Christ's Divine Strategy in Defeating the Devil (St. Gregory Palamas)

By St. Gregory Palamas

The pre-eternal, uncircumscribed and almighty Logos and omnipotent Son of God could clearly have saved man from mortality and servitude to the devil without Himself becoming man.

He upholds all things by the word of His power and everything is subject to His divine authority (cf. Heb. 1:3). According to Job, He can do everything and nothing is impossible for Him (cf. Job 42:2 LXX).

The strength of a created being cannot withstand the power of the Creator, and nothing is more powerful than the Almighty.

But the incarnation of the Logos of God was the method of deliverance most in keeping with our nature and weakness, and most appropriate for Him who carried it out, for this method had justice on its side, and God does not act without justice.

How Do Non-Orthodox Christians Work Miracles and Prophesy?

Questions and Answers

By St. Anastasios of Sinai,

Bishop of Theoupoleos

Question 20:

With what power do those who believe and do the opposite, oftentimes prophesy and work miracles?

Answer:

Various signs and miracles and prophecies oftentimes take place by those who are unworthy, according to some need or condescension, as with Barlaam and the ventriloquism. And elsewhere the Apostles, when they found a certain unbeliever "casting out demons in the name of Christ," and they prevented him and reported him to Christ, Christ told them: "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you" (Lk. 9:50).

Caution in the Visitation of Spirits

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Spiritists of our day accept every manifestation from the spiritual world as though sent by God, and immediately they boast that God has been "revealed" to them.

The Near Death Experience of Saint Taxiotis the Soldier

St. Taxiotis the Soldier (Feast Day - March 28)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Taxiotis was a soldier from Carthage. He spent his entire life in grievous sins, but finally repented, left the military service and lived a God-pleasing life.

While he was with his wife on his estate near the city, he committed adultery with the wife of his farm worker. Afterwards, he was bitten by a snake and died immediately.

Christopher Lee Discusses Black Magic in 1975 (video)

In 1975 noted horror actor Christopher Lee (1922-2015) was filming To the Devil, A Daughter at the (EMI) Elstree Studios, which are North of London. The interviewer here is Mark Caldwell and it was shot (originally) on 16mm film, in black and white. In it, among other things, Christopher Lee discusses the reality of the occult and black magic, and portraying the blasphemous and the profane in film.

See also: What Christopher Lee Said About the Occult

Saint Patrick and the Druids of Ireland

By Jim Wies

Saint Patrick’s Day is the only national holiday that is regularly and continuously celebrated beyond the boundaries of the nation from which it originated. So extraordinary was the life and ministry of this man that he has become an inspiration to people all over the world.

Great Lent: A Time of Hunger and Temptation

By Protopresbyter Fr. Thomas Vamvinis

Fasting and Temptation

Fasting means I don't eat, it is voluntary hunger. Therefore, to fast as an Orthodox during Great Lent is to drive ourselves into a marginal situation in which we feel the demands of the body, but the power of the soul masters it.

This marginal situation is expedient to the tempter to betray us with the most powerful temptations. He does not have power over the struggling fasting Christian, but the Christian is lured by the weaknesses of the body, which the tempter believes he can exploit. This happened with Christ.