Matrona, our holy and wonderworking Mother, was from Volissos, located on the northwest coast of the island of Chios. Her parents, Anna and Leon Sepsinias, were devout Christians, adorned with every Christian ethic and good work. Moreover, they were quite wealthy and distinguished. They had seven daughters, and Mary (later named Matrona) was one of them. Mary had been named in honor of the Ever-Virgin and Theotokos, the blameless Bride of Christ.

Martin Luther whose express mission was to get back to the Holy Scripture, was the first to espouse and define a doctrine of justification by faith alone. As he himself attests, "This one and firm rock, which we all the doctrine of justification, is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine."

If now you wish to learn the way to achieve this, I will tell you.

There are three things you should preserve above anything else: disinterest in everything reasonable or unreasonable and vain, in other words detachment from anything; then clear conscience in everything, as we have said, by no causing its judgment for anything; then finally complete peace, having your mind detached from anything earthly. When you have all these, find a quiet place, sit lone in a corner, shut the door (Matthew 6:6) and cease your mind from anything ephemeral and vain...try to find the place of your heart...having practiced this method of attention...you will find--greater wonder! The mind, through struggle, will have reached the place of the heart, where you will see the things you have never seen or known. There you will see the heaven which is within you, inside the heart, you will find yourself enlightened, full of all grace and virtue.

The holy Evangelist Luke was born in Antioch of Syria and from his youth studied the wisdom of the Greeks and the science of medicine. He became a skilled physician and an excellent iconographer, and he knew both the Greek and the Egyptian tongues well. Moreover, he was thoroughly acquainted with the Law of the Jews and had visited Jerusalem.

The Third Way is indeed strange and difficult to explain, whilst, to those who are not aware of it, it is often incomprehensible, appearing unreal and impossible that any such thing can happen. This is because these days the Third Way is not found in many, but rather in very few. As I understand, this virtue abandoned by us together with obedience, since it is the obedience one shows to his spiritual father which makes one truly free, leaving all the cares to him and staying away from the struggles of this world, whilst being a diligent artisan of this third way.

We also understand salvation to be synergistic--it requires participation by God and man. This is not a just a fifty-fifty proposition but requires one hundred percent from God and one hundred percent from man. God plays the primary part by making it possible for man to be saved through His work of redemption and by His unending love and mercy. And God continually seeks man's salvation, awaiting his return like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal son. But man has an essential part as well, the part of cooperation and incorporation, since God has given free will to His creatures. God does not predestine anyone (Protestant theology) to salvation or condemnation; rather, He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:4).