Ξένες γλώσσες

The Sunday which follows the Ascension, the sixth Sunday after Easter, is called the Sunday of the Holy Fathers. We commemorate then the bishops who met at the Synod of Nicaea, the earliest of the seven ecumenical Synods in terms of date. Regardless of each synod viewed separately, the synods as a whole and the very concept of a synod are of great importance for the Orthodox Church. The Synod of Nicaea, however, occupies a special position in the history of Christian doctrine, since it affirmed the divinity of Christ and thus laid the foundation for all subsequent definitions. Since the sixteenth century, the great temptation for ‘modern’ theology has been, if not exactly a return to Arianism then at least ...

Not knowledge you learn, but knowledge you suffer. That’s Orthodox spirituality

The novice who is studying the Jesus Prayer will advance greatly by observing a daily rule comprising a certain number of full prostrations and bows from the waist, depending upon the strength of each individual. These are all to be performed without any hurry, with a repentant feeling in the soul and with the Jesus Prayer on the lips during each prostration. An example of such prayer may be seen in the "Homily on Faith" by St. Symeon the New Theologian. Describing the daily evening prayers of the blessed youth George, St. Symeon says: "He imagined that he was standing before the Lord Himself and prostrating himself before His holy feet, and he tearfully implored the Lord to have mercy ...

The world’s in a state of inertia, it’s in a deep sleep of sin. Fast asleep. God wakes us up with wars, deadly epidemics, fires, catastrophic storms, earthquakes, floods and poor harvests.

(Corfu 11 August 1716- Saint Petersburg 10 June 1806) Evyenios Voulgaris, a learned clergymen and eminent educator of the Greek nation, is one of the most outstanding figures among modern Greeks and, with his conscious promotion of Orthodoxy, he contributed to a general awakening among them. He was born on Corfu in 11 August 1716 and was given the name Eleftherios. He was given the name Evyenios when he was ordained deacon in 1737 or 1738. He spent his childhood on Zakynthos, where his father came from, and on Corfu. The basic source for the Life of Evyenios until he went to Russia, is the brief biography by George Ainian (early 19th century). In general, the information he provides reflects ...

Today we’re facing another form of Iconoclasm: the pressure being exerted on the Church by a secularized society to adapt to its measures and ideals, so that the Church, too, will be secularized. Secularization presents a very great danger to the Church. Instead of the Church helping the world to become like the Church, the world is attempting to influence the Church and make it more like the world. So the Church will retain its outward forms, but will lose its faith. It will suffer what Papism has, concerning which Saint Nektarios wrote: ‘Through the dogma of Infallibility, the Western Church lost its spiritual freedom, lost its adornment, was shaken to its foundations, was deprived of the beauty of the grace of ...

Lots of people approach the Lord, but few decide to follow Him. There are many people who read the Gospel, who rejoice over its sublime concepts and enthuse over its holy teaching, but only a few decide to live according to the Gospel law.

A unique masterpiece, an icon of the Ascension of Christ by the great Russian iconographer Andrey Rublyov has arrived in Athens from the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and will be displayed in the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens from June to September, 2016. The Ascension of Christ by Andrey Rublyov The icon of the Ascension of Christ is one of the five works by Rublyov which have survived. It was sent to Athens as a foretaste of the exhibitions which will be staged at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in collaboration with the Tretyakov Gallery and the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg, within the context of ‘2016, Year of Russia and Greece’. It’s worth noting that only a few days ago, ...

The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is a joyful festal stage in the truly jubilant Resurrection time of our Church. With feelings of rejoicing, we Orthodox faithful pack the churches on this holy day, to send hymns of thanksgiving to  our Saviour and Redeemer Lord and to praise His holy ascent to the heavens, after He had consented to descend in order to perform his redemptive work for the human race. (Jn. 3, 13; Phil. 2, 6-11). We hymn His return to the divine throne of His ineffable majesty, at the right hand of God the Father, to Whom He is forever our great and eternal Intercessor (I Tim. 2, 5). After His effulgent resurrection ...

When your mind isn’t distracted by worldly things and is united to God, then the ‘Good morning’ you say will be like giving a blessing.

The Russian hieromonk Dorotheus, a great instructor in spiritual asceticism, who was in this respect very much like St. Isaac the Syrian, counsels those who are learning the Jesus Prayer to recite it aloud at first. The vocal prayer, he says, will of itself turn into the mental. "Mental prayer," he continues, "is the result of much vocal prayer, and mental prayer leads to the prayer of the heart. The Jesus Prayer should not be said in a loud voice but quietly, just audibly enough that you can hear yourself.,' It is particularly beneficial to practice the Jesus Prayer aloud when assailed by distraction, grief, spiritual despondency and laziness. The vocal Jesus Prayer gradually awakens the soul from the deep moral ...

In the face of  moralism and psychological outbreaks of purity among the monophysites and duophysites of every age, who want to make every post-lapsarian event into a sin, therefore impure, therefore to be rejected, the awareness of the Church, as this has been expressed by the friends of God, its saints, reveals that God affirmation to us is total and, for this reason is also true. I would say, therefore that the incarnation, as it has come down to us from the whole of our Church tradition but particularly from the Fourth Ecumenical Synod in Chalcedon, is manifested as the great mystery of the Church, from which all the other mysteries derive their existence. God is no longer content to ...