The Christmas Tree and Orthodox Tradition by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos...
I suspect that the custom of decorating a tree at Christmas time is not simply a custom which came to us from the West and which we should replace with other more Orthodox customs. To be sure, I have...
View ArticleModesty and Will
Our Lord Jesus Christ, instructing His disciples and apostles, imbued in them the necessity of observing purity of heart and thought. From the thought and from the heart proceed our sinful impulses:...
View ArticleA Most Glorious Mystery
A strange and most glorious mystery do I behold: the cave is Heaven; the Virgin, the throne of the Cherubim; the manger, the place wherein lay Christ God Whom nothing can contain… With these sacred...
View ArticleRemembering the 14,000 Holy Infants Slain by Herod in Bethlehem and the Many...
Around the Nativity of Christ, 14,000 Holy Infants were killed by King Herod in Bethlehem. When the time came for the Incarnation of the Son of God and His Birth of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Magi in...
View ArticleOn Holy Theophany by Saint John Chrysostom
We shall now say something about the present feast. Many celebrate the feast days and know their designations, but the cause for which they were established they know not. Thus concerning this, that...
View ArticleIdentical Twin Studies Prove Homosexuality Is Not Genetic
Eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way.“At best genetics is a minor...
View ArticleThe Demonic Stronghold: Characteristics of Pride
One of the foremost experts on the depths of the human spirit, St. Isaac the Syrian, says in his 41st homily: “The one who has come to a realization of his sin is higher than the one who raises the...
View ArticleDeveloping the Active Life of Prayer by Saint Neilos of Sinai
Prayer and reading are excellent; they stop the aimless wandering of thoughts, shackle the thought which turns on useless things and keep it close by them with profit, occupied without distraction by...
View ArticleFasting is Beneficial by Saint John Chrysostom
Many Christians, unaware of the great value of fasting, either keep the fast with difficulty or reject it altogether. We should not be afraid to fast but embrace it with joy. There is nothing for us to...
View ArticleWatchfulness, Prayer, and Confession by Elder Ephraim of Philotheou
My beloved children,Today we will say a few things about the great virtue of watchfulness.As you know, watchfulness is a patristic teaching, it is the experience of the great neptic fathers of the...
View ArticleΤο the Three Hierarchs
In order for us to understand the role and importance which the holy Fathers have within the life of the Orthodox Church, we must examine it under the light of the Divine Economia. But, what to we mean...
View ArticleOn Truth and Love in the Writings of St. John the Evangelist by St.Theophan...
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, the beloved disciple of the Lord, is above all an example and a teacher of love. Love breathes through his gospel, lessons about love fill his...
View ArticleSaturday of Souls by Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos
On the same day, the most Divine Fathers appointed a commemoration of all those who, from ages past, have piously fallen asleep, in the hope of resurrection unto life eternal. Since it often happens...
View ArticleSaint Dorotheos of Gaza on the Holy Lenten Fast
In the Law, God laid down that the sons of Israel should each year give tithes of all they possessed, and if they did so they were blessed in all their works. The holy Apostles, knowing this to be for...
View ArticleThe Saints and Their Intercessions by Saint Silouan the Athonite
To many people the saints seem far removed from us. But the saints are far only from people who have distanced themselves – they are very close to them that keep Christ’s commandments and possess the...
View ArticleThe Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt by Metropolitan Anthony Sourozh
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.Week after week we feel that we are coming closer and closer to the glorious Resurrection of Christ. And it seems to us that we are moving...
View ArticleBlessed Theophylact on Thomas Sunday
John 20:19-3119–23. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst,...
View ArticleHow to Save the Soul by Saint Theophan the Recluse
What does one say to the person who asks: "How can I save my soul?"This: Repent, and being strengthened by the power of grace in the Holy Mysteries, walk in the path of God's commandments, under the...
View ArticleThe Place of Holy Relics in the Orthodox Church
Without doubt, matter is represented in the human body in a manner which is most puzzling, most mysterious, and most complex. The brain: What wondrous mysteries pass between its physical and spiritual...
View ArticleSeven Meanings of the Cross
The symbol of the cross is ubiquitous in society. It is printed on bumper stickers and tattooed on forearms; it is spray painted on concrete walls and stitched onto denim jackets; it adorns the necks...
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