What Key Tips can Help a Teenager Navigate Life? The teenage years can be very special and beautiful. Teenagers often have very noble ideals. Teenagers however can make wrong choices, which they later deeply regret. The only way to live is to be close to Christ and to His Church. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Blessed Augustine states, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” What follows is some advice from a priest who has learnt a lot not only from [...]

Why does the date for Pascha (Easter) change every year? The Christian feast of Pascha (Easter) has its origins in the Hebrew feast of the Passover, in which the Jews commemorate the deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. This connection is profound - not only did the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection happen around the time of the feast of the Jewish Passover, but the events of the original Passover are a prefigurement of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as the Jewish Passover celebrated freedom from worldly slavery, Jesus’ resurrection, the new Passover, celebrates the freedom from [...]

Ηow does the Triodion prepare us for Lent? Lent is a period of intense spiritual struggle using repentance, forgiveness, charity, prayer and fasting. In the weeks prior to Great Lent, the Church teaches us what Lent is about and how to get the most out of this beautiful and deeply spiritual period. The Triodion is the liturgical service book that contains the variable portions of the Liturgy and other services for this period that begins pre-Lent and ends on the Saturday of Holy Week. Each week at the commencement of Triodion has its own distinct theme which is expressed in [...]

Why do we have to go to a Priest for Confession? My immediate answer is that this is what our Lord and the Church advise us. Our Lord who loves us very much knows what is good for us much better than we do. Actually, anyone who has truly been to Confession, and by this I mean anyone who has confessed very honestly, bravely, and with true contrition, would not need an answer to this question. They would have experienced for themselves the peace and Grace that results from this blessed Sacrament. The Bible teaches us that we should go [...]

What draws people to Orthodox Christianity? If we are to look at the usual makeup of the congregations in the Greek Orthodox Church in Sydney, most of the worshippers are ‘cradle Orthodox’, ie. worshippers who are Orthodox because they were born into the faith. Converts are a small minority. However, that is not the case everywhere. There are pockets of Orthodox missions in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, which are blossoming. There are also pockets of Orthodox Churches in the United States whose congregations have a significant proportion of converts to Orthodoxy. Books written by converts, such as [...]