The city of Athens has been the cradle of world civilization since ancient times. It was here that the first democracy in the world was born and for the first time, man was given value and human rights began to be respected. It...

       The city of Athens can boast of the multitude of saints it has raised up over the centuries. It should especially boast of the holy Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite, who is counted among the great Fathers and Hierarchs of our Church....

The holy author of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Evangelist Luke, recounting the events of the Apostle Paul's visit to Athens in 51 AD in the seventeenth chapter, refers to the few people who believed in the Apostle's preaching...

The power of repentance and the victory of faith The Church of Christ honors on October 2 the memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Holy Virgin-martyr Justina, two great figures of faith, whose lives constitute one of the most...

During the difficult times of Ottoman slavery, Divine Providence favored the emergence of great spiritual figures, who served, illuminated, supported the Church of Christ and offered invaluable services to our enslaved people. One of them was...

       True wisdom, which has authority and does not fall away, is the wisdom according to God. This is the fruit and gift of the Holy Spirit to people who are faithful and humble in heart, that is, the saints. The saints of our Church have transcended worldly wisdom and...

       Among the choir of saints of our Church there are also many kings, emperors and members of the palaces, who were not alienated from power. They subordinated worldly glory to the glory of God and to the ministry of the Church. That is why...

     Saints Joachim and Anna, the forefather and promotor of our Lord Jesus Christ, hold an important place of honor in the canon of our Church. In almost every sacred service, a special mention is made of their venerable figures, the ministers seeking their...

       A fundamental element of our ecclesiastical life is missionary work. The teaching of the principles of our saving faith to people who either did not know the teaching of Christ, or knew it imperfectly. The Fathers of the Church included us in their pastoral...

The terrible period of persecutions of the first three Christian centuries gave rise to a great multitude of Martyrs, among whom were the Hieromartyrs, that is, the clerical Martyrs. One of the most glorious Hieromartyrs was Saint Babilas. ...

In the ancient church, the institution of deaconesses was established early on. This is the first social recognition of women in history. For the first time in Christianity, women are recognized as human beings and are equal to men, having the...

Many holy hierarchs brightened with their personality and their work the first throne Church of Constantinople in its two thousand year historical course. One of them is Saint Alexander, who put his own stamp on the Church of Christ...

 Saint John the Baptist belongs to the group of great prophets and confessors of our faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself described him as the greatest man who appeared in the world: "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...

Among the devoted and faithful disciples of the Lord was the apostle Thaddeus, as the evangelist Mark calls him (3:16), who is also referred to by the names Levites by the Evangelist Matthew, but also as Judas (John, 14:22). Some...

       The region of Pelion in Magnesia gave a number of great personalities to the Church and our Nation in the dark years of the Turkish rule. That blessed and God-endowed place brought forth bright spiritual figures and saints, who...

        The Attic land, after the gospel of Christ was preached, has raised a multitude of saints, who brighten the hagiological firmament of our Church. One of them was Saint Timothy, Bishop of Evripos. A bright star, a great spiritual...

(Solemn tribute to the great Mother of God feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Brief theological approach to the supreme contribution of the Mother of God to the salvation of the world) Within the physical and...

The martyred Pontus also gave a series of heroic Neomartyrs to the Church and the Nation, who stood up to the barbaric pagan Ottomanism and defended the holy and unadulterated faith of Christ and at the same time expressed its resistance...

(Theological commentary on the Assumption and Transfiguration of the Theotokos) The great feast of the Assumption of the Theotokos constitutes another important station of mental well-being and rich spiritual provision for us believers, characterizing it also...

Approaching the mystery of the Mother of God The great Mother of God feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is (should be) an opportunity for us believers to reflect on the abyss of mystery that covers the all-revered face of our Virgin Mary, but also the...

       Power in general wears out and corrupts. Worse than all is absolute power, and especially royal power, which in earlier times was a hotbed of corruption and moral decay. But there are exceptions. In the thousand-year-old Byzantium, the Christian...

     Many of the saints of our Church were in the dark years of the Turkish rule teachers of our Genus. One of them is Saint Eugene of Aetolos, a great spiritual and charismatic personality, who put his own stamp on...

Many of our saints have the reputation of miracle workers, because they claimed to be gifted by God to perform miracles in His name. Among the choir of miracle-working saints of our Church, a special place is held by Saint Irene, the so-called Chrysovalantou. ...

The great martyrs of our Church were not only men, but also women, who rivaled them in heroism and confessional wisdom. Many of them suffered martyrdom at the hands of their fanatical pagan parents. One of them was the saint...

The New Martyrs constitute one of the greatest chapters in the history of our Church. The New Martyrs are those who confessed Christ and their faith in Orthodoxy and suffered martyrdom and death, from 1453 until today. Especially in the dark years of...

It is an undeniable fact that the woman, for the first time in her history, found praise from our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides Our Lady, who was the only vessel of divine grace, a multitude of holy women were near the Lord, throughout...

Chios highlighted a multitude of saints of our Church. This beautiful and fragrant island of the Aegean is decorated with many of the imaginable and fragrant flowers of piety. One of them is the glorious Martyr Markella, who preferred death to dishonor....

