Daily Meditations Archives - Page 71 of 347

How Unintentional Are Unwittingly Committed Sins?

07/21/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 3, 2017 Ioannis Kornarakis, Emeritus Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Confession, University of Athens († 2013) All of us have had the experience of unwittingly committing a sin. And, of course, every confessor/spiritual guide often hears, at almost every confession, the assurance or claim on the part of the penitent that a particular sin was unintentional. ‘Honestly, father, that sin occurred without me realizing. It was entirely unintentional. I didn’t

Prophet Elijah, the Gift of God

07/20/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, November 5, 2014 By Savva Alexandrou Saint Gregory Palamas, speaking in general about the prophets, as also the Fathers of the Church, notes: “God raised up the Prophets and the Fathers unto our guidance and He showed signs and wonders to us through them, so that He could correctly lead us up to faith.” The Prophets, as also the Fathers of the church, are essentially God’s gift to men, because they

Who is free?

07/19/2022

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,

The Disenchanted World

07/18/2022

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

Martyr Cyricus (Quiricus) and his mother, Julitta, of Tarsus

07/15/2022

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

Waiting and Watching

07/14/2022

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

The Perfectionist

07/13/2022

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

Agios Paisios of Mount Athos, Patron Saint of Signalmen

07/12/2022

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

A Terrible Knowledge

07/11/2022

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.

Feast Day of the Holy Martyr Procopius

07/08/2022

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