You who love instruction, and are eager to listen, receive once again the sacred words: delight yourselves in the honey of wisdom; for so it is written, “Good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is the healing of the soul.” For the labour of the bees is very sweet, and benefits in many ways the soul of man: but the …
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“When someone has an illness, only then does he have the ability to truly empathise with the pain of another. And when you look briefly at your brother’s pain, then you will be greatly alleviated of your own pain. God bestows afflictions/illnesses so as to either purify us or to strengthen us. Illnesses are not permanent but pass and can …
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Commentary on St. Luke 2:25-35 (Sermon 4) “The prophet Isaiah says, “Beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings of good:” and what could there be so sweet to learn as that God has saved the world by the mediation of the Son, in that He was made like unto us? For it is written, “that there is …
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By St. Methodius of Patara (+ 312 AD) *1. “Although I have before, as briefly as possible, in my dialogue on chastity, sufficiently laid the foundations as it were, for a discourse on virginity, yet today the season has brought forward the entire subject of the glory of virginity, and its incorruptible crown, for the delightful consideration of the Church’s …
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By St. Nikolai Velimirovich Each of these saints have their own feast day. St. Basil the Great, January 1; St. Gregory the Theologian, January 25; and St. John Chrysostom, January 27. This combined feast day, January 30, was instituted in the eleventh century during the reign of Emperor Alexius Comnenus. At one time a debate arose among the people concerning …
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After the Saviour was born of the Virgin and circumcised on the eighth day according to the law, then, as Luke the evangelist says, “when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord” (Luke …
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The following teaching is taken from the personal memoirs of one of Greece’s most celebrated and erudite holy elders, Fr Philotheos Zervakos. In the following account, Elder Philotheos recalls to memory his visit to Aegina to find his spiritual father, the blessed St Netarios of Pentapolis. Upon his arrival to the monastery he observes an elderly man working, not recognising …
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The following is taken from an address given by St. Nectarios when he was first assigned dean of Rizarios Ecclesiastical School. “My children, in each of you there exists a future priest, an important element of the history and future life of our suffering country. You should be proud to wear your cassocks (anteri). Pray to the Almighty that He …
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-Elder, how can someone be helped to not fall into the same fault? -If one truly feels pain for his fault, he will not do it again. There must be an inner contrition with sincere repentance in order for a person to be corrected. This is why Saint Mark the Ascetic says, If one does not feel contrition commensurate to …
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By St. Nikolai Velimirovich Because John’s main role in his life was played out on the day of the Epiphany (Theophany), the Church from earliest times dedicated the day following Epiphany to his memory. To this feast is also linked the incident with the hand of the Forerunner. The Evangelist Luke desired to remove the body of John from Sebaste, …
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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.