During the years of Turkish rule, Agrafa became a cradle of freedom and the Christian faith, due to the peculiarities of the terrain. Many saints and New Martyrs emerged in the wider area. One of them was the holy martyr Gerasimos the...

A category of saints of our Church are the Anargyri and the Healers, who spent their lives in the relief of suffering and poor people. Saint Samson the Innkeeper was one of them. He was born in Rome in 511 to wealthy parents.

The Kolyvad Movement of the 18th century was an important historical milestone in our ecclesiastical history, as it played a powerful rejuvenating role in our Orthodoxy, which was suffocating from the interventions of heretical Western Christianity. One of the main...

Saints of our Church do not come from civilized peoples, but also from uncivilized and barbarian peoples. Great criminals who repented and changed their lives were also made saints. Saint Varvaros the Myrrh-Bearer belongs to this category. He lived...

      One of the great Fathers and teachers of the ancient Western Church was Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He was a great personality who literally sealed the human spirit, created a theological...

One of the most dramatic periods in our ecclesiastical history is the 20th century, when many Orthodox Churches were severely tested by Marxist regimes. Thousands of clergy of all ranks as well as millions of believers were persecuted, tortured and...

(Theological commentary on the feast of Pentecost) The holy feast of Pentecost is a special station in the annual feast cycle for our Church. Together with Easter, it constitutes the most ancient feasts, which date back to the...

(Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers) The seventh Sunday after Easter is dedicated to the holy and God-bearing Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, which, as is known, was convened in 325, in Nicaea in Bithynia, to address a...

A Tribute to the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord and God Jesus Christ is a joyful festive event in the truly joyful Easter season of our Church. With feelings of joy, the Orthodox faithful...

     The continental land, like the whole of Greece and the Balkans, produced many New Martyrs in the dark years of the Turkish rule. In the rugged and isolated continental regions, the Orthodox Greeks cultivated and kept the treasure of our true faith in...

When our homeland was in the harsh slavery of the Turkish rule, God blessed the emergence of great spiritual figures, worthy shepherds and ecclesiastical leaders, to worthily shepherd our enslaved people. One of them was Saint Athanasius...

(Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Blind) The sixth Sunday after Easter is dedicated to one of the greatest miracles of our Lord, the healing of the man born blind, which the evangelist John recounts in his Gospel, with every detail and...

       In the circle of the twelve disciples of Christ there was also a closer circle of three disciples, Peter, James and John. These three were closer to the Lord and enjoyed more of His trust. So one of them was...

         Our holy Church has a cloud of Martyrs to show. Myriads of believers were tortured and shed their blood for the faith of Christ, the saving faith of our Church. Many of them are characterized as Great Martyrs, because they were tortured more than...

      "The most delightful Easter, the Lord's Easter, the most venerable Easter has risen for us." With these wonderful and festive verses, the glorious hymnographer of the Resurrection announces to the faithful the arrival of the most glorious and joyful feast of our Church....

Two are the most tragic events in human history. One is the fall of the originals and their expulsion from the Garden of Trypha, and the second and more terrible is the theocide on the part of man, as a horrible result and final descent because of the absolute...

(Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Good Friday) "On Holy and Great Friday, we perform the holy, saving and terrible Passion of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ; the spitting, the beatings, the...

(Theological commentary on the content and meaning of Holy Thursday) "On Holy and Holy Thursday, the divine Fathers, who were well-ordered in everything, successively from the divine Apostles and the holy Gospels, handed down to us four things...

(theological commentary on Maundy Wednesday) Holy and Great Week is the holiest festive period of our Church and constitutes a rich source of spiritual nourishment for the faithful. The Holy Fathers, with great wisdom, ordained that we remember these...

(Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Holy Tuesday) "On the holy and great Tuesday of the parable of the ten virgins, from the holy Gospel, we commemorate it." This is the synaxarion of the second day of Holy Week. The...

(Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Holy Monday) "Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is the servant whom he finds quick, but unworthy is he whom he finds slow. Watch, my soul, and do not give in to sleep, lest...

"FAITHFUL ARRIVING AT THE SALVATIONAL PASSION OF CHRIST OF GOD" (Introductory theological commentary on Holy and Great Week) Once again, by the grace of God, we are heading into Holy and Great Week, the holiest festive period of the year. Once again...

In the hagiographies of our Church there are saints who were canonized together with members of their biological families. One such saint is Saint Theodora of Thessaloniki, who became a nun and canonized with her daughter Theopiste. These two saintly figures brighten the...

(Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Palm Sunday) After the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, his pious sisters gave the Lord and His disciples a great and splendid dinner to thank their Great Benefactor. Martha...

       Thessaloniki has been a cradle of saints. There are hundreds of Thessalonian saints who adorn the holy synaxaria. One of them is Saint Theonas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. A truly important personality, who marked the city in...

Hymnography is an integral part of divine worship in our Church, which helps us to be transformed and to rise to higher spiritual experiences. The value of the Orthodox hymnographic wealth is incalculable. Great Fathers of our Church,...

On Saturday of the Sixth Week of Lent, our Holy Church has ordained that we celebrate the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus. This is no coincidence. Because, first of all, this great and miraculous event coincides in time with the entry of our Lord into the holy city of Jerusalem....

