In English

The feast of Theophany (also called Epiphany) is the second greatest feast (after Pascha) in the Christian Calendar. Theophany is even more important than Nativity. In fact, Theophany is the fulfillment of the Nativity. At Christ’s birth, his revelation as the God-man begins. However, this revelation begins slowly, quietly (it had actually begun silently nine months earlier at the Annunciation).  At Christ’s birth, only a few shepherds know what is going on–and an angel had to reveal it to them: “Go into the town” the angel told the shepherds, “and look for a tightly-wrapped baby lying in a feeding trough.” While Jesus was still an infant but after Joseph and Mary had settled in a house, three Wise Men from the ...

Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the Nativity of Christ.

When is pain a blessing for us? When it makes us try and find out how we’re doing. If we don’t do this of our own accord, we need sorrows. Because it’s the only way to get us to wake up.

When you pray, you have to remember the hour of death and be afraid of eternal fire. We shouldn’t be terrified by the difficulties and burdens of life, because, through the path of many sorrows we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s not the place that sanctifies the person, but the person who sanctifies the place.

On January 1 our holy Church celebrates two great and important events: the circumcision of Christ, the formal entry of a male child into the Jewish community which according to their custom took place on the 8th day after his birth; and the commemoration of Saint Basil the Great, the Archbishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia. And, as well as this, a solemn doxology is sung in Christian churches ‘on the occasion of the (civil) new year’. The beginning of the new civil year marks the start of a new time period, while also raising the question of when, and by whom time itself was created. The creation of time is to be found in the first chapter of the book of Genesis ...

Whenever there’s mention of Saint Basil, we always highlight his studies in Athens, his ascetic life in Pontus, his lack of possessions, his contributions to society, and his literary oeuvre. It’s certainly true that the author of that outstanding theological text, the Divine Liturgy, distinguished himself as a diligent student, charismatic ascetic, selfless social worker and consummate writer. What may not be so widely known is that, apart from that of his parents, an important role in the upbringing of the leading ecumenical teacher was played by his grandmother. Recalling his grandmother, Saint Basil the Great says: ‘Macrina the famous, through whom we were taught the words of the most blessed Gregory’. Grandmother Macrina transfused the spirit of life into her ...

When people are deluded and neglect their duty, God doesn’t change His mind as regards the mercy He’s granted them. He doesn’t discard them as so much ash, but intervenes in an instructive manner in order to mend their ways. This is what the Fathers call ‘instructive and conciliatory additions’. Although God doesn’t abdicate His capacity as Father, He tolerates the transgressors, while pressing them to reform.

2019 NEW YEAR’S ENCYCLICAL   The proponents of “God is dead” have not stopped. They fiercely persist. An archbishop once said it. What did he say exactly? That “we live in a post-Christian era.” Many people think the same way. Are they correct? Of course not. Why? Because Christ is the true God. The only true God. He is eternal. He is the same yesterday and today and to the ages. He does not die. We die. We will face the Righteous Judge. The first who tried to kill God was Herod. He slaughtered fourteen thousand (14,000) infants in order to slaughter Christ. He did not succeed. How many have been slaughtered by the contemporary Herods? Millions. Just think of the abortions. In Greece alone, a ...

If the saving power of the teaching depended upon on our knowledge and our agreement with it, then it would make sense for people to come up with the idea of rebuilding Christianity according to human weaknesses or the demands of the time and to adapt it to the sinful desires of their heart. But the saving power of the Christian law doesn’t depend on us at all, but on the will of God, stemming from the fact that God Himself established precisely the exact path to salvation. Other than this one, there is no other path, nor could any such a one ever exist. Consequently, if people teach in any different manner whatsoever, this means that they’ve deviated from ...

A new year is upon us, my dear friends, the year 2019. May Christ and Our Lady bless it, and may it bring us joy and happiness. But, as we’ve had occasion to mention before, these two, real joy and happiness, are only to be found if we’re close to God. This is why I pray that you, my Christian friends, will be rooted in faith in Christ and will live in accordance with His holy commandments. Then, I promise you, you’ll find spiritual peace and joy, such joy that no-one can ever take away from you, no matter how hard they fight against you and hound you. We know, my brothers and sisters, because we see and experience it, that ...

