At the end of his life, St. Antony gave two sheepskin coats to his two closest disciples—‎both were bishops and became ‎saints: St. Serapion, the bishop of Thmuis; and St. ‎Athanasius, the Archbishop of ‎Alexandria. This letter is addressed to ‎the disciples of St. Antony and was ‎written immediately after St. Antony’s departure in 356 AD.‎ St. Serapion wrote also four or five other letters to St. Athanasius. ‎1. After the departure of the blessed – …

Lots of people, in their spiritual life, fight on their own, without letting God in with them to ask Him strength and assistance, forgetting the Lord’s saying: ” for without Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). Those people, they don’t ask God to be with them in whatever they do. On the contrary each one of them depends only on his own thinking or on someone else’s, not putting in mind God’s work in – …

The Gates of Heaven ‎ ‎+ Abba Poemen said: Abba Moses asked Abba Zechariah a question when he was about to die, saying, "Fr. is it ‎good that we should hold our peace?" And Zechariah said to him, "Yes, my son, hold your peace." And at the time ‎of his death, while Abba Isodore was sitting with him, Abba Moses looked up to heaven and said, "Rejoice and be ‎glad, O my son Zechariah, for – …

Does God Listen to Sinners? The Lord Jesus…opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. Brethren, if we consider our hereditary punishment, the whole world is blind. And therefore came Christ the Enlightener, because the devil had been the Blinder. He made all men to be born blind, who seduced the first man. Let them run to the Enlightener, let them run, believe, receive the clay made of the spittle. The Word is – …

Whoever honors the priest will honor God, and he who has learned to despise the priest will gradually proceed in time to insult God also. ‘He who receives you receives Me.’ [Mt. 10:40]. And it is written, ‘But hold His priests in honor.’ [Sir. 7:31]. Hence, the Jews learned to despise God because they despised Moses and would have stoned him [cf. 17:4]. And when someone acts reverently towards a priest, he will be much – …

+ Today the Lord is born, the life and salvation of mankind; today a reconciliation is made of Divinity to humanity, and of humanity to Divinity; today all creation has leapt for joy; those above sent toward those below; and those below towards those above; today occurred the death of darkness and the life of humanity; today a way was made toward God for man and a way for God into the soul. – Saint – …

Crossing the sea is baptism, the second birth. When a child is born, it does not mean he will live. Indeed, he needs a care program, of feeding (Manna- the body of the Lord), water (the side of Christ- the rock), guidance and leadership (the Holy Spirit) and faith that God is always present. Such a spiritual atmosphere provides the newborn child with continual growth, till he reaches Canaan. The child also needs to be – …

There are two kinds of worship: Individual and Communal (a) In prayer, for example, there is individual prayer; you pray in your room to your Fr. who sees in secret. This does not cancel the existence of communal prayer for all the groups of believers to pray in one spirit, in one soul and in one voice. Examples of such prayers are numerous in the New Testament. One of these examples is the prayer of – …

The human body consists of a group of organs. Some of these are vital organs, i.e., the human cannot live without them. Examples of such organs are the liver, the brain, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys and the pancreas. Humans can live without eyes, for example, but they cannot live without a liver. Certain diseases can cause functional failure in one or more of the vital organs, and this leads to death. With the – …

With our firm faith in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come, the Diocese of Los Angeles announces the departure of the blessed and beloved hegomen, Fr. Daniel Farag of St. Mina Church in Riverside, on Wednesday afternoon, August 20, 2003. In the morning of this same day, Fr. Daniel celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Mina Church. Funeral services was held on Saturday, August 23rd, 2003 at St. – …

This star was not a common one–it was not even a star at all, as it seems at least to me. But some invisible power transformed into this appearance, is in the first place evident from its very course. For no star moves like this. For, we see the sun, moon, and all the other stars travel from east to west; but this was drifted from north to south–for so is Palestine situated with respect – …

Born in the Upper Egypt town of Coma near Heracleopolis in the year 251 A.D, St. Antony the Great, when orphaned at the age of 18, became a hermit and thus lived to 105 years old. He lived as an Anchorite, as still exists in Egypt, and it is said that he was tormented his entire life by flatteries and temptations of the devil. He, along with St. Pachomius, were two of the first exponents – …