         Our Church has a cloud of Martyrs to show during the dark years of Turkish rule, during which thousands of New Martyrs exchanged their lives for their faith in Christ. Two of them were the priest Christos and Panagos (Panagiotis) from Ilia....

The word Hesychasm is derived from the verb hesychazo which means to be in a state of silence, tranquility and self-knowledge. The hesychast monk, but also a layman, flooded with divine love, tries to eliminate all worldly preoccupations and thoughts, seeks peace and...

     A multitude of saints of our Church were kings, who transcended worldly glory and the temptation of power and governed according to the dictates of the Gospel and adapted their lives to the life of Christ. Such a sanctified figure was...

(A different approach to carnival mischief) We enter once again, by the grace of God, into the holy Triodion, the holiest festive period of our Church, during which we can realize our spiritual...

The Choir of the New Martyrs also brightens the liturgy of our Church in its own way. Thousands of men and women, old, young, and even young, confessed their faith in Christ and sealed it with their blood and their lives. The...

The 20th century is characterized as one of the most turbulent centuries in history. Despite this, it is the century of the emergence of a multitude of prominent saints, as confirmation of the great truth, that where: "sin abounded, grace abounded more" (Rom.5:20). A tra...

The biblical figures of the New Testament have a special place in the canon of our Church. This is because they are those who lived in the era when our Lord Jesus Christ lived on earth and most of them were associated with Him. One of these figures...

Since the foundation of the Church, the fallen world has been striving to take over her, to distort her saving truth, to bring her to its fallen standards, to weaken her saving power. This is called secularization in our ecclesiastical language and is...

The glorious city of Athens is not only famous for its pre-Christian past, but also for its later Christian one. From the first Christian years it raised great saints. In the dark years of Turkish slavery it also raised many New Martyrs. One...

Egypt was the cradle of monasticism in early Christian times. Great ascetic figures brightened Egyptian monasticism. One of them was Saint Isidore the Pelusiotis. A truly great personality of Orthodox monasticism, who combined...

A noble figure of the early Church was the holy apostle Timothy, the faithful disciple, follower and valuable collaborator of the apostle Paul. We get most of the information about him from the holy book of the Acts of the Apostles. He was born...

Saint John the Baptist belongs to the group of great prophets and confessors of our faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself described him as the greatest man who appeared in the world: "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...

Both history and the Church have been sparing in characterizing the "Great". Few received the title "Great". One of them was the leading saint of our Church, Basil the Great, who deservedly received this title, because he stamped his personality...

(Historical approach to the Divine Incarnation) The Incarnation of God the Word constitutes the greatest event in human history, dividing it into the pre-Christ and post-Christ eras and changing the flow of historical events and the course of the world, from...

A category of holy women of our Church is that of the Holy Virgin Martyrs. These are Christian women who had promised lifelong virginity and suffered torture for their faith. One of them was the Holy Virgin Martyr Eugenia. ...

    Venerable fathers, beloved brothers in Christ, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is the most joyful and hopeful message of all times. The all-gospel to all the worlds, that “today a Savior has been born for us, who is...

The Church of Rome, in the early Christian years, when it was still Orthodox and had not fallen into heresy (1054) and ceased to be a Church, was the birthplace of great saints. Among them is the Great Martyr Saint Anastasia the Pharmacist. ...

The Incarnation of God the Word is the greatest event in human history. An event that literally changed the course of historical events and divided human history into two, the pre-Christ and post-Christ eras. The Birth of the God-Man...

The Hieromartyrs constitute a special order in the canon of our Church. They are the priests who were subjected to torture and martyred for Christ. One of them is the holy Hieromartyr Eleftherios. He was born in Rome in the 2nd century AD from...

Asia Minor was the cradle of Saints of the ancient Church, but also the birthplace of New Martyrs in more recent times. A multitude of heroic men and women exchanged their lives for martyrdom and death for the love of Christ. One of them was the holy New Martyr...

Our holy Orthodox Church has endless lists of bishops who honored their high mission and became living models for imitation. One of the most representative figures of her ideal bishops is the people-loving Saint Nicholas,...

      Among the great saints of our Church, great ascetic and monastic figures hold an important place. Saint Savvas the Sanctified is one of them. He was born in the year 439 in the village of Mutalaski in Cappadocia. His parents were named...

Certain saints of our Church have the title of Great Martyrs, because they suffered particularly cruel tortures for their confession of Christ and their refusal to embrace other false "gods" and to sacrifice to lifeless idols. Among them...

     The female martyrs of our Church are just as heroic as the male martyrs, who together constitute the most distinguished choir of saints. The problem of gender equality was solved for our Church in Her saints, as was the convergence of knowledge and...

(Theological commentary on the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos) The feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos is an important feast of the Mother of God, which is celebrated with respect and splendor by Orthodox believers all over the world. It was established around the 6th century in...

The four Evangelists enjoy special honor in the Church, because, together with the other authors of the books of the Holy Bible, they were the instruments of the Holy Spirit, for the recording of divine revelation, for the salvation of the world. One of them...

      One of the Christian New Martyrs who converted to Islam is the holy New Martyr Constantine of Hydra, who paid with his martyrdom for his decision to abandon Islam and return to the Church. He was born in Hydra in...

