Don’t lay the blame for what happens to you on other people. Although we have a tendency to attribute our problems to others, to their wickedness and incompetence, in reality they’re nothing other than tools in God’s hands. Tools he avails himself of to construct our salvation. Saint Makarij
1. Last Sunday, the Church commemorated the indescribable loving-kindness of God towards us, as presented in the parable of the saved Prodigal. This Sunday, it teaches about the future, most dreadful judgement of God, following a proper order and paying attention to the voices of the prophets: ‘I will sing to you, Lord, of mercy and judgement’ ; and ‘God has spoken once and I have heard these two things: that dominion is God’s and that mercy is yours, Lord. For you will recompense people according to their works’ . 2. So mercy and long-suffering precede divine judgement. God is distinguished by having and containing all the virtues, while, at the same time, he is just and merciful. Since mercy is ...
All these Sundays before Great Lent initiate us into the wisdom of repentance and every Sunday gives us constants, principles that we must keep throughout this period for our renewal. All the lessons we receive now are meant to help us realise the greatest task of our life, that of discovering our heart and become true images of God, able to converse with Him face to Face. The Sunday of Zacchaeus has two main major themes. The first is the significance of voluntary shame in cleansing ourselves from the shame of sin that we have accumulated in this life. The second theme is the desire of God. If our ascetical labours during Great Lent are to be perfect, we need ...
Keep your tongue and your lips sweet and you’ll be friends with everybody. Be careful not to chastise anybody for anything at all. Love doesn’t become angry, nor does it hotly berate anyone. Saint Isaac the Syrian
Prayer has great power. If you say the Jesus prayer, you can even bring a soul out of hell. Saint Efraim Katounakiotis
You’re troubled because you don’t understand the meaning of the words you’ve heard so often and have said over the dead. You’ve done well to ask. The better we know our ancient and beautiful Orthodox faith, the more we love it. ‘Eternal memory’ means ‘May your memory be eternal for you’. I once heard a funeral address when someone said of the dead person: ‘May your memory be eternal on earth!’ I was taken aback by such an erroneous misinterpretation of our faith. How can anything be eternal on earth, when everyone’s hurrying on through, like guests at a wedding. Really, aren’t we wishing the dead absolutely nothing of value at all if we hope they’ll be remembered in this world which ...
If we don’t have good works, our knowledge isn’t certain and may not even be true. Because, in every case, good works are confirmation. Saint Mark the Ascetic
2. The phenomenon of urbanization This development started in the 18th century and has grown to such an extent that today it has acquired monstrous proportions. It is the product of the industrial revolution and the rise of the urban class. People today crowd into cities not only to find the means of survival (since cities are where large enterprises are located) but also to seek enjoyment, which is increasingly seen as being one of our rights as individuals. The city is a place of anonymity, it provides deliverance from the eyes of our neighbors, it gives us the chance of a double life, which is what so many people want today. This urbanization and the industrial revolution which accompanied it had ...
Spiritual labor within ourselves is humble labor on behalf of our neighbor, because it gives an example for other people to follow and to change for the better. People who’ve been blessed with God’s grace pass it on and alter those who are merely carnal. Wherever there’s grace it isn’t hidden, because it’s radiant. Saint Païsios the Athonite
a) During the period of the Triodio, the Church gradually helps Christians to ascend the spiritual ladder of Great Lent and to prepare for the Easter of the Cross and Resurrection. At this time, there is greater emphasis on Christian asceticism, prayer, uplifting humility, repentance, sobriety and Godly mourning. On the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Church shows us the manner of true prayer, as well as the danger of Pharisaism, social hubris and hypocrisy. On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, it reveals to us the true path of repentance and shows the depth and breadth of divine love. b) In his interpretation of this most instructive parable, Saint Gregory Palamas emphasizes the goodness of God the Father ...
We don’t know why it is that, in order to attract grace, we have to desire it with all our soul. But how can we desire something we know absolutely nothing about? And yet we do know grace, even just a little, because the Holy Spirit moves each soul in its quest for God. Saint Silouan the Athonite
So come to your senses in this way, because there’s no other way to do so. Get up and take this bold decision, saying to yourself: ‘I’ll arise and go to my father’ (Luke 15, 18). Get up out of this mud you’re wallowing in and go running to find your father, our sweet Jesus, in whose hands the whole of your salvation lies, the whole of your peace, the whole of your eternity. ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4, 12). What are your afraid of ? Even if, through your own fault, you’ve lost what it means to be ...
