Ξένες γλώσσες

A certain monk confessed to Abba Pimen: ‘My body’s grown weak but my passions haven’t’. The wise elder replied: ‘The passions are thorn-pricks’ (Sayings of the Elders) The Sayings of the Elders is a product of the monastic state which also applies to the secular state in the sense of life ‘in the world’. People are the same everywhere, with their inherited and acquired passions, weaknesses, gifts and virtues. So, knowing the struggle waged by those who wish to live the life in Christ, whether they’re in the world or in monasteries, we’re aware that we’re not alone and also that the way we carry out our spiritual struggle is necessary. This prevents us from becoming exhausted or disheartened. It seems that our passions will accompany ...

The Gospel reading for the day refers to the miracle of the man possessed who was cured by Christ. The event attracted the attention of three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, doubtless because of the great impression caused by the cure, the consequences which followed the expulsion the demons and the profound effect it had on a large number of people in the region of Gergesa and Gadara. The distortion of the person The Evangelists Mark and Luke don’t present a generic or hypothetical image of the tragic effects of demonic influence. They particularize and personalize the issue. They mention a specific person, who not only bears the obvious external signs of collapse, but is also a man who, internally and spiritually ...

The Christian life is to be judged entirely on our attitude to other people. The welcome we give others, how we find room for them, is indicative, or otherwise, of our good apprenticeship. Because, according to his own revelation, Christ and other people are one and the same: ‘Inasmuch as you’ve done this to one of them… you’ve done it to me’. So the kind of embrace we offer, its quality and ambience should be the same as if we were welcoming Christ himself. What Christian would fail to prepare to the best of their ability so that he who is considered the captain of our faith and our God would feel at ease and comfortable? So that Christ could avail ...

Since we’ve sinned in practice; denied Christ in practice; insulted and betrayed him in practice, let’s now return to him in practice and prove that we won’t bend the knee before any of the idols of sin. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos

One day, the Elder said to me: ‘Christians must avoid pernicious religiosity: both the feeling of superiority because of their virtue as well as the sense of inferiority over their sinfulness. A complex is one thing; humility’s another. Melancholy is one thing; repentance is something else. One day, I was paid a visit by a secular psychiatrist who attacked Christianity because, according to him, it created guilt and melancholy. I answered that I agreed that some Christians, through their own erroneous thinking or that of others, were trapped in the sickness of guilt. I then told him that, by the same token, he had to accept that people living in a secular manner were also trapped in an even worse sickness, ...

Hearts which are simple and pure, which are direct, are morally sound and can’t help loving God and other people continuously, unsparingly, richly, whole-heartedly and fervently. Elder Moïsis the Athonite

Some people can speak of their sins and yet be proud; other can speak of their virtues and yet be humble. Let’s be humble but not obsequious. Obsequiousness is a snare of the devil which brings inertia and despair, whereas true humility brings labor in the observance of Christ’s commandments and hope. Nobody becomes a Christian through laziness; it needs work, a lot of work. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos  

Just as a good deed which is performed without proper faith is completely dead and ineffective, so faith without virtuous deeds doesn’t exempt us from the eternal fire. Because the Lord said: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’. So if we love the Lord and believe in him, let us implement his commandments and gain eternal life. Saint Theodoros of Edessa

People have the power to transmit good or evil to their surroundings. These are very delicate matters. They need great care. We have to look at everything in a good light and not to think badly of other people. Just a look or a sigh can have an effect. Even the slightest exasperation does harm. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

If we pray for the salvation of our soul, God will give us the material goods of which we stand in need. When we pray, God will give us what our heart requires, not what our words say. When we pray, God makes it easy for us to talk to him. Dimitrios Panagopoulos, Preacher

When people really enter the realm of their relationship with God, the powerful hope of God’s love arises slowly within them. They overlook the fact of their sins, they overlook the fact of their apostasy, they overlook the fact of their sickness and experience the joy of hope. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

The times we live in demand people like Prometheus, not Epimetheus. The ancient hero, who loved humankind, taught us how important it is to think ahead (pro= before, metheus = wise thinker), rather than with hindsight (epi= after, metheus = wise thinker). In the myth by the Platonist Pythagoras, Prometheus assigned to his brother the task of giving specific features to animals in such a way that they could retain their diversity and continue to survive . He did so for all creatures except humans, whom he left naked, barefoot, in a primitive condition and defenseless. Prometheus then stole practical wisdom from the gods, and this became science and technology. He also stole fire to help people survive. This wonderful tale ...

On the occasion of the commemoration of the holy six hundred and thirty God-bearing Fathers who attended the 4th Ecumenical Synod in Chalcedon, the Church reminds us of its answer to the ever-present question, which of course is expressed in different ways at different times, regarding the method and measure of God’s cooperation with humankind. It does this by recalling the historical vicissitudes of the 5th century, when the Christian world was thrown into turmoil by heresies which contradicted each other. On the surface it seems as though they were at odds with each other, but in reality they both attacked Orthodoxy. At issue was the extreme rivalry between Nestorianism and Monophytism. Arius had considered Christ to be a created being ...

4th Sunday of Matthew In the Gospel reading for the 4th Sunday of Matthew (5, 14-19), Christ calls his disciples ‘the light of the world’. That Christians have always accepted that they should set an example to non-believers can be seen from, among other texts, the Epistle to Diognetus, which was written some time between the mid-2nd and mid 3rd century. What is particularly interesting is that the man who wrote it (he simply describes himself as ‘the Disciple’) was obviously well-educated and capable of expressing himself in very elegant Greek. The recipient would also have to have been well-educated in order to understand it. So this epistle is an insight into how curiosity about the faith began to spread among ...

Really, I see that when Thomas was absent, that’s when he lacked belief. But when he came back with the other disciples, he never went wrong in the faith. So I entertained the thought that, if only sinners would avoid keeping company with the wicked and would associate only with the righteousness, they’d never go wrong in terms of righteousness and spiritual salvation. Saint Gregory Palamas

How we came into bondage to the passions and are delivered by the Cross. Also the power of tears and the divine fire. How then should we not be serpents, since we don’t behave in obedience to God, but in the disobedience which came by the serpent? Given this, I don’t know how best to lament the calamity. I don’t know how I should cry and weep to him who has the power to expel the delusion entrenched within me. ‘How shall I sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’. How shall I lament for Jerusalem? How shall I flee from the grievous bondage of Pharaoh? How am I to leave this vile dwelling-place? How can I renounce the bitter tyranny? How ...

None of the problems you face has been caused by chance. Nothing can happen to us without the Lord’s consent. And his consent doesn’t spring only from his all-knowing wisdom, but is dictated by his love for us. Saint Makarij of Optina

(Ed. Stelios Koukos) Love is the product of faith and of our submission to the divine will: it’s the ‘fulness of the law’ and a ‘more excellent way’, according to Saint Paul. The three chief apostles, Peter, John and Paul have this to say about it in particular: ‘above all, love one another with all your soul’ (1 Peter 4, 8), stressing the ‘above all else’. In his Gospel and Epistles, John, who is considered to be the outstanding apostle of love, describes its origins and its place in the realm of rational beings. But here we’ll restrict ourselves to the description of love attempted by Paul in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, since it’s more detailed and practical. Paul doesn’t merely ...

If you pray in the morning as you should, your whole day will be blessed. Don’t despair if your efforts appear to be fruitless. Remember how you learned to knit or write. How much effort you expended then… Now it’s easy for you. The same will be true of your spiritual progress. Saint Theophan the Recluse