Things To Look Forward To In 2026

Dear Readers:

Christ is Born!

As 2025 comes to a close and with 2026 drawing near, I wanted to bring to your attention some of the things I have been working on and will be working on in the new year.

First I wanted to update everyone on the present and future of each of my thirteen websites that currently make up as a whole the Mystagogy Resource Center. Some I have only sparsely worked on this past year, but will focus on them more in the new year. I especially want to focus on making the many thousands of pages of material on each site more accessible and easier to reference specific articles, which is an enormous and time-consuming task but necessary.

1. Honey and Hemlock

I established this website to focus mainly on subjects dealing with the arts and culture, among other such relevant topics. Not only do I plan on posting more here, but my primary focus is to fix up this website, with its 656 posts as of right now, and categorize them better.

2. Orthodox Youth Resources

This website of 128 current posts was created to address topics dealing specifically with young people that are not addressed elsewhere on my other sites and can be useful not only to Orthodox youth, but also to anyone who works in youth ministry or even just parents and teachers in general. There is a lot of material I have for this website which I will focus more on posting, but again this website needs to be more accessible and better categorized in 2026.

3. Orthodoxy and World Religions

This past year I gathered a lot of material on various world religions and the topic of religion in general for this site of what is now 132 posts. Currently my focus has been on translating a Russian text titled "The Christian Commandment of Love Is a 'New' Commandment," which shows how the topic of love as taught by Christ is radically different from any teaching about love in any other previous religion or philosophy. After I finish this, I will focus on publishing more and categorizing better.

4. Bio-Orthodoxy

At 397 current posts, this website also needs to be better categorized and fixed up. The purpose of this site is to focus on scientific issues, including those issues related to Christianity, and right now I am translating a text by St. Luke the Surgeon of Crimea titled "Science and Religion." Next I will be translating a series of homilies by St. Neophytos the Recluse on the first few chapters of Genesis.

5. Daimonologia

Unfortunately this website has 673 posts, and I haven't even begun to categorize them, except for some Resource Pages, so there is a lot of work to be done here in 2026. Daimonologia focuses more on darker subjects of culture and thought, and is shaping up to become a very comprehensive Demonology. Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko wrote a lot on this subject in the 19th century, especially exploring the topic of poltergeists, so I am in the process of translating what he wrote. He also wrote an Angelology, but I will probably translate that for my main page. In 2026 one of my goals is to also translate the short stories of Alexandros Papadiamantis that deal with "paranormal" subjects.

6. Eschatologia

This website also lacks any categorization, despite having 308 posts, making anything to find here a burdensome task. My hope is to rectify this in 2026. So if you are interested in a topic dealing with life after death, the end times, biblical prophecies and modern day trends in these subjects, you should find it much more easier in the coming months to find the topic you are looking for.

7. New Myriobiblon

Book reviews are the sole topic of this website, practically on any subject. Sometimes I offer my own book reviews, and will eventually focus more on that, but currently I either translate interesting book reviews or I gather book reviews that I think are interesting or important, such as, for example, all the book reviews written by Fr. George Florovsky. These also need to be categorized and more accessible in 2026, though I have only posted 41 book reviews so far.

8. Erotapokriseis

I always thought it would be important to have a website devoted only to questions and answers, so this is it. Up to now I have given brief answers to 214 questions, but I decided to change my approach to how I do this. The reason for this change is because the questions I started getting focused only on controversial topics, and I am not interested in solely addressing controversial topics. For this reason in 2026 I will continue to do the question and answer format, but I will translate texts, both ancient and modern, all Orthodox, where the question and answer format was used. Perhaps every once in a while I will address some questions posed to me, but I haven't decided yet. And yes, this site desperately needs categorization for easier referencing.

9. Know Thyself

I have only posted less than 20 posts here, so it is severely under developed, considering the wealth of material I have on the subject of morals and ethics, which this site is devoted to. There will be an increase of posts to this site in 2026.

10. Salvation of Sinners

My original idea for this website has changed, so in 2026 I will figure out what to replace this with and change the name. I have a few ideas floating in my head. Right now I am leaning towards the topics of heresies and apologetics. I tend to avoid posting on these subjects because they seem out of place on my other sites, so instead of continuing to sit on the rich treasure of material I have on these topics, it may be the right time to bring them out. Another idea I had was a website dedicated solely to historical subjects, or even one dedicated to philosophical subjects. I will be making my decision in early 2026.

