Ξένες γλώσσες

People are free and autonomous and can decide on matters pertinent to their lives and even as regards their death. According to the Church, people are an image of God, autonomous, certainly, but only in terms of their relationship with others. Our freedom has to do with our relations within society. The Church accepts euthanasia only when it comes from God, not from people themselves* ‘Our life is God’s greatest gift and the beginning and end are in His hands alone: “In the hand of God is the spirit of every person” (Job 12, 10). It is the locus in which our self-determination finds expression, where we encounter the grace of God through our free will and where our salvation is ...

Mary of Nazareth has been given many titles over the last two millennia. She is called the Virgin Mary, Theotokos (Greek: “Birthgiver of God”), Panagia (Greek: “All Holy One”), the Blessed Mother and Our Lady to name a few. No other woman has achieved such enduring fame and influence than has Jesus’ mother Mary. Through eyes of the world, Mary is a historical curiosity. Through the eyes of the Christian however, Mary is the preeminent follower of Jesus and an example to all believers. Everything she does and says points to her Son. A Life of Virtue Early on in the New Testament, we see Mary’ as the paradigmatic “handmaiden of the Lord.” Mary’s cousin Elizabeth greeted her while she was pregnant saying, ...

The blessed Elder George came from the Black Sea and was orphaned and left on his own very early in life. After being persecuted  and imprisoned by the atheist regime in Georgia, he came to Greece where the humble man lived with such asceticism and zealous faith that he was granted the gifts of discretion, perception, precognition and prophecy.   Father George was born in Argyroupolis (Gümüşhane), in the Black Sea region, in 1901. He was orphaned at an early age and his upbringing fell to his devout grandmother. After the death of his grandmother and sister, he and his grandfather left for Erzurum in Greater Armenia. The death of his grandfather and the abuse of his brother took him to the ...

It’s the evil demons who make crafty siren calls to our soul. These calls are the compelling expressions of our impassioned thoughts, feelings and desires. But the soul can escape them since it can always find refuge in the Lord.

(Saint John Chrysostom: In Praise of the Holy Apostle Paul, III) Demonstrating the power of human will and the fact that we can fly even to the heavens themselves, leaving the angels and archangels and the other powers, Saint Paul urges believers to become imitators of Christ, sometimes through him (“Become imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”) and sometimes without him (“Therefore become imitators of God, like beloved children.”). Then, in order to show that nothing befits this imitation so much as living for the common good and looking out for what is useful for each other he adds: “Behave with love”. This is why, when he said “Become imitators of me”, he immediately speaks of love, demonstrating that it ...

But so as not to fatigue your mind in vain by gazing out over the infinite, we’ll desist from poring over the nature of God Who lies beyond, because it’s impossible to understand Him. From what we’ve looked at, we’ve formed some sort of notion of His greatness, but all we’ve really gained is the knowledge that we’re unable to understand much else. And the more superior we believe the nature of God to be to our knowledge, the greater our sorrow is, because the summum bonum, from which we’ve been separated, is so great, and is such that we can’t bear any real knowledge of Him. And yet, sometimes we find ourselves in such close communion with God that it ...

Saint George, the new martyr of Christ, lived in the city of Neapolis of Cappadocia (now Nev-Shekir in Turkey) in the eighteenth century. He was a priest at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos and served his flock with righteousness and holiness as a true servant of the Most-high. Gifted with the qualities of love and meekness, brotherly love and forbearance, humble and spotless was his support and consolation of the Greek Christians who then lived under the yoke of the Turks. As an angel on earth the divine George willingly served his fellow men cultivating the divine gifts and pleasing to God. In the year 1797 he was invited to the village Malakopi, located within six hours from Neapolis, to serve ...

Anger brings hostility, hostility begets insults, insults cause ructions, ructions end in injuries and, often enough, the outcome’s death.

Our struggle is against the enemies of our eternity and our immortality These are: our sins, our passions our desires, and the wicked spirits. Every sin steals a little something from our eternity and mortifies our immortality. Let’s not fool ourselves: fondness for sin is hostility towards God. Hostility to Christ our Lord. Without faith in Christ our Lord, without rebirth in Christ our Lord, without life in Christ our Lord, we are and remain the workshop of demons.

The first part of the Divine Liturgy is called the Liturgy of the Catechumens. In early Christian times, when Christians were baptized at an older age, there were catechumens, that is people who had not yet been baptized, but were taking catechism lessons, in other words they were getting to know the Christian faith. Catechumens were allowed to follow this first part of the Liturgy. As we shall see, at a certain point in the Liturgy, the priest calls upon the catechumens to leave the church, since they couldn’t yet take part in the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, which is celebrated in the second part of the Liturgy. Today, there aren’t so many catechumens because Christians are now baptized ...

There are phenomena which science will never be able to explain, because it doesn’t use the right methods.

Conscious acceptance of religious and cultural pluralism and peaceful co-existence between different communities can come about from two opposing starting-points.* Either from indifference to religious faith or from conscience experience of religion. On the other hand, religious intolerance between co-existing religious communities may develop from: a) seeds of a religious nature, such as, for example, extreme fanaticism; or b) non-religious roots, such as political or nationalist factors which use religion for other purposes. All these factors continue to be powerful in the Middle East region. Be that as it may, people still anxiously desire world peace. So any attempt to study and deal with this multi-faceted problem is a valuable contribution. As an introduction, allow me, briefly, to note three points. 1. ...

The more difficult, bad and sly people are, the more unhappy they feel. The weaker their faith, the more lacking they are in love, then the more helpless and useless they feel. Those who don’t believe, who hate their neighbor, are the most miserable of people.

In the Old Testament, children are considered to be a blessing from God and are called ‘the crown of the aged’ . Sons are called ‘young olive plants around the table’ of their fathers. In the New Testament, Christ blesses the children and appears to highlight the trust of children in their parents as a model of the Christian life and a condition of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven: ‘And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ . At the same time, he called upon people to accept the Kingdom ...

Self-restraint is a powerful force and enduring wealth. It’s the foundation of all the virtues and that which first prepares souls to exercise them. It’s the guide of prudence, masters the passions of the body and calms impulses by clearing the mind and pacifying the heart.

The most important part of the Divine Liturgy is the sacrament of the Divine Eucharist.. The whole of the Liturgy is celebrated so that this sacrament can be performed. But because the sacrament is a unique and stupendous event, it requires special preparation on the part of the priests and all the faithful, as well as particular care with the precious gifts. For this reason, other parts were added to the Divine Liturgy. Almost always, Matins for the day is sung before the Divine Liturgy, though a few times we sing Vespers instead. While Matins is being sung – it consists mostly of hymns and psalms sung by the choir- the celebrant prepares himself, that is, he puts on his vestments, ...