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Pentecost Saturday for Souls

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 19, 2021 Petros Panayiotopoulos, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Our holy Church offers us another opportunity to remember and honor our dead people, our beloved persons who passed away, and all her members by whom we are in communion through God’ s love and the grace from the sacraments, beyond this sense of time. To say it in other words, by this care we confirm the unity of

Why Don’t the Orthodox Feel Guilt?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 30, 2021 Fr. Andreas Agathokleous There’s clearly confusion among a good few members of the Church as to how to live, how to behave and what constitutes a sin. There’s also a strong attachment to their sinful past and this increases their feelings of guilt. Nobody wants to live without joy, without appreciating life, without a thankful recognition of the many gifts which have been bestowed on us by God’s love. I

The Ascension of Jesus Christ in Glory

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 10, 2021 Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou ‘God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.’ The Ascension is the last event in Christ’s earthly life. Of course, Pentecost is the fulfilment of God’s dispensation, which is why is called ‘the last feast’. God the Father was well pleased to see man as he had conceived him before the foundation of the world and sent the Holy Spirit

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Monday of Pascha: Saint John the Russian

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 27, 2021 Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis † For people who have any understanding of God and his kingdom, nothing’s a misfortune. Saint John suffered one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall anyone. He was taken prisoner of war. By the Turks. At the age of twenty. What could have been worse? Yet this misfortune proved to be his greatest good fortune. Not only did he gain the kingdom of God, the

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Wednesday of Pascha: The Lord’s Resurrection

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 16, 2020 George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Saint Sophrony, from Essex, said that the greatest sin these days is that people have sunk into despair and no longer believe in the resurrection. In the pre-Christian era, and later in the world outside Christianity, there was widespread belief in the immortality of the soul. But even this belief has been abandoned in our own

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Friday of Pascha: Why Were the Myrrh-Bearers the First to Hear that Christ Had Risen?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 15, 2021 Metropolitan Avgoustinos (Kantiotis) of Florina († 2010) And he said to them: ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here…’ (Mark 16,6). When Christ was born, the first to hear of it weren’t the great, the powerful and the rich, but the humble and poor shepherds abiding in the fields with their flocks in Bethlehem. Similarly, when Christ rose,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Thursday: I Await the Resurrection of the Dead (part 2). Christopher the Martyr of Lycea

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 8, 2021 Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist, Kareas Attikis The resurrection of the dead, then, will certainly take place. The angel’s trumpet will definitely sound (Rev. 11, 15-18). What is important for us, however, is that we should have accomplished something in our life on earth towards the sanctification of our soul and body, so that the resurrection will not be ‘unto judgment’ for us, but ‘unto eternal life’ (Matth.

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Wednesday: I Await the Resurrection of the Dead (part 1)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 7, 2021 Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist, Kareas Attikis It’s the event that each and every one of us can be absolutely sure of: sooner or later death will come to us. Yet, for most people, the end of life remains greatly undesirable and is to be firmly resisted. This is because, during the course of our life on this earth, we haven’t been nourished on the expectation of ‘the

The Sixth Wednesday of Great Lent: Freedom’s Lair

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 25, 2021 Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis † On the evening of Great Friday, we begin the service with a rather strange hymn. It’s a tropario which isn’t mournful but joyful. Not a lament, but a doxology. ‘God is the Lord and has appeared to us…’. He came to earth. And he showed us that he’s the one and only true Lord. We glorify him as Lord of heaven and earth. But this

The Fifth Wednesday of Great Lent: Who is the Devil and How Does He Act?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 11, 2021 Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi Holy Scripture tells us that the devil is ‘fallen Lucifer’.  This is why the Lord says: ‘I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven’ (Luke 10, 18). He’s the leader, the general of the order of angels who fell from heaven when they wanted to rebel against the divine will. Then they were automatically put to flight and fell from their office and position. At the same