Why Confessions Should Be Made Before Priests and Not Icons

Near Delphi in the village of Kirra, the renowned Orthodox preacher Demetrios Panagopoulos was preaching in a church while the parish priest was hearing confessions. That December night, the priest told the preacher how a grandmother in her 80's or 90's came to him for confession earlier for the first time in her life.

She told the priest that for the past 55 years or so, before she communed, she would walk down a path from her house to the church, where nearby there was a secluded little chapel dedicated to the Honorable Forerunner John the Baptist, and there should would light the oil lamps.

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol on the Execution of Frank Atwood - Monk Ephraim

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol was the first Orthodox Christian Frank Atwood got in contact with in the mid-1990's while he was prison, and the Metropolitan was at that time not a Metropolitan but an abbot of a monastery in Cyprus and former monk of Mount Athos. It was during his prison studies of the blending of Christianity and Oriental religions that Frank came upon and read the book The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality by Kyriacos Markides. In this book, Metropolitan Athanasios (under the pseudonym Father Maximos) gives a profound account of the true nature of Orthodox spirituality from an Athonite perspective, and this moved Frank to get in contact with him. A few years later, in 2000, Frank was baptized with the name Anthony.

Below is a translation of a transcript from a recent audio recording in which Metropolitan Athanasios was asked about the recent execution of Frank Atwood, and he replied as follows:

Homilies Before Confession (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

Homily Before Confession (1)

By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

Today, Christians usually go to confession. When you, listeners, go to confession to your confessor, then have a firm, resolute intention to tell him everything that you know is bad within you, and tell him frankly, without any excuse or justification. You want your spiritual father to forgive your sins on behalf of God, but how can he forgive your sins when you do not fully reveal them to him? You want to be cured of a sinful disease, but how can a spiritual physician cure you when you do not tell him clearly and directly what you are sick with?

Second Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

 

 By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

"Open unto me the doors of repentance, Giver of Life."

From this Week, the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Holy Church begins to sing: "Open unto me the doors of repentance, Giver of Life!"

This means that Great Lent will soon come and, therefore, soon we will need to confess our sins. Let's take a look at these lyrics.

Venerable James the Ascetic

St. James the Ascetic (Feast Day - January 28)

Venerable James became a monk and practiced asceticism for fifteen years in a cave, near the town of Porphyreon.

During his spiritual struggle he subjected himself to all kinds of asceticism and hardship.

Once, a famous man had a demon-possessed daughter, whom he brought to the Saint to heal. Venerable James prayed and immediately the demon left and set the young woman free.

But her father, because he was afraid that the demon would bother his daughter again, left her in the cave with the Saint. He left her younger brother there also to accompany her.

The Parable of the Plucked Chicken (St. George Karslides)

St. George Karslides said the following parable:

 

One time someone went and confessed to a spiritual father and he gave a penance for him to take a chicken and come and find him.

On the way he would pluck the chicken until he took out all the feathers.

Indeed, this is what he did.

Sermon for the 12th Sunday of Luke - On the Ten Lepers (Monk Agapios Landos)

 

By Monk Agapios Landos of Crete (1585-1657)

These ten lepers, in the most succinct manner, provide an image of the whole of human nature, which was entirely leprous and rendered useless by sin. It [i.e. human nature] had been justly expelled from the Jerusalem Above, that is Paradise, just as the lepers were exiled from Jerusalem [on earth]. They couldn’t be cured by a Priest, Levite, Prophet or any other person, not even by an Angel, unless the Mighty Counsel of the Most High, the co-eternal Messenger and He who is consubstantial with God, came down from heaven, and humanely became human in order to save us humans. All of us, then, had this leprosy. None of us was free from sin except those whom the all-wise Lord Christ had cleansed.

The Deaf Woman Who Could Only Hear During Confession

The following was narrated by Fr. Arsenios Katerelos, in a radio interview with Fr. Joel Konstantaros.

