Ξένες γλώσσες

How can quietude, poverty and the renunciation of worldly goods be preserved in such circumstances? If we say that they are to be reduced to a minimum, then, even if the basic needs of the monks are met, it’s almost certain that the preservation of the cultural heritage, hospitality and works of charity will decline steeply. It might be said: “Let them. From a spiritual point of view, they’re not so important as the preservation of peace and quiet. But things don’t seem to be quite like that. Quietude and isolation are, for monasticism, a means of renouncing the secular outlook, but not of estrangement from the company of other people. “A monk is someone who is separated from everybody ...

We criticize those politicians who are in power, but they’re also our children. It’s us, the older generation, who are to blame for not setting them a proper example. We’re an image of generations past, and we didn’t manage to learn much from them. Now it’s we who have to answer. And we have to start with ourselves and not try to change other people.

The metaphorical meaning of Deification was first used by Clement of Alexandria. In the 6th century, Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned that deification is the attaining to the likeness of God and the union with Him as much as possible. In the 7th century, Maximus the Confessor redefined the meaning and classified it as a theological topic in its own right.  The reason for this is that deification language is usually used metaphorically. Also, Homoiosis and Methexis are two key terms used by Plato in later Platonic thought.  These terms express the relationship between Being and Becoming. The importance of deification can be observed in cultural, polemical and problematic discussions. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, deification came to be expressed ...

But in order to reach this point , of great assistance is the way in which the prayer’s said, which, of course, you’ll have heard of or maybe read about. But now we’ll systematize it, so we can practice it, and that’ll bring good results. We said, the heart’s the centre of all movement, spiritual and intellectual, but also of the pains of the body. Every bodily pain resounds in the heart. Even if your tooth hurts, it causes pain in the heart. Or your hand, if you cut it, or your kidneys, they all cause pain in the heart. The heart works through the respiration. When we stop breathing, gradually the heart stops as well. Through inhalation, we draw in ...

Don’t forget: always light a candle in church ‘for those who are sick and those who are travelling’.

On 27 November, 2013, the Ecumenical Patriarchate entered two new names into the Calendar of Saints of the Church: Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis and Hieromonk Meletios, from Ypseni, Rhodes. Many Orthodox will already know about Saint Porfyrios, who lived recently (1906-1991). But who was Saint Meletios? He was born in the village of Lardos, on Rhodes, towards the end of the 18th century. His baptismal name was Emmanouil, and from childhood he received ‘the discipline and instruction of the Lord’ from his parents (as was also the case with Saint Porfyrios). He was taught to read and write by the parish priest of his home village. From an early age, he also demonstrated an intensely charitable and philanthropic spirit, despite his parents’ admonitions. Another ...

The Prodigal Son lived aimlessly and wasted all the wealth his father gave him. When he’d spent it all, a famine struck the far-off country where he was and he himself began to starve. In this distant country, far removed from God, there’s always a famine, because the earth can’t satisfy someone who’s hungry. All its food does is to increase your hunger. The earth can satisfy only irrational beasts. There’s no way it can satisfy people. There’s always famine in this far-off land. Sinners who forget God and spend all the life forces which God gave them as their share, will end up starving hungry. This is a hunger that can’t be sated for a single moment by the ...

Throughout the thousand- year long history of the saint-nurturing Mount Athos countless holy figures have been distinguished.  This fact constitutes the greatest benefit which the Holy Mountain has given to Church and to the world. Many of those righteous monks have been marked out and widely recognized by the flock of the Church while still alive, some after their repose, while others wished to remain anonymous even after their death. Demokritos’ dictum “live in anonymity” constitutes the main attribute of the hagiorite monasticism. The monk from the Holy Mountain does not seek recognition in this life and diligently tries to hide his virtues. This is how St Siluan the Athonite lived. While still alive most people thought that he was an ...

Injustices don’t come from God, but they’re allowed by Him for our good. Yes, for our good. These aren’t empty words. It’s the truth.

