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The Tower of Babel   The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel refers to a people who spoke one language and were like minded. Following the flood, God had promised Noah that he would protect his descendants. They moved east to a valley called Shinar south of Babylon. There, they decided to build a city with a tower that would reach the heavens! This tower would show their strength to the whole world and protect them so they would never be scattered over the face of the earth. They put more faith in the tower than in God's [...]

  «Τὸ Πνεῦμά Σου τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὀδηγήσει με ἐν γῇ εὐθείᾳ» Psalm 142 is read at the beginning of every Orthros service as the last of the ‘Six Psalms’, and at every Supplicatory Canon or Paraklesis. More specifically, this verse is chanted at the Orthros of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. Every reference to the Spirit in the Psalms is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit Who inspired King David to write this Psalm when his son Absalom was in pursuit of his [...]

Part 5: Dental Team In Indonesia In November 2012, with the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos and His Eminence Metropolitan Konstantinos of Singapore, eight men from the Greek Orthodox Christian Society travelled to Medan, Indonesia, at the request of Fr Chrysostomos Manalu, an Orthodox priest of Indonesian background. This is the fifth of a series of articles outlining aspects of this missionary visit. Two of us made up the dental contingent of the trip to Indonesia in late November 2012. During our nine day sojourn, we spent our time treating patients by primarily extracting diseased teeth. Instruments were donated [...]

Spiritual Counsels by St John of Kronstadt Published by St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1967 (1st Edition) ISBN: 0-913836-92-3 “In what does the Christian life consist? In having nothing in the heart but Christ, or, if possessing earthly blessings, in not in the least attaching oneself to them, but in clinging with the whole heart to Christ.” (Chapter 8: The Spiritual Warfare, Part 3: The Life of the Spirit p. 141) ‘Spiritual Counsels’ by St John of Kronstadt is filled with such gems of wisdom, clarity and insight. This book is composed of selected short passages from St John of Kronstadt’s [...]

Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993) Elder Sophrony of Essex was born in Russia, but departed as a young man in 1921 for the intellectual and artistic hubs of Europe. He finally settled in Paris where he found success as an artist. During this time, he engaged in the practices of oriental mysticism. These were years of struggle as he searched for eternal beauty beyond the realities of time and space. Art was his way of accessing the spiritual experiences he had long desired. After some time, he returned to Christianity and became one of the first students of the Orthodox [...]