     One of the prominent apostles of the wider group, the Seventy, is the holy apostle Aristobulus. His homeland was Cyprus, he was of Jewish origin, he is referred to as the brother of the holy apostle Barnabas and he was one of the many Jews...

The Martyrs hold the vanguard in the chorus of saints of our Church, because they gave their testimony for Christ and sealed it with their martyrdom. They exchanged their lives for faith in the true God, setting in practice the example of the greatest...

      A very important event in the young church was the election of seven deacons, as recounted by the evangelist Luke in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6:1-6). They were elected to offer their services in a very important activity of ancient...

The apostle and evangelist John belongs to those holy persons who formed the close circle of the Lord's disciples. In fact, he is referred to as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13,23:4,21). He was the son of Zebedee and Salome (Matthew 15,40:XNUMX; Mark XNUMX:XNUMX) and...

(Theological commentary on the feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross) The great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross is a day of joy and sorrow for us believers. A day of joy, because through the death on the cross of our Redeemer Christ we have received the...

True wisdom, which is authoritative and unfailing, is godly wisdom. This is the fruit and gift of the Holy Spirit to people who are faithful and humble in heart, that is, the saints. The saints of our Church transcended worldly wisdom and reached the...

The terrible period of persecutions of the first three Christian centuries gave rise to a great multitude of Martyrs, among whom were the Hieromartyrs, that is, the clerical Martyrs. One of the most glorious Hieromartyrs was Saint Babilas. ...

Saint John the Baptist belongs to the group of great prophets and confessors of our faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself described him as the greatest man who appeared in the world: "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...

(Approaching the mystery of the Mother of God) The great Mother of God feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is (should be) an opportunity for us believers to reflect on the abyss of mystery that covers the all-revered face of our Virgin Mary, but also the...

Many of our saints have the reputation of miracle workers, because they claimed to be gifted by God to perform miracles in His name. Among the choir of miracle-working saints of our Church, a special place is held by Saint Irene, the so-called Chrysovalantou. ...

      In the numerous firmament of holy women of our Church, a bright star stands out, which illuminates throughout the centuries and reveals the value of women, which only Christianity brought to its proper dimension and our holy Church glorified. It is about...

The female Martyrs of our Church were not inferior in heroic wisdom to the men. They showed the same heroism as them or even surpassed them many times. That is why they are honored just as brilliantly as they are. One of the great female martyrs is the saint...

During the years of Turkish rule, Agrafa became a cradle of freedom and the Christian faith, due to the peculiarities of the terrain. Many saints and New Martyrs emerged in the wider area. One of them was the holy martyr Gerasimos the...

One of the most dramatic periods in our ecclesiastical history is the 20th century, when many Orthodox Churches were severely tested by Marxist regimes. Thousands of clergy of all ranks as well as millions of believers were persecuted, tortured and...

The venerable patriarchal throne of Constantinople, in its two-thousand-year history, highlighted a multitude of holy Bishops, who brighten up our Church. One of them was Saint Mitrophanes, Archbishop of Constantinople, a truly great man...

(Theological commentary on the feast of the Ascension of the Lord) The feast of the Ascension of our Lord and God Jesus Christ constitutes a joyful festive station within the truly joyful Easter season of...

 On May 21, our Church celebrates and gloriously commemorates the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen. Both Constantine the Great and his holy mother Helen belong to the great personalities of our Church, because their contribution to the cessation of...

Asceticism is a timeless practice of Orthodox monasticism. Monks chose to live and practice in deserts, where, "face to face" with God, they struggled to be purified, sanctified and deified. One of them was Saint Andrew the...

We find saints of our Church in all peoples and all tribes, because our Savior and Redeemer Christ came into the world to save the entire human race. Even barbarian tribes have raised saints. One of them was Saint Christopher, the...

The cloud of the New Martyrs illuminate, like imaginary stars, the imaginary firmament of our Church. They were, in heroic spirit, equal to the Martyrs of the ancient Church, adhering to the saving Christian faith and to the holy life, which the Gospel proclaims...

Our holy Church has a cloud of Martyrs to show. Myriads of believers were tortured and shed their blood for the faith of Christ, the saving faith of our Church. Many of them are characterized as Great Martyrs, because they were tortured more than the others...

Introductory theological commentary on Holy and Great Week Once again, by the grace of God, we are heading into Holy and Great Week, the holiest festive season of the year. Once again, we will follow in the footsteps of the Bridegroom of our Church, Christ...

After the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, his pious sisters gave the Lord and His disciples a great and splendid dinner to thank their Great Benefactor. Martha made sure that nothing was missing from the rich table. Sitting with them was...

We encounter great saints and Fathers of our Church in every place and in every era. Western Christianity, before it separated from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ and deviated from the true faith, raised up great saints and Fathers,...

The First Sunday of Lent is dedicated to the great feast of our Orthodoxy. The Church celebrates it with all splendor, with the main feature of the celebration being the procession of the holy icons and the reading of the Synodical of the Seventh Ecumenical Council to all...

The Choir of the New Martyrs also brightens the liturgy of our Church in its own way. Thousands of men and women, old, young, and even young, confessed their faith in Christ and sealed it with their blood and their lives. The...

