Trapeza (dining hall) Know Who You Really Are We are all surrounded by fictional characters, persons who are the invention of filmmakers, promoters, and even self-inventors. The original meaning of the word “hypocrite” was “actor”, and it is ignorance of our true nature as children of God that keeps us
And Our Capacity to Reject the Will of God According to Saint Gregory Palamas, God has given us lordship over all the earth because of our capacity for sovereignty. With this sovereignty comes the responsibility to be good stewards of that which God has given us. Saint Gregory wrote, “There
Holiness Comes Only to Those Who Keep Vigil Not an hour should pass without taking time to examine our heart, for the hour of judgement can come at any time, and we must be ready to give account to God for our life. In the Gospel of Matthew (5:8), we
The Journey to God begins with the First Step The spiritual struggle that is required of us can not depend on having a spiritual father. Most Orthodox Christians do not have one, and the average parish priest is not equipped, either with the time, nor the inclination, to take on
And the Plight of the Coptic Christian Coptic is the Pharoes’ name for “Egyptian”, a little appreciated echo of the fact that all of Egypt was once a Coptic, Christian nation. For seven centuries Egypt was a Christian nation, until the Arab Islamic invasion in the seventh century. When President
A Religion for the Sick Our Orthodox Church has always seen herself as a hospital for the soul, the place where her children can seek healing. It is within her walls that we find the medicine we need to make us holy (whole), and where we can find the means
The Most Arduous of all Ascetic Practices St Gregory of Sinai spoke of the effort involved in prayer, when he wrote, “No bodily or spiritual activity without pain or toil ever brings fruit to him who practices it, because ‘the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it
The Holiest Place is Where You Are Almost twenty-five years ago I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain of Athos, where I was able to visit seven ancient monasteries. Upon my return to the United States, I asked by spiritual father, the Ever-Memorable Archimandrite Dimitri, for a blessing to
The Theological Vision of God and Natural Science Orthodoxy does not exclude from the theological vision of God the findings of natural science. Science and faith can be in concert with one another and our desire to reinstate our communion with God can involve both natural science, and the science
The Feast of Christ the All-Merciful Saviour Today our brotherhood celebrates the Patronal Feast of our monastery. Twenty-seven years ago the beloved and ever memorable Archimandrite Dimitri (Egoroff) of Santa Rosa, CA tonsured Father Paul and me as Orthodox monks. Guided and inspired by Father Dimitri’s kind and prayerful spirit,