The Feast of the Entrance into the Temple of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated on November 21 each year. The Feast commemorates when as a young child, the Virgin Mary entered the Temple in Jerusalem. Continue reading
Feast of the Entrance into the Temple of our Most Holy Lady The Theotokos
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Wise Counsel from St Iakovos Tsalikis
“We are not sanctified by the place in which we live, but by the way we live.”
“The faithful shouldn’t tell others of things they have confessed, of details of their life or their spiritual endeavour.”
“Chase away the bad thoughts and fantasies that the devil presents. Don’t even notice them.”
“Don’t hesitate [to come to confession]. Don’t be ashamed. Whatever you may have done, even the greatest of sins, the spiritual father has power from the Lord Christ Himself and from the Apostles to forgive you with his stole.”
“I asked God in prayer for the gift of discerning men’s hearts by looking at their faces, so that I might be able to help them; and God granted it.”
~ from Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit
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Lessons From The Good Samaritan
8th Sunday of Luke, Luke 10: 25-37
Regarding the people of Samaria, also known as Samaritans, Jews had no dealings with them. This is told to us in Gospel of John (4) when Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. That’s why she ask Jesus, “How is that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” To the Jews, the word “Samaritan” meant ‘dog’ or ‘devil’. They were considered half-breeds and heretics. However, because of the parable Jesus told in today’s Gospel, from the Eighth Sunday of Luke (10:25-37), everyone thinks of Samaritans as “good”. If I asked anyone who/what a “Good Samaritan” is, virtually all of them could tell me that it’s a person who helps someone in need, even if they are a stranger. Continue reading
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On Humility & Pride
~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
Draw nigh to the righteous, and through them you will draw nigh to God.
Communicate with those who possess humility, and you will learn morals from them.
A man who follows one who loves God becomes rich in the mysteries of God; but he who follows an unrighteous and proud man gets far away from God, and will be hated by his friends.
St. Isaac the Syrian, Sermon 57,8
The Lord does not show Himself to a proud soul. The proud soul, no matter how many books it reads, will never know God, since by its pride it does not give place for the grace of the Holy Spirit, while God is known only by the humble soul.
St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, III.11
………..
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9 November: St. Nectarios of Aegina
St. Nectarios was born on October 1, 1846, in Selymbria in Thrace to a poor family. His given name was Anastasios Cephalas. At the age of 14 he moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) to work and further his education. In 1866 he left to the island of Chios to take a teaching post. He then became a monk at the age of thirty. Continue reading
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8 November: The Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven
The angels of God have been commemorated by men from the earliest times, but this commemoration often degenerates into the divinization of angels (IV Kings 23:5; A.V. II Kings). Heretics always wove fantasies round the angels. Some of them saw the angels as gods and others, if they did not so regard them, took them to be the creators of the whole visible world. The local Council in Laodicea, that was held in the fourth century, rejected in its 35th Canon the worship of angels as gods, and established the proper veneration of them. Continue reading
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Repentance – St Nectarios of Aegina
Two factors are involved in man’s salvation: the grace of God and the will of man. Both must work together, if salvation is to be attained.
Repentance is a Mysterion through which he who repents for his sins confesses before a Spiritual Father who has been appointed by the Church and has received the authority to forgive sins, and receives from this Spiritual Father the remission of his sins and is reconciled with the Deity, against Whom he sinned.
Repentance signifies regret, change of mind. The distinguishing marks of repentance are contrition, tears, aversion towards sin, and love of the good.
~ Saint Nectarios Of Aegina
Elder Cleopa
~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
“Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross on your forehead, your body, your chest, your heart, your lips, your eyes, your ears. All of you should be sealed with the sign of Christ’s victory over hell. Then you will no longer be afraid of charms, evil spirits, or sorcery, because these are dissolved by the power of the Cross like wax before fire and like dust before the wind.”
+ Elder Cleopa
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St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church 