Hope in God never leads to despair. Temptations bring humility. God knows how much each of us can bear and allows temptations commensurate with our strength. But we should also be vigilant and careful so that we don’t put ourselves into the path of temptation of our own volition. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis
In the wonderful book The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John the Sinaite speaks of the struggle against the passion of telling lies. And in presenting the disastrous consequences thereof he says: ‘Lying is the obliteration of love, and false testimony is the denial of God’. An incomparably worse deed than mere lying to other people, then, is the use of a false oath, because if we mock God in this way, we are in essence denying him and estranging ourselves from him. The concession of the divine oath The oath was a means of confirmation which was allowed under Mosaic law because of the spiritual infancy of the people of God. In his love for us, God agreed to be called ...
‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief’ This phrase shows the real struggle which Orthodox Christians are called upon to wage. Faith isn’t a philosophical construct nor an abstract concept but an actual experience. The Creed which we say isn’t simply something we read; it’s something we first experience and then confess. In the Gospel excerpt which is read on the 4th Sunday of Lent (Mark 9, 17 – 31), the likely consequences of a lack of faith on our part are revealed. Today’s world may seem very different from that of the time of the Gospel, but if we examine it more closely, it has the same passions and the same misguided mindset. The technological and philosophical achievements may have changed, but ...
In this time of Great Lent, we can see a common theme throughout the Holy Services (Great Compline, the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, and the Divine Liturgy), as well as the Gospel lessons (including today’s). It is asking for God’s protection from the attacks of the evil one. The Lord Himself left us a prayer (“the Lord’s Prayer”) in which we are called to ask our Heavenly Father to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). We are in dire need of this protection, because we are unable to face him alone. But who is the wicked one? Originally, his name was Lucifer, which means “light.” God created him as a bright Archangel, and head of an entire order of angels, like ...
Dear Friends, We would like to announce that the Web Magazine Pemptousia organizes the “1st Digital Fellowship with Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi Mount Athos and Priests Wives“ which will take place on Tuesday, April 13 at 19:30 (Greek Time). The total duration of the meeting will be 2 hours. Romanian and English simultaneous interpretation will be available. You could watch the e-Meeting live on our pages here: Pemptousia: www.pemptousia.gr or https://www.facebook.com/pemptousiagr or https://www.youtube.com/user/PemptousiaWebTv Orthodoxia News Agency: www.orthodoxianewsagency.gr or https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxianewsagency Official Facebook page of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi here: https://www.facebook.com/VatopediMonastery Doxologia.ro: https://www.facebook.com/doxologia.ro
We’ve learned about a God who determines people’s fate, who decides what will happen to us without consulting us first, who’s revealed as the ruler over the whole world. In the face of such a God, who can doubt or deny Him without fear of the consequences? A God like that you either accept and submit to or reject. This is the God of all religions. But Orthodox teaching and tradition tells us about a Triune God and therefore love. Real love is inseparable from freedom. Since our love is usually confined to compassion or excessive interest in the person we love, it’s difficult for us to equate freedom with love, which is why we interfere in the way of life ...
According to the Synaxari, on the 3rd Sunday in Lent, or the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross as it’s also known: ‘we celebrate the Veneration of the Precious and Life-giving Cross’. The day is known as the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross because on that day the Orthodox Church exhibits it for the faithful to venerate, in order to strengthen them in the fast and in their struggle to defeat the passions. This is precisely what the Note to the Synaxari for the day says: ‘By your own power, Christ our God, preserve us from the attacks of the evil one and enable us to venerate your divine Passion and life-bringing Resurrection, once we have spent ...
This article keeps coming to mind as I celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to thinking of fasting in the midst of such a feast. Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the word “mystery” (for example), popular speech never uses it in the manner of the Church. I cannot remember using the word “fullness,” or even “fulfilled,” in normal speech. More contemporary words have come to replace these expressions. This doesn’t mean that an English speaker has no idea of what the words mean ...
