Read the two-part introduction to the "Pearls from the Pedalion" series   here . From The Orthodox Ethos: Canon 31 of the Holy Apostles calls for the deposition of priests and excommunication of laymen who condemn their bishop and wrongly depart from him. In footnote 44 of the Rudder, St. Nikodemos elaborates on the seriousness of the sin of schism as being worse than heresy. Canon 31 of the Holy Apostles If any Priest, condemning his own bishop, draws people aside, and sets

St. Symeon the New Theologian 1)  To Retain in the Mind What is Read in Divine Scripture is the Action of the Power of God.   Unless a learner retains in his mind and remembers what he is taught, he gets no benefit whatever from his learning. A literate person who reads, but who does not understand what he reads, is the same as one who is illiterate. A person who reads and understands, if he cannot retain in his mind what he has read and understood, gets no benefit whatever f

In case you missed it: This year, Fr. Peter Heers presents the meaning of Christmas being about the Incarnation. Last year, Fr. Peter dispels many of the myths surrounding the feast of Christmas, to reorient our view back to Christ, and have a deeper appreciation for the meaning of the holiday. Here are the recordings for your benefit. Share them among your friends and family! Christmas: The Implication of the Incarnation Recorded December 23, 2025 ( link ) Dispelling Christm

"My dear ones, there are Canon of our Church that forbid joint prayer with heretics. Of course, those who support joint prayer talk about love. Yes, but love, as the New Testament points out must be in Truth... and Truth means Orthodoxy... Why is it not permitted to have joint prayer? Because this prayer is not in Truth... I will remind you of what I have told you countless times: ecumenism is deceitful and it progresses in stages. Its first step is to achieve the [false] uni

Editor's Note: Around the time St. John ascended to the throne of Constantinople, it was becoming known that our Lord's birth did indeed occur on the 25th of December. It was known in the West, based on evidence they had available. However, many places celebrated it on January 6th. When news of Rome's evidence reached the East, the East quickly and across the churches settled the celebration of the Nativity on December 25th also. For more information, see Saint John's homily

Father John S. Romanides Editor's Note: This is a paper of Fr. John Romanides that has not been digitized before. It is helpful in conversations with the heterodox. It regards the presence and activity of Christ in the Old Testament, in the contexts of St. Augustine's speculations on the matter. A paper delivered at the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission Eighth Meeting, Limasol, Cyprus, 1-8 August 1995. Metropolitans of the Church of Greece assume that Latins and Protestants

Short Reflection on the Conception of the Theotokos Editor's Note: Today is the Conception of the Theotokos, and Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos (+ September 30, 2015) has a short but fantastic reflection on this feast. Fr. Symeon was a lecturer, preacher, and confessor in the Metropolis of Thessaloniki, Greece. His spiritual lectures often draw on his study of psychology. He founded one men's monastery, Monastery of the Holy Trinity, and one women's monastery, Monastery of

Editor's Note: Tomorrow is the feast day for our Father among the Saints: Nicholas the Wonderworker or Myra. In honor of him, we bring to your attention how he is helpful for a faithful Orthodox Christians to find the right husband or wife to marry. Young Orthodox Christians feel this sense that there is a matrimonial crisis in the Church today (a shortage of marriageable young men and women). Many Orthodox pastors will confirm this.   There is a practice, which appears to be

Editor’s Note: On Saturday, November 29, 2025, Pope Leo XIV was escorted by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I around Nicea and the Patriarchal Palace. They commemorated the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council and the 60th anniversary of the 1965 lifting of the mutual anathemas between Catholicism and the Orthodox Church. This spirit of Ecumenism is well-known inside the Patriarchate. However, given this event is in relation to the First Ecumenical Council, we