The hymns that we chant just before the start of Great Lent lament the loss of paradise. They present us with the figure of Adam, who was stripped of the garments of glory woven for him by God. In one of these hymns, Adam, exiled from paradise, strikes up a lament, and cries: “I shall…
Often know what is good for us and yet we don’t do it cause it’s hard, we’re lazy. All right, people are weak, inconsistent, we all fall; we should just beware not to drown into the sin. Did you fall in a sin? Stand up right away and run with repentance to Christ. We all…
The Most Holy Theotokos will never forget us, because She became the Mother of the eternal Love. An amazing and inexplicable mystery which should be accepted with faith, just like Theotokos accepted with faith the mystery of our Lord’s incarnation. Namely, when Archangel Gabriel revealed this great mystery to Her that She was to give…
Today many Christians look for excuses and blame the sinful surroundings for their bad deeds. They say: “We live in a world filled with temptations, with great challenges to our faith. How can we live like Christians?! That’s impossible!” But look, my dear ones, the Most Holy Theotokos proved with Her own example that in…
Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:106) We sing the verse above at the service of the Artoklasia – five loaves. It is a source of great comfort and strength. Then St. John of Damascus writes in the funeral service of the Holy Orthodox Church, “What earthly sweetness remains unmixed with…
+ B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Christ Risen in Glory be with you All Venerable brothers and beloved children in the Lord, Having run the…