11. Praxis and Theoria

Another website I have neglected was originally created to post my own random thoughts and experiences, however because I am usually occupied with my other more important websites and this one is last in my priorities, I hardly post here. My intention for this website in 2026 is to post at least two thoughts and experiences from my own personal life once a week, or maybe once every two weeks. I don't like talking about myself, but I think its important when publishing the material of so many others that I have some personal connection to my writing, to bring something out from within instead of always internalizing what is not my own. I probably won't be advertising what I write here on social media, so you will have to check in for updates. I will post it in my daily newsletter, which requires a paid subscription.

12. Orthodox Christianity Then and Now

This was my original main page, which I decided to retire and make into an archive a few years ago when it reached over 16,000 posts. This will remain an archive, but it still needs a lot of work to become an effective archive. Categorization is essential for more than 16,000 posts, and to do so the right way will require hundreds of hours. Many pages also need to be edited since it was reformatted, and I wouldn't mind deleting a few hundred irrelevant posts I made early on when I was less focused and more random in my posts.

13. Mystagogy Resource Center

This is my current main page, and where I have consistently posted daily. Since January 2023 I have made 2,429 posts, and there are many thousands to go. I won't even get into all the things I am doing and will be doing in 2026 for this website, there is just so much, and there isn't enough space right now to get into it. I will save it for a future date. And yes, this needs to be categorized too. 

Besides these thirteen websites, I also plan on opening a bookstore where I will not only publish some books I have worked on over the years, but where I will offer every month a new booklet. In December I am offering a booklet I translated by Fr. George Florovsky, titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ". This booklet is $20. If you have already ordered, it will be mailed this week. I will also offer some of my previous booklets for sale again. My next booklet will be available some time in January. 

If anyone donates $60 a year or $5 a month (Paypal or Patreon) you will also be enrolled in receiving my daily newsletter, which will start having some exclusive content. If anyone subscribes $25 a month or more, you will qualify to receive my monthly booklet, but you have to inform me you want the monthly booklet. My free weekly newsletter will resume beginning in January, which you can sign up for from this website.

The only reason I am able to offer what I offer free of charge, despite the enormous amount of work and time it takes, is because those of you who have benefited in some way from this ministry want to see it continue and thrive. For that I am grateful and hope that you can continue supporting the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center in 2026. 

A blessed new year to all!

John Sanidopoulos.

 

Time and the World of Decay (Photios Kontoglou)

 

Time and the World of Decay 

By Photios Kontoglou

The most dreadful and most inscrutable power in the world is Time, the Kairos. What this power truly is — no one knows. And all who have tried to define it have struggled in vain. The mystery of Time has remained incomprehensible, even though Time itself seems so natural to us. We cannot understand Time in itself — what it is — but we sense it only through the energy it exerts, through the marks it leaves upon creation. Its mysterious breath changes everything. Nothing remains stable — not even what appears stable and eternal. An unceasing motion whirls all things around, day and night, and no power can halt this elusive and hidden movement.

This thing we call Time is something we have grown accustomed to; we are familiar with it. Otherwise, terror would seize us if we were truly able to grasp what it is and what it does. As we have said, it works day and night, for ages upon ages, ceaselessly, silently, secretly, and it changes everything with an underground force — intangible, invisible, disobedient — so much so that one forgets it and thinks it does not exist, though it is the only thing that truly exists and that our mind, in no way whatsoever, can comprehend as ever not existing — how it could ever be destroyed, how it could ever cease. For how could that “someday” exist, when that “someday” is Time itself? How can one imagine that this very “someday” could ever cease to exist?

January: Day 1: Teaching 2: Circumcision of the Lord

January: Day 1: Teaching 2:
Circumcision of the Lord
 
(On the Reasons Why the Lord Underwent Circumcision)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the eighth day after His birth, deigned to undergo circumcision, and He was given the name Jesus, which had previously been foretold by the Archangel Gabriel to the Holy Virgin Mary.

II. a) Jesus Christ accepted circumcision, firstly, in order to fulfill the law, which required that every Jew be circumcised on the eighth day, a precursor to Holy Baptism in Christianity. "I came not," He said, "to destroy the law, but to fulfill it" (Matt. 5:17). He obeyed the law in order to make us, who were guilty and subject to the law, free. Concerning this, the Holy Apostle Paul says: "God sent His Son, who was under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law" (Gal. 4:4.5).

January: Day 1: Teaching 4: New Year's Day

January: Day 1: Teaching 4:
New Year's Day
 
(True Happiness Can Only Be the Lot of True Christians)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Greeting each other today on the New Year, we wish each other happiness. The Holy Church also wishes us all good things today, and prays for this to the Lord.

