If we could come out of ourselves, (out of the love of ourselves) we’d emerge from the attraction of the Earth and then we’d see everything as it really is, with the eye of God, purely and profoundly.
1. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY CONCERNING DEATH Unlike other living creatures, human beings alone are endowed by God with reason and we alone are aware of our mortality and death. Accordingly, we alone have the ability to think deeply about it. If we journey back in time we see that, depending on people’s education, social class and interests, they investigated a variety of problems. Everyone thought about death, though, regardless of education, class or interests. As the outstanding expression of what moves our human nature, art touched on this subject from very early on. Through poetry, music, painting, sculpture and architecture our innate awe of death was expressed, revealing our human nature, which is indissolubly linked to it. Thinkers in every period have attempted ...
Can science tell us how the great Prophet Isaiah foretold the most important events in the life of Christ 700 years before His birth? Can it explain the gift of foresight which the saints have and tell us with what natural methods they acquired this grace? How is it that, on first meeting someone, they can immediately read their heart and thoughts? Without waiting for a question from visitors, they’ve given answers to what was troubling them. Let it tell us in what way the saints foretold great historical events which later came to pass exactly as they’d prophesied.
For Orthodox Christians, Advent Lent began on Nov. 15. Christmas Lent is an expression of our anxious expectation of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. Even though Christmas Lent is not as strict as the Great Lent, it contains the three disciplines of any lent: prayer, abstinence from food and almsgiving. The way we celebrate Christmas nowadays, with all the buying, giving and receiving of presents, it is clear that Advent Lent is mostly kin to almsgiving. This is the time of year when many charitable organizations ask for our support. Everywhere we go, we can hear the bells of the Salvation Army reminding us that it is the giving season. We should give in the name of Christ, whose ...
Our Church, with its rich patristic tradition, is not devoid of examples and stories on spiritual matters in order to coach its people. Both our Fathers and the martyrs have left abundant material of remarkable splendor which refers to their life stories. Their sweet smelling words and their teachings have drawn the luminous trail for the salvation of those who would like to take the narrow and steep path which leads to the Kingdom of God. However, the enormousness of our Lord Jesus Christ’s godlike might, which is the same “yesterday and today and to all Eternity” continues, not just those days but also today and until the end of times, to promote the spiritual stature of the heroes of our ...
For years now, Pemptousia has operated as an electronic magazine, promoting and providing insight into the dialogue between religion, culture and the sciences. Our starting point, of course, has always been Orthodox Christian Tradition as this has been expressed over the centuries. The most sublime expression of our Tradition is the Theology of the Fathers of the Church. Throughout its years of service, Pemptousia has hosted a large number of theological articles and interviews, though it has not, so far, expressed its theological interests in a clearly academic manner. This long-awaited moment has now arrived and Pemptousia is in a position to present its latest progeny: Analogia. Analogia (www.analogiajournal.com) is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the scholarly exposition and discussion of ...
The angels in heaven in glory and hymns. People in their pleasures and their palaces. God the Creator in a cave, in the animals’ manger, like the poorest of the poor. What humility on the part of our Jesus! Acquire that humility, my sons. Humility is the most engaging virtue, a garment stitched with gold. Blessed are those who wear it, because they’ll acquire an inexpressible spiritual beauty. As against this, the filthiest passion is pride and egotism.
B. The Liturgy of the Faithful The second part of the Divine Liturgy is the Liturgy of the Faithful, in which only baptized Christians may take part. It consists of: a) The Great Entrance b) The embrace and confession of the faith c) The Holy Offertory d) Preparation for Holy Communion e) Holy Communion f) Thanksgiving and dismissal The Great Entrance is the transfer of the gifts from the Preparation table to the Holy Altar. Before this happens, the priest says two prayers, through which he asks God to cleanse us of all sin, so that we may be counted worthy of participating in the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist. The people sing the Cherubic Hymn: ‘Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and who sing the thrice-holy ...
On 25th November, on the occasion of 1100th anniversary of the Dormition of saint Clement, Archbishop of Ochrid and wonderworker (Ὁ Ἅγιος Κλήμης ἐπίσκοπος Ἀχρίδος ὁ θαυματουργὸς), with the blessing of his Beatitude Ieronymos II Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Bulgarian Orthodox Church has the extraordinary honour of the visit of precious head of saint Clement, brought by Greek church delegation led by His Eminence Panteleimon, Metropolitan of Veria, Naousa and Kampania, Very Reverend Archimandrite Athenagoras, and Very reverend Archimandrite Porphyrios, Abbot of Holly Monastery Timiou Prodromou, in Veria. That holly place, where saint Clement had taken his monastic vows in 9th century is also blessed by his wish of the presence of his holly relics. Monastic brotherhood follows pious ...
If you fast, take communion, read and don’t have love, it’s all for nothing, because God is love.
The dark continent of Africa made famous two Englishmen named Stanley and Livingston whose exploits have been well chronicled in books and motion pictures, but way back in the fourth century two brothers experienced a saga which by comparison makes the Livingston-Stanley affair seem like a Boy Scout outing in the park. For sheer heroism and glory not even the epic achievements of Colonel T.E. Lawrence can match the African adventures of two Christians brothers, one of whom became a saint for his contribution to the cause of Christianity. Frumentios and his brother Adesios were scholarly philosophers who lived during the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great (A.D. 330) and were natives of the Middle Eastern city of Tyre. Devout ...
The greatest and most mysterious events in people’s life are birth and death. But death gives rise to much more powerful emotions and causes deeper problems. It first impinged on us after the fall of Adam and Eve and the death of Abel the Righteous. Since then it has been an integral and inescapable part of every form of life ever born. The drama and pain we feel when faced with the mystery of death is such that, from as early as antiquity, we’ve tried to understand and interpret death and the meaning of life through our own philosophy, But the pre-Christian world, which was under the law and sentence of Adam, with Hades as the only destination for us after ...
Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet.
From the time of the restoration of orthodoxy with the accession of Theodosius, then, the observance of the nativity festival on December 25 extended smoothly and swiftly from Constantinople, across Cappadocia to Antioch. The older festival of January 6 continued to be observed with the theme of the baptism of Jesus. If between Constantinople and Antioch there continued some confusion as to which of these was the Theophany of Christ, we can suppose that this was an ambiguity already in the earlier unitive celebration of the birth and baptism on that day. The reference of the incarnation to a precise point in the life of Jesus is ambiguous, indeed, in the prologue of the fourth gospel. It was otherwise, however, in ...
Let’s examine how women have been treated in Orthodox theology. It’s well known that Saint Paul proclaimed: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ . In saying this, we don’t want to demolish the differences which exist between men and women, as has happened in recent years, but rather to highlight the fact that the different roles both sexes have been assigned as part of God’s providence do not mean inequality, but an opportunity for harmonious co-existence and a means of complementing each other. The differences are not merely physical but are also part of their psychological make-up. Men and women represent ...
Have large dreams. Don’t dream about trivialities. And always in the context of the Church.
Nicholas Nixon for The New York Times By Paul Bloom Not long ago, a team of researchers watched a 1-year-old boy take justice into his own hands. The boy had just seen a puppet show in which one puppet played with a ball while interacting with two other puppets. The center puppet would slide the ball to the puppet on the right, who would pass it back. And the center puppet would slide the ball to the puppet on the left . . . who would run away with it. Then the two puppets on the ends were brought down from the stage and set before the toddler. Each was placed next to a pile of treats. At this point, the toddler was ...
From the moment people love Christ and give themselves to God, even if their passage through the monastery is not particularly marked, they sanctify the place of their ascetic struggle.
