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 …
Read More »Tag Archives: Christ
Saint Fevronia (Febronia) of Nisibis – Feastday: 25th June
Foreword A few words should be noted with regards to the life and sufferings of our Holy Mother amongst the Saints, Fevronia of Nisibis (Assyria – Northern Iraq, North-Eastern Syria and South-Eastern Turkey). The most detailed account of her biography and struggles come from an eyewitness that is said to be Mother Thomais, who was a fellow nun in the same …
Read More »1st Sunday of Matthew (All Saints), Synaxis of the 12 Apostles
Today we celebrate the Sunday of all Saints and the synaxis or gathering of the twelve Apostles. Our Church honors the memory of the Holy Apostles in order to show us visible examples of holiness, which we can follow, so that we can also enter like them into the Kingdom of Heaven, to be partakers of Beauty. The saints were …
Read More »COUNCIL FEES CUT SHORT TRADITIONAL EASTER PROCESSION IN SUNSHINE
Author: Stella Tzobanakis Published: Brimbank Leader Newspaper, 28 May 2013 (Syndicated in Herald-Sun Newspaper – 28 May 2013) A CENTURIES old religious tradition was cut short because a Sunshine church could not afford a hefty council bill. The annual night-time Good Friday procession on May 3 at St Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in Armstrong St was shorter than usual because …
Read More »DIATRIBE: HOLY WEEK
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that, He was seen of above five …
Read More »Prayer and Fasting
Author: Archbishop Stylianos Harkianakis of Australia Entering once again the arena of Great Lent, it is only natural to remember again the basic feats that have always characterised the ascesis of Orthodox Christians. Among these feats, prayer and fasting hold a central position. When an Orthodox speaks of fasting, then prayer spontaneously comes to his mind. And when he speaks …
Read More »Third Sunday of Great Lent: The Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
On this the third Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate the Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. The Cross is the sign of purification, the presence of the kingdom of God, and an emblem of salvation. Through the Cross, Christ sanctified His body, during His life in the world. He rejected the temptations sent to Him by the world: …
Read More »Book Review: Gregory Palamas. The Triads.
Gregory Palamas. The Triads. Translated by Nicholas Gendle. London: SPCK, 1983. 172pp. Palamas’s treatise the Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts is presented in this translation under six headings: Philosophy does not save; Apophatic theology as positive experience; The Hesychast method of prayer, and the transformation of the body; Deification in Christ; The uncreated glory; and Essence and energies …
Read More »FACING UP TO MARY
By Peter E. Gillquist Source: http://thechristianactivist.com (Published by Conciliar Press 1987) Is it safe to say that no woman in history is more misunderstood by modern Christendom than the Virgin Mary? And it is also probable that in a discussion concerning Mary between two Christians, if their differences remain unresolved, most likely it will be due to differing interpretations of …
Read More »Call No Man Father
By Fr J. Richard Ballew Source: http://thechristianactivist.com/ (Originally Published by Conciliar Press, 1994) Scriptural Account – Matthew 23:1-12 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and …
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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.