In times of trial, people draw closer to God, which is why God also has to allow such trials, in times when mankind settles onto the wrong path.
The demon of fear that tempts you, saying „Where can you flee? You have no repentance; you have no escape”, belongs to the enemy who is trying to make you lose self-control, whereas godly sadness does not attack you, but says, „Do not be afraid; try again”, for it knows that humanity is weak, and strengthens us.
“…… I learned from the internet that the journalist Angel Bonchev was preparing a book about the unknown for us Saint Nikephoros the Leper, at a critical moment when the world was covered by the coronavirus pandemic and thousands died, killed by this new plague.
Why do we need to pray? For this, we need to understand that the first thing we need is the healing of the distortion of our will and, connected to this, the healing of our loneliness.
In fact, what is normal in a world in which one flies East, another flies West and another flies over the cuckoo’s nest?
The night vigil to the glory of the Mother of God, our Lady Theotokos and the Saint hieromartyr miracle worker Charalambos of Magnesia, for healing and protection against the COVID-19 pandemic will be served this Friday, 27th March (Gregorian Calendar), starting with 21:00 (Athos, Constantinopole, Jerusalem, Alexandria, time). The whole of Mount Athos community will hold similar services.
The vigil will continue until 1:00 a.m. The Holy and Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in synaxis at 6:00 a.m. A procession for the healing and protection of all will follow.
The Great Holy Vatopedi Monastery will begin the Great Compline and the Akathist Hymn service to at 17:30.
There are many ways in which we can categorize the types of prayer. A simple one is the following:
The Archangel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you amongst women.” Hidden meanings in the words of the Mother of God
The Mother of God was the purest being created as all the holy fathers confess together. Her basic virtue was and is virginity, the gift of shyness – the full purity of her entire existence, not only from the bodily but also from spiritual (mental) point of view.
Holy Communion does not make people sick because the Holy Communion is truly the real Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the giver of life. Let us not forget that this teaching is basic in the Church which has passed through the history of pandemics much harsher than the one which we pass today.
Many ask us what the causes of the pandemic COVID-19 are, if it is a natural phenomenon, or if there are state-level actors who generated this epidemic.
Those of us who wish to start the spiritual life, to go out of the wordly things, to go out of Egypt and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God, who, standing between action and contemplation, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by Him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions.
In the 3rd Century, a pandemic swept across Italy, Africa, and the Western Roman Empire. In retrospective examination, some scholars believe it was the Ebola virus. At its height, this pandemic killed more than 5,000 people every day in Rome. Some cities had their population wiped out by more than 60 percent.
We must embrace the change. It is pointless to continuously resist. We must cut off our will in front of others.
The services are not held for the saints and the churches are not raised for them.
We must consciously realize that we are eternal. Here you have all the stages of eternal life with a short description of each one.
Many times I regretted that I spoke; I have never regretted keeping silent. Enjoy the Silence!
There was a child who was somewhat illiterate and could not learn his lessons and keep up with his classmates.
He who drives away the carnal thought by prayer is like someone fighting with a lion; he who subdues him by his resistance is someone still pursuing his enemy; but he who has once for all reduced its appeal to nothing, even though he is still in the flesh, is as one who has already risen from his coffin.
Only the foolish think that suffering is evil. A sensible man knows that suffering is not evil but only the manifestation of evil and healing from evil. Only sin in a man is a real evil, and there is no evil outside sin.
How did Saint Joseph the Hesychast live his life and reach holiness? Read a fragment from one of his letters:
When we have a serious illness, it does not mean that this is a revelation from God that we will die. Or, to express it more exactly, we don’t know the outcome. However, such a serious illness can be used as a revelation from God that we must prepare ourselves more intensely for death.
The essence of the church is synodicity (synergy). The biggest problem of mankind today is that they have forgotten the Jesus which is God-Man, and therefore our heavenly purpose.
Today, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate officially included in the calendar of the Church the Saints Joseph the Hesychast (Elder Joseph), Ephraim of Katounakia and Daniil of Katounakia.
The Sunday of Orthodoxy is the first Sunday of Great Lent. The dominant theme of this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that year the iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726, was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, this Sunday has been commemorated as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”
Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance.
Koliva: Definition Koliva is a dish, consisting of boiled wheat that is used liturgically in the Eastern Orthodox Church for commemorations of the dead.
True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one’s tongue, suppressing one’s hatred and banishing one’s lust, evil words, lying and betrayal of vows.
In any society there are richer people and poorer people. People who find a job, people who can’t find a job for a variety of reasons. All of this God has left on earth in order to need each other and to learn to love one another and not to judge too much why. In any case, Jesus does not want the sinner’s death but to return and be alive.
The mind (νους) is the finest attention, the human focus, the eye of the soul. If someone is focused on God and His rays – that is on God’s uncreated energy called grace, then the human mind has the property to receive light, to be enlightened like a pure parabolic mirror on which these rays fall.