Ecumenical Impact on Orthodox Witness and Mission: A Convert’s Reflections By Fr. John Reeves Presented September 24, 2004 at the Conference: “Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment” The Aristotelian University Thessaloniki, Greece Twenty seven years ago (last week, in fact), I stood outside the doors of the St Seraphim Church, Dallas, Texas, awaiting reception into Holy Orthodoxy. I was asked whether I …
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By Nick Pandazis, (BTh – Athens University). Author’s Note: Contrary to public belief, the origin and figure that inspired the present worldly celebration of “Valentine’s Day, was not any of the priest-martyrs named Valentine, who belonged to the early (then canonical) Church of Rome. The figure who actually inspired this day was a 17th century “revolutionary” who later became a …
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By Father Brendan Pelphrey, PhD The Orthodox Church is the original Christian church on Earth. It has existed since the Day of Pentecost, described in Acts Ch. 2 in the Bible. Through the centuries the Orthodox way of worship, and the Orthodox faith, have not changed. The Orthodox Christian faith is Biblical faith. The New Testament was written by the …
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His Eminence Meletios (Kalamaras), who was Metropolitan of Nikopolis and Preveza in Greece, passed from death to life on 21 June 2012. Metropolitan Meletios, who had lately faced several serious health issues, was 79. His Eminence was born in 1933 in Alagonia, Kalamata, and was a graduate in theology and in classical literature-philosophy from the University of Athens. He was …
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Before we pray, I should like to introduce our prayers so that when we pray, we do it more effectively, with one mind and with one heart. Year after year I have spoken of the New Year that was coming, in terms of a plain covered with snow, unspoiled, pure, and called our attention to the fact that we must …
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I do not mean to give a complete exposition of Christianity. I want to take a certain number of points which I think are relevant for the Christian and which are relevant for anyone who wishes to understand himself and the situation in which we as Christians find ourselves. Perhaps when I say ‘we Christians’ I go beyond the limits …
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When nations are not made accountable for their crimes, their action ceases to be a crime 23 Jul 2013 In a piece describing his stay in Cyprus, Noble Prize winning poet Odysseus Elytis spoke of the timeless essence of being Greek as being situated in a unique feel for the relationship between things, whereupon there was more of the spirit …
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Theseus and the Minotaur It is difficult to imagine that there can be any reader of Vema, Greek or (like me) Barbarian, who has not known the story of Theseus and the Minotaur from infancy. But, of course, there is one reader, because there always is. So, briefly, ignoring the many variants and sticking to the bits that will concern …
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“We are indifferent, slothful and complacent when it comes to maintaining our privileges but when faced with adversity, the Greek community invariably rises to the occasion“. Every year, our Good Friday Epitaphios procession, which winds itself before the looming sinisterness of the Moonee Ponds branch of the Tax Office, past the local Safeway into the street behind the church, is, unbeknownst to many …
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ModeOfLife Become love as God exhorts us, for this is the true starting point for changing your life and the world. For it is love that will bring respect, justice and equity into the world, not our personal opinion of what justice or equity is.