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Monday of the Holy Spirit: The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 23, 2021 Saint Justin Popovich Who is Jesus Christ, who is both God and human? What in him is God and what is human? How do we recognize the God in him and the human? What did God grant us in the person of Jesus? All of this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, the ‘Spirit of Truth’. In other words, he reveals the truth about Jesus, about the God

Why did the Church Establish the Saturdays of the Souls?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on March 1, 2022 Fr. Ioannis Sourlingas The Saturday before Meat-fare Sunday is called the ‘Saturday of the Souls’. It’s the first of two, the other being the Saturday before the Sunday of Pentecost. Even though every Saturday is dedicated to the departed, the Church established the Saturdays of the Souls for the following reason: because there were occasions when people died alone, at unknown times and places, at sea, on mountains, precipices and

Are there limits to human kindness?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on November 15, 2021 Ioannis Karavidopoulos, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Hermeneutics, A. U. Th. It’s right and proper, if you’re in a hurry to get to work, to your office, or to go about your business that you should stop on the way and help somebody in need, even though you risk being late, losing out on something or even getting into trouble. Organization and the pace of life, a schedule and a

Ascension: The Promise of the Father from Ascension to Pentecost

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 14, 2021 Ascension For forty days after the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus was ‘being seen of His disciples’.[1] He was gladdening the hearts of His disciples with His Presence and initiating them into the mysteries of the Kingdom. Christ appeared to them and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. At the same time, the Apostles were living with such tension of prayer in His Presence, that His words were engraved in their

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (3)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 14, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Fasting is a theological action, and sin has a theological hypostasis. We don’t avoid sin because it will upset our nervous system or because it’s better for our health to do so. A God who needs things like that isn’t the God of the Gospels, but is Zeus or Cronos and all those who, when they became angry, launched bolts of lightning and did wicked things

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (2)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 13, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Once upon a time I thought that if a person saw a saint, they’d immediately be astonished, as I was when I saw a man of God. One example would be Elder [now Saint] Païsios with whom we were in close contact for so many years. People would go to him and would change just at the sight of him, without him saying anything at all

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (1)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 11, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos The event of Christ’s Resurrection is the continuation not of the Passion, but of providence, that is, God’s undertaking for the salvation of humankind. Had Christ ended up in the grave and remained there, everything would have been in vain. Our faith would have been in vain, our preaching pointless and everything we do to no avail. If we take away Christ’s Resurrection, everything collapses and,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Friday of Pascha: The Resurrection of the Dead

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 6, 2021 Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis † We people aren’t only bodies. We also have a soul. Even when the body ceases to exist, the soul continues to live. But without the body, it’s as if it’s naked. When it’s separated from the body, it feels stripped. And, until the second coming, it’ll feel poorer, which is why, until the second coming, every soul ‘awaits the resurrection of the dead and life

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Wednesday of Pascha: What do we Celebrate at Mid-Pentecost?

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 26, 2021 Ioannis Foundoulis Professor of the Theological School A. U. Th. † Not many of the faithful know much about this feast. Apart from the clergy and a few lay people who have close ties to the Church, many don’t even know of its existence. Few attend church on the day and most people have no inkling that, on the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Paralytic, the Church celebrates a

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Monday of Pascha: Renewal in Joy

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 17, 2021 Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana ‘So that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Rom. 6, 4). The triumph of Jesus’ Resurrection over injustice, violence and, in general, over sin and death, again fills our hearts with elation and is the culmination of his ministry on earth for the renewal of the whole world. Christ, the