Digital Technology, Quantum Physics and Artificial Intelligence   In our times, most of our machines and instruments used both at our work and our homes, in addition to those used in research, are powered by digital technology. In the first half of the 20th century, a scientific revolution took place. Eminent physicists, mostly Europeans, discovered what is now known as Quantum Physics theory, which provides information on how atoms work. The theory helps us make sense of the smaller things in nature (like protons, photons, neutrons and electrons). Quantum is a Latin word meaning “how much”, so a quantum of [...]

The Three Stages of Repentance   Repentance is the central theme of Christianity. It is the teaching of St John the Forerunner in preparation for the coming of the Lord and it is also the starting point of our Lord’s teaching: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matt 3:2, Matt 4:17). Repentance, therefore, is in truth the beginning of the life in Christ. What is Repentance and how are we to achieve it? We may be assisted to understand and to undertake Repentance by breaking it down into three stages: Contrition Contrition, the feeling of remorse and [...]

Inner River: a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality by Kyriacos C. Markides Published by Image Press, 2012   Inner River addresses Christian Mysticism – and specifically the unbroken Orthodox Tradition – as naturally concurrent to mainstream science; revealing that the fundamentals of Christianity preserved by Orthodoxy hold the means to come into a relationship with our Creator and are the medicine in ‘resurrecting’ both God and man who humanity ‘killed’ in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the socialists. The author, himself a professor of sociology, enquires into monasticism on Mt Athos, Sinai and Cyprus, the spiritual [...]

Throwing the Cross in the Waters   On the sixth of January each year we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany or more accurately, Theophany, which is the manifestation of the Trinitarian God. At the baptism of Christ in the river Jordan, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Christ the Son of God, and the voice of God the Father was heard. For all Orthodox Christians around the world it is called the Blessing of the Waters Day. It is not just a commemoration of a historical event in the life of Jesus, because in [...]

The Evergetinos   The great treasure of Christian literature known as the Evergetinos takes its name from the monk Paul Evergetinos, the founder of an 11th century monastery in Constantinople dedicated to the Theotokos “the Benefactress” (ἡ μονὴ τῆς Εὐεργέτιδος). Elder Paul undertook the compilation of a vast collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and the Lives of the Saints, arranging them methodically into two hundred chapters which he called “hypotheses”, which each refer to a single practical aspect of the spiritual life. The great ascetics of the Egyptian desert feature in almost every hypothesis, with excerpts from [...]