We often say, "I am just human." We usually use this phrase as an excuse for our shortcomings and weaknesses. But what does it really mean to be human? It is the scriptural teaching than man was created in the image and likeness of God and our Christian faith gives great dignity to man. Adam was not created by nature; he was created by God and was given the breath (the spirit) of life. "And – …

Many regard the period of the Fifty Holy Days to be a time to lax spiritually, especially that it comes after the asceticism of Great Lent, with its daily Divine Liturgies, and Holy Pascha Week, with its long prayers and comforting hymns. What further strengthens this belief in the mind of many is the fact that the Fifty Holy Days is a period that is unique for being devoid of any fasting days, something that – …

The inward state of Christ’s disciples, when before His passion He talked with them as with children of great things, but in such a ‎way as befitted the great things to be spoken to children, because, having not yet received the Holy Spirit, as they did after His ‎resurrection, either by His own breathing upon them, or by descent from above, they had a mental capacity for the human rather than ‎the divine,—is everywhere declared – …

The Holy Virgin St. Mary had certain characteristics, which makes her the model for all of us. She was the first one to receive Christ, and has become the model of what we can become in Christ. In the midst of our troubled world, St. Mary offers us the personification of humanity saying “Yes” to God; she stands as the greatest example of humanity’s free response to God’s offer of salvation. St. Mary reveals to – …

During the gospel readings of the Sundays of Great Lent, the reference to miracles is repeated. There are some miracles, which our Lord Jesus Christ performed, and others He refused to perform. Our Lord did some miracles, without being asked, while others were a result of someone’s request. Also, Satan himself asked our Lord Jesus Christ to do miracles. We hear in the gospel reading of the second Sunday of Great Lent (Matt. 4:1-11) Satan – …

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 – …

The great cannot exist without the small, nor the small without the great. There is a certain mixing together in all things, and usefulness in such. Let us take our body. The head without the feet is not anything, neither are the feet without the head. For the most insignificant parts of our body are necessary and useful to the whole of the body. But all work together and employ a single state of submission – …

“He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying – …

Those who command warlike armies, and have won for themselves martial glory, whenever the time for battle has arrived, instruct the troops under their orders in what way, arraying themselves manfully against the phalanxes of the enemy, they will gain a triumphant victory. And the Savior of all, imitating the skillfulness of those here mentioned, very clearly shows unto all who would follow Him, the pathway of spiritual vigor; that advancing with unrestrainable impetuosity unto – …