Theological Commentary on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee By the grace and mercy of the Holy God we have once again reached the holy Triduum, the holiest and most devout festive period of the ecclesiastical year. This long period, which...

A noble figure of the early Church was the holy apostle Timothy, the faithful disciple, follower and valuable collaborator of the apostle Paul. We get most of the information about him from the holy book of the Acts of the Apostles. He was born in...

      At the top of the great ascetics of our Church is Anthony the Great, and for this reason our Church rightly bestowed upon him the title of the Great, because, as we will see later, he was the model of the Orthodox monastic ideal. After all, he is called...

(Theological commentary on the great Feast of the Epiphany) The Holy Epiphany is one of the greatest feasts of Christianity. According to her, the great event of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated in the Jordanian threads and the wonderful and rare manifestation of...

We have already entered the new year by the grace of the Triune God. Along with our hopes and expectations for the new year, these days fill our souls with reasonable reflection on the meaning of the flow of time. And that's because time together with the "twin brother...

 The most joyous message of all times: "the Word became flesh" (John 1,14:XNUMX), is the beginning of joy and hope for the human race. The incarnation of God is the greatest event of human history, because thanks to it man found and...

     One of the most popular saints of our Church is Saint Spyridon the miracle worker, whose holy relic is in Corfu, incorruptible for seventeen hundred years. He was from Cyprus. He was born in the village of Assia around 270, from...

Our holy Orthodox Church has endless lists of bishops who honored their high mission and became living models for imitation. One of the most representative figures of her ideal bishops is the people-loving Saint Nicholas,...

      Among the great saints of our Church, great ascetic and monastic figures hold an important place. Saint Savvas the Sanctified is one of them. He was born in the year 439 in the village of Mutalaski in Cappadocia. His parents were named...

(Theological Commentary on the Feast of the Entry of the Virgin Mary) The Feast of the Entry of the Mother of God is an important Mother of God feast, which is celebrated with respect and splendor by Orthodox believers all over the world. It was established around the 6th century in...

       The apostle Philip, one of His most devoted and enthusiastic disciples, also belonged to the blessed group of the twelve disciples of Christ. The testimonies about his person and his work are few and are mentioned in the New Testament. The...

Many saints of our Church received the description of the merciful, because they excessively practiced the Christian virtue of charity. Their sanctification and consummation passed through the exercise of practical love, which is considered the crown of all...

The Divine Creation is distinguished into the immaterial, the invisible and spiritual, and the visible material. In the first category belong the intangible angelic powers. According to the teaching of our Church, these are innumerable spiritual entities created by...

One of the most convenient methods of Islamization, in the dark years of slavery, used by the Turks, was slander. They slandered a Christian for allegedly converting to Islam and then denounced him as an "apostate", which, if he didn't...

     The Martyrs hold the vanguard in the chorus of saints of our Church, because they gave their testimony for Christ and sealed it with their martyrdom. They exchanged their lives for faith in the true God, setting in practice the example of the greatest...

 One of the most important personalities of the ancient Church was Saint James the Brother, first bishop of the Church of Jerusalem and author of the homonymous Catholic Epistle of the New Testament. He was Jewish by origin and according to...

(Brother of the fighter Nikitaras) Among the many New Martyrs in the dark years of the Turkish rule, there are also many Child Martyrs, that is, minor children, who confessed their faith in Christ and gave their lives for this testimony. The...

         One of the most heroic periods of our ecclesiastical history is the period of iconoclasm (726-842), during which many confessors of the Orthodox Faith appeared. They vigorously defended Orthodoxy, standing tall in the...

The holy author of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Evangelist Luke, recounting the events of the Apostle Paul's visit to Athens in 51 AD in the seventeenth chapter, refers to the few people who believed in the Apostle's preaching...

The apostle and evangelist John belongs to those holy persons who formed the close circle of the Lord's disciples. In fact, he is referred to as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13,23:4,21). He was the son of Zebedee and Salome (Matthew 15,40:XNUMX; Mark XNUMX:XNUMX) and...

A category of saints of our Church is that of the military. In fact, this sanctified order produced many Martyrs in the early Christian years. One of them is the holy Great Martyr Efstathios. He lived in the years of Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian...

 The family is a primary value for our Christian faith, which was characterized in ancient times as a "home church". One of these holy families was that of Saint Sophia and her daughters, Faith, Hope and Love. They lived...

The great feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross is another important celebratory station of our Church. The faithful on this day are called to honor and worship the Holy Cross of the Lord in order to draw strength and grace from it. OR...

The woman was recognized, for the first time, in Christianity and emerged as a human person equal to the man. The emergence of a myriad of holy women, who deservedly competed with the male saints in sanctity and merit, is an amazing proof. One of them was...

The thousands of New Martyrs in the dark years of Turkish rule were also National Martyrs, because for the Greek Orthodox, faith and Homeland are inseparable. They were martyred for the holy faith of Christ and the freedom of the country. One of the most heroic...

(Approaching the mystery of Theotokos) The great Theotokos festival of the Dormition of the Theotokos is (should be) an opportunity for us believers to reflect on the abyss of the mystery, which covers the all-sept face of our Virgin Mary, but also the...

