met quickly and in brief, their religious obligations will be sorted and they won’t have any problem with their conscience. The Church is a maternal embrace, it’s the body of the living Christ, it’s the assembly ...

The saints of God are beautiful, imperishable and fragrant flowers. Don’t touch them with lips stained with sin. This means that you have to pray to them with a pure heart and clean lips, not carelessly, not with rambling thoughts but with respect and tranquility. Saint John Kronstadtskij

People try with might and main to achieve perfection, even in their everyday activities. This is evidence of the abilities given to us by God so that we may achieve our own personal perfection and completion as psychosomatic entities and beings. But perfection isn’t a given in this life. Rather, it’s something we seek and which demands a struggle on our part, if we’re to attain it. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

In the Church we have research. The greatest researchers were the saints. The saints arrived at and tested all the various points. This was precisely where they started from. Is there really a God? If he exists, let’s test him, investigate him; if he doesn’t exist, let’s reject the idea. We’d have to be very stupid people and utterly wretched if we conducted our great struggle on the basis of a possibility, a probability that God might exist. If we’re not a hundred per cent, or a million per cent sure of the existence of God as experienced in our heart, then only a lunatic would follow the Gospel and Christ. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol