24 May 2013

Prayer presupposes faith. People who don’t pray are without help, uncertain, blind and alone. They’...

18 May 2013

Irony is probably too much to ask of youth. If I can remember myself in my college years, the most I...

10 May 2013

This I find to be my weakest point where the devil is constantly attacking me. Whenever I catch myse...

8 May 2013

Herod Is Always with Us Politics and Other Illusions When Luke tells us the story of Jesus’ pres...

6 May 2013

Despite the fact that calendars and the measurement of time are purely conventional in the Christian...

4 May 2013

          a)  The Cross leads to the Resurrection, Great Friday bears fruit on the bright Sunday of ...

27 April 2013

I can remember jumping off the front porch steps in excitement as I hurried into the car to get to...

23 April 2013

1 COR. xi. 23. I received from the Lord that which also I handed on to you, how that the Lord Jesus,...

22 April 2013

Few teachings of the Christian faith are as easily misunderstood and equally misapplied as the thing...

10 April 2013

We know the grace of fasting from Isaiah, who rejected the Jewish way and taught us true fasting: th...

20 March 2013

B. But the hymnographer also calls Great Lent something else. He says it’s the time of repentance. ...

18 March 2013

“Behold the welcome time, Behold the time of repentance; Let us reject the works of darkness and ...

6 March 2013

This morning while waiting for the weather report on the radio, the announcer reported a study condu...

24 February 2013

In its desire to prepare us for the great and bright battle of the virtues, Holy and Great Lent, the...

17 February 2013

“I’m aware that many of you have been deeply upset by the sudden rise in anti-religious propaganda a...

16 February 2013

II) Ontological effects of the Jesus Prayer The act of repeatedly invoking the Name has a double e...

14 February 2013

The Jesus Prayer AIC - Ongoing Formation – July 2006 This talk was an adaptation of The Power of t...

13 February 2013

I open a small bottle, plug the top with my thumb, tilt it back, just a bit, until mercy runs down m...

10 February 2013

Peter was a great clown. The years went by, however, and he no longer had any work. In despair and ...

25 January 2013

There’s nothing more humbling than being a parent, because what makes for good children is the life ...

23 January 2013

Whatever movement you make, starting with its conception and following through to the implementation...

20 January 2013

It’s the end of the day and toys strewn all over the floor. No clear path to set my feet upon. Dishe...

19 January 2013

Before I read of You In charts of the night, Oh, soliloquy of light, Everything was dark as...

6 January 2013

The feast of Theophany (also called Epiphany) is the second greatest feast (after Pascha) in the Chr...

2 January 2013

He had been extremely wealthy, but something went terribly wrong. After the collapse of his business...

1 January 2013

A very good New Year’s resolution for the soul is to spend more quality time with God in prayer.  Pr...

29 December 2012

Eastern Orthodox mysticism Two great artesian wells of mystical experience, upon which Orthodox Byz...

23 December 2012

Buddhist Mysticism Since mysticism is the immediate, intuitive relationship with the Absolute, it w...

18 December 2012

Definition – Characteristics The purpose of mysticism is an experiential, existential quest, direct...

10 December 2012

And when the woman of Samaria would again and again change the subject, he would again and again bri...

9 December 2012

In my first days in the Lowcountry, I discovered the importance of genealogies in Charleston. “Are y...

4 December 2012

I am a Christian. I believe in God, the Creator from nothing of heaven and earth and of everything v...

3 December 2012

According to the Greek Orthodox calendar, the period from the 15th of November till the 24th of Dece...

29 November 2012

I have never been a particularly patient person. In grocery stores, I do mental math trying to deter...

24 November 2012

 The world is full of pain, fear and suffering. These feelings, without any exceptions, are experien...

23 November 2012

It has become a commonplace to hear someone say, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” Most people have...

13 November 2012

When the bell rings and everybody tries to avoid saying their prayers (a parody of a prayer, but one...

5 November 2012

We’ve said before that God is not wrathful, bent on punishment and revenge. If He were, He would be ...

31 October 2012

In the life after death, the departed are in a state of anticipation… Even though they are cognisant...

25 October 2012

The alms we offer are an important gift for our departed ones. Especially when we offer that which t...

24 October 2012

Family is a very ancient bio-social institution which goes back as far as human history itself. It m...

23 October 2012

Above all pray without ceasing and thank God for everything that happens to you (Rule of Anthony th...

19 July 2012

Few would argue against the statement that the Sacrament of Confession is on the decline in the Gr...

18 July 2012

  People  like to talk a lot. Our cell phones help us to talk anywhere, with anyone, at any time, v...

16 July 2012

The more I contemplate this phrase, the more I realize that it holds the key to living our lives t...

15 July 2012

Last December, Christianity Today magazine graciously provided a forum for me to answer a question...

2 July 2012

There are people who insist on holding on to resentment, often inventing situations in their minds...