(Dedication to the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary) In the midst of the physical and spiritual laziness of summer, our Church projects, as a cool mental oasis and spiritual upliftment, the great feast of our Virgin Mary. August fifteenth, or like...

Power in general wears and corrupts. Worst of all is the absolutist power and especially the royal power, which in earlier times was a hotbed of corruption and moral degradation. But there are also exceptions. In the thousand-year-old Byzantium, Christian Romania,...

A large number of New Martyrs were young children, boys and girls, who, despite their immature age, united their firm faith in the true Triune God, against the non-religious Ottoman tyrants, who wanted to convert them to Islam and...

     Many of the saints of our Church were in the dark years of the Turkish rule teachers of our Genus. One of them is Saint Eugene of Aetolos, a great spiritual and charismatic personality, who put his own stamp on...

Many of our saints have the reputation of miracle workers, because they claimed to be gifted by God to perform miracles in His name. Among the choir of miracle-working saints of our Church, a special place is held by Saint Irene, the so-called Chrysovalantou. ...

Our Church has to display a "cloud of martyrs", men and women, young and old, noble and silver, rich and poor, free and slaves. They are the Callimachus Martyrs, who were called by the circumstances, to give their testimony about...

It is an undeniable fact that the woman, for the first time in her history, found praise from our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides Our Lady, who was the only vessel of divine grace, a multitude of holy women were near the Lord, throughout...

All ages have been witnesses of our Church. Young, old, men and women adorn her testimonials like precious stones. One of the categories of our Martyrs is the Child Martyrs, which includes the heroic offspring of...

         The continuous emergence of saints in the two-thousand-year history is the permanent miracle in our Church. A great ascetic had said that when saints stop emerging, the end of the world will come. The 20th century brought forth a multitude of...

The Martyrs hold the most important place in our Church, because it is founded on the testimony, the tortures, the blood and the very life of those. The so-called "Testimonies" are the biographies of the Martyrs of our Church, which narrate the...

"YOU LEADERS ALWAYS DISCIPLINE THE NATIONS" (Mt. 28,19) On June 30, our Holy Church celebrates with special splendor the Synod of the Twelve Apostles. Of course there are also their personal memories on various dates of the year, but with this...

 A category of saints of our Church are the Anargyri and the Healers, who spent their lives in the relief of suffering and poor people. Saint Samson the Innkeeper was one of them. He was born in Rome in 511 to wealthy parents.

Theological commentary on the feast of Pentecost The holy feast of Pentecost is a special station in the celebratory cycle of the oneness for our Church. This, along with Easter, are the most ancient holidays, which go back to the apostolic...

Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers The seventh Sunday from Easter is dedicated to the holy and god-bearing Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, which, as is known, was convened in 325, in Nicaea, Bithynia, to deal with...

Dedication to the feast of the Ascension of the Lord The feast of the Ascension of our Lord and God Jesus Christ is a joyful celebratory station in the truly joyful resurrection period of our Church. With feelings of jubilation, the Orthodox...

Theological commentary on Sunday of the Blind The sixth Sunday from Easter is dedicated to one of the greatest miracles of our Lord, the healing of the blind from birth, which the evangelist John saves in his Gospel, with every...

The Ionian Islands are the birthplace of many saints of our Church. One of them was the newly-appeared Saint Panagis Basias from Lixouri in Kefalonia. He lived in the era, when the Ionian Islands were constantly changing conquerors and our Church was suffering under the unbearable pressures of...

The venerable patriarchal throne of Constantinople, in its two-thousand-year history, highlighted a multitude of holy Bishops, who brighten up our Church. One of them was Saint Mitrophanes, Archbishop of Constantinople, a truly great man...

Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Paralytic The fourth Sunday after Easter is dedicated to the great miracle of the healing of the paralytic by our Lord Jesus Christ. An unhappy man lay paralyzed and completely abandoned in a...

Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Myrobearers On the third Sunday after Easter, our Holy Church honors the assembly of the holy Myrobearers, men and women, and together with the assembly of the holy Seven Deacons. The memory of the latter brings to mind the sanctified climate of...

On May 21, our Church brilliantly celebrates and celebrates the memory of the holy co-apostles Constantine and Helen. Both Constantine the Great and his holy mother Helen belong to the great personalities of our Church, because their contribution to the cessation of...

The continental land, like the whole of Greece and the Balkans, produced many New Martyrs in the dark years of the Turkish rule. In the rugged and isolated continental regions, the Orthodox Greeks cultivated and kept the treasure of our true faith in...

The women and indeed the young virgins, Martyrs of our Church demonstrated the same heroism as the men during the early Christian times, where the faith of Christ was persecuted with demonic fury by the ancient pagan decadent world. One of...

        Saints of our Church are found in all peoples and all tribes, because our Savior and Redeemer Christ came into the world to save the entire human race. Even the barbarian tribes raised up saints. One of them was the saint...

Two are the most tragic events in human history. One is the fall of the originals and their expulsion from the Garden of Trypha, and the second and more terrible is the theocide on the part of man, as a horrible result and final descent because of the absolute...

Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Good Friday "On Holy and Great Friday, the holy and saving and horrible Passions of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ are carried out by the wrappings, the raptures, the crucifixions, the...

