• We can learn many things from older people because whatever they are, their personalities and characteristics, good and bad are amplified in old age. Just like the very, very young, so too the very old cannot hide behind masks of politeness and civility like younger people can. Everything they are, good or bad, pours out […]

  • Lent is a period of intense spiritual struggle using repentance, forgiveness, charity, prayer and fasting. The three weeks prior to Great Lent are the weeks of preparation where the Church teaches us what Lent is about and how to get the most out of this beautiful and deeply spiritual period. Each week of Triodion has its own […]

  • As a teenager, I spent years thinking about this question. “What is the difference between a Christian and all other good people who are not Christians?” Why be a Christian? Why not just be a good person and leave God out of the picture? This is a question many people have asked over the last […]

  • Death is painful. It hurts and it hurts deeply. Is there a greater personal sadness than the death of a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a friend, or a spouse? At such moments, the words of Saint John of Damascus ring true, “What earthly sweetness ever remains unmixed with […]

  • Collectively, Americans, Australians, British and Canadians speak over 200 languages. Other than English, the most common languages spoken today are Chinese, Italian, Greek and Arabic. So many cultures and so many beliefs! Christianity is the most commonly reported religion (52.1 per cent of the population). The Islamic population with 2.6 per cent of the total […]

  • St. Symeon the New Theologian writes: “The saints in each generation, joined to those who have gone before, and filled like them with light, become a golden chain, in which each saint is a separate link, united to the next by faith, works, and love. So, in the One God they form a single chain […]

  • In most countries of the world, to immigrate from another country and to become a permanent resident you will require a sponsor. A sponsor has to be someone who is already a citizen or a permanent resident in that country to which you wish to emigrate and who is willing to vouch for you, look […]

  • Fear of God

    Our parents and grandparents did not have an issue with this term “Fear of God”. It is a term that appears throughout the Old and New Testaments, and a term that was on the lips and in the minds of the faithful throughout the ages. Strangely, these days, this phrase troubles many people. Today people […]

  • Fasting in the Orthodox Church

    Once, somebody ask Father Paisios, “how can we get the greatest benefit, the greatest gift when receiving Holy Communion?” The holy monk answered, “it could not be in consuming a greater volume of Holy Communion because the priests drink the whole chalice at the end of liturgy and clearly their benefit is no different to […]

  • Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God […]