"Since my student years I have worked on the writings of St Gregory the Theologian and St Gregory Palamas, and then on the writings of all the Fathers of the Church, as well as the works of the Prophets and Apostles. I initially became involved under the guidance of my professors at the Theological School of Thessaloniki, and then under the guidance of my spiritual father, St Kallinikos, Metropolitan of Edessa, Pella and Almopia, and of St Sophrony the Athonite. In parallel, I was initiated into the hesychastic tradition of the Church, as preserved in the Philokalia of the Neptic Saints, and into the works of St Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and of contemporary Fathers of the Holy Mountain. I was also helped by the research work of Professor John Romanides, who had a profound knowledge of the Orthodox Tradition and the theological trends that dominate in the West. All these factors, set firmly within the pastoral ministry of the Church and the needs of its members, have given rise to my many books. They represent my apprenticeship in the Orthodox theology of the Church, and become in turn the apprenticeship of my readers. Ultimately, all this activity as a writer is a gift from God to me, and is offered in return to God and the Church, of which I am a member and to which I owe profound gratitude."