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During its long historical past the Great Holy Vatopedi Monastery has proved to have played a double role in its spiritual activities. It pursued both a  hesychastic life and freedom from worldly care, that are the basics to achieve theosis, and it also sent its saintly children out on missionary work  to be the living examples of the Orthodox Athonian Tradition  and thus support the people of God, something not alien in the life of the Church through the centuries. We can here say that it excelled in this role so much that the lot of missionary work fell on it not only within Greece but out of it too. St. Maxim Vatopedinos, known as “St. Maxim the Greek”, was one ...

If you want to make a special ascetic effort for Lent, you could always eat what the Prodigal Son wanted to. When he was away being prodigal, I mean. I’m not suggesting you go out and slaughter a fatted calf to help you through fifth week. We’re told that, when he was looking after the swine, ‘he would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; but no one gave him anything’ (Luke 15, 16). Of course, we don’t know the exact word that Christ used for ‘pods’, but the Greek translation, keration, strongly suggests the Ceratonia siliqua or carob tree. The carob is native to the Eastern Mediterranean and we know that, today, the pods and ...

Great Lent is a period of repentance, during which our stony hearts must become, through God’s grace, softened in the flesh, and move from being callous to being sensitive, from cold and hard to warm and open to others, particularly God Himself. Saint John of the ladder with his companions, 11th Century byzantine manuscript Great Lent is a time of renewal when everything, as is the case every spring, makes a new beginning and our sunless lives are again brightened by all the intensity that God can give us, making us His confidants, through the Holy Sacraments and His costly gifts. This reconciliation is a joy; for both us and for God – a new beginning. The fourth Sunday of Lent is ...

Church is a spiritual locus for us to find communion with God, and this is very, very important. This is why, if we want to be calm, if we want to be peaceful, if we want to find our inner harmony, we have to communicate properly with God. And how do we do that? By observing the commandments. The commandments are the way in which we’re cured. If we keep the commandments, we receive the uncreated divine energy, as Saint Gregory Palamas says.

All of this (see Coercion and violence are the basic characteristics of the patricidal society, also by Bishop Amfilohije) is inevitable, because necessity and violence beget only violence and enslavement. This is clear from the waves of organized terrorism today, which have now assumed global dimensions. The root of this evil lies in the thirst for liberation from the overarching coercion which is evident in all the structures of modern ‘bourgeois’ society. It also lies in the deep disappointment regarding the effectiveness of other revolutionary movements so far, which bind themselves to the norms of a previous form of state coercion, violence and ideological elitism. So, behind this new wave, is there not the despairing cry of a generation which ...

The soul of a child should feel death as the threshold of life in heaven, a stepping-stone towards eternal life with Christ’, that is, paradise. The main role in the Orthodox spiritual development of a child is played by the family in which it grows up. The notion of Paradise, however, is of great importance for psychology, even in cases where there is no religious input. The deceased live happily in Paradise, that is a beautiful place which we can’t see, but from which they can see and hear us. Particularly in pre-school years, the presentation of life after death is not merely important but actually necessary. Teaching children about life after death and the presentation of Paradise and Hell must ...

Today Gabriel, who stands before God, came to the pure virgin, announcing the glad tidings: ‘Hail, you who are full of grace’. She tried to think what kind of salutation this might be. But the angel went straight on to say: ‘The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favour with God. You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob unto the ages And of His kingdom there will ...

What darkness, what delusion, what weakness and what a terrible, deathly power sin is. Is it other people’s fault that they’re different from us and so we hate them, or that they disagree with us or that they don’t play to our egotism and don’t flatter our passions? Don’t we all have our own free will, our own idiosyncrasy, our temperament, habits and little ways? We should be understanding towards others and respect other people’s freedom, which even God Himself doesn’t infringe.

The biblical story of the Feast of the Annunciation is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke (1:26-39). The Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, who was living in Nazareth, and said to her, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” Mary was perplexed and wondered what kind of greeting this was. The angel told her not to be afraid, for she had found favor with God. He said, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and ...

