AGATHOS LOGOS Publication's new release of CRAZY JOHN's Best Seller (in Greek edition) now available in English!  

"Foolishness for Christ" was always appreciated as one of the most moving chapters in the voluminous Book of Saints of our Orthodox Church. One more pebble that was added to this chapter is the history that a humble levite of the Gospel who lives in the blessed mountains of Agrafa in Northern Greece narrated to us.
His narration pertained to a contemporary "fool for Christ", who lived in one of the many faceless, inaccessible and remote neighborhoods of Athens.
Crazy John - who is the central character of his narration - lived in a tiny, humble apartment that he had inherited from his mother; one of 20 apartments that comprised the condominium building. He worked at the neighborhood bakery and began work at daybreak. From that bakery where he worked, he would customarily fill two bags with loaves of bread and bread rolls every day, and would rush to distribute them to the elderly men, women and students in his neighborhood.
«Here you are - I thought I might give you some freshly-baked bread, a gift from mister Apostoly the baker, so that you will commemorate him in your prayers" he would say.
The truth was that Crazy John would use up a large part of his wages to provide bread to the poor of his neighborhood. He would tell mister Apostoly that he was only helping out some sick friends, and that he was being paid for his trouble...

But how did he know who the poor in his neighborhood were?
Well, he made it a habit to indiscriminately ring the doorbells, not only in his own condominium, but also in neighboring apartment buildings. He would introduce himself to everyone and would ask them if they needed anything that he could help them with:
"And how did you wake up this morning? Has any problem come up so I can be of assistance to you? How are your children?"
At first, some snubbed him. Others slammed their door in his face, refusing to speak to him - obviously annoyed by his unexpected presence. But there were others who actually waited for Crazy John to come, so that they could hear a kind word from him. Eventually, he came to know all of them; he came to know their peculiarities, but also the elements of their characters.
In the evenings, Crazy John would retire to his humble home and pray. He liked to recite the book of Psalms, claiming to someone who asked him why, that "they were intended to drive away the little critters (demons) from the neighborhood..."
 

There is extensive talk between the Monks of Mt. Athos concerning rumors that the contents of the letter prepared by the three member committee on the Dogmas were tampered with.

By Dionysius Makris

The “watered down” contents and the comments of the letter of the Holy Community of Mt. Athos concerning the events that took place in the Patriarchal Church of St. George on November 30, the feast day of St. Andrew, (The feast day of the Throne of the Ecumenical Patriarchate), the participation, that is, of the Pope in the Divine Liturgy and the honors bestowed on him within the Church, caused a storm of protests and negative comments. It must be reminded that the Holy Community tried to calm down the serious objections that were created, in and out of the Monastic Community, by the visits of the Pope to Constantinople and of Archbishop Christodoulos to Rome.
It is indicative that the epistle of the Holy Community is a far cry from the epistle composed by tens of Mt. Athos Monks and the epistle delivered by the three member committee on Dogmas, while at the same time it is being said that this epistle was published after, behind the scenes, agreement with Constantinople.  

The following text is taken from the book “Letters to Fr. Aristotle”, by Frank Schaeffer, Letter 23, pages 161-167. (Regina Orthodox Press, 1995). It refers to the ecumenism movement and especially to the development of the relations between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches.

Dear Fr. Aristotle

In answer to your last letter, it seems to me that there are three insurmountable problems regarding an Orthodox union with Rome. Unfortunately, many Orthodox seem only to be aware of the first of these.

(1) The particular historical differences between Rome and Orthodoxy related
to the Schism which culminated in A.D. 1054 were the filioque, as well as papal supremacy and claims to universal jurisdiction.

(2) The fundamental and profound theological, liturgical and philosophical
differences between the Latin West and the Greek East lie at the heart of all the East-West disputes. Our two very different worldviews amount to a profound difference in the way reality and Truth are perceived. The West trusts reason and dogma. The East trusts divine mystery and the individual’s intuitive spiritual intellect to which Truth is revealed by grace through a process of ascetic struggle. The West concentrates on what one believes. The East concentrates on what one is. To the West worship is an intellectual, creedal exercise. To the East worship is the heart of theological expression and leads to communion with God. The West studies the Scriptures. The East prays them. The West trusts human authority to lead the Church, The East trusts the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of all believers.