Think about the return of the prodigal son to his father’s house and the reasons behind it, which were three in number. The first was that he reflected sincerely on the wretchedness of his situation; the second was that he compared his misery with the happiness of those who were living in his father’s house; and the third was that he cherished the hope that his father would forgive him, as he had done so many times before. And so, on his return, he was granted the forgiveness he desired. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, embraced him and showered him ...
3. The Tragic Experience of Life “in a far Country”. In spite and independently of the reasons for departure, life in a country far from one’s home has its tragic aspect, too. It’s a bitter experience, often with dreadful consequences. It’s not so much the utter waste of the parental “substance” but the experience of youthful prodigality that can ruin someone’s life. Wrong choices, personal mistakes, all these are experience, which deepens our lives and makes us wiser, provided that it leads to repentance and return. But if we insist on living “in a far country”, then the negative consequences can be swift and catastrophic. The depiction of the younger son in the land of prodigality is terrible. “He wasted his substance ...
Introduction The parable of the Prodigal Son, which is the Gospel reading for today, is, as is well-known, one of the most beautiful texts of world literature. It also recalls for us the Classical narrative, from Greek mythology, of the adventure of Odysseus who left Ithaca in order to become a man and wiser than before. This is to do with the eternal quest which people undertake, within time and history, leaving everything- certainty and security- to seek the unobtainable, the dream, and, in the end, made wiser by this experience of life, to return to their home and roots, where they eventually find rest. This eternal myth was expressed so clearly and realistically by the two great traditions of the Mediterranean; by ...
The greatest effect of the Enlightenment on the modern world was on its social, political and economic life. To take social life first. Here we should note some very significant features of our culture. a. In the sphere of education the concept arose that everyone was capable of receiving knowledge and everyone should be educated. At the head of this was Voltaire (1694-1778), the intellectual leader of Europe, and under his influence a tremendous effort was made to publish and preserve the Encyclopedia, a literary form unknown before that time. It was accomplished by Voltaire’s contemporary, Diderot (1713-1784) as a means of popularizing knowledge, so that everyone could learn about goals and the truth. This would put an end to various prejudices, ...
Dear friends You are invited to participate in the “2nd Digital Fellowship with Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi Mount Athos and the Orthodox Christian Network OCN“, which will take place Thursday, March 4th, 2021 at 07:30 PM Athens time (12:30 PM EST). Elder Ephraim will talk in Greek and we will offer simultaneous English Interpretation for the entire session, including the homily as well as the questions & answers. The e-Meeting is organized by the web magazine PEMPTOUSIA and the OCN. Please register in advance for this meeting by clicking on the following link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMsfuquqzsrH9VpPNRwArV2dnF96RzSm6wx After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Please install the ZOOM “Desktop or mobile” app in order to be able to listen to ...
On 2 September, 1953, the relics of Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis were disentombed in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity which he had founded and built on the island of Aegina. The next day a festal liturgy was celebrated, at the end of which the relics were carried in procession. While this was happening, the relics exuded a most powerful fragrance which affected everyone in the monastery, as well as the residents of the surrounding area. At that time, the local bus was making its way up and when it reached the Holy Apostles bridge, one of the passengers, a woman of loose morals, became aware of the strong fragrance of the relics, as she herself told us later. The other passengers ...
Don’t judge and condemn anyone, or you’ll be condemned yourself. Don’t investigate extraneous thoughts and issues, scandals and gossip. Just let them go. The devil, our enemy, tries to sow them within you in order to distract you. (Saint Seraphim Romantsov of the Monastery of Glinsk)
Coercion isn’t conducive to stability, as can easily be seen if you try to hold back streams of water or restrict plants by force. But what we accept of our own free will is more stable and sure. The former belongs to the violator, whereas the second belongs to us. One is a characteristic of God’s goodness, the other is a sign of tyrranical power. (Saint Gregory the Theologian)
