Saint Paul described faith as ‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen’ (Heb. 11:1). His life, work and martyrdom are a testament to his Orthodox faith. He had the unshakeable conviction that, as a believer in Christ’s Word, he would enjoy future blessings in those things hoped for that did not exist in the present; the freedom from the tyranny of sin, the resurrection of the dead, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the future judgement and the inheritance of eternal life. Whatever he suffered in the present life was of no consequence in comparison to [...]

The Church at Prayer – The Mystical Liturgy of the Heart By Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra Published by Indiktos, Athens, 2005. “Let us leave the earth below and let us become like flames of fire, so that we too can ascend to where God is.” ‘The Church at Prayer’ is a book compiled of various sermons delivered by the Athonite Elder at various monasteries and parishes in Greece and Cyprus. Elder Aimilianos discusses some of the most important aspects of our lives as Orthodox Christians, with chapters on Prayer, the Divine Liturgy, Spiritual Study, and the Spiritual life. The first [...]

The Divine Liturgy For us today, the Divine Liturgy is a weekly staple of our Christian lives. We drive to church on a Sunday, walk into a great building with flickering candles and hand-painted icons, gold leaf and carved wood, embroidered vestments, burning incense and chanting filling every corner of the church. In the early Church, attending services was not a weekly event. For the ancient Christians, the Divine Liturgy was seen as such a sacred cornerstone of the Faith that it was held every day. No more than fifty Christians would gather together. They had no churches. Liturgies were [...]

Why does the Orthodox Church have married priests? Married clergy is one point of difference between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church allows priests to marry, as long as they do so before their ordination. However, only celibate or unmarried priests can become bishops. In the early Church, we see that some of the Lord’s disciples were married. Τhe Scriptures talk about Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law. At the time of the apostles, when the titles ‘presbyter’ and ‘bishop’ were used interchangeably, St Paul advised that a bishop “must be blameless, the husband of one wife, [...]