In English

Grace will visit you gradually. You’ll enter into joy. You’ll begin to live in peace, and then you’ll become stronger by God’s grace. You won’t get angry. You won’t lose your temper, you won’t get upset with people, you won’t judge. You’ll accept all of them with love.

Archimandrite Hrysostomos Papadakis I would like to express my warmest thanks to Archimandrite Ieronymos Nikolopoulos, Chief Secretary to the Holy Synod and Parish Priest of this church, for his kind invitation to address you during Vespers on this most important day for the Orthodox Church, which is also of great significance for this parish, since it honors the memory of one of its former priests, Saint Nikolaos Planas. *** So the day itself requires our talk to turn to sanctity in general and then, in particular, to the life Saint Nikolaos, whom we’re honoring, as the pride and joy of the parish, which he served in a manner well-pleasing to God when it was still taking its first steps and was sparsely ...

The Gospel extract which is read at the sacrament of marriage is John 2, 1-11 (the miracle of the transformation of water into wine). Why did the Church choose this particular excerpt, when the Gospels have preserved numerous discussions involving Christ on marriage, particularly its indissolubility, such as, for example the discussion with the Pharisees (Matth. 19, 1-12; Mk. 10, 1-12), where we have a reference to Genesis 2, 24: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’; and also to the words of Christ in the same discussion: ‘so that they will no longer be two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let ...

   June 26, 2016 The Holy and Great Council held its concluding session on the 25th of June 2016, at the Orthodox Academy of Crete.  The work of the Council had commenced with the Patriarchal Concelebration on the Sunday of Pentecost, the 19th of June 2016, when the Divine Liturgy was presided over by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch, in Concelebration with the Primates of the Local Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, who were present, in the Cathedral of St. Minas in Heraklion, Crete. During the sessions of the Holy and Great Council, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his joy, for the willing and positive response of the Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in attendance.  At the same time, he underlined the immense efforts, over ...

Not seven days have passed since we celebrated the holy feast of Pentecost and again we’re overtaken by a chorus of martyrs, or better, serried ranks of martyrs, which are in no way lesser than the ranks of the angels seen by the Patriarch Jacob but equal to and of the same worth as them. Because martyrs and angels differ only as regards the name, whereas in their works they’re united. Angels reside in the heavens, but so, too, do the martyrs. The former are eternal and immortal; the martyrs will become so. But have the latter assumed a bodiless form? What does it matter? Because the martyrs, even though they’ve got a body, are still immortal, or rather, before ...

When people quarrel among themselves, they all say they’re right but they appropriate more of the right than they’ve any right to, which is why they’re forever quarrelling.

Buenos Aires, June 24, 2016 An open letter from METROPOLITAN PAUL of ALEPPO addressed to all the Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church on the Feast of the Holy Spirit My chains, the bond of our unity “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you… may become what I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29)   Your Holinesses, Your Beatitudes, Your Eminences and Your Graces, Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, My Fathers and brothers in the grace of the episcopate, “Apostles of Christ” and “Servants” of the people of God in all the oikoumene,   This year, an inexpressible joy flooded my heart on the Feast of Pentecost, because of the Holy Spirit who unites us, in a visible and invisible way, in the apostolic ministry that the Lord bestowed on us. First, ...

Some years ago a young student came up to me. Very hesitantly, but with the intensity of demanding an answer, he told me he was an atheist and, though he would very much like to believe, he couldn’t. He’d tried for years and stuck to his search, but had gotten nowhere. He’d chatted with professors and educated people but his thirst for something serious hadn’t been satisfied. He’d heard of me and decided he’d share his existential need with me. He asked me for scientific proof of God. ‘Do you know about integrals and different kinds of equations?’, I asked him. ‘Unfortunately not. I’m studying Philosophy’ ‘Pity’, I said, ‘because I know just such a proof’, obviously joking. He looked embarrassed and went quiet ...

The first Sunday after Pentecost is traditionally observed as the Sunday of All Saints in the Orthodox Church – both those that are “hidden” and those who have been “revealed.” These are some thoughts on the “hidden” saints – by far the most numerous. It is surely the case that most saints are hidden. St. Paul says that “our true life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).  I believe that it is for our own sakes that these things are hidden. We’re told that the Theotokos “pondered these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19) which is a world away from walking around asking everybody, “What do you think about this?” There is much about our life with God that remains ...

My body is a well-disposed enemy and a threatening friend. What a strange combination of closeness and alienation! What I fear, I honor and what I take care of, I fear. Before warring against it, I’m reconciled to it; and before making peace, I oppose it’ (On Love of Poverty, VII)

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 RELATIONS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD DECISION The Orthodox Church, as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, in her profound ecclesiastical conscience, firmly believes that she maintains a central place in matters pertaining to the promotion of unity among Christians in the contemporary world. For the Orthodox Church, Church unity is grounded on the establishment of the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ, and also on communion in the Holy Trinity and sacramental communion. This unity is experienced in the Church to this day and made manifest through apostolic succession and the patristic tradition. It is the mission and duty of the Orthodox Church to transmit and preach the ...

(Heraklion, June 18, 2016) Your Eminence Archbishop Irenaios of Crete and Your Eminences and Graces, as well as holy brothers comprising the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Church of Crete, Most honorable and beloved Mr. Vasilios Lambrinos, Mayor of Heraklion, and the representatives of local and regional authorities, Beloved people of this historic city of Heraklion, All of us here today, both our Modesty the Ecumenical Patriarch, and our colleagues, their Beatitudes the Primates of the Most-Holy Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, are overjoyed by the convocation of the Holy and Great Council of our Orthodox Church on the glorious island of Crete. We wholeheartedly thank you, Mr. Mayor, and all the authorities of Crete and the God-loving children of the Mother Church of Constantinople in Crete; ...

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 THE IMPORTANCE OF FASTING AND ITS OBSERVANCE TODAY DECISION Fasting is a divine commandment (Gen 2:16-17). According to Basil the Great, fasting is as old as humanity itself; it was prescribed in paradise (On Fasting, 1, 3. PG 31, 168 A). It is a great spiritual endeavor and the foremost expression of the Orthodox ascetic ideal. The Orthodox Church, in strict conformity with the apostolic precepts, the synodal canons, and the patristic tradition as a whole, has always proclaimed the great significance of fasting for our spiritual life and salvation. The annual liturgical cycle reflects the entire patristic teaching on fasting, the teaching on constant and unceasing watchfulness of the human person, and our participation ...