Things will go very much better for all of us when we each start with ourselves, when the transformation starts with us. We have to try to have good thoughts which will radiate from within us. If we all start with ourselves, then the transformation will begin. Goodness will be renewed and ensconced all around us.
Few would argue against the statement that the Sacrament of Confession is on the decline in the Greek Orthodox Church. While it is not my intention here to explain the reasons for it, one could speculate that this decline is due to the morally and spiritually lax standards of our modern society to which we have become accustomed. Perhaps sins which in the past would have given rise to a sense of regret and a desire to be forgiven now seem to us to be normal. This decline may also be due to the individualistic attitude of modern society which has influenced Christians also, and which extends even into the area of religion. What I mean by this is that ...
The matter of the beginning of the world is one which traditionally has belonged to those great issues which have engaged our minds. How was the world created? What existed before that which we see? What was it that brought it all into existence? This is what inquiring minds wonder in any culture and at any time. These are questions which are baffling, so much so that we may prefer to avoid them altogether, not to trouble our minds with them, since they seem to have little relevance to reality, in which case neglecting them is not particularly difficult. But how far is this really true? For a start, everybody with any intelligence at all is concerned with the deeper issues ...
We know neither the day nor the hour. This is why, because we’re here temporarily as people, let us take care of our soul, which is immortal. People die, but how do they die? We die, but let’s be close to Christ. Let us fight with prayer, with love. My children, today the times are difficult, and the days evil. Therefore let us fight. Unless we struggle, how will we be saved?
Creating a Christian home begins with the icon corner. The bright corner becomes the center for every domestic church, where the family devotions take place. This is also the family's way of declaring to visitors that this is a Christian home, where Christ is head. Because the husband is a sort of domestic priest (the priesthood of all believers), it is important that he be the one who leads the entire family in prayer. Each member of the family should have their own patron saint's icon. A wonderful practice from ancient times is to have a family icon written so that all their patron saints are represented in the same icon. The family should try as best they can to have dinner ...
You have to understand other people, where they’re coming from, how they act, how they think, what powers they have. In marriage, especially, you have to sit and listen to the other person, and come out of yourself. When someone talks to you and rings the alarm bell in their own way, you should not only listen, but interpret the messages which are hidden behind the words of the other person.
Our world is facing a water crisis that will likely see water replace oil as the basis for many wars throughout the world. The recent extreme drought in the State of Texas, with many ranchers being forced to sell off their cattle and fires raging out of control, demonstrates the fragility of our planet. The amount of water required to produce food for the animals we eat is five hundred times more than the amount that would be consumed should we turn to eating only vegetarian diets. The increased use of groundwater has been compared to withdrawing money from a bank account without ever paying anything into it. Using up irreplaceable groundwater without depending on rainwater and surface water causes aquifers ...
The whole series can be read here: The Theology of Gender The spreading of the feminist movement deeply influenced all aspects of social life, and also the theology of many of the churches that came out of the Reformation. Feministic theology collectively questioned the way the Bible addresses the issue of gender and raised questions about whether to call God Father or Mother, and the gender of Jesus. The foundation for this occurrence is the rejection by those Christians of the Church’s teaching and tradition, due to the theory that these are products of the patriarchal societies of the Judaic and Christian era. Although these extreme theological inclinations were never adopted by Orthodox theology, some Orthodox women feel as if they ...
When a soldier’s attacked by the enemy, should he just run away? Of course not. He should fight. And we have to fight, too. As soon as the devil, the enemy, bares his teeth, through the little problems he creates for us, we have to fight back.
The asceticism in most of the Greek monasteries on the Holy Mountain throughout Lent, which is unimaginable if you’re unprepared for it, even if you’re a believer, reaches the point where, at times, it’s too terrifying to comprehend. Even on ordinary days, the divine services are, from a worldly point of view, excessively long and unnecessarily frequent, but in Lent they fill almost the whole day and the night, while the restrictions on food reach the absolute limit. During the first week, for example, and during Great Week, only the singers are given a slice of bread once or twice a day- I don’t remember which- so that they’ll have the strength to chant. ‘Vegetables and more vegetables’ in the refectories of ...
Almost all sicknesses come from lack of trust in God, which produces stress. Stress is responsible for the obliteration of the religious sense. Unless you really love Christ, unless you concern yourself with holy matters, you’ll certainly be filled with melancholy and wickedness.