1 July 2012

An Elder said: Just as a tree cannot bear fruit if it is often transplanted, so neither can a monk...

30 June 2012

If one is the type that is easily discouraged, one can find today much that is discouraging—secula...

28 June 2012

I can remember jumping off the front porch steps in excitement as I hurried into the car to get to...

26 June 2012

We had just gotten in the car after an appointment with the fertility specialist.   We spent a gru...

19 June 2012

The more one compares the English translations with the original Greek regarding the Divine Liturg...

14 June 2012

Cradle Orthodox You no doubt mean someone who is born into an Orthodox family and is baptized a...

12 June 2012

Does being a Christian mean always having to say you’re sorry? When outsiders look at the Roman Cath...

11 June 2012

            Father Anthony Coniaris, in his excellent catechism, Introducing the Orthodox Church, ...

6 June 2012

God is joy.  Secular life is sorrow.  For forty years, as though the presence of God were a toxin ...

5 June 2012

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! This Sunday, dear brothers and...

4 June 2012

“Let there be banished hence dejection born of passions, and thoughts that rise like tempests. In ...

30 May 2012

  Creating a Christian home begins with the icon corner. The bright corner becomes the center for e...

23 May 2012

Last December, Christianity Today magazine graciously provided a forum for me to answe...

21 May 2012

We are powerless to change those bad habits that dominate our lives without help from God. However...

13 May 2012

To hear Mother Victoria of the St. Barbara’s Monastery tell it, growing up in the Ukranian Orthodo...

11 May 2012

“O Lord, I Have Loved The Beauty of Thy House”* By Fr. John Whiteford & Matushka Olympia Sibl...

10 May 2012

In researching a little history today, I came across the ancient Egyptian phenomenon known as ‘sun...

8 May 2012

            The Church has classically been described by four adjectives:  one, holy, catholic and...

6 May 2012

King Uzziah of Judahis, I think, most famous for his death, or the year of his death.  The Prophet...

4 May 2012

Doubt gets a bad rap in the New Testament.  James says that one who doubts is a double-minded pers...

28 April 2012

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT “OUR THOUGHTS” I went one Sunday to a very small Russian Orthodox parish inWi...

23 April 2012

“If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold new things...

20 April 2012

“A fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God’.” Today I wore a “Billboard for Hell”, the self-...

9 April 2012

Youth Conference & Workshop - Held at the Greek Orthodox Parish Community Hall of the Holy Cro...

28 March 2012

Whether watching television, reading a newspaper, walking around town, driving on the interstate, ...

25 March 2012

There is more to Lent than fasting, and there is more to fasting than food. This principle lies at...

23 March 2012

There are some elaborate charts that tell you how you could read the Bible all the way through in ...

11 March 2012

The spiritual struggle that is required of us can not depend on having a spiritual father. Most Or...

10 March 2012

In the thoughts that follow I would like to look at a crucial subject. It is the great issue of secu...

7 March 2012

We must invite our friends and neighbors to "taste and see" the great treasure that is Orthodoxy, fo...

6 March 2012

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, a...

19 February 2012

          The sheer enormity of holiness which the commemorated Saint has acquired throughout his ri...

2 February 2012

Forty days had come to a close. I remember them as one, how the weight of sleep had a habit of overt...

8 January 2012

(On the feast day of Saint Paul of Thebes and John Kalyvitis)           Our Church honours the tw...

7 January 2012

          Reading about the lives and deeds of two great Fathers, St Pachomios and St Euthymios th...

7 January 2012

          Our entire life is preoccupied with the spiritual law. This is the reason why we have with...

6 January 2012

A round white mound, frosted with powdered sugar and decorated with candied almonds, sits on top o...

5 January 2012

I think that we will not deviate from our subject if we give here a more detailed account of this de...

31 December 2011

When John the Forerunner was in jail, he sent two of his disciples to ask Christ: “Are you the one...

31 December 2011

 “Lets us reject both pleasure and pain in this life with all our might in order to be freed from ...

30 December 2011

source: Translated by Olga Konari Kokkinou from the Greek edition: Γέροντος Ιωσήφ Βατοπαιδινού, Δι...

21 December 2011

The whole combat and struggle which the recruited members of the Church have to fight against has on...

19 December 2011

            “Grief in the Lord(or grief for the sake of the Lord- Πένθος κατα Θεόν) is the state i...

18 December 2011

The greatest benefit which God has granted our fallen nature is none other than repentance. Withou...

18 December 2011

In our presentation we will touch upon an issue which may not be readily acknowledged by those who...

18 December 2011

PROLOGUE   “And God said: Let us make man in our image and in our likeness”. (Gen1,26) ...

18 December 2011

Religious fanaticism is defined as the absolute rule of the holy over the secular, even through viol...

18 December 2011

Throughout the thousand- year long history of the saint-nurturing Mount Athos countless holy figur...

3 December 2011

The sacred task that faces Orthodoxy today, and in particular its youth, who are often lost in the l...