Bodily effort and study of the divine Scriptures ensure purity of the mind. The world, meanwhile, is strengthened by hope and the fear of God. Hope and fear are supported within us by avoiding worldly people and by unceasing prayer.

Unexpected things keep cropping up for us, because we have a will and hunger. These unexpected things are in conflict with our will and wishes, which is why they seem to be unexpected, though, in fact, they’re not. Because people who love God expect anything and everything and always say: ‘May your will be done’.

Soon the sun will be extinguished for us. Wrapped in the dark veil of death, we’ll be hidden away from it. But, while we live, why shouldn’t the sun see us as children who are like their heavenly Father. Let’s promise to give such pleasure to the sun and, even more so, to ourselves and our friends. And may our heavenly Father be our support in this, now and unto the ages.

Why shouldn’t Christianity change with the times? Saint Theophan wrote this on the Sunday after the Nativity, 29 December 1863 and his words are as apposite today as they were then. The times have changed! How happy I was to hear this. This means that you’re listening carefully to what I say, and not only that you’re listening, but also that you’re determined to abide by it. What more could we desire, those of us who preach as we were ordered to and what we were ordered to? Aside from all this, I can in no way agree with your opinion and I consider it my duty to comment on and correct it, because (despite the fact that it perhaps goes against your will ...

The inner purity of the beautiful soul of the real person also enhances their external appearance, and that divine tenderness of God’s love even sweetens their countenance. Apart from making people beautiful spiritually, and sanctifying them, the internal beauty of the soul also betrays them externally with divine Grace. It adorns and sanctifies even ugly clothing, provided it’s worn by one of God’s people.

Today’s sermon, the last of the year, deals with the martyrdom of twenty thousand Christians, whose sacred memory the Church celebrates today. They were martyred in 304 A.D. in Nicomedia, during the great persecution of Diocletian. The latter was augustus in the East, with his headquarters at Nicomedia, while Maximian was augustus in Rome. These two emperors ruled the Roman state, one in the West, the other in the East, from 285-305. These years were associated with the last great persecutions of the Church. Seven years later, in 312/313, Constantine the Great, who had grown up in Nicomedia as a hostage at Diocletian’s court, put a stop to the persecutions. In 305, after Maximian’s victorious campaign in Ethiopia, the whole of ...

We shouldn’t be sad when our weaknesses are exposed… In temptations, we’re taught to see all sides of our soul, both the good and the bad. Experience often shows us how to distinguish the good from the bad, and it takes not a little time to acquire this.

In a festal atmosphere, with twinkling lights, the giving and receiving of gifts, with parties and food, with everything our consumer society and secularized Christian life dictates, we celebrate Christmas. The rather more ‘spiritual’ view sees Christmas as the event of ‘peace on earth’ which God brought with His advent, with a nod towards His failure, since we know that, from the time He came until today, very few years have been without war somewhere in the world. And then again, the more ‘spiritual’ view, with a theological foundation, will say that Christ became human ‘in order to save us from our sins’, making sin the basis for the astonishing fact of God’s incarnation. In other words, something negative. Amid all this secular, ...

It needs repentance such as that shown by the Ninevites to change the Lord’s decisions. Otherwise many tribulations come into the world.

At this time of year, people often talk about the ‘spirit of Christmas’. But are we all talking about the same thing? I think not. It seems to me that if the ‘spirit of Christmas’ is only the presents, shopping in general, family meals, gatherings and relaxation, then Christmas, especially these days, must be very depressing for a lot of people. It causes depression, because many of us don’t have the means to shop, to go out and to enjoy themselves. But the issue’s more serious than we think, because it has another dimension. Even those who do live with all the above, still experience a different kind of unhappiness; they aren’t full of joy, either. It’s obvious from their ...