Mount Athos: The highest place on earth, by Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia. Published by En Plo Editions, 2008   Mount Athos: The highest place on earth describes Metropolitan Nikolaos’ personal experiences of the Holy Mountain. The book captures the authentic experience of Mount Athos, with vivid descriptions of the rough landscape, stories of holy monks, and explanations of Athonite traditions such as the ‘Avaton’ rule. The author presents himself as a young and educated man who is fascinated by asceticism, but is reluctant to experience it himself. He struggles with his own calling to monasticism from the outset, and only [...]

The Antidoron   The Antidoron (ἀντίδωρον) is the small piece of bread that is distributed by the priest at the end of a Divine Liturgy service. The literal translation of the word Antidoron means ‘instead of the Gift’. The Gift, of course, refers to the sanctified portions that are blessed during the Liturgy, and prepared during the proskomedi service in Matins, to be used for the Body of Christ for Holy Communion. Although it has been blessed, the Antidoron has not been consecrated, and consists of the remaining bread portions taken from the same prosforo (bread offering). It is imperative [...]

St Basil the Great – On Humility   In his beautiful homily On Humility, St Basil the Great exposes with his artful oratory man’s disobedience, and reveals the folly of human glory. This is of course to show that God’s glory is the only true glory - the glory which man should still possess had he not chosen his own path towards false glory. St Basil draws a direct line between pride and death, telling us that arrogance is poison to the soul. Absalom and Goliath, along with many other Old Testament characters and stories, are used to illustrate this [...]

Dismissal Hymn of St Demetrios the Great Martyr Ἦχος γ' Μέγαν εὕρατο ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις, σὲ ὑπέρμαχον ἡ οἰκουμένη, Ἀθλοφόρε τὰ ἔθνη τροπούμενον. Ὡς οὖν Λυαίου καθεῖλες τὴν ἔπαρσιν, ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ θαρρύνας τὸν Νέστορα, οὕτως Ἅγιε, Μεγαλομάρτυς Δημήτριε, Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν ἱκέτευε, δωρήσασθαι ἡμῖν τὸ μέγα ἔλεος. The whole world has found you as a mighty champion in dangers, O victor, who rout the nations. Therefore as you destroyed the pride of Lyaios in the stadium by giving Nestor courage, holy great Martyr Demetrios, implore Christ God to grant us his great mercy   Saint Demetrios, the Great Martyr [...]

St Sophia of Kleisoura (1883-1974)   Also known as Saint Sophia the New Ascetic of Kleisoura, Sophia Saoulidi was born in Pontus, Asia Minor, in 1883, at a time of growing hostility between the Turkish and Greek populations. Her married life was short-lived following the disappearance of her husband and the death of her new-born son. These events led Sophia to turn completely to God and marked the beginning of her ascetic way of life. In 1919, Sophia fled the tense environment in Turkey. Upon her arrival to Greece, the Mother of God appeared to her saying, “Come to my [...]