Elder Parthenios, the current abbot of the Monastery of Saint Paul on the Holy Mountain, once confessed a woman who was completely deaf, and only during the time of the Mystery of Confession was her deafness removed from her.

She had heard everything the Elder told her.

Turning Away From God is Something Frightening

Wherever the Light of Christ is, souls become warm! And when the Light of Christ leaves, souls become frosty. This frost can be seen by every person who approaches them and it causes them to tremble. They themselves freeze. Why? Because turning away from God is something frightening. 

- Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

 

Homilies on the Holy Mysteries - The Mystery of Repentance (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

The Mystery of Repentance

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

With Holy Baptism, my beloved brethren, as we saw in another sermon, the image of God in man is purified, man is restored to his former position and ascended even higher, he is united with the second Adam, Christ, and can attain deification. But because human nature has the ability to change its will and even because the devil fights man out of envy, that is why he falls into sin. Thus, our Church has established the mystery of repentance, which is also called a second baptism, because through it man is reborn.

The Police Officer, the Demon and the Handprint of Saint Iakovos of Evia

 

 By Elder Gabriel,
Abbot of the Monastery of the Venerable David in Evia

(Excerpt from a Homily)

The miracles of Saint Iakovos take place every day! They are innumerable.

A characteristic one took place in Cyprus. Police officer Andreas Voskou, the spiritual child of Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, had a pimple on his forehead, which was collecting pus. With doctors and drugs, he could not find a cure. Reading the book of Fr. Iakovos, he begged him - he had not met him while he was alive - and he said to him "Elder Iakovos, as when you lived you ran with the Holy Head [of Venerable David] and offered your blessing to the faithful, so come to me with the Holy head and bless me".

Saint Moses the Ethiopian, the Black Saint With the Pure White Heart

"The sting of sin, has completely blackened my heart, 

therefore with the tears of repentance, 

make it completely white Father, 

through your intercessions." 

 

(Matins Canon to St. Moses the Ethiopian, Ode 1)

The beloved abba of the Gerontikon, Venerable Moses the Ethiopian, is a unique example of deep repentance who is a counterpart to Venerable Mary of Egypt. Today he could be seen as a hero-figure for many, who admire men that are physically strong and are the "bad boys" of society, while at the same time intimidating people with robberies and threats. He was a gang leader that eventually emerged to be one of our greatest Saints. How did this happen? He came into contact with some sanctified ascetics living in the Egyptian desert, which changed his heart and opened his eyes. God gave him a unique opportunity to orient himself where the true light of His presence is. Moses repented!

The Repentance of the Sinful Woman

By Metropolitan Kallinikos Karousos of Piraeus

"She who was engulfed in sin found You, the port of salvation."

The Parable of the Prodigal Son and the scene that the Church reminds us of today have the same lesson. With the difference, that in the parable the theory of repentance is expounded upon, while here we have in practice the manifestation of the compassion of the merciful God.

From the moving scene, which I will present to you, the noblewoman of Byzantium, Kassiani, was inspired and composed her wonderful hymn. Kassiani was not a sinner, as some unhistorically say. In her hymn she describes with unattainable breadth and power a scene that happened when the Lord was on earth, a scene which is the focus of today's worship service of our Church.

What was the scene and where did it unfold?

Fifth Sunday of Great Lent - Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt (Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos)

 

By Archimandrite Epiphanios Theodoropoulos

On this day we honor the memory of our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt, who is celebrated on the 1st of April. As the Horologion says: "It was also established for today, as we approach the end of Holy Lent, to arouse the idle and sinful towards repentance, having as an example the celebrated Saint." From this same book we record the following about this holy woman.

Georgia the Prostitute and the Place Where Many Bells Ring

It was six o'clock in the evening .. It was already night, when a girl unknown to me knocked on the door of my house persistently to open it. I accepted her and asked what she would like.

"Father, I want you to read me a prayer." Her face was upset, she spoke abruptly. She did not tell me many things, she just asked me to pray for her.

