Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives & Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece By Herman A. Middleton Published by Protecting Veil,  3rd edition, 2011. “Read a lot so that God might enlighten your mind.” – St Porphyrios Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit describes the lives and teachings of eight important Spiritual Fathers of modern Greece. The book gives a biography of each Elder along with a selection of their teachings and counsels in the style of ‘The Sayings of the Desert Fathers’. The Elders described are: Amphilochios of Patmos, Epiphanios of Athens, Iakovos of Evia, Joseph the [...]

Namedays When a child is born it is given a name that will stay with them (unless changed) for the rest of their life. Traditionally, people choose names to express continuity with their family, i.e, they will ‘recycle’ the names of parents, grandparents and other relatives. Orthodox Christians have long chosen the names of Saints to proclaim their link with their spiritual family, the Church. Every day of the year is dedicated to the memory of at least one Saint or Martyr, as well as events in our Church (Resurrection, Transfiguration) and others (Angels, Holy Cross, Memory of Relics). Mostly [...]

St John of Damascus On the Holy Cross   Saint John of Damascus is an important father of our Church who lived in Syria in the seventh century. A monk, but also a polymath, he was very knowledgeable in the areas of law, philosophy, music, science and astronomy. Above all, he was gifted in tying all of these disciplines with the field that he is most famous for: Theology. In his premier work, the Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, he writes at length about the importance and significance of the Holy Cross on a number of levels, as it represents [...]