You’ll obtain Grace through pain and tears. And then, with tears of joy and gratitude, with the fear of God, you’ll retain it. It’s attracted by warmth and zeal; with coldness and inattention it’s lost.
Alberta is a four hour flight from Toronto and in terms of size, it is five times larger than Greece; Canada is 75 times larger than Greece. On Sunday, August 27, 2017, in Edmonton, Alberta, His Eminence presided over the Divine Liturgy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, assisted by Rev. Frs. H Tzintis, T. Gove, P. Rougas and R. Poworoznik. The Divine Liturgy was conducted in the third tone, with Byzantine grandeur. Dr. George Georgiou, who is a professor at the University of Alberta, led the choir. The church was full of pious faithful who participated in Holy Communion. Ten altar boys served. His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios spoke on the day’s Gospel; "Is God against the Rich?" At the conclusion of the Divine ...
“My thoughts ar scattered…” It’s an observation I make frequently to myself, and one that I hear constantly from others. It is not that we think about many things (though we do), but we think many things about everything often with contradictions, questions, competing allegiances and inner struggles. The inner world of modern man is a noisy place. This makes it very hard for us to hear the theme of the One in Scripture: “I and the Father are One.” “That they all may be one, even as I and the Father are one.” “There is One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all…” The theme carries forward into the Church: “I believe in One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church…” Such words have a meaning for us, but that meaning ...
Joseph Monk D. Elder Arsenios Spileotis (1886-1983), fellow struggler for more than 40 years with Saint Elder Joseph the Hesychast ( 1897-1959) It is not easy to describe in a few pages the life and works of a great ascetic of the might of blessed Elder Arsenios. He was born in Pontos. While still young he was burning with Holy zeal. He decided to leave his country and walk from Russia to Constantinople and from there to the Holy Land, where he served at the Holy Sepulchre and at other Holy places for almost ten years. The Church of the Holy Resurrection in Jerusalem, where blessed Elder Arsenios served for more than ten years (among other Holy places) There, it was God’s will to ...
Why do we have all sorts of suicides and murders? Because acting in the heart of the suicide or murderer is the devil, who was the first to commit both deeds. This is why Christ urges us to have meekness and humility. Then there’s no room for the spirits of evil and pride, who desire the death of all people.
A few months ago, public debate was dominated by the issue of the relations between the two sexes and sexuality. This was sparked by a week of discussions on gender identities, organized by the Ministry of Education. A variety of views were expressed, positive and negative, regarding both the content of the initiative and the way in which it was constituted. The position of the Church and theology was repeatedly under discussion. And, on this level, opinions were expressed which illumined various facets of this question, which is so important for human nature, human morals and human societies. In Australia, which is a long way from Greece, yet is also quite close because of its flourishing Greek and Orthodox community, ...
Today is New Year's Day for the Church (1st day of Indictos), so we publish an article of Emeritus Prof. G. Mantzarides on the role of time on christian spirituality. CHURCH AND TIME The coming of Christ brought the kingdom of God into the world, and the place where the kingdom of God is made manifest is the Church. It is the Church that introduces eternity into history and offers history the perspective of eternity. The Church is the Body of Christ, which transcends place and time and joins mankind to a communion that is beyond time, a transcendent communion where all things are present in the Holy Spirit. In the Church, time and the whole cosmos are redeemed. Whatever God has offered to the world is to be found ...
We should lead the spiritual life, be obedient to our spiritual guide, confess, take communion regularly, and, most important of all, avoid criticizing other people. We should read spiritual books and Scripture, the Psalter, and take part in beneficial, spiritual discussions. It needs a lot of caution, because the times we live in are difficult. We need to persist in prayer and obedience. We have to struggle.
They are blooming: in total there are 40 sisters. Thousands of faithful pilgrims were at our Monasteries of Patrokosmas and Parigoritissa who celebrated their feast days between August 22-24. Metropolitan Sotirios presided over Great Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgies. In his homilies, the Metropolitan spoke about how sorrowful our Panagia is with what is happening in today’s society, and what is waiting for us; at Patrokosmas, he emphasized the important work done by St. Kosmas under difficult circumstances. Together with Metropolitan Sotirios during the holy services and the Divine Liturgies were dozens of clergymen from our Holy Metropolis, but also from other Orthodox jurisdictions. During the Divine Liturgy at Parigoritissa, His Grace Bishop Irénée (OCA) concelebrated; during Great Vespers at Patrokosmas, ...
