Give doctors the honor they deserve, for the Lord gave them their work to do. Their skill came from the Most High, and kings reward them for it. Their knowledge gives them a position of importance, and powerful people hold them in high regard.
The Akathist Hymn is the most widely used hymn to honor the Virgin Mary. The word “Rejoice” is the most widely used word in the akathist hymn and this, according to the spiritual law, is due to the fact that sadness was the most present in the life of the Virgin.
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.
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.
The services are not held for the saints and the churches are not raised for them.
Many times I regretted that I spoke; I have never regretted keeping silent. Enjoy the Silence!
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.
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.
One should not think about the doings of God when one’s stomach is full; on a full stomach there can be no vision of the Divine mysteries.
The state leadership called the greatest doctor in China and asked, “Are you the greatest doctor in China?“
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?
The parable of the Last Judgment begins by saying that Jesus will separate us “as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.” Okay, but what is the connection between sheep and goats with the Fearful Judgment?
You ask, will the others be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have a Savior Who desires the salvation of every human being. He will take care of them. You and I should not be burdened with such a concern. Study yourself and your own sins and not so much how to preach to others.
Often, husbands come and ask us how to behave toward their wives. Of course, this topic is, in the last analysis, a personal theme between you and your spiritual father (priest) but some general problems can be explained which, if resolved, we could avoid a lot of quarrels. The wife must know that she is loved The wife needs to be assured by first hand that she is loved dearly and for this she needs concrete evidence. When was the last time you told her you loved her? No, it is not enough for her to “guess”. You have to […]
It was in the parish of perpetually-depressed Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a number of decades ago. The colors of the land were washed out. The sky was drab with winter, even in spring, and the view from the parish rectory grimy, looking over the grey mountain-range and a tired horizon. Much of the area’s industries were shuttered and moved. Alternating houses sat with their eyes boarded-up.
Avarice (“the love of money”) is the worship of idols, the daughter of unbelief, a lying excuse for illness, a foreboder of old age, a harbinger of drought, and a herald of hunger. The lover of money sneers at the Gospel and is a willful transgressor. He who has attained love scatters his money. But he who says that he lives for love and for money has deceived himself.
An ordinary Christian who has a morally dignified behavior becomes a symbol of the Truth manifested on earth and is a censor for the consciences of others. Honest souls will seek him to share his wisdom. The dishonest soul will bypass him and mock him or slander him. Through this treatment, he resembles the Crucified One.
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.
The tradition tells us that on the icon of Paramythia, the original expression on the faces of the figures and the position of the bodies of Christ and the Blessed Virgin changed when the following strange miracle occurred, January 21, 1321 in front of the Abbot – Saint Ghennadios of Vatopedi – which went there to take the keys of the Monastery’s main gate which were at the icon in order to give them to the monk which was responsible in opening the gates:
While praying to Christ, I felt a certain difficulty. The Mother of God – She was just like my own Mother to me. The same was with St. Euphemia. “My dear Saint Euphemia”, I addressed to her… But it was difficult to pray to Christ. I venerated His icons with fear. When during the Jesus Prayer my mind began to distract from prayer, I did not upset me at all. “Who am I to constantly keep Christ in my poor mind?” – I said to myself. And then something happened what I want to tell you about.
From the last words of Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo on the Holy Mountain: Love is not measured among virtues. Love does not count together with fasting, prayer, etc. Love is the purpose and the driving force of all virtues. The virtues build a new person, radiating love to the world. So, as Saint John Chrysostom says, you do not have to be among people to be the true friend of people. True friendship is love—not spatial or temporal closeness. Look at the monks: everybody looks for them, and the pilgrims come from far away to see them, because they […]
Grief will succeed joy, and joy, grief, just as night follows day. This is how the Father of lights has established the path of God for those who are being saved. Just have patience and hope: engrave these in the depths of your heart and all adversities will be faced.
The science on how to clean out our heart before praying is very important because of the importance of prayer in our life.
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.
Note: „How to find a good spouse?” is a question which is often asked by women. That’s why this text was written for women, but can equally be applied by men. First of all, pray to find a good spouse. Our Lord and His holy Mother are the primary source of aid for such matters. It is best to…
The baptism of Saint John had not remission of sins, but only brought men to penitence. He preached therefore the baptism of repentance, that is, he preached that to which the baptism of penitence led, namely, remission of sins, that they who in penitence received Christ, might receive Him to the remission of their sins.
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.
In a metropolis in Northern Greece, there’d been no rain for some time. It was a terrible drought and, due to the situation, the local metropolitan and clergy began to pray for rain.