A Meeting Between Saint Nikolai Velimirovich and Nikola Tesla

In his lifetime, Saint Nikolai Velimirovich visited the USA four times. He visited Britain in 1910. He studied English and was capable of addressing an audience and making a strong impression on listeners. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I this contributed to his appointment by the Serbian government to a mission in the United States. In 1915, as an unknown Serbian hieromonk, he toured most of the major U.S. cities, where he held numerous lectures, fighting for the union of the Serbs and South Slavic peoples. This mission gained ground: America sent over 20,000 volunteers to Europe, most of whom later fought on the Salonika Front.

The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence

By Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

Artificial Intelligence is an unprecedented caliber of technological achievement of recent years, its range of application is enormous, the rate of its evolution fast, the consequences unforeseen, the threat to our human identity unprecedented, its formative power for the future of societies, of human beings, of life and of the world immeasurable, it is a global concern, and expert scientists appear to be inadequate in their predictions.

Top Ten Sci-Fi Films of the Decade (2010-2019)

The 2010s were a great decade for sci-fi movies. CGI technology continues to get better and better, and above all, Sci-fi films directly benefit from the improved visual technology. Traditionally, science fiction films have always boasted cutting-edge visual effects: movies like Metropolis and Forbidden Planet were top-tier, groundbreaking movies. Even the models and props in all of the original Star Wars movies were mind-boggling and state-of-the-art in their day.

The past decade was certainly no exception, and the 2010s saw a plethora of exciting sci-fi movies with some of the best visual effects ever seen on the big screen. Audiences saw life-like robots, strange new worlds, and hyper-realistic space crafts. In addition to stunning visual effects, sci-fi movies in the last decade also brought audiences a variety of intelligent, thought-provoking science fiction stories that grappled with cranial concepts like artificial intelligence, the dangers of technological advancement, and what it means to be human.

The Orthodox Scientist Today (Fr. George Metallinos)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

1. According to its epistemological definition, a scientist is the one who is (and is rightly acknowledged as) the one who has mastered a science, pursuant to specialized studies. More specifically, scientists are those who “stand above” – that is, who possess – a full and certain knowledge, but also possess the prerequisite of experience in the area of that knowledge. One might also add to the scientist’s prerequisites his performance in research. His studies and the diploma that he attains is merely that person’s introduction into the sphere of the science that he has been studying. His specialization in conjunction with his research within a sphere of science is that which entitles someone to be characterized as Scientist. The non-expert is not a scientist, but rather a thinker, who relies on an arbitrary opinion, that is, on a mere conjecture. That is why we must not be surprised when improvable positions are propagated by “scientists”, especially in the realm of History. This happens because an unsupported “knowledge” is being produced and reproduced for the deception of many – which may be embraced by the semi-literate, but not by the specialized scientist.

The Purpose of Life and the Proof Pointing Us to God According to St. Gregory Palamas

The Purpose of Life

"The reason mankind was brought into being by God was so that they might apprehend with their senses the sky, the earth, and everything they contain, as visible objects, and by means of them, go beyond them with their minds to invisible beauties, that they might sing the praises of God, the one Creator of all."

- St. Gregory Palamas 

(Second Homily on the Entry of the Theotokos into the Holy of Holies, 16)

Proof Pointing Us To God

"Let us admire Abraham and the far-famed Melchizedek, who turned to God of their own accord - after they had already attained the age of reason. They had observed that great proof pointing us to God: this universe; the earth; what surrounds it; the combination of elements; the noble harmony of opposites; the vast boundary formed by the heavens which encircle the visible portion of creation; the multitude of stars fixed therein; their varied and wonderful disposition and their movement, which is neither simple nor conflicting, but harmonious, orderly and lyrical; their progress around their orbits; their conjunctions; their shared paths; their alterations; the significant formations which result, according to what experts in these matters tell us. These things and everything else which happens according to nature's law proclaim God who is eternally above them."

- St. Gregory Palamas 

(Second Homily on the Entry of the Theotokos into the Holy of Holies, 28)