‘Byzantium' at the Met In 1997, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted an exhibit called “The Glory of Byzantium.” It covered the period from 843 to 1261, the time stretching from just after the resolution of the iconoclastic crisis until the restoration of the authority of the Eastern Roman Empire, following its fall to the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It was a wonderful selection of icons, fabrics, metalwork, mosaics, and illuminated manuscripts. When I saw it (I went twice) I thought that it would be the last time I would ever see so much magnificent Byzantine art in one place. It’s nice to know that I was wrong. Until July 4, the Metropolitan offers an equally glorious exhibition, this one called ...
The Light of Christ, which is a Person, the Lord Himself, comes into the heart of those who desire God and is the good change of the right hand of the Most High . The whole of our struggle is summed up in our change. The passions aren’t mortified, but are transformed and the whole of our being is drenched in the Uncreated Light of the Divinity.
The Choir of the Fathers of Vatopaidi sing the Doxastiko at Lauds for the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, in plagial tone two. %audio%
It’s true that within the realm of Christianity, there’s often more talk of sin than there is of virtue. This is, in essence, a path of deprivation, the aim of which is not so much the quest for the good but much more the avoidance of the bad. There’s no doubt that such a position imbues sin with dimensions greater than those it actually has; produces guilt complexes; and projects God’s world in Manichaean terms, where the forces of good struggle against those of evil. And all of this within a culture which seeks, frenziedly promotes and sometimes actually creates delinquent patterns of behaviour, marginalizing the search for the good, which it understands as being reserved exclusively for special occasions. Come ...
The rapid changes in modern culture, for the most part the result of the global economic crisis, have influenced the thinking of many social and political analysts . Already, the age in which we live is being called ‘liquid modernity’ (as opposed to ‘late modernity’ which was prevalent at the beginning of the 21st century) precisely because of the fluidity which governs our society, our culture and, in the end, our life itself. After the economic crisis and the repercussions it has had on all facets of human life, many experts are now talking and writing about a redefinition and re-evaluation of the aims and values and the achievements of progress which should characterize human history from here on forward. The ...
Sobriety is the natural state of mind of those who haven’t become drunk and it denotes perception, prudence and care. This is why people who are sober are on guard and look carefully at what they can achieve. Their minds are sharp, they’re incisive and super intelligent. They’re not laden with cares, nor do they become easily discouraged.
Fr. John Parker I am an unworthy man, unworthy to be called an Orthodox Christian, not to speak of the priesthood, and I write, admittedly, from the comfort of my Mount Pleasant, SC, home. There is no Mount nearby, but it is, indeed, a pleasant seaside community on the East Coast of the United States. As such, I ask myself: how to deal with ruthless, pitiless, pitiful souls who are so darkened that their life is spent taking the life of others – and worse, thinking that they are doing this at the direction of and with the blessing of God himself, with eternal reward? Perhaps I will be criticized for my suggestion, sitting in my pleasant, mountless town, but we read ...
We call on the State and Federal Governments and State Education Departments to withdraw funding and ban Safe Schools Coalition Australia (SSCA) programs from Australian schools. We oppose the programs because it is not an anti-bullying program: • It exposes children to sexually explicit adult content; • It exposes children to queer and gender theory; • It encourages crossdressing and gender transitioning even without parental consent; • It teaches children that ‘STIs are no big deal’, without advising long term physical and mental outcomes; • It promotes risky sexual behaviours and multiple-sexual partners as ‘normal’ and even aspirational; and • It removes parental rights to determine the best outcomes for their child. We respectfully request that: • a genuine anti-bullying program that is more inclusive and representative of ...
We would like to raise awareness of a radical new program being introduced into our schools framed as an anti-bullying program; it is called the Safe Schools Coalition Australia (SSCA). The SSCA received $8 million of Federal government funding in order to develop an anti-bullying program specifically for same sex attracted and transgender children. This is the only funded anti-bullying program in Australia despite the fact that instances of bullying for such children make up less than 1% of all bullying cases. A close reading of the resources on the SSCA website and the Minus18 website (the two are intrinsically linked) can lead to the inference that this program is more than an anti-bullying programme. The material presented is sexualised and promotes gender theories that ...
