On Cheesefare Sunday

On this Sunday the Holy Church focuses on the memory of the exile of our ancestral parents from paradise for disobedience and intemperance in order that through misfortune it more evidently emphasizes the importance of the presented ascetical effort for all, and in the loss of the blessedness of paradise it specifies a subject, worthy […]

The Sickness that is Arrogance

In its desire to prepare us for the great and bright battle of the virtues, Holy and Great Lent, the Church, has adopted a period of preparation, that of the Triodion. This period starts with tomorrow’s Sunday, with an important parable related by our Lord: the Publican and the Pharisee. The parable says that two […]

On Despair and Salvation

Α nun possessed by a spirit of despair would say over and over again, “I am afraid that I will not be saved.” And a wise elder replied to her: “Who could then be saved if monastics cannot? For whom has God created Paradise? We will be saved. We ought to be joyful. We should […]

At the Border between Life and Death

Findings-Conclusions 1) Life and death transcend us as an instant, as a process and as events. 2) The closer we get to actually creating life purely through artificial means, the easier it makes it for us to take it away, to decide its end. We consider it our own responsibility. 3) In the end, the […]

An Introduction to the Epistles of the Apostle Paul

As I keep hearing the Epistles of the blessed Paul read, and that twice every week, and often three or four times, whenever we are celebrating the memorials of the holy martyrs, gladly do I enjoy the spiritual trumpet, and get roused and warmed with desire at recognizing the voice so dear to me, and […]

Where’s Mephibosheth?

The battle was fierce and bloody. Israel was at war again with their arch enemies, the Philistines. It was among the toughest battles for the young nation, and things had gone very wrong. Three of Israel’s princes were dead, including the beloved Jonathan. The king himself lay in a muddy field, gasping for breath. King […]

Marriage and the Family: Models and Comparisons within the Orthodox Tradition

Models and Comparisons Man moves through life always having need of examples, models, standards, ideals, and comparisons. He has to find support somewhere in order to see or understand something else. From the familiar he proceeds to the dissimilar and gradually draws near to and perceives that which is distant. He uses this way of […]

The Spiritual Father

1 January 1946 “Behold, I and the children God has given me”. I didn’t want to have children in the world by the flesh and God gave me you to have as my spiritual children. That saying comforts me and I imagine it brings you joy, too. I’ve got you as my children and you […]

The Miracle at the Virgin Mary Church in Maadi, Egypt in 1976

The site of the present Church of the Virgin Mary is closely associated with the Holy Family when they came to Egypt. After their short stay in Old Cairo, the Holy Family moved in a southerly direction, reaching the modern Cairo suburb of Maadi which, in earliest Pharaonic times was an outlying district of Memphis, […]

The Eucharistic Liturgy in Ancient House Churches

Many evangelical groups today are proposing that we abandon “traditional” models of “being the Church,” and instead replace that stodginess with what is presumably a more “New Testament” model: that of the “house church” or “cell church.” Essentially, they are promoting that the local Church be a de-centralized assembly, meeting in the homes of various […]