Ξένες γλώσσες

Martyred in Constantinople on 8 August, 1680. The saint came from Zagora in Magnisia. He worked as a sailor on ships and was distinguished for the purity of his life and the modesty of his morals. He also kept the flame of his love for Christ burning in his heart. Seeing this, the evil enemy raged against him. Thus, when he was no more than seventeen years old, he was arrested, we know not why, by the Turks, who wanted to force him to renounce the faith of his forefathers. They took him to Constantinople where he endured all manner of tortures. But the Saint set no store by either his youth or the attraction of the goods offered to him by ...

Holy God, I devoted my life to You. I bow before Your name and I kneel in devotion before your power. Do what You must so that my people may have peace.

He was born in the time of Constantine the Great and came from Persia. After being instructed in the faith by a Christian called Avaros, he abandoned the religion of his fathers and everything to do with his relatives. He went to the town of Nisibis, which was on the border between the Roman and Persian nations. There he entered a monastery and, once he’d been baptized, he donned the monastic habit and devoted himself to the ascetic struggle in its many forms. But because, with the assistance of an evil demon, the monks in that monastery were envious of him, he left and went to the Monastery of Saint Sergius and Bacchus in the city called Theodosion, where he imitated ...

The Church isn’t what we think it is. They’ve wrenched us away, like infants, from the breast of our mother, the Orthodox Church. They’ve taught us other things. They’ve given us tinned milk to drink. They’ve cut us off from our roots. They’ve separated us from Tradition. They’ve expelled us from our home. They’ve made us aliens in our own land. They’ve made it their business for us to unlearn our native language. Who are they? Those who want to save us through compulsion, the Enlighteners, the Propagandists, the Bavarians and Masons… to this day. And with them, all those we considered the lights of their light, their cultural progress. And so, blindly, without spiritual discretion, we have taken every single ...

The presentation of the opinion of the Orthodox Church about the value of the moral status of the embryo is based on the official statements of the local orthodox churches. Official statements about bioethical issues have been already released by the Orthodox Churches of Russia,Greece and Romania. The official Church texts express the orthodox anthropology which is based on the christological doctrine which consists of all the events of divine economy, such as the Annunciation of the Theotokos (divine conception) and the birth of the Virgin Mary and the Nativity of Jesus Christ, which lead to significant anthropological conclusions. Common guide line of all the Churches is that the embryo is regarded from the standpoint of having both a human beginning and ...

I can foresee no way in which the teachings of the Orthodox Christian tradition could be affected by the discovery of intelligent beings on another planet. Some of my colleagues feel that even a discussion of the consequences of such a possibility is in itself a waste of time for serious theology and borders on the fringes of foolishness. I am tempted to agree with them for several reasons. As I understand the problem, the discovery of intelligent life on another planet would raise questions concerning traditional Roman Catholic and Protestant teachings regarding creation, the fall, man as the image of God, redemption and Biblical inerrancy. First one should point out that in contrast to the traditions deriving from Latin Christianity, Greek Christianity ...

Prayer averts God’s anger from us. It washes away our sins. It repels temptations. It cements our faith.

One of the richest and most beautiful monasteries we visit, is called Vatopedi, established in the 5th century. Golden coins, gilded chalices and spectacular church art is everywhere. But it is also the home of a great treasure not made from gold, but from camel hair – preserved from the earliest times of Christianity. – This is the belt of the Virgin Mary, says the monk Evstathios. According to written sources the belt was preserved in Jerusalem until the year 400. After being in Constantinople for some years, it was given to the monastery of Vatopedi as a gift. – This belt didn’t only perform miracles at one point in history, but to this very day. Every 14th day or so we ...

People who offer ‘your own from your own, in all things and for all things’ serve God truly and pleasingly. That is, people who recognize that whatever they have is a gift from God. They believe that they’ve got nothing of their own to offer. Everything’s from God and they take from that and offer it to God, together with themselves, their world and their relations with the world. They keep nothing selfishly for themselves. They offer themselves without reservation. They give everything in order to receive everything. They die in order to live. And they offer everything in Christ and for Christ. In all things (always) and for all things (for all God’s gifts). So the whole of people’s lives ...

The mind wanders and is in a state of isolation and dereliction. But when we believe, with living faith, that God is everywhere, in every place, at every moment, and is always with us and within us, the heart becomes serene, it’s free, bright, alive, and the mind’s clear. It then works as the most powerful proof of the existence of Him Whom I doubt.

The Hagiorite Orthodox monasticism is not isolated from the world; it is not unsociable. On the contrary, one might say that the genuine monk is more sociable than the laity, since he directly communicates with the supreme social Being, the Creator of man and society: the Lord. As hagiorite monks we ache and worry about the future of man theses days. Many discontented people visit the Holy Mountain, distraught by impossible troubles which cause a deadlock. The wrong way of living is the main culprit for all the hardships; that is, life outside the Church. Our times are such that everything surrounding us and our values is going through a crisis. Scientific and technological advances affect our social lives; consumerism, hedonism, ...

Worms breed in rotten wood. In the same way, anger adheres to people with very meek external behavior and contaminated calm and tranquillity. People who expel it from within themselves find forgiveness of their sins. On the other hand, those who retain it are deprived of God’s mercy.

During the stay we live in three-bed, four-bed and eight-bed rooms in different monasteries, and take part in the daily lives of the monks. The services often start at 3 o’clock in the morning, and there are only two daily meals. They are all vegetarian and last for a grand total of ten minutes. The pilgrims thus have more time for conversation and getting to know one another. All of them have a Lutheran background. Two of them, Lars Karlsøen and Bjørn Skauen, have even been priests in The Lutheran state church of Norway. Several of them have sought refuge in the Orthodox Church from what they see as heresy, modernism and worldly influence in Protestantism. – I experienced that the ...

In the biblical narratives of our Lord's Transfiguration it is easy to discern different points of inclusion and emphasis peculiar to each writer. Only Luke, for instance, mentions that Jesus was praying when He was transfigured, and only Matthew remarks that the disciples "fell on their faces." The Transfiguration. By hand of Elena Murariu In Mark's account (9:2-10) one of the most notable features of the Transfiguration is the curious way the evangelist speaks of the arrival of Moses and Elijah. Whereas Matthew and Luke say simply, "Moses and Elijah appeared" on the scene, Mark lays a special stress on Elijah. He writes, "Elijah appeared to them with Moses." Not only does Mark mention Elijah before Moses, but the verb he ...

The Paraclitic Canon to the Mother of God The day of the Dormition of the Mother of God is a high feast. In the life of the Church, the dismissal hymn and kontakion for the feast explain why: “In giving birth, Mother of God, you retained your virginity, and in your Dormition you did not abandon the world. You who are the Mother of Life have passed over into life and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death”. “Neither the tomb nor death had power over the Mother of God, who is always watchful in her prayers and in whose intercessions lies unfailing hope. For as the Mother of Life she has been transported into life by Him Who ...

If you unite yourself to God with powerful passion, you’ll be raised on high and won’t fall. Nor will you fritter away your time. You’ll belong entirely to Christ until you actually see Him, your Bridegroom.