The Greek Soul, LLC

08/14/2018

04/27/2017

Our products are now available for sale at the Nativity Bookstore, 39851 W Five Mile Road, Livonia, MI 48170. Bookstore hours our Tue - Sat: 10-2 and Tue & Thu evenings 6-8 pm.

02/12/2016

We offer incense in various fragrances made by monks of Mt. Athos. Check it out on www.thegreeksoul.com.

This article gives the history and background information as to why incense is used in the Greek Orthodox Church.

09/12/2015

07/23/2015

How To Sep Up a Home Prayer Corner

Parishioners often ask how one should set up a home chapel/prayer corner. We offer for your consideration the article by Serge Alexeev, and hope that in it our readers will find answers to the questions most frequently posed. The article has been abridged.

Where to place icons at home?
Which icons should you have at home?
How and in what order should you arrange your icons?
Are there strict rules in that regard?
What should be our attitude toward holy things? What should you do if an icon's condition has rendered it unfit for use and it cannot be restored?

Quantity and quality are two different categories. It would be naïve to assume that the more holy images there are in an Orthodox Christian's house, the more pious his life is. A disorganized collection of icons, prints, religious wall calendars covering a significant amount of living space, can often have a directly opposite effect on a person's spiritual life.



…Poorly thought out assembling of a collection of icons can turn into simple, meaningless collecting, something in which the prayerful purpose of the icon has no role whatsoever.



Nonetheless, it is essential to have icons in one's home - in sufficient numbers, but within reasonable limits.



In the past, whether on the farm or in the city, any Orthodox family's home would always have a shelf with icons, or an entire home icon screen, located in the most visible place. The place where the icons were installed was known as the front corner, the bright corner, the holy corner, God's place, or the shrine.



For the Orthodox Christian, the icon is not just a depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, the Saints or of events in the history of the Church. The Icon is a sacred depiction, i.e. it rests outside the realm of ordinary reality; it is not to be confused with ordinary daily life, and is intended only for communion with God. Thus, the primary purpose of icons is for...

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07/20/2015

CLIFFTOP MONASTERIES OF METEORA, GREECE
Caves and Fissures
Caves and Fissures used by 9th Century Hermits

In the northwest corner of Thessaly, the wide bed of the Pinios River emerges from the mighty canyons of the Eastern Pindus Mountains that plummet abruptly onto the Thassalian plain. Here, in the shadow of the mountains and just beyond the town of Kalampaka, massive gray colored pinnacles rise towards the sky. It is a strange but breathtaking landscape that has been sculpted by wind and water over thousands of years. These smooth, vertical rocks have become a favorite destination for rock climbers who are, perhaps, the only ones today who can truly appreciate the feat of the 9th century hermits who first climbed them to settle in the caves and fissures of the rocks. On Sundays, they clambered down from their cells to celebrate mass in Doupiani and as their numbers increased, the Theotokos of Doupiani was established as the first semi-organized community during the 11th century.

By the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was already on the wane and the monastic communities of the Athos peninsula were increasingly besieged by Turkish pirates. After an encounter with brigands, three monks, Gregory, Moses and Athanasius, left the Monastery of Iviron on the western coast of the peninsula to search for a new home. They had heard of ‘miracles’ taking place in the land of the great rock forest and on arriving there, settled on top of the rock called Stylos or the Pillar where they built a hesychasterion or wooden hut. Later, Athanasius assembled a small community and constructed a few cells and a chapel in a cave on the nearby Platys Lithos or the Broad Rock. The Serbian Emperor, Symeon Uros provided them with an endowment that allowed them to build the Church of the Transfiguration around 1356 and to expand the monastery with more cells and cloisters. His son, John Uros, retired here as the Monk Ioasaph about 1373 adding to the already sizable endowment enjoyed by...

"Meteora, Greece - the Amazing Clifftop Monasteries." Meteora, Greece - the Amazing Clifftop Monasteries. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2015.

06/04/2015

Here I am at the Canton Greek Fest. If you're in area this weekend June 4-6, stop in and say hi. The festival is located at St Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church in Canton OH.

12/06/2014

It's Noel Night in Downtown Detroit and the Hellenic Museum of Michigan.

05/24/2014

For those of you that bake prosfora, I have some prosfora seals made by the monks of Mt. Athos on order and should have them in stock by late June. These seals are carved nice and deep in wood. Let me know if you would like me to reserve one for you. The price is $50.00.

05/17/2014

Some photos from my booth at the Marietta Greek Festival. Weather is great. Come on out and enjoy the food, spirits,dancing and of course the shopping.

05/10/2014

I will be participating in the Marietta Greek Festival in Marietta, GA the weekend of May 16-18, 2014. If you are in the area please stop by and say hi.