“The joy of God is not a joy like the joy we experience in this world, and if we start comparing them it is like light and darkness. It is the contrast between something imperishable and that which is perishable. When one has a taste of God’s joy, then all the joys of the world are transcended, annihilated. They cannot dazzle you. How could the moon dazzle you when you have seen the light of
By Christina Dedoussis St Panteleimon was born about 284 AD in the city of Nicodemia. His father, Evstorgios, was an idolater while his mother, Evoulis, was a devout Christian. She raised her son, whose real name was Pantoleonta, in the Christian way of life. She passed away while her son was still young. Initially Pantoleonta was educated in his native tongue and then in Greek. His father sent him to study under the famous physician,
Becoming like the dead doesn’t mean becoming insensible, but what happens in baptism: dying to the world, that is, human beings with their expectations and demands, their standards and judgments, have no more influence on us. We no longer identify with the world. We live beyond the threshold. We live in a spiritual reality, over which the world has no power. That makes us free. When we are constantly aiming to be praised, we will
The Elder said to me, “There was a fellow here a little while ago who asked me if the martyrs felt pain during their torture? He was saying that God gave them patience and they endured the many tortures.” “To this I responded that, as a human being, one cannot stand pain. Neither could they stand the initial pain that they suffered. Naturally they ought to have fainted right away. But they focused their minds
St. Mary Magdalene, called by the Orthodox Church both Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostle, is commemorated on July 22, as well as with the other Myrrh-bearers on the second Sunday after Easter. Born in the seaport town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, she played an important role during Christ’s ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. The Gospels provide the little that we know about St. Mary Magdalene, from whom Christ cast out seven demons. St. Mary and
It is not possible to become another person the moment we start to pray, but by keeping watch on one’s thoughts’ one learns gradually to differentiate their value. It is in our daily life that we cultivate the thoughts which irrepressibly spring up at the time of prayer. Prayer in its tum will change and enrich our daily life, becoming the foundation of a new and real relationship with God and those around us. In
Nonetheless the fundamental presupposition of the guarding of the nous is the laying aside of all worldly cares which cloud and drown the nous. “When the nous is liberated from everything perceptible and rises from the flood created by the fuss over these things and sees clearly the inner man, firstly sees the “hideous mask” which is caused by its wandering, it then hastens to cleanse it with mourning. After taking off the ugly cloak,
“Suddenly, while he was traveling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all around him. He fell to the ground and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.’” –Acts 9:3-5, Jerusalem Bible I believe that almost all of the great themes of Paul’s
Today, many historical forms of Christianity are dead or dying. Trying to preserve them through blind conservatism can lead only to the creation of malicious and distrustful ghettos which idolize formalism, or to “fascist” adventures that lead nowhere. On the contrary, we must trust in the “newness of the Spirit,” who will transform this death into resurrection. New approaches are already developing, approaches which rediscover and develop the deepest intuitions of thinkers such as Gregory
Julitta had known that eventually she would be recognized–one of the costs associated with influence and power was the loss of anonymity. Julitta had anticipated that the potential gain offered to the “good” citizens of Rome would prove too enticing for some poor soul and that, eventually, somebody would turn her over to the authorities as a Christian and a traitor to Rome. Diocletian’s campaign against Christians was a popular one among those who sought
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