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Good catch! The spiritual Goliath's (the Devil's) sword was his scheme to kill Christ. But Christ's death (the sword) became his undoing - the cutting off of his head (Genesis 3:15, 1 Samuel 17:51). According to Saint Cyril of Alexandria the word ephod* interpreted means ransoming. _____ *...

The sword of Gideon represents spiritual labors undertaken for the sake of repentance. They are likened to a barley bread, which is food for beasts and not the perfect bread of doing the will of God out of love and gratitude, but it still nourishes the soul. When such labors gain momentum they...

Perhaps it's because these days the demons don't interfere as much as they used to... Quote: One time a demon was sitting in the form of a man and swinging his legs. One who saw him with his spiritual eyes asked him, “Why aren’t you doing anything?” The demon answered: “Nowadays I have nothing...

The word knapsack comes from the word knapped which means to eat and sack for bag. In other words, it was used for storing food, especially by soldiers. Christ said that His food (John 4:34), and therefore that of His soldiers (the Apostles), was to do the will of His father. Virtue is nothing...

Absolutely! The Apostles did not conquer the world through violence, but through their Christ like virtues and their knowledge of God. Quote: Whoever possesses spiritual knowledge must always possess as well a rich store of virtue gained through his conduct. Scripture says, ‘He who has a...

The first and last letters of Christ's name in Greek (Χριστός) are χς. If you divide them by adding the snake looking letter ξ between them you get χξς, which is the Greek number for 666. The Devil's work and that of his willing or unwilling servants (especially the Antichrist) is to accuse and...

The serpent like letter ξ is in the middle of the Christogram ΧΣ (the Greek number for 666 i.e. χξς) to denote that the Antichrist divides Christ. In the icon you posted the circumflex signifies that the letters below it are a shorthand form of a word. It has nothing to do with the letter ξ.

Hello Nancy :) I agree with everything you said, just wanted to add that those 'irrelevant' things are sometimes beneficial too, as they keep us grounded in humility, like Saint Paul's thorn in the flesh.

They are the Old and the New Testaments that teach Christ's days (virtues and knowledge*) and clothe their message within the call for repentance (sackcloth). The Old teaches us how to cultivate the outer man by means of God’s commandments and thus clothe the soul with the virtues. In contrast...

The field is both the scriptures and our heart (Jeremiah 31:33). The treasure is Christ. Those who study the scriptures find Him there. They subsequently bury Him (His words) in their heart (field) and then go on to buy their heart back from the Devil who has possession of it on account of our...

It's easy to say we are "poor in spirit," but it is indignity that tests what we really are. If we can't accept the humiliations imposed on us, we are far from such praiseworthy poverty. Quote: One day when Abba John the Dwarf was sitting in front of the church, the brethren were consulting him...

The meek will indeed reign on the earth (Matthew 5:5) of their heart (Matthew 13:19) and no devil or passion (beast) of the flesh (earth) will disturb their peace (Psalms 37:10-11).

No need to look far and wide for the answer, your dog knows. Matthew 15:26-28: And he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered...

Is there anyone among God’s genuine children (Hebrews 12:6) who hasn't gone through this? Still, the debilitating fear is not of God but of our old fallen human nature. Instead of letting it terrorize you, use it wisely to fuel your prayers and devotions. There is an abundance of spiritual...

My first thought was, "The Cross."

In the Septuagint the verse reads: For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest, and the house of God [shall be] on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it. Mountain of the Lord that was made manifest at His...

Forty pages of arguing and agitation without any resolution. Why add more? Why not part ways in peace? Quote: One day some Arians came to see Abba Sisoes on Abba Anthony's mountain and they began to speak against the orthodox faith. The old man gave them no answer but he called his disciple...

For those verbs that can be applied to oneself (directly, indirectly or mutually*) it is both, unless the context restricts the meaning to only one sense. Other verbs make sense only in one of the two ways... or neither, in which case they are said to have a neutral sense (they denote a state...

We call that διάθεση. Πάσχω for example has a passive sense even though it is in active voice. Κήδομαι on the other hand has an active sense even though it is not in active voice. As for λύω, the voice and the sense are in agreement. Anyway... back to your regular programming.

The explanation is wrong. It is true for the active voice, i.e. λύω τὸν ἵππον (I free the horse). If I am the one suffering the action of the verb, i.e. if it is in middle voice (λύομαι τὸν ἵππον) then the meaning is that I'm being loosed of the horse (by my own action).