01/14/2026
Words of wisdom about our lives, our hopes and dreams, and the Will of God. Let us listen to them and heed them in this New Year—and always!
~ + ~ + ~ + ~
Someone will say:
“I dreamed for my life that I would have a family, and that in this way and on this path I would be saved. But that purpose was not realized.”
“I got married, and my marriage failed.”
“I got married and did not have children.”
“I never got married at all.”
Or someone betrayed me, deceived me, wounded me. A thousand things and more...
“My plans were ruined.”
“This is not the life I wanted!”
“What do I do now?”
Alright. Using the reason God gave me, I say: Look, this is my reality. I am here, in this place, with these facts, these circumstances, these people, these possibilities. With these things as they are, I will attend to my salvation.
Because the will of God is not this thing or the other, but my salvation.
You might say, “I had a dream…” Well, I too had a dream. I dreamed that I would remain on Mount Athos and have a small, beautiful cabin by the New Skete, living there and enjoying the sweetness of the stillness of the Holy Mountain. And instead, I found myself in Limassol, right in the center of the city! Not on the outskirts—right in the middle of the city.
When I first came to Limassol, to the Metropolis, because the building where we lived had difficulties at the time, I stayed in a very small room—about 5 feet wide and 6.5 feet long. It still exists today. And it was right on the street. So every night we could not sleep, especially on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, when all the entertainment centers here have their own “vigils” and “prayers” all night long. Especially on major feast days, we have “all-night vigils” with great “chanters” who sing all night long! And these “vigils” usually end around four in the morning with fighting, swearing—everything you can imagine after such a night. Chaos, curses, kicking, fighting among young people. We hear this every night even now. We have become used to it, but at the beginning it was very difficult.
What can we say? This is our world.
I see the same thing in my own life. It was not my life’s dream to come to Limassol and become a Metropolitan. I never even thought of it. I confess to you, not even once! I never saw it even in a dream. I had a different vision for my life. God changed things; this is how they came about.
Of course, when your vision for your life is altered, it is natural—humanly speaking—to feel disappointed and say, “If only I were somewhere else, if only things were some other way…”
But what is the real goal? Is it Mount Athos? Is it monasticism? A family? Children? A home? A job? Even health? These things are not the goal. They are the means that lead us to the goal.
The goal is Christ.
Christ is what we are seeking!
So leave behind your fantasies and daydreams, and land where you are. You are in this city, with these realities, with the strength you have, at whatever age you are, with the people around you, with everything that exists in your life right now—and you must work out your salvation.
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
(Source: Το δεξί χέρι Του Θεού)
