The Doubt of Joseph
We find the theme of Joseph’s doubt (Mt 1:18-19) in the offices of Christmas, as well as on the icon of the Nativity. The Devil, the Tempter, has taken on the appearance of this bent, old man, covered with animal skins. Joseph listens, his head bowed, deep in gloom, feeling crushed. Parallel to this, the […]
Sunday before Christmas-Remembering our Ancestors
The Sunday before Christmas is known to the Orthodox as the Sunday of the Holy Genealogy. On this day the Church commemorates the ancestors of Christ from Adam to Joseph the Betrothed. Christ’s full humanity meant not just that he possessed a human nature but that he had blood relatives, and that he came from […]
Saint Dionysios as Archbishop of Aegina (1577-1578)
In the summer of 1577 Abbot Daniel left Zakynthos in order to travel to the Holy Land and worship at the Tomb of Christ. On the way he arrived in Athens from Zakynthos and met with the virtuous and wise Archbishop Nikanor. The Archbishop was drawn to Daniel’s piety, simplicity, innate humility, and excellent theological grounding – he was […]
“No Saint was loved in the West more than St Catherine”
Sinai became widely known, particularly in Europe, with the spreading of the fame and cult of St. Catherine. Symeon Metaphrastes contributed greatly in making the life of the Saint known to the laity when, in the 10th century, he wrote on “the martyrdom of the great Martyr and in the name of Christ victorious Saint […]
Prophesies by St. Kosmas Aitolos
Father Kosmas Aitolos was born in 1714 in the Greek village Megalo Dendro (Big Tree) in the region of Aitolia. He studied in Mount Athos, in “Athonias School”, and later he became a monk in Philotheou Monastery. Because of the lack of education in most of the population, especially in the remote areas of Greece, […]
Saint Mary Magdalene: The Revision of the Role of a Prominent Apostle
The years between 1976-1985 were declared by the United Nations to be the “Decade of the Rights of Women”. Within the framework of the related activities which were undertaken at the time, it was claimed, among other things, that religions bore the responsibility for the suppression of women’s rights. In response to this challenge, the […]
Saint Zacharias the New Martyr of Atra
The Holy New Martyr Zacharias was from the Peloponnesos in Greece in the region of Arta. He renounced Christ to become a Muslim, then went to old Patras and worked there as a furrier. He had a book, THE SALVATION OF SINNERS,[1] which he often read in secret. The book moved him to repentence, and […]
The Life of Saint Eleftherios
When the phrase “child prodigy” is mentioned it may bring to mind the name of Mozart, who composed music before he was twelve that is still extant, or Alexander Pope, who wrote the classic poem “Solitude” when he was but eleven years old. It would be difficult to recall any boy genius of religion, but […]
The Holy Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus
Saints Thyrsus and Leucius were honorable citizens of Caesarea of Bithynia, the former being baptized and the latter being a Christian catechumen. Callinicus, however, was a pagan priest. When Emperor Decius’s heir, Cumbricius, began to mercilessly torture and murder Christians, the fearless Leucius appeared before him and, reproaching him, said: “Why have you waged war […]
Early Christian Histories of Saint Spyridon
Rufinus of Aquileia (340/345 – 410 A.D.) writing of the great men gathered at the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicea in 325 A.D., says the following about Spyridon (Eccl. Hist. Bk. 10, Ch. 5): If any of their number would have been even more outstanding, it is said to have been Spyridon, a bishop from […]