Through the prayers of our Holy Elder Porphyrios May whatever I write be for the glory of The Living God, Who glorifies those who glorify Him. How I Met the Elder for the First Time I always had the desire to meet a holy person, to see how he lives. One afternoon, friends of mine took me to a monastery in Milessi. These people knew the Elder well. They wanted me to meet a man
Orthodox and Paradox. The two words have much in common. The “dox” that ends both terms has its root in the Greek word doxa, which means “belief” or “opinion.” It will be suggested in what follows that these words share much more than just a linguistic root, but glancing at the root word is a good place to begin. In its later Christian usage, doxa comes to mean “glory,” but only as an extension of
Saint Gregory of Nyssa – His Life St. Gregory of Nyssa, the younger brother of St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379) was born around 330 and was educated chiefly by Basil. Like his older brother, he opted at first for a secular career in rhetoric. Unlike Basil, he even married. Under the influence of his friends, especially St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-389), he retired to the same monastery on the Iris which his brother,
Not wasting any time, I opened the conversation by reminding Fr. Maximos of our unfinished discussion about the nine fruits of the Spirit as listed by Apostle Paul, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “So far,” I said, “we have covered the last three: self-control, gentleness, and faithfulness. We were about to begin discussing the next two stages, goodness and kindness.” Fr. Maximos nodded. “According to the Gospel, goodness is
The Wise Men travelled a long way and nobody knows the difficulties they had to overcome. Each of us also travels as they did. They were loaded with gifts, gold for the king, frankincense for the God, myrrh for the man who was to suffer death. Where can we get gold, frankincense and myrrh, we who are indebted for everything to God? We know that everything we possess has been given us by God and
The second day of the feast of the Epiphany is called the Synaxis of Saint John, the prophet, forerunner and Baptist of the Lord. It is a day of liturgical celebration in honor of the one who prepared the way for the Messiah and baptized Him in the Jordan river. According to Jesus himself, there is no one greater than John the Baptist. “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has
Like the liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, the festival of His Epiphany in the Jordan at the time of His baptism is inaugurated with a prefeast celebration of five days. And also like the services of the Nativity, many hymns of the Epiphany prefeast are patterned after those of the springtime Pascha of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Once again just a few words in many of the songs are changed from those sung
The tradition of baking and cutting a special “pita” (which can mean a loaf of bread, a cake, or even a pie!) each year on January 1″ is observed in honor of our Holy Father Basil the Great, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia – hence its name Vasilopita. This tradition is observed in both parish churches and in the homes of the faithful. What is the meaning of this tradition and how did it begin?
We are bombarded with messages about who we should be… Should we be “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”, keeping ourselves “Jerseylicious,” or believe that we can “do whatever we want” as Miley Cyrus recommends? It is difficult to be a Christian, when we are told to be many different things at once. So how do we, in this day and age, figure out who we are supposed to be? Who do we follow? In the
Saint Basil the Great was born in the year 329 in Caesarea of Cappadocia, to a family renowned for their learning and holiness. His parents’ names were Basil and Emmelia. His mother Emmelia (commemorated July 19 and May 30) and his grandmother Macrina (January 14) are Saints of the Church, together with all his brothers and sisters: Macrina, his elder sister (July 19), Gregory of Nyssa (January 10), Peter of Sebastia (January 9), and Naucratius.
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