The 10 best reads of 2014 on Pemptousia.com

10. The real life and the meaningful happiness

by Klaus Kenneth

Klaus Kenneth speaks of a society where pleasure, hedonism and vanity dominate…

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9. Elder Joseph the Hesychast: an account of his deeds

by Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of Vatopedi Monastery

The blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast was a hagiorite monk who lived on the Holy Mountain for almost forty years in anonymity. Twenty years after his repose (in 1959) some of his letters and his biography were published and the world became aware of his teachings and his virtuous life in Christ…

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8. Father Jonah from Taiwan speaks about Saint Porphyrios

Father Jonah, now a missionary hieromonk in Taiwan, was a very close disciple of Elder Porphyrios (Saint Porphyrios the Kavsokalivite). In this video, Fr. Jonah tries to recall the figure of Saint Porphyrios as he knew him personally…

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7. How the monks make kollyva on the Holy Mountain

On the Holy Mountain, the abbots of the last hundred years are commemorated, as well as the priests and monks of the last thirty and kollyva is also made every time an icon is placed in the church for veneration. Every Saturday, however, the departed are remembered unless it’s the return of a feast of the Lord: a little zinc plate of boiled wheat is placed under the icon of Christ…

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6. Saint Peter the Apostle

by Apostolos Glavinas

According to Mark (3, 16) and Luke (6, 14), the change of name from Simon to Peter is mentioned at the beginning of the catalogue of the twelve apostles, when Jesus gathered them together and completed the group. John (1, 42) puts the matter somewhat differently: when Simon met Jesus for the first time (being introduced by his brother Andrew), Jesus told him that he’d be called Cephas, which means ‘rock’…

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5. The Sign of the Cross in the Old Testament

by Theodore Rokas

 

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Saint Paul mentions that the “Jews seek a sign” (I Cor. 1, 22), that they wanted a supernatural sign, such as the resurrection of the dead, cure of the possessed, and so on, that would allow them to believe. So they looked for some supernatural sign, ignoring and overlooking the signs and wonders that God had already shown them in the past, every time they were in danger. Of course, the sign they were seeking could hardly have been anything other than that of the Cross…

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4. Original sin: Orthodox doctrine or heresy?

by Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou

We Orthodox are too quick to assume that the most ‘hardcore’ fundamentalist views among Western Christians must also be the most ‘correct’ Orthodox ones. Rarely, if ever, is this the case. Heresies always tend to be found at opposite poles. But it is not unusual for one heresy to arise in reaction to another…

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3. What is divine justice and how is it implemented?

by Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi

One of the highest and unrivaled of the divine attributes, or powers, or energies, is justice. God provides His creatures with justice according to their needs for their orderly performance and formation…

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2. The burial of Abbot Georgios Kapsanis of Gregoriou Monastery

On the day of Pentecost, the Former Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Gregoriou of Mount Athos, Archimandrite Fr. George (Kapsanis), reposed in the Lord. On the next day, the Day of the Holy Spirit, his funeral service was chanted in the Monastery of Gregoriou, where he lived in asceticism for forty years, proving himself to be a saintly figure of the contemporary Orthodox Church…

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1. Why the Orthodox Church Needs Deacons

by Michael Bressem, Ph.D.

Imagine going into a fancy restaurant for a special meal. The dining room is beautifully decorated, only the best linens are used, and the glow of candlelight creates a warm ambiance. Through the kitchen doors, you see the chef hard at work preparing a delectable dish. He then shouts from the kitchen, never moving from his cutting board, to sit yourself down and asks you what you want to order. You think this is odd, but then you notice there isn’t a single waiter or waitress in the entire establishment. What is wrong with this scene is analogous to what is presently amiss within the Orthodox Church – namely the significant lack of deacons within our parishes…

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 We wish all our readers and collaborators a Happy and Blessed New Year!