Holy Unction during pandemic is one of the most necessary services, however it seems that it is performed much less than it should. Below you will read some miracles tied to the mystery of Holy Unction.
When will the trial we go through be over? When will the good news come? The answer is in us.
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.
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.
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.
We must embrace the change. It is pointless to continuously resist. We must cut off our will in front of others.
How did Saint Joseph the Hesychast live his life and reach holiness? Read a fragment from one of his letters:
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.
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.
A nation without faith in God does not become free, neither advances further as a civilization. Only in this way we can assure for our children the heavenly inheritance, the only one true inheritance which truly remains even after death.
The disciple’s question Father, I suffer terribly from rheumatism, and I am afraid that it is from demons. Tell me if this is so. What is it, then, that I see in dreams, on the wall, some wild beasts? I am very upset because I cannot fast and I am forced to eat a lot. What should I do? The answer of the Elder
The man who has come to hate the world has escaped sorrow. But he who has an attachment to anything visible is not yet delivered from grief. For how is it possible not to be sad at the loss of something we love?
Asceticism is the branch of medicine that aims at healing the human soul which is eternal and reaching eternal personal perfection.
As enticing as is the temptation of a sinful life, it ultimately leads to the disgust of sin, and then we seek the true path which we find in faith.
Just as parents have a special affection for the children who are the fruit of their own bodies, so the mind naturally clings to its own thoughts.
In the last 3 decades, the concept of ‘Children’s Rights’ has emerged to define their interests in international law. Although the intention is, theoretically, to be praised, ‘Children’s Rights’ is an abstract, meaningless notion, in a world separate from God.
He who secretly mingles his own wishes with obedience is an adulterer, as the Book of Proverbs indicates (cf. Prov. 6:32-33); and because of his stupidity he suffers pain and dishonor.
First of all, if you want to come to Mount Athos and become a monk, you must be sure that you are free of legal bindings. One of the most common bindings, is of one’s debts in this world, which you must to pay yourself. Another binding is that of marriage.
Generally speaking, by “apocalypse” (ἀποκάλυψις) the people understand “revelation” or, more literally, “uncovering”. The term is tied, mainly, with Saint John Theologian’s work – Book of Revelation – from the New Testament which describes using pseudonymity and symbolic imagery for the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom.
Many ask what is death in the Bible. According with the Bible, as the separation of the soul from the body is the death of the body, so the separation of God from the soul is the death of the soul. And this death of the soul is the true death.
The Baptism of the Jesus is a very important feast because, in fact, the Holy Trinity presented themselves to humanity at the baptism of the Lord.
The only strategy that succeeds today is prayer, counsel and attention. Through these three we come into full harmony with the universe.
Elder Archimandrite Ephraim (Ioannis Moraitis – June 24, 1927) was an archimandrite and former abbot of Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos, spiritual guide of four monasteries on Mount Athos and of eight women’s convents in Greece, as well as the founder of 19 monasteries in the United States and Canada. He resided in Arizona at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery until his repose (December 7, 2019).
My dear spiritual Children, While I’m still în charge of my faculties, I’d like to give you some advice.
Someone asked me if he could use a gun to protect his house. Well… I don’t know about guns. But I know about locks to protect the houses: A very old hermit monk here had a kelli dedicated to Saint Nicholas. Even though he was alone in the wilderness, he not only didn’t have a lock at his cell, but he left the door largely open even if he went some distance away (Karyes, a monastery etc.). In the many years he behaved like this, no unfortunate accident occurred. This went on for years till once a group of pilgrims […]
The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together. Men will take up arms and even sacrifice their lives for the sake of this love. St. Paul would not speak so earnestly about this subject without serious reason; why else would he say, “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord?”
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female, he created them. (Genesis 1: 26-27)
We say that Saint Andrew together with Saint John the Theologian were the first apostles of Christ, as the Gospel according to John teaches us:
With God’s grace, you will gain your true liberty: you will have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.