In English

Dear God-fearing Christians, the feast which we have gathered here to celebrate together today is radiant and filled with divine joy. It is rightly called radiant because it shines from the very name of him whom we are honouring today, since he is called the lamp of the light. He is not, of course, a lamp who illumines us with  material light, because then his radiance would not be enduring and constant and would be lost every time some obstacle moved in front of it. But it is light that shows the brilliant radiance of divine grace in the depths of the hearts of those who have gathered to celebrate his memory and who elevate their minds to think upon ...

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 31 August – 1 September 2018 Keynote speakers: Dr Brandon Gallaher (University of Exeter) Revd Prof Nikolaos Loudovikos (University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki) Revd Prof Andrew Louth (Durham University) Prof Jens Zimmerman (Trinity Western University) Papers will be presented by: Barnabas Aspray (University of Cambridge) Lucian George Berciu (University of Fribourg) Richard Choate (Graduate Theological Union and University of California, Berkeley) Dr Viorel Coman (KU Leuven) Dr Christine Mangala Frost (IOCS) Ryan Hacker (University of Cambridge) Prof. Sigríður Halldórsdóttir (University of Akureyri) Dr Smilen Markov (University of Veliko Turnovo / University of Oxford) Michael Miller (University of Cambridge) Ben Morris (Diocese of Sourozh) Yuliia Rozumna (Nottingham University) Stefan Zelijkovic (University of Belgrade) Please download a programme/flyer for the conference here. Conference Abstract In Christianity, preservation of tradition and innovation are complexly intertwined. On the one hand, an act of ...

Say the prayer, say the Jesus prayer and that’ll bring you into such a good state that however much you think about it, you can’t think about it. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia

The passions cover Divine Grace, just as ash covers the spark. With asceticism and prayer, however, the heart is cleansed of the passions, the  spark of divine grace is rekindled and the faithful feel Christ in their heart, which is the centre of their existence. » Blessed Georgios Kapsanis, Proegumen of Gregoriou Monastery

We find ourselves on the sea of life – sometimes it’s a storm, other times it’s a mill-pond. God’s Grace doesn’t desert us. If things were otherwise, we’d never realize how Grace sustains us. » Elder Amphilochios Makris of Patmos

– Father, how can I be saved? – Hang on to Our Lady’s skirt, in complete confidence, such as a little child has in its mother. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite

Our soul’s like a tank full of water. If you pour water from it onto flowers, that is, the virtues, the part of goodness, you’ll feel real joy, and your sins, the thorns, will atrophy. But if you pour it onto the thorns, they’ll spread and choke you and all the flowers will wither. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

When marriage becomes a ‘sacrament’ it removes the couple and their physical marriage away from the old world, unredeemed and without God, the world of egotism of decay and death and places them in the new, theanthropic world of the Kingdom of Heaven, of the love of the Church. » Blessed Georgios Kapsanis, Proegumen of Gregoriou Monastery

All the bad sentiments, insecurity, despair, frustration that attempt to take over the soul, flee away if you’re humble. If you don’t have humility, if you’re an egotist, you don’t want your will to be thwarted, you don’t want admonition, you don’t want remonstration. You worry, get cross, rebel, react, and you’re overcome with despair. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

People are saved through sorrows. Nobody’s ever been saved without sorrows. Without sorrows and trials, don’t expect any repose in the life beyond the grave. » Elder Ephraim of Arizona

The mountains, the hills, the trees, the sea and the fish all praise God. But because we’ve blackened the understanding of our souls, we understand very little of this, very little. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia

It’s clear from the outset that the rather unusual young man who approaches Christ in today’s Gospel reading has no hidden agenda. He didn’t go to try and trick the Lord, as did the lawyer and some of the Pharisees. He was sincere. This is proved by the fact that when he heard Christ’s final exhortation, ‘he departed in sorrow’. He really was looking for the kingdom of God. This is why Saint Mark the Evangelist ‘supplements’ Matthew, saying ‘Jesus looked at him and loved him’. Young and rich yet being concerned about eternal life is a rare phenomenon. Young people never have much time for preachers. Today, when young people- and not only them- hear someone talking about eternal life, ...

Take care that you know the health and sickness of your soul. Saint Basil the Great

It’s great to walk, to work, to move and to have your health. But first you should have your spiritual health. Your spiritual health is fundamental, then comes bodily health. Almost all sicknesses come from the lack of trust in God and this creates stress. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

People are never satisfied with what they’ve got, since the soul wasn’t made for this world. So earthly things can’t make them content. » Saint Païsios the Athonite

After the resurrection of Christ, Our Lady was the support of the apostles and the newly-founded Church. It was she who taught the new Christians, guided them and comforted them in their sorrows. In her Life we read that, three days before her dormition, the angel Gabriel visited her, as he had done at the Annunciation, and announced her glorious translation from death to life. Thereafter, in miraculous fashion, the Holy Spirit gathered all the apostles in Gethsemane, at the house of the Mother of God, so that they could obtain her blessing and be present at the funeral. After they had sung praises to the Mother of God, they asked her to grant them a final teaching, as a ...

Hospitality’s the greatest of the virtues. It attracts the Grace of the Holy Spirit. My child, in the face of every stranger, I see Christ Himself. » Elder Amphilochios Makris of Patmos

Every time we celebrate the Dormition of the Mother of God, it’s like Easter all over again; the summer Easter. Our Lady the Mother of God prepares this Easter, this ‘glorious Passover from death unto life’, for us. A second Passover, holy, spotless, life-giving for the human race, because truly, today, ‘the terms of nature are overcome’. Saint John the Damascan cried aloud: ‘How the source of life goes towards life by passing through death!’ The death of the Mother who was the source of life for the Lord Himself transcends the notion of death, so that it’s not even called death but ‘dormition’ and ‘divine translation’, or a progression or procession towards the Lord. And even if we call it ...

Be patient with your own passions and be patient with mine. Then you’ll become a saint. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia

Think good things about other people. With your prayer, through Christ, you can have a beneficial effect on others. Don’t think ill of other people, because then you’re a bad influence on them.