As we begin Great Lent this month, I would like to tell the story of a recent saint in our Church, St. Nicholas Planas, whose feastday is on Saturday, March 2. St. Nicholas was a simple and humble parish priest outside of Athens. He lived just this past century. (He is not to be confused with more famous St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, who is celebrated on December 6.) What is most notable about Papa-Nicholas (as people called him) are the things which are lacking in his life. He was ... [Read more]

Every January we celebrate one of the great feasts of the Church: Theophany, the Feast of Lights, our Lord's Baptism. Central to that feast is the role of our beloved patron, St. John the Baptist. St. John lived in strict asceticism in the Palestinian desert. He foretold the coming of the Messiah, the Christ whom he baptized in the Jordan River. We commemorate St. John the Baptist on January 7, the day after Theophany, which is our parish Name Day. St. John is known as the Forerunner, because ... [Read more]

One of our most beloved modern saints, St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia (on Mount Athos), is commemorated on December 2, which falls on a Sunday this year. It has only been five years since his official canonization, though the faithful of Greece and throughout the world had been venerating him for years before that. The most well-known book in English about St. Porphyrios is Wounded by Love, which describes his life and shares some of his spiritual wisdom. It is a fitting title for a book on ... [Read more]

Life is beautiful. What a profound and enduring statement! Despite tragedy, anguish, violence, greed, and all the hosts of ills which exist upon this earth, still humanity clings to this simple phrase: Life is beautiful. It is a statement that transcends religion and philosophy, a statement that is proven by the irrefutable reality of creation. Even those who have no faith cling to this simple phrase. Because if life isn’t beautiful—even though it is at times also tragic—then it is ... [Read more]

Poor Saint Thomas. He sure has a bad rap. Though he was one of the most zealous - and youngest - disciples of our Lord, though he eagerly wished to die with Jesus, though he spread the Gospel through many countries and continents, though he died a martyr's death in India: despite all this, most people know him for the moniker "Doubting Thomas." A Doubting Thomas is someone who doesn't believe without proof.  This title comes from the 20th Chapter of St. John's Gospel, when, after His ... [Read more]

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we enter the new ecclesiastical (church) year, I would like to offer a theme for the year: Philoxenia (fee-lok-se-NEE-a): “Love for Strangers”. On past Sundays I have spoken about this rich word and how it is central to our spiritual lives. Please allow me another moment to explain. Philoxenia is the outpouring of God’s love, expressed by and through each of us. We can become fountains of God’s love, showering it upon those around us. In the world ... [Read more]

What's in a nickname? (To paraphrase Shakespeare.) It seems that nicknames have been around as long as proper names have. In the Bible we learn that the Apostle Thomas was called "Didimos" ("The Twin"), James and John were called the "Sons of Thunder," and Simon was called "Zealot." Some nicknames are so predominant that we forget the person's real name. The chief Apostle, Peter, was actually born with the name Simon. Yet he was named "The Rock" (Petros in Greek, or Cephas in Aramaic), and ... [Read more]

A Parable A man has fallen into a pit, a deep and dark cavern. He has been sitting at the bottom for a while. Far above, a tiny sliver of light casts a faint shade of gray across the cavern, so that he can dimly make out the towering walls. He just sits for a very, very long time, uncertain of what to do. Eventually he notices that a rope is tied to his waist. He feels his way along it, then gives a gentle tug to find out its origin. The rope tugs back, equally gently. Startled, the man ... [Read more]

There are few things in life that strike us deeper than being wrongly accused. Alarm bells go off inside of us and the indignation rises, as our sense of justice is offended. We think, "How dare they...!" We revolt against the accusation, mounting our defense against the facts as presented. It's one thing to be accused of something of which we are actually guilty. In these cases, we have an internal debate about whether to tell the truth or not. This often involves finding excuses for ... [Read more]

When God creates each and every one of us – putting the breath of life, the spirit into us in our mother's womb – He gives us our span of life as a sacred time period in which we must strive to unite ourselves with Him. This is our true and only "purpose" in life: union with our Creator. Yet we spend so much of our life focused on other purposes and distractions. We strive toward Him in fits and starts, then we drift off in the other direction, turning our attention to the passing things of this ... [Read more]