We all have death in ourselves. Not the death that comes with old age, but the death that comes through sin. Old sin – mine, my brother’s and my sister’s, all the way down to Adam’s sin. But mostly mine. … Read More

Who I am tomorrow is already determined today. My spiritual self tomorrow is built on the foundation of the sacrifice or the compromise I make today. Sacrifice for the sake of Good or compromise for the sake of evil. When … Read More

St Kentigern knew evil from his mother’s womb. St Thaney, his mother was raped. Yet he did not allow evil to touch him, to define him. He saw it for what it was, he called it what it was and … Read More

A peaceful (freezing) day at Kilninian, cleaning the gutters, tending the new rose bushes and continuing work on the floor – we’ve been slowly sanding it for three weeks now.Blinding (but still freezing) sun, hale out of the blue, clouds … Read More

The world feels very small these months, a tiny space shrouded in fog and clouds. It seems like it has always been winter, that the rains and the winds have been with us since the creation of the world, and … Read More

An angel told Joseph in a dream to take the Child and flee to Egypt – get the young Mother, gather a few things and seek shelter in a pagan nation!What angel told you, young father, to take your child … Read More

Sustained fasting allows prayer to descend to the depth of the heart and burn out the roots of our passions. I stumbled across this quotation by St Paisius Velichkovsky while I was on Athos, recording the new series of our … Read More

On Saturday, we went on a day pilgrimage to St Columba’s Bay on Iona. The entire weekend was a small miracle for us. After the winds we had on Friday, we did not expect the bright sunny days God had … Read More

The iconostasis has a very humble, but functional structure: just the central Royal Doors and one narrow Deacon’s Door to the side. This basic structure is used in most Athonite hermitages, including St Paisios’ Kellia or Elder Joseph the Hesychast’s … Read More

The simple structure of the Chapel comes from the small hermit churches I saw in the Desert of the Holy Mountain. Have a look at these photos of various Altar Tables (some from Athos, some from our new Altar) to … Read More