St. Iakovos of Evia: "For married people, your prayer ropes and prostrations are your children..."
There was once a pious couple with nine children. The husband was very pious and a little overly-zealous as regards spiritual things.
By letter he said that he wanted to do everything like a monk. His wife complained to St. Iakovos of Evia that she was exhausted and that she wanted help. When they came to the Monastery of St. David, at night,
Some Christian apologists [Protestants] often attack the Jesus Prayer, which Orthodox Christians repeat, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
They claim repeating this prayer is sinful because of the verse about "vain repetitions." But that is not what the verse actually teaches.
These apologists often quote "do not use vain repetitions" and assume that means repeating prayers is wrong.
But read the verse carefully. The problem Christ condemns is vain repetition, not repetition itself.
The pagans believed that saying more words and to be seen by men would magically force their gods to act. It was superstition, not prayer.
The irony is that Scripture itself shows righteous repetition in prayer.
In Gospel of Matthew 26:44, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed to the Father three times saying
St. Photini the Great-Martyr and Those With Her
On February 26th we celebrate the Great-Martyr, and Equal-to-the-Apostles, St. Photini, together with her family martyred with her. St. Photini was the Samaritain Woman who spoke to Christ at Jacob's Well (told in John 4, and celebrated the Fifth Sunday of Pascha).
Here is a quote from St. John Chrysostom's Commentary of the Gospel of St. John:
"'The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a Man which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?'
[1.] We require much fervor and uproused zeal, for without these it is impossible to obtain the blessings promised to us. And to show this, Christ at one time saith, “Except a man take up his cross and follow Me, he is not worthy of Me” ( Matt. x. 38 ); at another, “I am come to send fire upon the earth, and what will I
St. John Chrysostom on Job's Suffering as Consolation
On both sides, beloved, reap the utmost gain, and avoid the imitation of Adam knowing how many ills are begotten of laziness and imitate the piety of Job, learning how many glorious things spring from earnestness. Consider him, the conqueror throughout, and you shall have much consolation in all pain and peril. For as it were in the common theatre of the world that blessed and noble man stands forth, and by means of the sufferings which happened to him, discourses to all to bear all things which befall them nobly and never give in to the troubles which come upon them. For verily, there is no human suffering which cannot receive consolation as a result. For the sufferings which are scattered over the whole world,
«Ἕνας νέος γύρω στά εἰκοσιπέντε, γεμάτος ἀπό ἐγωϊσμό, ἀπαιτοῦσε ἀπ᾽ τόν πατέρα του τήν ἀγορά τοῦ διπλανοῦ μαγαζιοῦ καί τήν προέκτασι τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως, ἐνῶ, κατά τόν πατέρα, ἡ πράξι αὐτή δέν ἦταν καθόλου σωστή ἐμπορικά καί ὁ πατέρας κατέφυγε στόν Ἅγ. Γέροντα Πορφύριο γιά συμβουλή. Τότε ὁ Γέροντας, πού ἔβλεπε μέ τή διόρασι, τοῦ εἶπε, ὅτι τό παιδί του θέλει ἀκόμη λίγα χρόνια, γιά νά ξεφύγη ἀπ᾽ τό νεανικό ἐγωϊσμό ἀλλά, ὅπως ἔβλεπε κι ὁ ἴδιος ὁ πατέρας, ἡ διαφορά τους ἔφθασε στά ἄκρα κι ἔφθασε ὁ κόμπος στό χτένι καί ὁ νέος ἀποφάσισε νά ἐγκαταλείψη τόν πατέρα καί νά φύγη. Τότε ὁ Γέροντας λέει πρός τόν πατέρα, χρησιμοποιῶντας τό διορατικό του χάρισμα, ἐγώ βλέπω ὅτι μπορεῖ τό παιδί νά κάνη λάθος ἀλλά
Διηγεῖται ὁ π. Σάββας Ἀχιλλέως: «Θυμᾶμαι μιά περίπτωσι ὅταν ἤμουν διάκονος στό Ναό τῆς Μεταμορφώσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος στό Βύρωνα, εἶχε μία εὐσεβής οἰκογένεια ἐκεῖ.
Τό παιδί τῆς μάνας τελείωσε θεολογία καί πῆρε τό πτυχίο τό Σαββάτο καί τή Δευτέρα πέθανε!
Σκεφτεῖτε πῶς τό μεγάλωσε αὐτό τό παιδί ἡ μάνα, πῶς τό εἶδε ἐπιστήμονα, πῶς πῆρε τό δίπλωμά του καί μία ἡμέρα πρόλαβε νά τό χαρῆ καί τήν ἑπομένη πέθανε.
Καί ἐκείνη ἡ μάνα, εὐσεβεστάτη ὅπως ἦταν, δέν τραβοῦσε τά μαλλιά καί νά φωνάζη καί νά