Theological Commentary on M. Wednesday Holy and Great Week is the holiest celebratory period of our Church and is a very rich pumping station of spiritual supply for the faithful. The holy Fathers, with an abundance of wisdom, ordained that we remember these...

Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Holy Tuesday "The holy and great Tuesday of the parable of the ten virgins, from the holy Gospel, we remember". This is the synaxari of the second day of Holy Week. Her Groom...

Introductory theological commentary on Holy and Great Week Once again, by God's grace, we are heading to Holy and Great Week, the holiest festive season of the year. Once again we will follow the footsteps of the Bridegroom of our Church...

Theological commentary on the content and meaning of Palm Sunday After the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, his pious sisters offered the Lord and His disciples a great and glorious dinner to thank their Great Benefactor. Martha...

Biblical figures occupy an important place in the liturgies of our Church, because their testimony about Christ is of great importance, because they lived in His time and many of them knew Him personally. One of them was Saint Lazarus, the four-day...

Theological Commentary on the Saturday of Lazarus On the Saturday of the 6th Week of Fasting, our Holy Church ordained that we celebrate the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus. This is no accident. Because, first of all, this great and wonderful event coincides in time with...

The period of the Triod, and especially of Great Lent, is for our Holy Church the holiest time of the year. It is the imaginary stage where every believer is called to fight his personal struggle for his psychosomatic purification from the...

Asia Minor was one of the cradles of primitive Christianity, where the Church of Christ was founded by the holy Apostles and strengthened by a multitude of great saints. One of them was the holy hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum. ...

Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross We have reached, by the grace of God, the 3rd Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross, during which the Holy Cross is displayed for adoration, in order to draw strength from it, to...

Thessaloniki was a cradle of saints. There are hundreds of Thessalonian saints who adorn the holy synaxaries. One of them is Saint Theonas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. A truly important personality, who marked the city in the 16th...

     The word "quiet" is derived from the verb "quiet" which means to be in a state of silence, tranquility and self-awareness. The quiet monk, but also a layman, flooded with divine love, tries to eliminate all worldly preoccupations and thoughts, seeks quietness...

      Rev. Metropolitan of Piraeus Mr. Seraphim sent the following Pastoral Encyclical to the pious Clergy and the Christ-loving people of I. Metropolis of Piraeus, on the First Sunday of Lent, of Orthodoxy 2024. From I. Diocese of SEVASMIOTATO...

The New Martyrs, who gave their testimony for Christ in the dark years of the Turkish occupation, came from all walks of life and professions. Rich and poor, artisans, sailors, farmers, artisans, and from all professions emerged as heroes of...

The island of Patmos became sacred due to the presence of two great personalities of our Church, who were associated with it. Saint John the Theologian and Saint Christodoulos. The former wrote the holy book of Revelation in exile there, while the latter built...

Theological Commentary on Tyrini Sunday The fourth Sunday of the Triod, Tyrini Sunday as it is called, is dedicated to the commemoration of the exit of the Protoplasts from the paradise of truphi. In the bitter memory of the most tragic event of...

(theological commentary on Apocreos Sunday) The third Sunday of the Triod is dedicated to the most terrible event in human history, the coming Judgment, as a necessary reflection of the faithful in this competitive season. In memory of the Great...

(Theological commentary on the Sunday of the Prodigal) The holy Fathers designated the second Sunday of the Trinity to be dedicated to the amazing and instructive parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15,13:32-XNUMX). Their purpose was to emphasize to the faithful the bottomless love of...

On the First Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, our holy Church celebrates with all its splendor the restoration of the Holy Icons, which marked the end of a hundred years of terrible controversy in Byzantium (726-842). Protagonist at the end of...

Egypt was the cradle of monasticism in early Christian times. Great ascetic figures brightened Egyptian monasticism. One of them was Saint Isidore the Pelusiotis. A truly great personality of Orthodox monasticism, who combined...

The Cappadocian Fathers put their own stamp on the development of Theology during the 4th century AD in the Church. They are in essence the founders of the orthodox doctrine and the crystallization of the authentic teaching of our Church. One of them was...

Monasticism is for our Church the unique state that has been uninterrupted for twenty centuries, which has been illuminated, in all ages, by great ascetic figures. One of them is Saint Dionysios of Olympus, one of the greatest representatives of...

At the top of the great ascetics of our Church is Anthony the Great and that is why our Church rightly gave him the title of the Great, because, as we will see below, he was the model of the orthodox monastic ideal. After all, it is also called as the...

Russian Orthodoxy sufficiently enriched the myriad choirs of saints of our Church, with thousands of Martyrs, Confessors, Saints and true believers. One of these saints is Saint Theophanes the Enclosed. He was born in 1815 in the village of Chernavska in...

Theological commentary on the great feast of the Epiphany The Holy Epiphany is one of the greatest feasts of Christianity. According to her, the great event of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated in the Jordanian threads...

Both history and the Church have been sparing in characterizing the "Great". Few received the title "Great". One of them was the leading saint of our Church, Basil the Great, who deservedly received this title, because he stamped his personality...

