RTOC Diocese of Pallini & Western Europe
RTOC Diocese of Pallini & Western Europe
In the Gospel of Mark, Christ’s presence with wild beasts during His forty days in the wilderness highlights His role as the New Adam. Unlike the first Adam who fell in Paradise, Christ resists temptation in a hostile environment, signaling…
If at this very moment we were to uncover the slab of a most decent tomb, and someone within were to speak to us, the very first word he would utter would be “VANITY.” And he would say: O mortal,…
There is a great treasure in the Orthodox spiritual tradition that is always near us, yet which we so often neglect: noetic prayer—the gathering of the mind into the heart and its turning continually toward God. The Holy Fathers speak…
There is a sin that is rarely named in confession. It is not because it is uncommon. Quite the opposite. It is woven into so much of our daily life that we hardly recognize it as a sin at all.…
There is a strange thing about the spiritual life that we often forget: the presence of temptation does not mean that we have already fallen. In fact, sometimes the very temptation that makes us feel weak can become the occasion…
There is a frightening question that very few Christians ever ask themselves: What if the greatest danger is not that the devil is attacking me—but that he has stopped bothering with me altogether? At first, the question seems absurd. Surely…
There are people whom one never forgets. Some impress us by their learning. Others by their eloquence. Still others by their accomplishments. But every now and then, God allows us to meet someone whose holiness is so genuine that it…
By Archimandrite Adrian “One day, a farmer went out into the field to sow. One grain, left on top of a clod of earth, began to boast to another grain, lying deep beneath the furrow: “You see, brother, you lie…
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9) One of the most dangerous weaknesses in the…
Certain virtues disappear so gradually that we hardly notice they are gone. One of these is reverence. We live in an age that prizes familiarity above all else. Formality has given way to informality. Respect has yielded to casualness. We…
