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 [...]

St Basil the Great on the Holy Spirit At the time St Basil wrote his treatise On the Holy Spirit, controversies abounded concerning the divinity of both Christ and the Holy Spirit. St Basil compared the state of the Church under siege to a naval battle being fought in the midst of a raging tempest, in which the two fleets are so broken up by the dark storm that banners can no longer be seen, signals are no longer recognised, and one cannot distinguish one’s ally from one’s foe. St Basil denounces these errors as the end-product of vanity and [...]