Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Friday, July 5, 2019
Monday, June 24, 2019
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
SAINT ANTHONY THE GREAT +January 17th
By Archimandrite Elpidios Vagianakis (in
greek)
SAINT ANTHONY THE GREAT
FOUNDER OF
CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM
(Commemorated on January
17th)
HIS
CHILDHOOD YEARS
Saint Anthony was born in 251 A.D. in Koma, a small village in south Memphis in
Egypt near the banks of the Nile River, during the era of the Roman Emperor
Decius, a notorious persecutor of Christians.
His parents were rather wealthy but also
devout Christians. By his nature little Anthony was an extremely sweet, polite,
and humble child. Everyone loved him as their own child for the goodness and
respect which he showed to all people.
He loved everyone, even the most scorned
person. Whenever Anthony saw a poor, orphaned or sick child, he was inclined to
assist them.
Even though he was so young, his words
were full of wisdom and prudence.
But what most impressed everyone and made
them refer to him as a child of God was his great devotion and tender love
towards Jesus Christ. Whenever he spoke of Him, his heart would burn like lava
in a volcano.
His greatest joy was attending divine
services with his beloved parents in their small village church. There, he
would listen carefully to the reading of the Gospels, which he had an eager
desire to follow and apply precisely in his life.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
22. The miracle of Christmas
22. The miracle of Christmas
The bells were
ringing for the most joyful celebration of Christians, Christmas, and the
hearts of all the people poured out numerous wishes like a fragrant aroma for a
Merry Christmas and many happy years of peace and joy!
The same wishes
were repeated once more, after the Christmas Mass, to the spiritual father of a
group of young children, who were visiting the monastery of the Archangels, up
the mountain, to celebrate the birth of the God-man Jesus Christ.
-May God give
you, my beloved children, many happy and blessed years. I wish you may also
embrace the sweet Holy Infant of Bethlehem, as those blessed shepherds embraced
Him, when they visited Him one cold night in the cave where He was born.
-We would very much
like, our reverend father, for you to talk to us about that night and the
miracle of the birth of our Christ!
21. The divine Infant of Bethlehem
21. The divine Infant of Bethlehem
No-one ever doubted that the presence of a
small baby is one of the strongest joys of earth, which brings great happiness.
At the sight of the innocent infant and his angelic smile, even hard-hearted
people soften and their hearts become peaceful.
A baby does not distinguish between good
and bad people. He smiles at all of them innocently and honestly. He spreads
out his little hands to everybody in order to enjoy their love and hugs.
No-one is ever afraid of an innocent
infant. Infants never harm anyone. Inadvertently, the only feeling they may
provoke is the sense of the wide gap between their innocence and the cunning
that older people have. That's why when you look at them, you remember the lost
greatness of innocence which you also once had. Really, how many times have we
wished we were innocent like them!
Friday, December 23, 2016
Α Guide to Repentance
Α Guide to Repentance
Α Guide to Repentance
A few words of
introduction
Every man, my
brother, is made up of:
-the mortal
and material body and
-the immaterial, immortal and spiritual soul.
God created man in
this way.
However, as the
body needs to be cared for, to be cleansed, to be clothed, to be fed, in the
same way the immortal soul has its own needs:
- ITS CLEANSING, that is confession, by
which it will be cleansed of the various impurities of its sins.
- ITS CLOTHING, not to be naked and freezing,
that is, all those works of love which our Christ commands us to do through His
Gospel, and
- ITS FOOD, that is, Holy Communion, the
all holy Body and Blood of the crucified sweetest Son of God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ.
If, however, we
look after our material body with such great care, shouldn't we pay more
attention to our immortal soul which is, as our beloved teacher Jesus says,
more valuable than our body?
“Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37-38)
In this little
booklet, written for you with a lot of love, you will read some simple
reflections on the great Sacrament of Repentance and of Confession, since
that's why our Christ came to earth, to bring repentance to mankind, because without
it no-one can truly love Christ and be saved.
20. The night of Christmas
20. The night of Christmas
It was slowly
getting dark and the sun was disappearing behind the mountains of Bethlehem.
The cold and frost made the inhabitants of this small village, as well as all
those who came from distant places to be registered at the place of their
birth, go inside their homes early. Soon the streets were deserted and no one
was walking about outside.
To tell the truth
not everyone, because just outside the village a pious man, leading a donkey
with a young girl on its back, who looked like she was pregnant, was anxious to
arrive at a house in time before it got too late.
Every now and then,
he was trying to give her courage, because he saw that the time to give birth
had come and the young girl was extremely tired from the trip which had taken
several days.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
19. The little sheep of God (Saint Agnes)
19. The little sheep of God
(Saint Agnes)
In the first three
centuries A.D. the Christian Church lived one of the most bloody and most
heroic periods in its history. Masses of Christians wrote
with their blood moving pages of love about the Crucified Jesus and His Gospel.
Terrible and
horrible tortures were invented, to eradicate from the hearts of the faithful
Christians the love they had for our Lord Jesus Christ.
The boldness,
however, and the courage all the Christians showed when facing the tortures
were remarkable! With unimaginable patience and bravery, children and adults,
men and women, young and old, even young children suffered all these tortures
with enthusiasm, for the sake of their Christian faith.
One such child, the
young noble Agnes, was in her early teens, when she was asked to confess with
courage the love she had for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saint Agnes was
born in the year 290 A.D. in Rome. The Emperor was then the great persecutor of
Christians, Diocletian. Her parents had aristocratic origins and were very
wealthy. From the time she was a toddler Agnes learnt about Christ and like a
thirsty fawn which runs to the spring of gurgling water to drink, she was
studying the holy Gospel and the great teaching of love, as interpreted through
the Holy Book.
18. A heavenly sunbeam (The Great Martyr Saint Christina)
18. A heavenly sunbeam
(The Great Martyr Saint Christina)
Like a heavenly
sunbeam the only daughter of General Ourvanos was born and raised in the city
of Tyre in Syria, around 200 AD. Everyone from far and wide spoke about her
wonderful beauty, but also about this young noble girl’s good manners.
Her father, being a
supreme general was often away in the East with the troops of King Severus and
fearing that someone would dare to hurt her during his absence, built a tall
tower. He enclosed his little girl in this together with many servants to look
after her.
The greatest fear of
her pagan father was that someone would introduce Christianity to his daughter.
So that's why he filled this tower with dozens of gold and silver statues of
pagan gods. In this tower, there was everything, so that his daughter would not
need to come out at all, that's why he strictly ordered her not to leave the
tower.
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