A person cannot choose the time in which he is born or lives; it is not up to him, who his parents are, or the nation he will be born into, but what he is responsible for is how he will act in that given time: will he be human or inhuman, no matter his nationality nor parents.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Skete of Saint Anne (Major) a monk wanted to extend a wall in the garden of his cell and for this purpose he started late in the evening to dig into the forest. Suddenly he found the holy relics of a big saint: they were incorrupt, with a marvelous yellow color and having a very intense fragrance.
Because death is such an important moment in our life, our perfect God doesn’t leave unused any possibility of improvement for the one who is about to die and for anyone else who could be affected by that person’s death. However, here intervines our human freedom which can spoil things badly. But, if we do what we can – which is almost nothing – God will do what He can, which is everything. Don’t you believe?
When you dispute a problem with someone, remember that it isn’t you and the problem against the other but you and the other against the problem.
Not far, and at higher altitude from Karoulia, one finds the Katounakia hesychasterion. The scenery here is calmer compared to that of Karoulia. The region of Katounakia is a group of cells located between St. Anne’s Skete and Karoulia.
My argument against the existence of God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?
Why do you constantly recall what you’ve done, and bring it up to us? Don’t you know that if you praise yourself, God won’t praise you anymore? And in the same way, if you deplore yourself, he will never stop proclaiming you in front of everyone.
How can we put up with these things unless it is because we have no true love? If we have true love with sympathy and patient labor, we shall not go about scrutinizing our neighbor’s shortcomings.
on the 23rd of October, 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew II, proclaimed the entry into the Official Calendar of the Church of yet another Athonite saint: Elder Sophronios (Sacharov) from Essex. The announcement was made in the conference of the Holy Council of Mount Athos by His All-Holiness with a lot of emotion.
As part of his official visit to the Holy Mountain, the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew II, has just been to the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi.
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced the entry in the Official Calendar of the Church of the Saints Daniel of Katounakia, Hieronymos of Simonopetra, Joseph the Hesychast and Ephraim of Katounakia.
The Romanian Skete Prodromos (Romanian: Schitul românesc Prodromu, Greek: Τιμίου Προδρόμου) is a Romanian cenobitic skete belonging to the Great Lavra Monastery, located in the eastern extremity (called Vigla) of the Eastern Orthodox Monastic State of the Holy Mountain Athos, between the Aegean Sea in the East and the peak of Athos rising 2033 m in the West, nearby the cave of Athanasios the Athonite. Its name, Prodromos, is the Greek for “The Forerunner”, a cognomen of St. John the Baptist.
The warrior is not someone who fights, For no one has the right to take another life.
Saint Evdokimos is a great known unknown saint from the Monastery of Vatopedi. Father Meletios of Vatopedi, a witness of the happening, remembers:
There was once a simple man named Yannis who loved Jesus greatly. Because of his medical condition, however, he couldn’t do anything in order to find a job. Finally, an Elder took pity on him and brought him to his monastery.
When there’s respect for small things, there’ll be even greater respect towards the bigger ones. When there’s no respect for small things, then neither will there be for the bigger ones. This is how the Fathers maintained Tradition.
What thoughts we should confess? This question appears again and again. Here is a simple way to look at it:
All vices grow feeble when conquered, and when beaten are day by day made weaker, and lessen and subside both in place and time—or at any rate, as they are unlike the opposite virtues, are more easily shunned and avoided.
Between the Major Skete of Saint Anne and Karoulia, on a steep and rocky mountain side, the Minor Skete of Saint Anne was founded by a few monks who settled there during the 17th century.
When one is not free from sin, let him not blame another. Let him not lay the blame neither on the state nor on the circumstances, but on himself, on the lack of his strength in faith, on the lack of his love for God. Always those who lived in sin have blamed others. They are always ready to grumble no matter what.
He who has lost sensibility is a brainless philosopher, a self-condemned commentator, a self-contradictory windbag, a blind man who teaches others to see.
Forgetfulness in and of itself has no power, but acquires embodiment in proportion to our negligence.
The day-by-day spiritual life of an orthodox layman should be settled between him and his priest, in accordance with the Holy Tradition of the Church. This is the norm and the best way to do so.
The “Jesus Prayer” is the most powerful prayer, which contains the words “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy of me.” This core original, traditional formula varied and varies slightly, depending on the historical period and the teaching school which used it. The most common additions, but not the only ones, are “Lord Jesus Christ, [son of God], have mercy on me, [the sinner].” And there are other variations.
When we focus on good, good grows. When we focus on bad, bad grows.
St. Anne’s Skete (or, less commonly, The Major Skete of St. Anne’s) is one of four sketes attached to the Great Lavra of Mount Athos. It a Greek idiorrhythmic (hermitage-style) skete consisting of fifty one kalyvae and it is located at an altitude of 340 m in a rugged but fertile region close to the Athos cape, near Little St. Anne’s Skete about 800 meters from the New Skete.
Whatever we prefer to God, we make it into a god for ourselves.
If God sees that the intellect has entirely submitted to Him and puts its hope in Him alone, He strengthens it, saying: ‘Have no fear Jacob my son, my little Israel’ (Isa. 41:14), and: ‘Have no fear: for I have delivered you, I have called you by My name; you are Mine. If you pass through water, I shall be with you, and the rivers will not drown you. If you go through fire, you will not be burnt, and the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who saves […]
The whole planet wants the freedom of eternal happiness, but most people seek it where it is not and seek it in an inappropriate way.
First of all we should mention that our illnesses are a result of Adam’s fall. In paradise there were no illnesses. So, demonic energy is more or less involved in various degrees and because of various causes and for various purposes: to pay off for a particular sin, to stop someone from a wrong path or for one to receive a higher degree of spiritual knowledge etc.