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Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great

01/17/2014

Saint Anthony the Great is known as the Father of monasticism, and the long ascetical sermon in The Life of St Anthony by St Athanasius (Sections 16-34), could be called the first monastic Rule. He was born in Egypt in the village of Coma, near the desert of the Thebaid, in the year 251. His parents were pious Christians of illustrious lineage. Anthony was a serious child and was respectful and obedient to his parents.

Woundedness

01/16/2014

Listening with Our Wounds To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own wounds is seldom helpful to someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen

Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment (Part II)

01/15/2014

Father Poimen used to say, “It is written: ‘What your eye has seen, that you shall attest to’ (Prov. 25:7). But I say to you: ‘Even if you grasp it with your hands, do not speak about it.’ One brother was fooled in this matter. He saw something that looked as if his brother were sinning with a woman. Strongly tempted, he went over and kicked them with his foot, believing that it was they,

How I Met the Elder for the First Time

01/14/2014

Through the prayers of our Holy Elder Porphyrios May whatever I write be for the glory of The Living God, Who glorifies those who glorify Him. How I Met the Elder for the First Time I always had the desire to meet a holy person, to see how he lives. One afternoon, friends of mine took me to a monastery in Milessi. These people knew the Elder well. They wanted me to meet a man

Orthodox Paradox

01/13/2014

Orthodox and Paradox. The two words have much in common. The “dox” that ends both terms has its root in the Greek word doxa, which means “belief” or “opinion.” It will be suggested in what follows that these words share much more than just a linguistic root, but glancing at the root word is a good place to begin. In its later Christian usage, doxa comes to mean “glory,” but only as an extension of

The Feast Day of Saint Gregory of Nyssa

01/10/2014

Saint Gregory of Nyssa – His Life St. Gregory of Nyssa, the younger brother of St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379) was born around 330 and was educated chiefly by Basil. Like his older brother, he opted at first for a secular career in rhetoric. Unlike Basil, he even married. Under the influence of his friends, especially St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-389), he retired to the same monastery on the Iris which his brother,

Father Maximos on the Fruits of the Spirit (Part I)

01/09/2014

Not wasting any time, I opened the conversation by reminding Fr. Maximos of our unfinished discussion about the nine fruits of the Spirit as listed by Apostle Paul, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “So far,” I said, “we have covered the last three: self-control, gentleness, and faithfulness. We were about to begin discussing the next two stages, goodness and kindness.” Fr. Maximos nodded. “According to the Gospel, goodness is

The Essence of Prayer (III)

01/08/2014

The Wise Men travelled a long way and nobody knows the difficulties they had to overcome. Each of us also travels as they did. They were loaded with gifts, gold for the king, frankincense for the God, myrrh for the man who was to suffer death. Where can we get gold, frankincense and myrrh, we who are indebted for everything to God? We know that everything we possess has been given us by God and

The Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist: The Greatest Born of Woman

01/07/2014

The second day of the feast of the Epiphany is called the Synaxis of Saint John, the prophet, forerunner and Baptist of the Lord. It is a day of liturgical celebration in honor of the one who prepared the way for the Messiah and baptized Him in the Jordan river. According to Jesus himself, there is no one greater than John the Baptist. “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has

The Lord’s Epiphany in the Jordan

01/06/2014

Like the liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, the festival of His Epiphany in the Jordan at the time of His baptism is inaugurated with a prefeast celebration of five days. And also like the services of the Nativity, many hymns of the Epiphany prefeast are patterned after those of the springtime Pascha of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Once again just a few words in many of the songs are changed from those sung

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Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great

Woundedness

Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment (Part II)

How I Met the Elder for the First Time

Orthodox Paradox

The Feast Day of Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Father Maximos on the Fruits of the Spirit (Part I)

The Essence of Prayer (III)

The Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist: The Greatest Born of Woman

The Lord’s Epiphany in the Jordan

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