Don’t ask other people to honor you. If you seek honor, it leaves you. If you avoid honor it follows you and becomes an advocate for your humility. Saint Isaac the Syrian
How beautifully our peoples in the Balkans decorate eggs, especially when they’re for Easter. For increasing the joy of Easter. To make guests happier. Sometimes these dyed eggs are real works of art. But if these dyed eggs are kept too long, they go off and stink horribly. In the end they dry out completely. Then the colored shell contains nothing but death. Even worse is Christ’s image of the hypocrites, who are ‘like whitewashed sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness’ (Matth. 23, 27). ‘Take heed that you do not give alms before others, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in ...
The Holy Cross holds a unique place, both in the Christian faith and in the worship of the Orthodox Church. It is the symbol of love and sacrifice, as well as foreshadowing the Resurrection. It has influenced Christian art, architecture, painting, poetry, and music, more than anything else. From an early age, majestic churches were built in the shape of a cross, with a cross erected at the top of each one. The iconostasis and everything used in common worship are decorated with the cross. Ornate crosses of blessing are placed on the Holy Table (the Altar), for the celebrant Bishop or Priest to bless the people. The cross is worn by newly baptized Christians to protect them (from visible and ...
The Holy Fathers wisely dedicated the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent to the honouring and veneration of the Precious Cross. We’ve already passed three weeks of fasting and struggle, and the precious Cross comes in the middle of Holy Lent to reinforce the faithful so that we can continue along the path that will lead to the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. An instrument which, in antiquity, represented the most horrendous of deaths was transformed by Jesus Christ into ‘a weapon against the devil’. Just as, before Christ’s coming, we were cut off from God because of the ancestral sin, so, after his resurrection, our relationship with God was restored. Our attitude is defined by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in ...
Your body was in church, but your soul was outside. Your mouth was praying, but your mind was counting interest payments, agreements, transactions, fields, holdings, gatherings with friends. All of this because the devil is cunning. He knows that we gain a great deal at the hour of prayer and this is why he attacks with increased vehemence. Saint John Chrysostom
We miserable wretches, monks and lay people, are in the last times, but the struggle is the struggle. We won’t give in even for a moment. Fight to the end. Then the Lord, who crowns us and establishes us eternally, at the last moment will not give us the false and vain things of this life but will enable us to reign with him in his kingdom. Eternally. Elder Amvrosios Lazaris
Let us become like Christ, because he became like us. Let us become gods for his sake, because he became human for our sake. He took the worst in order to give us the best. He became poor so that we might become rich through his poverty. He took on the form of a servant so that we could enjoy freedom. He came down so that we might be raised up. He withstood temptations so that we might triumph. He suffered dishonor in order to glorify us. He died to save us and ascended in order to draw us close to him, when we had fallen so low and were mortified by sin. Saint Gregory the Theologian
After the fall of the First-Created, sin and the passions of wickedness, whatever they may be, wage war against us and may prevail, depending on whether we’re aware of this war and fight back or whether we’re delighted by them, and encourage and nourish them. But never at any time can there have been such social acceptance and legitimization of sin as in our own days.
‘Communion of deification’ means a society of people that prepares and produces gods, gods by grace. This was, in any case, God’s pre-eternal plan for us, as is clear from the fact that we were made ‘in His likeness’. We were to become like Him and share in the grace of the Triune God. The implementation of this plan, however, requires our consent and co-operation. God endowed us with freedom and does not impose anything on us by force. This is why God’s aim for us is served only through our willing cooperation. Since we became distorted through our apostasy from God, we need to strive, by God’s grace, to find our true self again and to proceed with His ...
In order to be humble, realize your weakness. Everything’s from God. Everything starts and ends with God. Without the help of God’s grace, your efforts are a spider’s web. And you, in comparison to God’s majesty, are a little spider. An insignificant creature. If you’re not humble, then you’re even more insignificant, a nothing. Remember: your progress in every other virtue and the success of all your good works depend on how far you achieve humility. Saint Dimitri of Rostov
It’s difficult to trample down the passions, which become like our natural members. Saint Paul says: ‘Put to death your members which are on earth’. When you’re constantly vigilant, when you pray and practice self-control all the time, then, with God’s help, you’ll manage to trample them down and root them out. Saint John Kronstadtskij
People who live in the past are like the dead. Those who live in the future are naïve, because the future is God’s business. The joy of Christ is to be found only in the present. In God’s eternal present. Abbess Gavriilia Papayianni
