Just as the surface of the ground often can’t be seen because of the rank weeds and thorns, so the nobility and purity of the soul was often not visible until the Farmer of human nature lit the fire of the Holy Spirit, cleared it and prepared it to receive the seed from heaven.
Just as God sheds His light on all people, let those who imitate Him radiate common and equal love towards everyone.
According to Saint John of the Ladder, resentment is a poison in the soul, an estrangement from love and a continuous sin. This is why, of all the requests in the Lord’s Prayer, only one is accompanied by a caveat. In order for our own transgressions to be forgiven, the Lord sets the condition what we should forgive those who’ve wronged us. In other words, if you don’t forgive, you’re not forgiven. Forgiving somebody means placing between me and my ‘enemy’ the radiant forgiveness of God Himself. According to Saint John Chrysostom, the Lord gives us the opportunity to be cleansed of our sins even after baptism, on this condition. So it depends on us: the attitude we maintain on ...
God’s shelter and providence shield everyone, but can be seen only by those who cleanse themselves from sin.
From a live recording at a service in the church of Saint Irene, Aiolou St., 30 March 2001. %audio%
A lot of people take God’s silence to mean that He doesn’t exist or that He’s dead. But if we thought about the position we put God in with our passions, we’d realize that that He has no choice but to keep silent. We ask for His support in our misbehavior. He doesn’t make us feel guilty in any obvious way. He allows us to continue in our wicked ways and to reap the fruit of our personal sins. But if we turn to Him in repentance He comes quickly, faster than we expected. Knowing our needs, He often gets there before us. As soon as we express our requests in prayer, which are justified by the reality of our ...
Our Holy Metropolis continues to both directly provide, as well as facilitate, tens of thousands of dollars in international donations through its Missions Department. The Metropolis, for example, provides $12,000 annually to the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to support its various missionary programs and spiritual activities in Asia. Moreover, as has become tradition in recent years, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Toronto held a live Skype session with their brothers and sisters in Christ at the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. The video session took place on Friday evening, March 16th, after the Fourth Salutations to the Theotokos in Toronto, when it was already Saturday morning in ...
‘Triumphant Leader’ (setting by Georgios Raidestinos), tone plagal four Sung by the Greek Byzantine Choir conducted by Lykourgos Angelopoulos. From the CD Hymne Acathiste (2005). %audio%
Blessed by your name Mary among the woman’s Angel said a holy message changed our world destiny. A heaven's gift was sent to give us a new Hope. A king was born The Son of GOD. Angels filled the midnight sky, singing Hallelujah, He is Christ, our King. A holy spark took flesh and bones Holy spirit came upon us in earth to lighten our lives. to warm our hearts to fill us joy! Oh! God our Savior Blessed by Your Name in heaven’s glory.
Don’t try to learn about the sly and wicked things that people do, because then your soul’s transformed by what you hear.
In the event of death, we usually attempt to rationally explain its happening or to provide a sense of meaning for it through logical interpretations. We compose philosophies, preach theologies and after that, to fill in the gaps of what cannot be explained, we exorcise death with folkloric or religious rituals. For when one tries to deal with the death of a child using these means, all of these interpretations and exorcisms seem inadequate, if not senseless, especially when we use them to comfort the grieving parents. According to Dostoevsky, it is dangerous, if not a crime, for one to use logic to explain or justify the torture or death of a child. In Brothers Karamazov, Ivan resists every attempt in ...
From a recording of a concert of the Greek Byzantine Choir in Patras on 3/11/2006. The setting is by Konstantinos Pringos and the piece is sung by Panayiotis Koutras, the Protopsaltis of the church of Our Lady Myrtidiotissa, Alimos. %audio%
If, brethren, we remembered the words of the holy Elders, if we studied them, it would be difficult for us to sin, difficult to neglect ourselves. Because, precisely as they’ve advised us, if we refuse to ignore the little things and what appear to be insignificant, then we won’t fall into greater and more grievous sin. I’m always telling you that when we say about little things ‘What does this or that matter?’ we’re forming a bad habit in the soul, which then starts to pay no attention to things that matter greatly. Do you know what a great sin it is to judge your neighbour? Really, what’s worse than this? What can God hate and abhor as much as ...
But Patrick, having now become a monk, forgetting all things that were past, applied to the future, and, as if...
We blunder about, here and there, we’re troubled about petty and unimportant things. The devil, who has the power of death, traps us in his snares and wounds us unto death. This is why we must be careful not to become too attached to anything earthly, so that we can avoid his afflictions.
Today’s Gospel (Mark 9:17-31, see sidebar), read on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent (Sunday of St. John Climacus) brings together a number of themes that we have highlighted throughout our Great Lent: Sunday Bible Reading initiative. Faith, specifically faith in the God-man (Theanthropos) Christ; the importance of discipleship; the performing of miracles by Christ proving His divinity; and, new for this week, the importance of “prayer and fasting,” two essential virtues for every Christian. Consistent with our previous articles, today we will again focus on only a few words from the Bible reading: I believe; help my unbelief! These are the five words that the father of the troubled child “cried out” to Christ before He “rebuked the unclean spirit.” Last week ...
After the middle of this period , then, the Church provides appropriate additional help in our ascetic efforts, which differ in accordance with the capacities of each one of us, by presenting the perfect figure of asceticism, Saint John of the Ladder, that great asceticwho really did shed blood through his spiritual struggles in order to receive God the Holy Spirit. The whole of the striving which brought him to God is described by him in his work ‘The Ladder’, a book which, for monastics, is the surest road-map for their way of life. Of course, the Church recognizes our human weakness, but doesn’t make any concessions to it. It continues to set the bar high, showing us what’s perfect, ...
‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting’ . This phrase in the Gospel reading concerning the miraculous cure of the possessed young man suggests the power and value of prayer. Saint John of the Ladder, whom we celebrate today calls it ‘God’s devout tyrant’, since it won’t leave us in peace. The message of Holy Scripture, the teaching f the Fathers of the Church, consider prayer to be a natural expression of the soul, a vital need, and also the supreme, unique, privilege of us as human beings. This is because prayer has its roots in the very beginning of the creation of the human race. After the fall of the first-created, we hear God saying ...
We know that the Lord wants us to bear insults, mockery and hardships with patience, while the devil desires the opposite. So if we give in to what the devil suggests, it’s clear that we’ve turned ourselves and our will towards pleasure-seeking and that we’re paying no attention to the Lord. When we feel deep sorrow, however, over submitting to the devil’s provocations, then it’s equally clear that we’ve turned to God, by loving and following the strait and narrow path of His commandments.
When the soul loses humility, it also loses grace and the love for God, and then fervent prayer is extinguished.
