Ξένες γλώσσες

In order to consider the question properly, it is necessary to review the doctrines of the Church on abortion and then define, as far as possible within this short study, the concept of oikonomia. The definitive work on the subject of abortion is a small book by Archpriest John Kowalczyk entitled "An Orthodox View of Abortion"1. Fr. Kowalczyk points out that, during the first two centuries of Christianity, the teachings on abortion along with other moral issues were set down primarily in two works, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and the Epistle of Barnabas. In the second chapter of the former we find the following proscriptions:2 Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not corrupt boys; do not fornicate; ...

Insults cleanse our soul of the passions. In Greek there's an expression for this: if somebody insults another person, they can say: 'I gave him or her a good washing down'. And so they did.

We often forget that we're merely visitors passing through this life and should therefore live in ceaseless prayer, because prayer is the breath of our soul. Prayer attracts energy from the source of life, the Lord, Who guards, preserves and nourishes all living things.

My dear friends, Thus spake, in a little book entitled A Collection of Thoughts, Kiki Dimoula, an outstanding poet to whom the Department of Theology at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki had the pleasure and honour last year to award an honorary degree. Exquisite words, threatening our certainty, which is linked to our everyday routine and everything that surrounds and shapes that, while ignoring the fact that this everyday life is not always connected to the mystery of our immediacy. In other words, with that reality which recognizes that ‘one thing is needful’. And, in the Orthodox tradition, that thing is none other than an encounter with the person of the incarnate Word, Christ. This is a statement which demonstrates from afar ...

We, Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, have met on the Greek island of Lesvos to demonstrate our profound concern for the tragic situation of the numerous refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who have come to Europe fleeing from situations of conflict and, in many cases, daily threats to their survival. World opinion cannot ignore the colossal humanitarian crisis created by the spread of violence and armed conflict, the persecution and displacement of religious and ethnic minorities, and the uprooting of families from their homes, in violation of their human dignity and their fundamental human rights and freedoms. The tragedy of forced migration and displacement affects millions, and is fundamentally a crisis of humanity, ...

Where people's confidence in themselves ends is where help from God begins.

In education, it's exceptionally dangerous to pay attention only to the development of the intellect and knowledge, ignoring the heart. We should look to the heart above all else, because the heart is life, but life which sin has corrupted. Society is corrupt precisely because we don't have Christian education.

This examination of the issue of abortion, the Orthodox concept of oikonomia and certain individual situations used to support and promote the "right" to an abortion has been undertaken primarily because there is a legally and culturally perceived "right to an abortion" in America. Fetus removed for mom's health reasons Young people growing up today cannot remember a time before the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade in 1973 legalized abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Should Roe be reversed by the High Court, legislative initiatives guaranteeing access to abortion presently exist in many states and at the federal level, strongly suggesting that the procedure has become institutionalized in our present culture and will not be either ...

Just looking at something isn't in itself a sin. What is a sin is looking at things with envy, pride and greed.

Warm and balmy weather is followed by thunderstorms and rain. A soul which finds relief from sorrow in mourning and which has been cooled by tears enjoys a special calmness and serenity which, like the scent of perfumes, emerge from and are released by pure prayer.

The Elder often advised us to have spiritual dignity and generous pride. These were the virtues that distinguished him, too, as everybody knew who met him. I once went to visit him in his old kelli of the Precious Cross and after our chat I said goodbye to him, but he accompanied me for quite a way. As soon as I told him not to tire himself out and to go back to his kelli, he said goodbye and went back. If I hadn’t said anything he’d have gone with me as far as our representative’s house in Karyes. I should also say that he rarely showed his gift of foresight and never to show off, but only for the benefit of ...

«One evening in a not so fashionable taverna, a young Chinaman came in with his merchandise displayed on a wooden tray hanging from a strap round his neck. A host of trinkety things were glinting on there, both weird and not so strange. My eye was caught by some cheap-looking little red plaster birds. Each of them was standing on a plastic tree trunk, without even a dry leaf to indicate that there were better times. At the end of the trunk there was a little button, like a protruding knot. You pressed it and the bird sang. I quickly grabbed three, as if there was a fear they’d fly away. I didn’t ask how much each cost, and didn’t ask for ...

The Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Mark 9, 17-31), presents Jesus as coming face to face with an ancient problem which affects the whole of humanity: the ability of people to overcome evil. For as long as there have been people on earth, evil in its thousand and one forms- poverty, hunger, wars, refugee crises, sicknesses and death- has held sway over their lives, suffocated their hopes and, often enough, driven them to despair. Philosophers, economists, politicians, scientists, religious leaders and even soothsayers have, for centuries, struggled against it on a daily basis. Sometimes more successfully, at other times less so, the human race has managed to make some progress towards the improvement of the quality of life, ...

Just as a healthy eye desires the light, so, if fasting's undertaken with discretion, it's followed by a desire for prayer.

Who is able to act as confessor depends on the bishop’s discernment. In many places in Greece, the bishop selects certain priests and appoints them as confessors through a special prayer and the ‘laying on of hands’. Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain allows all priests to act as confessors without any particular prayer of appointment. Regardless, no one can act as a confessor without the blessing of the bishop, for he is the spiritual father par excellence of all those under his jurisdiction, clergy and laity alike.  The ideal is that the confessor/spiritual father should be a priest with whom the spiritual child can easily have regular contact - if not the local parish priest, then at least a ...