The destiny of humanity changed radically after Christ’s Incarnation, and a living model of human behavior was initiated by the second Adam, the perfect Man, who is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, Christ’s teaching did not come as a secular revolution. This is what His contemporary Jews did not understand. On the contrary, salvation in Christ came to this world in a silent but powerful way: internally through patience, love, sacrifice, and humility. Although Christ’s teaching introduced a revolutionary model of life where equality, justice, love, and mutual sacrifice are the motives of human behavior, Christ’s Incarnation did not aim for liberation from any social injustice, but liberation from death and corruption. However, people are still dying and this world is more ...

Cultivate the fear of God within you, as well as reverence for His indescribable majesty. Have a broken and contrite heart. Consider everyone superior to you. Love silence, isolation, and conversing with the Lord, Who will become your guide and teacher.

Today is a bright and joyful day for the human race. The Archangel Gabriel brings the message of our salvation to the Virgin Mary. God comes to be born in the flesh, to dwell in a human body, to expunge the curse, to bridge the gap that separated God from people. The Lord of the Heavens asks the permission of a person He created, to plight Himself to the lowliness of her nature. Today is revealed the ineffable magnitude of God’s mercy towards us rebel humans. He Who is boundless comes into nature and becomes the son of a human being, in the “form of a servant” and “takes on created flesh”. In spring, the season of the renewal of nature, ...

The Akathistos Hymn occupies an important in the reverential period of Great Lent and is one of the most popular and well-known hymns, both in terms of its melody and poetry. Its inclusion in the Triodio can be explained by the fact that the content is linked to the joyful message of the Annunciation, which is why the Fridays before and after the feast both announce it and recollect it. A special place in the service of the Akathistos belongs to the proem to the kontakion ‘To you victorious leader of triumphant hosts. It’s sung ‘slowly and melodically’, clearly in order to emphasize the historical depth of the faith of Christians that ‘the triumphant leader’ is our protectress and helper in ...

Jesus, Son of God, have mercy upon me. Bring peace and calm to my bad conscience.

After many months of work by an inter-disciplinary team from the Metsovio National Technical University, under the leadership of Professor Antonia Moropoulou, the Canopy of the Most Holy Sepulchre is now fully restored and once more ready to receive the countless pilgrims who flock to Jerusalem on a daily basis. Photos: briefingnews.gr The handover ceremony took place shortly before noon, in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, and the Prime Minister of Greece. At the beginning of the ceremony of the return of the Canopy, Patriarch Theofilos of Jerusalem stressed the importance of the task and the significance of the work of the experts from the National Technical University. He also declared that he was moved by the things that ...

In the thoughts that follow I would like to look at a crucial subject. It is the great issue of secularism in church, theology, and pastoral care. St Paul Secularism is the loss of the true life of the Church, the alienation of Church members from the genuine Church spirit. Secularism is the rejection of the ecclesiastic ethos and the permeation of our life by the so-called “worldly spirit.” It should be stressed that secularization of the Church members is a grave danger. The Church has several “enemies”; the worst and most dangerous one is secularization, which eats up the marrow of the Church. The Church itself, of course, is under no real danger, since it is the blessed Body of Christ, ...

‘And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it”’ (Gen. 1, 11), because once the earth had been cleared of the huge volume of the waters, it appeared to be entirely deserted and unadorned. But once it accepted the law and the word of the Creator it suffered pangs and gave birth immediately to a whole host of offspring: verdure, plants, meadows, flowers and wonderful fruits. It was decked out like a bride, ornamented in a beautifully bejeweled costume. Even though it was such a short time since it had been cleared. No sooner ...

We’ll all depart this life. We’re just passing through. We came here to show what we can do and then leave.

The story of the fall is clear. Eve was deceived by the serpent and first transgressed God’s commandment by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Then she went on and gave to the man who also ate. The punishment is an unavoidable consequence of the act of disobedience. And for woman, it sounds more severe: “I will greatly multiply your pain and your groaning, and in pain you shall bring forth children. Your recourse will be to your husband, and he shall rule over you”. Throughout the primitive history of Genesis, God responds to the rebellion of His creation with a direct judgment and punishment. But God’s justice in the Old Testament is not blind judgment according to a ...