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Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens: "For each of us to receive the vaccine is an act of Christian solidarity and love for our neighbor"

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Our Church, both clergy and laity, hopes and prays that we will be able to celebrate the days of the Holy Passion and the Resurrection of our Lord within and alongside our Churches by observing all of the appropriate health rules and the necessary measures for the protection of the supreme good of the health and the life of our fellow human beings. It is our duty, however, to take on the responsibilities that belong to each and every one of us as responsible citizens and faithful Christians. I will say it again with all the strength of my heart: for each of us to receive the vaccine, especially those of us who are elderly, is not only an act of individual responsibility, but also an act of Christian solidarity and love for our neighbor. As Christians, we are a people who are absolutely free to make our own choices. And God desires for us to make use of our insight and understanding to always choose that which is good. When we receive the vaccine, making the best use of this gift of God
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The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace

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One of the most common complaints that people have about Christians throughout the world is the disunity and division that are so common among Churches today. The numbers here are truly staggering. Our Lord Jesus Christ founded one Church as his one Body, united by the one Holy Spirit. Despite this unity that is at the center of our faith, divisions among Christians only continue to increase. Today, there are over 35,000 denominations within the Protestant world. This number continues to grow every year as divisions increase and groups splinter off from one another. You can see in this trend a clear failure to live up to the appeal that St. Paul gave to the people of Corinth when he saw division there: "That there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment," (1 Cor. 1:10). As Orthodox Christians, can we provide a better example of the "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3) that is our calling in Christ?
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What Kind of Life Are You Building?

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Whenever a building is put together, there are certain things that need to be in place before construction can begin. If a building is constructed at random, then it will not stand to test of time, but will fall apart as soon as the first storm hits. The construction team has to know what kind of building they are going to produce. Homes are constructed very differently from stores, and skyscrapers need special considerations. Then, an architect needs to draw up a blueprint that tells the construction team what the final product should look like. Buildings are always constructed with a purpose and a plan. Our lives are very similar to the construction of a building. When we focus all of our effort on earthly things like wealth, possessions, or reputation, we build our lives into one type of building. This is what the man in today's Gospel is doing when he decides to build large storehouses for all his material goods. All the earthly goods that we acquire are temporary. When we pass
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Bringing Hope to the Hopeless

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What do we do when we find ourselves losing hope? Our lives today give us plenty of opportunities to fall into despair and hopelessness. How do we keep our hope when our circumstances seem so difficult? How can we be a people of hope, making our own what St. Paul calls our "steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ," (1 Thess. 1:3)? Today's Gospel reading gives us a lesson on hopeless situations. We see a woman who has been ill for twelve years, and who has become poor and socially outcast because of her illness. We see also a man whose 12-year-old daughter, his only child, lies on her deathbed. Both of them have lost hope, and they come to Jesus in their hopelessness. In both of these situations, Jesus brings an unexpected result. When the woman who had been ill for so long touches Jesus’ garment, he makes the new creation known to her. “Daughter, your faith has made you well,” (Luke 8:48). When she touched him, according to Old Testament purity laws, he should hi
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Love and Charity

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Think of all the different ways we use the word 'love'. 'Love' describes a whole spectrum of different relationships. I love my friends, and I love my child, and I love my parents, and I love my wife. These are four very different relationships, but we use the word 'love' to describe all of them. We even talk about love outside of human relationships. Some people love golf, others love hamburgers, still others love democracy, and some people love Hawaii. How can one word, 'love,' be used for all these different things? In Greek, there are at least four kinds of love. Φιλία ( filia ) is the love that a person has for their friends. This is the kind of love that makes people feel like they're part of a team. Στοργή ( storgi ) is a kind of doting, affectionate love. This is the kind of love that a mother often has for her child. Έρος ( eros ) is erotic, sexual love. This kind of love is an expression of our desire for another person. But the highest, th
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Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

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Modern life leaves us very little room for quiet. Our lives today are increasingly busy, and we have little time for seeking peace and stillness. Modern technology brings the noisiness of our social lives into our homes, removing even the illusion of privacy and seclusion. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many of us find that even are work lives are encroaching more and more on our personal time. It is well-known that the hectic pace of our lives today tends to cause a host of psychological issues. But it causes us spiritual issues as well. As long as our lives are filled with busy-ness, then we have left no room for Jesus Christ. As long as our schedules are packed full, then we have left no time for Jesus Christ. Many of us today are starved spiritually because there is no place in our lives for quiet alone-ness with God. A pitcher that is empty cannot fill the cups of others. A power strip cannot give electricity to your devices unless it is plugged in to the source of that elec
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The Little Prayer

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We often speak about growing in prayer, about developing our lives of prayer. But what does it mean to grow in prayer? How do we do it? This is, of course, an inexhaustible question. Every person's life of prayer is different, just as every person is different. Everyone grows in prayer differently, even though there are certain 'landmarks' along the way that are similar for everyone. The following is a little hymn about prayer. Some sources attribute it to St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain. The theme of this hymn is the Jesus Prayer, and how it descends from your mind into your heart when you pray it with humility and stillness. I have offered here my feeble attempts at a translation of this hymn, which I have not found elsewhere in English.     Η Ευχούλα - The Little Prayer Eίναι η έρημος πικρά μα θα γίνει και γλυκιά όταν λεω τη ευχη με ταπείνωση πολύ It is a bitter desert, but will become also sweet When I say the prayer with great humility. Θεέ μου δως μου αντοχή για να
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