(The soteriological significance of the Incarnation of the Word of God)            After our forty-day spiritual preparation, we are heading towards the great despotic holiday of Christmas. We head to the imaginary Bethlehem to meet the infant God for us...

The Apostolic Fathers are a separate category in our Church. They are called Apostolic because they are the immediate successors of the Apostles and therefore derive their authenticity from them. Saint Ignatius the God-bearer is one of them. A...

     One of the most popular saints of our Church is Saint Spyridon the miracle worker, whose holy relic is in Corfu, incorruptible for seventeen hundred years. He was from Cyprus. He was born in the village of Assia around 270, from...

Orthodox monasticism is often connected with the mission of our Church. Ardent monks spread the saving Christian teaching to tribes and peoples, who had not heard the saving word of the Gospel. Such a fiery missionary monk...

The female martyrs of our Church are just as much heroes as the male martyrs, who together constitute the most select choir of saints. The problem of the equality of the two sexes was solved for our Church in Her saints, as was the fusion of knowledge and faith....

The Divine Creation is distinguished into the immaterial, the invisible and spiritual, and the visible material. In the first category belong the intangible angelic powers. According to the teaching of our Church, these are innumerable spiritual entities created by...

Many saints of our Church received the description of the merciful, because they excessively practiced the Christian virtue of charity. Their sanctification and consummation passed through the exercise of practical love, which is considered the crown of all...

*("Saint Nektarios Slandered and Persecuted": Presentation at the Holy Church of the Holy Cross Kastela Piraeus 10-9-2018) The great and lasting miracle in our Church is the continuous appearance of saints. There has never been a time, in the two thousand years of history...

One of the most important personalities of the ancient Church was Saint James the Brother, first bishop of the Church of Jerusalem and author of the homonymous Catholic Epistle of the New Testament. He was Jewish by origin and according to...

Our orthodox theology is not a theoretical scheme and it does not exist to satisfy our intellect, but it is an experience, a way of life, a sharing of the Divinity and, by grace, a theosis. This is also its significant difference with Western and heretical theology in general, the...

One of the tangible signs of holiness is the gift of miracles to our saints. They, through the uncreated actions of God, deserved to work miracles and thus glorify God's holy name. One of the miraculous saints of our Church...

The city of Athens can boast of the multitude of saints it has raised over the centuries. In particular, he should be proud of the holy Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite, who is counted among the great Fathers and Hierarchs of our Church. ...

Armenia was an important cradle of Christianity during the first Christian centuries. According to tradition, the first to bring the Christian message to the Caucasus countries were the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. But the persecutions by the...

Our spiritual life must be our pursuit. The holy Fathers of our Church guide us, how to walk, to have priority in our lives. The great ascetic and saint of our Church, Abbas Isaac the Syrian, gives us valuable advice. ...

True wisdom, which is authoritative and unfailing, is godly wisdom. This is the fruit and gift of the Holy Spirit to people who are faithful and humble in heart, that is, the saints. The saints of our Church transcended worldly wisdom and reached the...

Among the choir of saints of our Church there are also many kings, emperors and members of palaces, who were not alienated by power. They included worldly glory in the glory of God and in the ministry of the Church. That's why they were declared saints...

(theological commentary on the Transfiguration of the Lord) The Divine Transfiguration is one of the last and greatest miraculous events of Christ's presence on earth, during which part of His divine glory was revealed to His disciples, "as possible", as...

Many holy hierarchs brightened with their personality and their work the first throne Church of Constantinople in its two thousand year historical course. One of them is Saint Alexander, who put his own stamp on the Church of Christ...

Some of the holy Fathers of our Church received the title of Ecumenical Teacher, because their contribution to Her was decisive for the formulation of Her teaching. Their action went beyond the narrow geographical boundaries and the era, in which they lived and...

The region of Pelion in Magnesia gave a number of great personalities to the Church and our Nation in the dark years of the Turkish rule. That blessed and God-endowed place brought forth bright spiritual figures and saints, who...

DEDICATION TO THE FESTIVAL OF THE ASSUMING OF THE VIRGIN) In the midst of the physical and spiritual laziness of summer, our Church projects, as a cool mental oasis and spiritual upliftment, the great feast of our Virgin Mary. August fifteenth, or like...

The Divine Transfiguration is one of the last and greatest miraculous events of Christ's presence on earth, during which a part of His divine glory was revealed to His disciples, "as it was possible", as mentioned in the euphoric asmatic procession of the feast. The...

        Our Church has to display a "cloud of martyrs", men and women, young and old, noble and silver, rich and poor, free and slaves. They are the Callimachus Martyrs, who were called by the circumstances, to give their testimony about...

Many of our saints have the reputation of miracle workers, because they claimed to be gifted by God to perform miracles in His name. Among the choir of miracle-working saints of our Church, a special position is held by Saint Irene, the so-called Chrysovalantou.

Chios highlighted a multitude of saints of our Church. This beautiful and fragrant island of the Aegean is decorated with many of the imaginable and fragrant flowers of piety. One of them is the glorious Martyr Markella, who preferred death to dishonor....

The Christianization of the Russians is one of the most important events in history. And that's because the numerous peoples of North-Eastern Europe came to know the light of Christ, and definitively left behind the nightmarish paganism and with it the barbaric and uncivilized...