 “Lets us reject both pleasure and pain in this life with all our might in order to be freed from any schemes drawn by passions and from any demonic wickedness. For, we love passions for their hedonistic pleasure and because of pain we avoid virtue”. (Saint Maximus the Confessor, Seven Hundred Chapters on Theology, Third Hundred, paragraph 52) What describes a man’s life without God is how fiercely futility clashes with irrationality with tragic consequences. The wretched man is the victim of this tragedy. He is being dragged without mercy from the instigators of pain and fear to his death, which he alone has shaped when he severed himself from God, from eternal life and happiness. Had the Merciful Lord ...

I haven’t spoken to you about this before. That’s my omission and, let’s say, my responsibility. Our heart’s the centre of supernatural, natural and unnatural movements. Everything starts from the heart. If the heart’s been cleansed, then God is beheld, we see Him. How shall we see Him? Is God perhaps anthropomorphous, i.e. does He have human form so that we can see Him? No. God isn’t visible. God is Spirit, and as total Spirit is present everywhere. And He’s also to be found in the human heart, provided that’s become an acceptable vessel. To become such, it has to be cleaned. Not that we should wash it with water, but that it should be cleansed of impure thoughts. In order ...

‘Sweetest Jesus! You who were sinless God suffered so, so many wrongs, so much controversy so many curses, so much mockery from such a crowd of people who hated you and bore you such ill-will. And you suffered all this with tolerance, for my love and my salvation. And should I, then, a sinful, impassioned and wretched man, complain and ask why my Elder gives me the bitter medicine of my salvation? I get what I deserve. So I have no excuse and I just have to put up with it and shoulder the Cross Your goodness has given me for my salvation’.

Theologising in the spirit of the Fathers ‘My theology springs partly from the constant and authentic dialogue I have with the Holy Fathers of the Church and partly from my lively and regular dialogue with the triune God, through prayer and liturgical life in my traditional Church, together with my dear Romanian brothers and my Christian brothers everywhere.’                                                                          Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae    Father Dumitru Stăniloae’s life spanned almost the whole of the twentieth century. He was born on 17 November 1903 in a village near Braşov in the Transylvanian mountains, to peasant parents, simple people who were deeply rooted in the Orthodox Christian tradition. Both had Biblical names: Irimie (Jeremiah) and Rebeca. His mother was a very dynamic and religious woman, and ...

There’s no way we can know everything about created things. But what is there? There’s a feeling of completeness in people’s hearts when the created thing, that is the human person, becomes acquainted with the Creator.

A Book Review by Frederica Mathewes-Green Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer: Experiencing the Presence of God and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of an Ancient Spirituality by Norris J. Chumley, HarperOne, 2011, 224 PP What’s so mysterious about the Jesus Prayer? It’s one of the shortest and simplest prayers you can find: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” It’s one of the most ancient prayers, too; think of how often in the Gospels people ask Jesus for mercy. A prayer for mercy would likely have been one of the variations when the Desert Mothers and Fathers (AD 2nd-5th c), who sought to pray constantly, were trying out different short, repeated verses of Scripture to discipline the wandering mind. (St. ...

Over the years, I have become acquainted with various logical arguments for the existence of God - some I find more convincing than others. Of course, the strongest evidence comes from direct experience, for God is a person to be mystically encountered, not an abstraction to be logically deduced. This should not be taken to imply that logic has no role to play a role in one’s spiritual life. On the contrary, logic can be used to convince someone that such an experience is worth pursuing in the first place. The strongest argument for me – an argument not normally used to evidence God's reality - happens to be a simple one: the existence of monasticism. I begin with a very ...

Priests are often accused of various things. But priests are still people. One person might make a mistake, but that doesn’t mean that everybody else is to blame. So, a priest might err, but that doesn’t mean that all priests are at fault. And Christ says: ‘Don’t judge, or else you’ll be judged.’, because, by the standard by which we judge, we’ll also be judged one day. Who are we to judge? We should pray that God will enlighten each and every one of us. As far as we can, we should forgive.