Hitting the wall – What happened with St. Mary of Egypt?

The expression “Hitting the wall” refers to an athlete, usually a marathon runner or cyclists that during a race they deplete their muscles glycogen reserves and they experience sudden loss of energy and extreme fatigue. In other words they can’t go on with the race, they’re stuck.

This is what happened with St. Mary of Egypt in the church in Jerusalem when she was stopped by an unseen wall to enter the nave. It was like all her spiritual “glycogen” has ran out and there she was, unable to take one more step and enter the Church. Of course you are going to tell me it was God who stopped her because she was unclean, and living in terrible… Continue reading

The Akathyst of the Holy Martyr Menas the Wonderworker

The shrine of St. Menas used to be for the Ancient Eastern Orthodox world what Lourdes is for Roman Catholics, a place where thousands of pilgrims would bring their prayers in distress and receive the grace of God in return, through the intercessions of the Holy Martyr.
Though the Shrine of Saint Menas was one of the most popular pilgrimage sites of the early Middle Ages, it fell into oblivion over the centuries with the Muslim occupation and was even believed by many scholars to be a myth. Following its discovery in 1905, the ruins of the fabled city of St. Menas were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 as one of the five most historically important… Continue reading

Fasting abundantly

The idea that any Westerner has about fasting is strongly linked with renunciation, with giving-up, with sacrificing something for God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church however, fasting achieves a much richer meaning. Fasting is not only about giving-up, but it is actually more about gaining, about being able to reach things that are possible only through this spiritual exercise.

In a legalistic understanding of salvation some believe that Christ has come on earth to fulfill a duty, to repair an offense that man has brought unto God. His sacrifice on the Cross satisfies this need and mankind enters again in God’s favors. From this perspective fasting is a similar symbol: a personal sacrifice that one makes to step back… Continue reading

Being Present in the Presence – Archmandrite Meletios (Webber)

Yesterday  night, January 27 at 7 PM we had the extraordinary opportunity to host a special session of Gladsome Light Dialogues having as guest Archmandrite Meletios, the Abbot of St. John of St. Francisco Monastery in California.

Archimandrite Meletios (Webber), of Scottish background, was born in London, and received his Masters degree in Theology from Oxford University, England and the Thessalonica School of Theology, Greece. He also holds an E.D.D. (doctorate) in Psychotherapy from the University of Montana, Missoula.

He is the author of two published books: Steps of Transformation; an Orthodox Priest Explores the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (Conciliar Press, 2003); and Bread and Water, Wine and Oil; an Orthodox Christian Experience of… Continue reading

Concerning Angels by Metropolitan ISAIAH of Denver

Due to a series of unfortunate events I recently watched the super Holywood production “Legion”. Five minutes into the movie I wished I was not there and by the end I concluded that nothing is sacred to the film industry. The movie is an apocaliptical  thriller about the destruction of humankind by God that got fed-up with humankind.  So He sends out a zombie-like army led by an obedient Archangel Gabriel that stops to nothing in fulfilling their mission. The problem starts when the Archangel Michael disagrees with God and goes on to fight back with knives, machine guns and bazookas. Go figure.

Leaving  aside the fact that the movie is so bad, the most horrifying thing to me is the eroneous depiction… Continue reading

Into the lions den – The passions of Fr. Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa

I recently found this article on the wonderful website http://www.orthodoxphotos.com. Fr. Gheorghe Calciu spent 21 years in the communist prisons and was a symbol of freedom fighting for all Romanians. I knew Fr. Gheorghe personally in the last few years of his life.  He went to meet his beloved Lord in November 2006. The story he shares in the following text is a perfect example of human struggle for something better, for something beyond the crude reality of a rejecting world.

You can read more about Fr. Gheorghe at this wiki page:

http://ro.orthodoxwiki.org/Gheorghe_Calciu-Dumitreasa

Note: The photo was taken at the Romanian Episcopate Congress in 2003. Fr. Gheorghe always used to joke… Continue reading

Theophany – reflections on the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

The word Baptism comes, to no surprise,  from Greek: baptisma, meaning immersion into water. So baptism is linked with water by definition. It is the general understanding that through the baptism the person that is baptized is receiving a blessing. In Christ case however the things  are different.  John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, but Christ had no sin.  Here is what a troparion form the Orthros service of the feast says: 

Christ is baptized with us, even though He is above all purity; and thus He infuses  sanctification into the water, which then becomes the purifying agent of our souls.

 Through the baptism of the Lord the waters received God’s blessing, being transformed in… Continue reading

The worshipping community

I recently stumbled upon an older interview with Bishop Kalistos Ware, one of the most known Orthodox converts, and, with great pleasure I’ve rediscovered a passage that always struck a delicate chord in my heart. Here it is.:
“I first came to know the Orthodox Church when I was seventeen years old, just before I was due to go to university. My first contact with Orthodoxy was, in fact, not through reading books and not through meeting, face to face, living Orthodox Christians; my first contact came through attending a church service. That, I think, is the best way to be introduced to the Orthodox Church. We shouldn’t see Orthodoxy just as a set of ideas or teachings. We need to see Orthodoxy as a worshiping community—a community of prayer… Continue reading

Two stories of violence

In the last month two stories of violence against Orthodox priests caught the Orthodox news channels attention. One happened in Russia and one here, on American soil.

The first one you can read it here:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hundreds-mourn-orthodox-priest-shot-dead-in-church/390092.html#no

This is a most tragic event. A Russian Orthodox Priest who was outspoken against the Islamic religion was gunned down in his own Church in Moscow. May he rest in peace.

The second one available here:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1050707.ece

is a story of confusion, of mistaken (?) identity that ended up with a severe beating of an Orthodox Seminarian by an US soldier.

Both this stories are disturbing because they show how misdirected religious convictions and misinformation can lead to violent… Continue reading

To a modest man who is repenting for some of his words – by St. Nikolai (Velimirovic)

repentanceYou have done well for repenting right away. God has left repentance for salvation. If that was not the case, not even the Apostles would have been saved, far less other people. You have sinned with the tongue, re­pented with the heart. You said an evil word against your neighbor. As if you threw a spark into dry straw. The whole village heard it and made a mockery of it. The neighbor was bitter and sued you. You paid a lot, and became more miserable. You are bitter with yourself. It is not so hard for you that the court has punished you, but it is hard that your offended neighbor keeps punishing you. He does not wish to… Continue reading