Published by Pemptousia Partnership, November 20, 2017 Saint Nicholas Velimirovich The great news which Christianity tells the world every day is that things are judged, as regards their true worth, not by evaluating their external features, but by what they are in essence. We have to judge things not by their colour or shape but by what they mean. And people should be measured not by their status or wealth, that is, by external appearances,
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 22, 2016 A very apt word for the world we live in is: disenchanted. It was first used by Max Weber and a number of others to describe a certain aspect of the modern world – the absence of the sacred. Where people of earlier eras and other cultures have experienced the world around them as charged with divine power (of various sorts), we simply experience the world as inert. There
The Holy Martyrs Cyricus and Julita lived in the city of Iconium in the province of Lykaoneia in Asia Minor. Saint Julita was descended from an illustrious family and was a Christian. Widowed early on, she raised her three-year old-son Cyricus (Quiricus). During the emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians, Saint Julita departed the city with her son and two trustworthy servants, leaving behind her home, property, and servants. Concealing her noble rank, she hid out
By Fr John Breck, July 2, 2008 Some years ago a close family friend passed away in a nursing home. She spent the last months of her life in what appeared to be a state of semi-consciousness, rocking back and forth in her chair and muttering to herself, “Waiting, waiting…”. We never did learn just what she was waiting for, other than death. She was, though, a fervent and faithful Christian, and her “waiting” seemed
Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 16, 2021 Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos ‘Don’t, out of vanity or sycophancy, insist on having your own way, quarrelling with and tormenting yourselves and your neighbor, just so that, afterwards, you can hear people saying that nobody can beat you’ (Abba Dorotheos) There are two ways of carrying out a task: with diligence which borders on perfectionism or with casualness, the ‘whatever’ approach. This is also true in human relationships. There are
Published by Pemptousia Partnership, November 10, 2017 Nikolaos G. Koios, Content Coach of Pemptousia Following a request by the Office of Military Chaplains, part of the General Staff of the Greek Armed Forces, the Holy Permanent Synod of the Church of Greece has declared Saint Paisios the Athonite to be the Patron Saint of the Corps of Signals. Thinking Christians are often troubled by the question: how is it possible that the Church, which blesses the
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 7, 2016 Greek Mythology made the curiosity of Pandora the primary cause of suffering in the world. She fails to resist the lure of finding out what is in a box she is told to leave closed. Opening the box, she unleashes sorrow and suffering into the world. We humans are a curious lot. We want to know everything about our business and much about what is not our business.
On July 8, the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast Day of Agios Procopius. Procopius was born in Jerusalem of a Christian father and a pagan mother. At first, his name was Neanias. Following the death of his father, his mother raised her son completely in the spirit of Roman idolatry. When Neanias had grown up, Emperor Diocletian saw him, took a liking to him, and brought him to his palace for military service. When
On July 7 the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast Day of Agia Kyriaki the Great Martyr. Agia Kyriaki was the only child of Dorotheus and Eusebia. Since she was born on a Sunday (Kyriaki, in Greek), she was named Kyriaki. One day a wealthy magistrate wished to betroth Kyriaki to his son. Not only was she young and beautiful, but her parents were wealthy, and the magistrate wished to control that wealth. The magistrate
Published by Pemptousia Partnership, January 14, 2017 According to the Biblical concept, ‘patricide’ is essentially the same as the sin of Adam and Eve. Their effort to become gods through the forbidden fruit and not through the alignment of their will and their actions to the commandment and will of God is the first attempt to remove God from the world and from our life. It’s the first attempt to expel God from the human
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