Homily On How the Mercy of God Delays the Dreadful Day (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).

Brethren, the mercy of God delays "that day which burns like a furnace, according to the words of the Prophet Malachi" (Mal. 4:1). Therefore, let the scoffers be ashamed, who scoff at the promise of God and say: "Where is the promise of His coming?" (2 Pet. 3:4). God has not forgotten His promise but the sinners themselves have forgotten it. God, according to His immeasurable mercy, waits for the sinners to come to their senses, repent and to prepare themselves for that day which is not repeated. Behold that day is not like the many days which are given to men for the sake of repentance and to prepare for the encounter with God. That day is the only day and it differs from all other days, for it does not come for the sake of repentance but rather for judgment. Just as the Dreadful Judgment is only one and unrepeatable, thus is that day only one and unrepeatable.

The Control and Subversion of Eschatological Alarmism

By Monk Moses the Athonite

It is a fact that we live in difficult, turbulent, uncertain and tough times. Some with zeal, fanaticism, extremism and exaggeration intensify this climate. They are fond of demonologies, antichristologies, eschatologies, myths, scientism and morbidities. They even use the Church for their fraudulent purposes. Unfortunately the ignorant are swayed by radio and television broadcasts, books and articles. One of the publishers of such books is Mr. Liakopoulos.

The Unfortunate Effects Apocalyptic Beliefs Can Have On Morality

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald
December 5, 2010
The Huffington Post

When I was a kid I knew The World was going to Hell in a hand basket. I didn't know what that phrase meant, still don't really, but I knew that it was one of the only times I could get away with saying hell, because it wasn't swearing. The World was actually going there.

Perhaps a couple definitions are necessary here at the outset. In my conservative, evangelical-before-we-knew-what-evangelical-was upbringing, Hell meant that very literal -- perhaps underground -- place where real flames burn real, bad people forever. And The World meant non-Christians, as in "be in the world, but not of it." Evangelicals often refer to any not-usses, any thems, as The World.

The Prophetic Elder Paisios and the Misuse of His Words

By Monk Moses the Athonite

Very much has been said and written about the blessed Elder Paisios the Athonite (1924-1994). Already 16 years have passed since his blessed repose. He passed away on 07/12/1994 in the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti, Thessaloniki and is buried there. His tomb is a pan-Orthodox place of pilgrimage. People of all ages come from far away to light a candle and invoke help for their needs.

Prophets and Prophecy in the Church

The following homily was delivered on October 19, 2014 for the feast of the Prophet Joel in the Cathedral of the Holy Protection in Edessa, at the request of Metropolitan Joel of Edessa.

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

On this occasion [the feast of the Prophet Joel] he [Metropolitan Joel of Edessa] asked me to say a few constructive and supplicatory words, therefore in obedience I wanted to speak on the Prophet Joel and prophecy in the Orthodox Church and in our Orthodox tradition. Essentially I will speak about the theology of prophecy and generally the great value had by the Prophets in both the Old and New Testaments.

The first point is that when one reads, my beloved brethren, the Old Testament, especially the lives of the Prophets, one will find that the Prophets were not just some thinkers, they were not just some theologians, as we now call them, nor were they philosophers. Because there is a huge difference between a Prophet and a philosopher. Philosophers think and attempt to discover God, while Prophets had an experience of God and God revealed Himself to them. Prophets, and this is very important, have encountered the living God, the pre-incarnate Word of the Old Testament, namely the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Yahweh before the incarnation. They saw Him and they communicated with Him. They acquired a participation in the pre-incarnate Word and through Him with God the Holy Trinity. If we read the books of the Prophets, especially the first chapter of each to see how they begin, we will see this reality.