II. But know, brethren, that true happiness on earth can be the lot of only a true Christian: for only he can enjoy a pure, calm conscience — the most precious of all treasures; only he can, with firm trust in God, endure all the misfortunes and temptations that are so numerous in life and inevitable for everyone; only he can rightly use the blessings of this world for the glory of God, for the salvation of his soul, and for the benefit of his neighbors; only a true Christian can always be content with any share that the Lord sends him — and it is in this contentment that true happiness on earth consists. Without Christian piety in his heart, a person is unhappy amid the misfortunes of life, which he will not be able to bear with complacency; unhappy even with all the abundance of worldly goods, which he uses only to the detriment of his soul, and which will never bring him inner peace and contentment, inaccessible to sinful souls.

Prologue in Sermons: January 1

 

The Proof that our Church is Orthodox, and the Schismatic Church is Not Orthodox, is that We Perform Miracles, While the Schismatics Do Not.

January 1
 
(The Miracle Saint Basil Performed in Nicaea)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Proof, on the one hand, that our Church is true, holy, and Orthodox, and, on the other, that a schismatic Church is not Orthodox, but a Church of the deceivers, can be found, among other things, in the fact that in our Church, as in the past, true miracles have been, are still being, and, of course, will continue to be performed. Among the schismatics, however, true miracles do not exist, have not existed, and never will exist. To illustrate this, brethren, we will give you an example. 

2026 Pastoral Encyclical for the New Year (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

 

Pastoral Encyclical

Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

New Year's Day 2026

Beloved children in the Lord,

I am communicating with you on this great day of the feast of the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of the new civil year along with the feast of Saint Basil the Great, and I extend to you my warm wishes for a blessed new year, with health, both physical and spiritual, and every good gift from God, pleasing and perfect. On this day the Church has appointed that, during the Divine Liturgy, a reading be proclaimed from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians, which refers to the difference between the philosophy of this world and theology — a difference of great and central importance in our lives (Col. 2:8–12).

Philosophy is characterized as “empty deceit,” as “the tradition of men,” and as “the elements of the world,” and “not according to Christ.” Humanity has always looked upon the existing world and, on the one hand, sought to interpret it — what it is, that is, what its ontology is, why it exists, and ultimately how it came to be or who created it. Thus, from ancient Greece various philosophical schools developed, before and after Socrates, and also after Plato and Aristotle, down to our own days. The center of philosophy is human reason, with its deductions and imagination, by which the gaps of reasoning are filled.

New Year's Day at Agia Paraskevi (Photios Kontoglou)

"Kydonies Agia Paraskevi," early 20th-century photograph

New Year’s Day, as Photios Kontoglou remembered it, at his estate in Agia Paraskevi of Aivali (Ayvalik).

NEW YEAR’S DAY AT AGIA PARASKEVI

By Photios Kontoglou

Agia Paraskevi was the name of a monastery, but in truth it was an estate, administered by the abbot. It had neither monks nor the other things monasteries usually have. The abbot and his clan governed the surrounding mountains, the olive groves, the fields, the gardens, the pastures, the salt pans, the sea, and the livestock. The abbot was ordained from within the family — the most educated and the most honored — and this had been done so from grandfather to great-grandfather.

The abbot and his people lived in a true fortress with high walls, which contained many rooms, kitchens, ovens, storerooms, mills, and at the center stood the Church of Saint Paraskevi. This enchanted fortress was built atop a mountain surrounded by the sea on three sides, and at its summit there was a rock such as one would not find elsewhere, of such strange form and such size. The fortress was built at its base, toward the south.

Homily for New Year's Eve (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh)

AT THE GATE OF THE YEAR

December 31, 1981

By Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Before we pray, I should like to introduce our prayers so that when we pray, we do it more effectively, with one mind and with one heart. Year after year I have spoken of the New Year that was coming, in terms of a plain covered with snow, unspoiled, pure, and called our attention to the fact that we must tread responsibly on this expanse of whiteness still unspoiled, because according to the way in which we tread it, there will be a road cutting through the plain following the will of God, or wandering steps that will only soil the whiteness of the snow. But a thing that we cannot, must not forget, this year perhaps more than on many previous occasions, is that, surrounding, covering this whiteness and this unknown as with a dome, there is darkness, a darkness with few or many stars, but a darkness, dense, opaque, dangerous and frightening. We come out of a year when darkness has been perceived by all of us, when violence and cruelty are still rife.

December: Day 31: Teaching 2: On the Eve of the New Year

December: Day 31: Teaching 3:
On the Eve of the New Year
 
(One More Year!)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. At the coming of the new year, I find it very timely, brethren, to offer to your love the parable of Jesus Christ about the barren fig tree.

“Jesus Christ spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the vinedresser, ‘Behold, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why should it even exhaust the soil?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well; but if not, then next year you may cut it down’” (Luke 13:6–9).

A new year has come, my brethren.