Almost all sicknesses come from lack of trust in God, which produces stress. Stress is responsible for the obliteration of the religious sense. Unless you really love Christ, unless you concern yourself with holy matters, you’ll certainly be filled with melancholy and wickedness.
Loneliness God is joy. Secular life is sorrow. For forty years, as though the presence of God were a toxin in our culture, schools and public square, many of America’s leaders have been zealously working to detoxify our land. Not surprisingly, the more secularized we have become the more sorrowful we have become. Now here is an amazing disconnect. Why is it that Americahas never been so Christian and yet so joyless? A greater percentage of our population identifies itself as Christian than at any time in our nation’s history, yet we are by all observable phenomena radically depressed. How are we to explain such an anomaly? The normal state of internal affairs for Christians is expressed by St. Peter, “Jesus ...
Sts. Cyril and Methodios, Enlighteners of the Slavs – Patron Saints of the Hellenic Home for the Aged in Toronto The Hellenic Home for the Aged in Toronto has two locations, one in west Toronto and the other in east end of the city. The parish in east Toronto, located inside the nursing home, is dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodios, Enlighteners of the Slavs. On May 10th, the eve of the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodios, a Hierarchical Great Vespers was held there. Great Vespers was presided by His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios, assisted by Fr. G. Nikiforakis (Parish Priest), Fr. C. Socosan (Parish Priest of the Holy Unmercenaries Church at the other Hellenic Home location), along with other clergymen. Since the ...
It is our pleasure to invite you to GRIBOI’s 27th annual conference, In Athens, Greece from 18-20 May 2017. For many years the GRIBOI association, under M. Bohner’ s successful presidency, has been bringing together the Basic Sciences in Chemistry, Bioengineering and Biocompatibility, in collaboration with Medical Doctors from Interventional Radiology, Neurosurgeons and Orthopedics, allowing us as a group to step into the future of new biocompatible devices and materials for percutaneous interventions. Our 2017 meeting will be held in partnership with the “Hellenic Society of Nanotechnology in Health Sciences” aiming to focus upon three major pillars: Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Image Guided Therapy and Injectable Materials. We want to enhance your experience in the world of existing solutions, but also explore potential future materials in ...
We will avoid the condemnation of our conscience, the pollution of our hearts and, above all the aversion of God when we make conscious use of our time and tread the path of this life in justice and wisdom, bearing with courage the burden and heat of the day all the days of our whole life.
In a homily on the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, the shepherd of Thessaloniki, Saint Gregory Palamas, mentions that, from the moment that Jesus confessed that He is the Christ, the woman immediately became completely committed to spreading the Gospel, leaving everything behind and bringing many of the Samaritans to Jesus Christ. And so, the rest of her luminous life as Saint Foteini was stamped with her martyrdom and her love for Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the case of the Samaritan woman, Jesus first brought her to an awareness of her sinfulness, revealed to her that He knew the secrets of her heart, illumined the dark points of her life and then created an internal crisis of conscience within ...
Does being a Christian mean always having to say you’re sorry? When outsiders look at the Roman Catholic rite of confession (now more often termed "reconciliation"), they suspect it is driven by feelings of masochistic self-hatred, and sustained by claims of sacerdotal magic. Why should we have to spend this life groveling over sins, if Jesus already paid for them on the Cross? Why should we speak sins out loud to another person, when it could remain between us and the bedpost? And why should we believe that a priest stands between us and God, forgiving or retaining our debts as he chooses? Two new books from Roman Catholic authors attempt to make the case for regular sacramental confession. Scott Hahn, ...
The whole series can be read here: The Theology of Gender The examination and interpretation of the canons should be done in consideration of overall legislation. St. Basil and all the Fathers do not act as individuals in the name of their own will, but as persons that are in communion with God, therefore they express the consciousness of the Church. The experience of the Church on issues of spiritual guidance and assistance for Christians is compacted in the canonical tradition, which is part of the Holy Tradition. Still, according to Romanides, the way of interpreting and using the canons can be dangerous for the spiritual life of people, if he who applies the canons is not qualified for this demanding ...
Those who are treated unjustly by others but bear this gladly, with patience, are sheltered by God, so that they don’t sin. God also gives them comfort commensurate to their sorrow.
