Wednesday, July 1, 2026

 What I am reading to you now are the words of the holy Elder Galaktia.

“Oh, oh, light, light, light! The Holy Trinity. Something entirely different. In this light, angels are chanting. Joy, gladness, celebration. It is as if you are in a garden full of flowers. The poor damned souls see the joys of the righteous and become even more distressed. Those who go to hell in the next life see the righteous. But the righteous do not see the damned, so that they will not be saddened. There is no pain there, no sorrow, no sighing. Imagine a mother entering Paradise and seeing that one of her children has been condemned. How could her joy remain complete? You may ask, why does God allow the righteous to see something that causes grief? They see us while we are still alive, yet they see us without sorrow. Why? Because the greater part of their existence is immersed in the glory of God. When they see us doing something wrong, they do not become sad or distressed. They turn it into prayer. That is how we should act as well, Christina. Do you understand? Suppose my child does something that does not agree with the law of God. I feel sorrow. I grieve only for a little while, at the beginning, just enough for my pride to be humbled, realizing that perhaps I was not the best teacher for my child. Then I turn the rest into prayer. And say to the Holy Angel: ‘My holy Angel, take care of my John. I cannot manage it myself.’ Saint Porphyrios used to say this. ‘Do not keep talking to your children,’ he would say, ‘especially from adolescence onward. Do not speak to them excessively. Speak to God about your child.’ And listen to what he said next: ‘When you speak to God about your John, our God will send an angel to enlighten John toward what is good.’ Do you hear how Orthodox pedagogy works? The father, the mother, the priest, the bishop—all working together with the angels. We should bring the angels into our own lives and into the lives of our children. And it is not only about our children and ourselves. We Cypriots have a tendency toward excessive attachment to our children. Do you know that there are people who pray through the night for Greece, for Cyprus, for Russia, and for the Orthodox countries, that they may resist the new age, which is demonic?

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  What I am reading to you now are the words of the holy Elder Galaktia. “Oh, oh, light, light, light! The Holy Trinity. Something entirel...