We went to church and I read her a prayer. She left speechless without giving me further information about her life, nor sharing the reason she wanted me to read her a prayer.

The Death-Bed Confession of a Persecutor of Christians

 

 

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolidos

Let me end with an incident told to me in Odessa a few years ago and published in the book In the Vortex of a Changing World - The New Martyrs of Berdyansk:

"Odessa 2002. The groans of an elderly patient are heard in the ward of a large state hospital in the Ukrainian city. Cancer is widespread. The pains are horrible. Painkillers are not enough. Day and night awake. The patient awaits death as a redemption. Many times he reaches the brink of death, but he seems to be indifferent. For months now he has been fighting between life and death. Ordinary people would say: 'His soul does not come out.'

Homily for the Sunday After Theophany (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)

 

 Homily for the Sunday After Theophany

On Repentance

By St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

"Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17).

 

With these profound and holy words, the incarnate Word began His preaching to fallen mankind. Outwardly, such simple teaching! But one must understand it with his very life: then these short and simple words which are contained in all of the Gospel will be revealed. Just as the holy Apostle Paul, when preaching the Gospel, which he did throughout almost all the known world, said that he testified “both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

What Does the Honorable Forerunner Teach Us? (Archim. George Kapsanis)

 By Archimandrite George Kapsanis
Former Abbot of Gregoriou Monastery on Mount Athos

(Delivered in 1991)

The message of Saint John the Baptist in the wilderness of the Jordan can be summed up in the phrase: "Repent; the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). Christ was the Kingdom of Heaven, because Christ was the Son of God, who would inaugurate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, which is the Kingdom of Heaven. For where the Holy Spirit is, there is also the Kingdom of Heaven. But Christ and the Holy Spirit cannot be received by someone without repentance. Repentance is the necessary condition for receiving Jesus Christ as the God-man and receiving the Grace of the Holy Spirit. As long as man lives unrepentant, hardened in his selfishness, in his self-reliance, in his self-love and in his passions, he can neither receive Christ as the God-man nor the Grace of the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Forerunner, in order to open people's hearts and accept Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, taught "repent".

The Boldness of Saint Ambrose and the Piety of Emperor Theodosius the Great

By Theodoret
Ecclesiastical History, 5.17

 

Thessalonica is a large and very populous city, belonging to Macedonia, but the capital of Thessaly and Achaia, as well as of many other provinces which are governed by the prefect of Illyricum. Here arose a great sedition, and several of the magistrates were stoned and violently treated.

The emperor was fired with anger when he heard the news, and unable to endure the rush of his passion, did not even check its onset by the curb of reason, but allowed his rage to be the minister of his vengeance. When the imperial passion had received its authority, as though itself an independent prince, it broke the bonds and yoke of reason, unsheathed swords of injustice right and left without distinction, and slew innocent and guilty together. No trial preceded the sentence. No condemnation was passed on the perpetrators of the crimes. Multitudes were mowed down like ears of grain in harvest-tide. It is said that seven thousand perished.

Elder Gabriel the Agiovarnavitis (+ December 5, 2013) - Part 1 of 2

 

Elder Gabriel Siokouros, the man of God, came from Lysi of Cyprus. As a layman, as a Hieromonk and as Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Barnabas after the invasion of the Turks, he was a man of prayer, sacrifice and love. His desire and longing was to offer everything to the Church, to help all people, especially young people and to lead them to the Church, to Christ. He served in Missions and Philanthropy with all his soul. He was a fighter who gave it his everything

Returning from Mount Athos in 1974 where he had remained for two years in order to perfect the art of Iconography, and before leaving for his Monastery in Cyprus, he learned of the Turkish invasion. Unable to return to his homeland and to his favorite Monastery of the Apostle Barnabas, because they had been occupied and destroyed by the Turks, he remained in Greece for several years. He settled in Nafplio, in the Monastery of Saint Demetrios of Karakalas and served there as a Priest.