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Meditations for Great Lent: Reflections on the Triodion, by Vassilios Papavassiliou. Published by Conciliar Press, 2013 (1st edition)   Meditations for Great Lent focuses on the key Gospel readings for pre-Lenten weeks of preparation, which serve to exercise our minds before we focus on our bodies and our spirits. It covers the Sundays of the Publican and Pharisee, Prodigal Son, Last Judgment, and Forgiveness and their respective themes of humility, repentance, ascetic love, fasting from sin, forgiving and return to Paradise. These are linked to relevant services in the Lenten period: “The purpose of our fasting is spiritual. Spirituality must [...]

Adorning the Epitaphio Holy Week is an intense week of services, day and night. We live the Passion of our Lord and Saviour, His trials, mockings, the Cross, His death, burial and Resurrection. On Good Friday, we commemorate the death and burial of Christ. There are three services: firstly, the Royal Hours which are read on Friday morning, consisting mainly of readings from the Psalms and prophecies. Immediately after this, it is the tradition for women and girls to prepare the funeral bier, known as the Kouvouklion. They adorn this wooden structure with beautiful flowers as it will hold the [...]

St John Climacus - On Love In The Ladder of Divine Ascent, St John describes the spiritual life as a thirty step ladder of virtues and passions. Each step is one chapter, and when successfully dealt with, raises the Christian one step closer to Christ who awaits at the top of the ladder. The top step of the Ladder (Gr. Κλίμαξ) is that of Faith, Hope and Love. This trio is metaphorically described as an increasing concentration of light with the greatest of the three being Love. In its essence, Love is ‘a resemblance to God insofar as this is [...]

Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller (1886-1983) A paragon of Orthodox monasticism and an icon of humility, Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller is best known as the dedicated spiritual child of the ever-memorable Elder Joseph the Hesychast. The two met as zealous youths at the summit of the Holy Mountain and remained inseparable until the repose of Elder Joseph. At that time, the future Elder Joseph was still a layman, but the young monk Arsenios perceived such great spiritual gifts in him that he said: ‘From now on, you are the eye and I am the ear’. He said this, despite being 10 [...]

2 Kingdoms*, Chapter 24 In verse 1 of this chapter, we read that God incites David against his people of Israel. It is not saying that God caused him to sin. Rather, it represents a reflection of the sinful state of David’s soul, since, against God’s wishes, David decided to conduct a census and count his people. This stirring of David bears parallels to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 4:21. Much like Pharaoh, it was David’s decision to harden his own heart, rather than God interfering with free will. The decision to take a census does not seem [...]