"Friends Are Very Influential on Children" (St. Paisios the Athonite)

Saint Paisios the Athonite once said:

Friends are very influential on children. When I was young, I had love within my nature. I would go somewhere with the animals and I was looking to put one animal on top of the other, while at the same time I had my little brother on my shoulder. One day a brother of mine killed a bird and I got very upset and we got into a fight. I took the bird and buried it with tears.

"How Can I Become A Saint?": A True Story

Fr. Constantine Virgil Gheorgiou

Virgil Gheorghiu (1916-1992) was a well-known Romanian writer, who is best known for his 1949 novel, The 25th Hour. Gheorghiu was ordained a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Paris on May 23, 1963. In 1966, Patriarch Justinian awarded him the cross of the Romanian Patriarchate for his liturgical and literary activities. The 25th Hour was made into a movie starring Anthony Quinn in 1967. In 1968 Fr. Virgil wrote Why Was I Called Virgil?, in which he tells us only the beginning of the story below. In 1986 he published his Memoirs, in which the whole story was written.

A Letter from the Archbishop of Cyprus to All the Youth and Students of Cyprus

With an encyclical that will be read during the first days of classes in the schools of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus urges young people to take advantage of the opportunity given to them during their school years, in order to reap the greatest possible benefit from what will be taught, but also to complete themselves as personalities within the society, which will welcome them upon the completion of their studies. Though not everything here will apply to a general audience, it certainly forms a good foundation and model upon which pastoral advice for the youth at the beginning of the school year could be based on anywhere in these times.

How Saint Nikanor the Wonderworker Became the Protector and Guardian of the Children of Kastoria

In the year 1908, Kastoria suffered from a severe smallpox epidemic, resulting in the death of many young children.

At that time, a request was sent from the city to the Monastery of Zavorda, that the relics of Saint Nikanor (+ August 7, 1549) be sent to Kastoria. The fathers granted the request. They sent the relics accompanied by the brother of the Monastery, then the young Deacon Nikephoros (Papasideris), who came from Dispilio, and later became Metropolitan of Kastoria. As soon as the relics reached the city, the deadly epidemic immediately stopped and, in the expression of the then Kastorians, "the disease was cut with a knife". 

Since then, Saint Nikanor the Wonderworker is the protector and guardian of the children of Kastoria.

Youthful Judgmentalism and "Woke" Culture

Christopher Columbus statue in Newport, RI

“Extraordinary creatures you young people are, altogether. The past you hate, the present you despise, and the future is a matter of indifference. How do you suppose that can lead to any good end?” 

― Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades (1938)

 

Yesterday I decided to go for a drive and catch up on some podcasts I've fallen behind on. It was a fairly nice day so I ended up driving through Newport, Rhode Island. As I came I was stopped at a traffic light I noticed a statue of man immediately to my left that I had never noticed before. From the side he appeared as a man from the Renaissance period, holding a globe in his right hand and at the base of the statue I could make out the word "Pinta". Immediately I realized it was Christopher Columbus. And as soon as I realized it was Columbus, I wondered how this statue has managed to survive "cancel culture", so I looked it up online, and predictably I read how in 2020 the mayor proposed for it to be replaced by "another Italian", since it was put up by the Italian community in the 1950's.