The mystery of the Holy Unction: Miracles
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...
Apart from its usual dedication to the Menaion (the commemoration of the lives of the Saints) and the early custom to celebrate Kontakia (a type of hymn) during the Pannychis (festive night vigil celebrated at the Blachernae chapel), the Akathist had also the function to...
“…… 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...
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....
Today, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate met to discuss the official inclusion 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...
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...
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 orthodox priest is the presbyter from the Bible. Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for bishop (episkopos), referring to a leader in local Church congregations. In modern usage, it is distinct from bishop and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (presbyteros) is...
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...
My child, I hope you are well. Just recently, I got somewhat better too. This is how my life has passed, with pain and illnesses. Now I have approached death once again for your sake. I said, "Let me die, only let my spiritual children live." And I didn't eat at all...
On the eighth day after His Nativity, our Lord Jesus Christ was circumcised, in accordance with Old Testament Law. All male infants underwent circumcision as a sign of God’s Covenant with the holy Forefather Abraham and his descendants...
“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” I stop, struck with admiration at this thought. What shall I say first? Shall I demonstrate the vanity of the Gentiles? Shall I praise the truth of our faith?...
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...
Many say Father Arsenios Boca is holy, while others say that man was not normal. The same thing happened with Saint Porphyrios, Saint Paisios, and other saints in the past - for example Saint John Chrysostom...
We should explain the problem of God's will because even if God has one will, this will is expressed towards us in many ways – which is why many people say that God has 'many wills' – 'wills' which can be grouped into four main categories:...
The physician is not to be praised only when he leads the patient into gardens and meadows, or baths and pools of water, or when he sets a well-furnished table before him. He is also to be praised when...
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...
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...
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 announcement made the Athonite monks cry...
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:...
If you pursue virtue in a monastery or community, you are not likely to be attacked much by fear. But the man who spends his time in more solitary places should make every effort to avoid being overcome by that offspring of vainglory, that daughter of unbelief: cowardice...
Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, himself a convert to Orthodoxy, was once asked to compose a "Manual for Orthodox Converts". In his notes for such a manual, he jotted down the following "convert pitfalls", or what he called "obstacles in the Orthodox mission today" - or, shortly, "convertitis". Based on these notes we have:...
Many are interested in solving “hot” topics in their minds. We are interested in how Elijah was lifted up to heaven with the chariot of fire, how is the vision of paradise, the angels, the creation of the world, and other things like this...
Even if the rules of iconography insist that the holy image depicted (the saints) should be with black hair and black eyes, however, from tradition and from visions, we are informed from the saints which saw the Mother of God that...
Many wonder why and how monks can live a longer and healthier life, compared with the people of the world outside of Mount Athos. The causes of this phenomenon were studied by various medical teams from universities around the globe – however,...
He showed me many trees that had no leaves; they were withered, and they all looked alike to me. And he said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I see, sir, that they are all alike, and all withered,” I replied. “These trees that you see,” he answered, “are those who...
The Holy Belt of the Virgin Mary, throughout history has performed numerous and countless miracles which have been recorded and published to date by our Monastery. There are several remarkable things about miracles...
The results of Adam's sin were his separation from God, from other humans (that is, from his wife), from the environment and, ultimately, separation, due to the fight between different parts of his soul – the conflict inside of him.What is obvious...
Some undertake a particular duty, but for a brother’s peace of mind, at his request they leave it; and some leave their work through laziness; and some do not leave it out of vainglory; and some do not leave it out of zeal. Faith and determination can make wonders. Just...
We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all, because...
We usually say that Judas betrayed Christ. While it is true, this does not depict the entire life of our Lord on earth. In fact, the life of our Lord on earth was between betrayals: He was betrayed shortly after He was born and He was betrayed shortly before His death...
Sometimes chanting in moderation soothes the temper remarkably. But sometimes, if untimely and immoderate, it lends itself to the lure of pleasure. Let us then appoint definite times for this, and so make good use of it. Correctly used, nothing so arouses the soul, gives it wing, sets it free from the earth...
The man who has found love eats and drinks Christ every day and hour and so is made immortal. 'Whoever eats of this bread', He says, 'which I will give him, will never taste death.' Blessed is he who consumes the bread of love, which is Jesus! He who eats of love eats Christ, the God over all, as...
There are so many political parties that try to deceive us. So many parties that want to exploit us. So many people who press us with their promises and, in the end, they do almost nothing for us. On the other hand,...
When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their follow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them. And then...
"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them." (Genesis 1:27). At the first glance, it seems that it should read "men" or "humans" because there are two. However...
If Peter had not failed to catch anything during the night’s fishing (cf. Lk 5:5), he would not have caught anything during the day. And if Paul had not suffered physical blindness (cf. Ac 9:8), he would not have been given spiritual sight. And if Stephen had not been slandered as a blasphemer, he would not have seen the heavens opened and have looked on God (cf. Ac 6:15; 7:56). As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a...
First of all, for the one who is stuck in his own reasoning, it is impossible with human means to prove to him the existence of God, because God does not impose His existence on anyone. Such a man can be convinced only through our personal example and prayer. However, ...
It is very important to use the prayer rope when we pray Jesus prayer because it helps our mind concentrate by using our sense of touch, our most sensitive sensory perception. Even if 90% of the information transmitted to the human brain is visual, the tactile stimuli have...
We cannot play with eternity. We aspire to glory and this is natural. However the sin of Adam distorted this by separating us from God and now we seek glory in vain here on Earth. St. Evdokimos...
How is the soul cured? First we must emphasize the right faith. We Orthodox attach great importance to preserving the faith, just because we know that when faith is distorted, the cure is automatically distorted. We have previously emphasized that theology should be interpreted as medicine...
In the desert everything is different than in the world. Vatopaidi Monastery is in the "desert", as the monastic fathers call it -- in other words, a deserted or isolated place. There are no electrical cables, no water pipes, no physical utility conduits connecting it to the "outside" world. The monastery...
There is a debate going on among scholars whether it really said "camel" or rather "rope" - both words (κάμηλος/kámêlos for camel and κάμιλος/kamilos for rope) are very close to each other and might have been mistranslated. There are some early bible translations in...
Our holy fathers have listened to the Lord who said that from the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander [Mt 15:19] and how these are the things that make a man unclean. [Mt 15:20] Further, they have listened to the part of the gospel where we are ordered to clean the...
St Christopher was a man of great stature and unusual strength. According to tradition, St Christopher was very handsome, but wishing to avoid temptation for himself and others, he asked the Lord to give him an unattractive face, which was granted to him...
There are many miracles which the Holy Belt has performed throughout history. For us, however, the most precious miracle which happens each year is that we are, after 15 (fifteen) hours of...
The present day Monastery of Vatopaidi has produced a multitude of saints throughout its history of over a thousand years, most of them unknown to us. We know with certainty only a few that lived within its walls and precinct - almost 70 - whose...
"Please do not remember my sins" was the prayer that Ilias Iliadis said during Olympic Games held in London in 2012. "Mother of God, please do not remember my sins, and help me to gain an Olympic medal; and if you help me, I promise that I will give to you"...
I asked one of the fathers if I could shoot some photos of some icons which was gilding in their workshop. The father replied "come if you want, as we are working on one huge icon: St. Luke of Crimea." "Ok" I said and I immediately...