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I believe in one God, Father Almighty Our Creed proclaims our faith in the Trinitarian God. It does so in an eloquent, specific, yet far from exhaustive manner. The fathers of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils (325, 381 AD) did not set out, through sheer curiosity, to create a sophisticated philological text espousing the Christian faith. Rather, they responded to the theological provocations of their time, setting forth the Truths of the Christian faith, as illumined by the Holy Spirit. They dogmatised out of necessity to safeguard the Apostolic Faith in the pure form it was handed down from [...]

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent   «Σιγησάτω πᾶσα σάρξ βροτεία, καὶ στήτω μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου, καὶ μηδὲν γήϊνον ἐν ἑαυτῇ λογιζέσθω· ὁ γὰρ Βασιλεῦς τῶν βασιλευόντων, καὶ Κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων, προσέρχεται σφαγιασθῆναι, καὶ δοθῆναι εἰς βρῶσιν τοῖς πιστοῖς· προηγοῦνται δὲ τούτου, οἱ χοροὶ τῶν Ἀγγέλων, μετὰ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας, τὰ πολυόμματα Χερουβίμ, καὶ τὰ ἑξαπτέρυγα Σεραφίμ, τὰς ὄψεις καλύπτοντα, καὶ βοῶντα τὸν ὕμνον· Ἀλληλούϊα, Ἀλληλούϊα, Ἀλληλούϊα.» “Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and stand with fear and trembling, and take no thought for any earthly thing; for the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to [...]

Elder Evmenios The Hidden Saint of our Times St Porphyrios had asked for a confessor one time and requested Elder Evmenios from the Leprokomeio (Hospital of Infectious Diseases) in Athens. So greatly was he impressed that he would send people to him saying “you should go and receive the blessing of Elder Evmenios, he is the hidden saint of our time. Saints like this come along only once every two hundred years.” The young Konstantinos Saridakis was born in 1931. He was the eighth child of a poor family in Ethia of Crete. He was brought up with little schooling [...]

Fr Thomas Hopko on becoming a mature adult Christian   In his podcast on ‘Who is the Theotokos’, Father Hopko advises us to read the entire New Testament several times and to pray to God to illumine our understanding, “Holy Spirit enlighten me, guide me.” We need to set aside our prejudice, anger and hang ups. If we don’t believe in God, pray to whom it may concern. If we are not sure, pray “God, if you are there, please help me. I want to know. Illumine my heart. Show me your way. I am ready to follow if I [...]

Psalm 140 In his Letter to Marcellinus, St Athanasius states that within the Psalter you will find “all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries.” How blessed then are we that the Orthodox Church has enriched its services by use of the psalter. The vespers service in particular includes the chanting of psalm 140 in its entirety. It begins with the pleading words “Lord, I have cried out to you, hear me. Receive the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you”, and is chanted according to the tone [...]