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Ancient Faith Blogs presents a select group of writers and thinkers who regularly post on matters of theology, culture, art, parish, and family life.
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Faith Encouraged
Time to Shake Things Up!
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Christ is risen! T.S. Eliot, one of the 20th century’s major poets, said: “And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness.” It strikes me as significant that an author would write something like that. And, in my heart of hearts, it strikes me as painfully accurate, especially during an election season that presses the thoughtful to places…
The Morning Offering
The Church Calendar
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The Church Calendar and spiritual maturation One of the most spiritually profitable discoveries for me, personally, was when I started, as a new Orthodox Christian, the observance of the liturgical calendar. Each day of the year I was carried along with the cycle of commemorations that brought to life various events in the life of Christ. The calendar provided me…
The Whole Counsel Blog
St. Paul and the Law
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As a conclusion to this series on the ongoing importance of the commandments of the Law in the New Testament and in the Orthodox Church, it is important to address directly St. Paul’s understanding of the Law. It has become a commonplace since Martin Luther, to read St. Paul as setting out a dichotomy between the Law on one hand, and the gospel which he proclaimed on the other. This distinction has been read forward into the other New Testament writers, and also backward into the Old Testament. That which is identified as Law, then, in the scriptures, or at least, portions of it, is allowed a continuing role in the life of the church and of Christians, but that…
Faith Encouraged
Over 40 Years Old!
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Christ is risen! It almost seems unbelievable to think that our society could actually get to the place where we say that someone has outlived their “usefulness” and withdraw medical care from them because they aren’t “worth” saving for society. And yet, we are creeping dangerously close to that mindset becoming not just acceptable but applauded! And all of this in the name of “compassion” and “loving.” So, how did we get…
The Morning Offering
Acquiring Humility
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The truly humble man does not consider himself humble Saint Macarius of Egypt, called The Great by the Church, because of his perfection of the virtues, and his profound humility, and who said of himself that his struggle to acquire humility was not complete, is but one example of the true meaning of humility. Even though this great saint lived…
Faith Encouraged
Confronting the Resurrection!
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Christ is risen! Confrontation is not fun. In fact, most studies show that, when given a choice, most folks prefer to avoid confrontation. And that is because confrontation isn’t usually a pleasurable experience. But confrontation and conflict are necessary to grow and mature. This has been my experience with most of the confrontations I have seen in my own life. While never enjoyable, they have usually proved informative and positive for my…
The Morning Offering
The Divine Mysteries
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Where communion with God is restored At the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room Jesus gave a dramatically new meaning to the food and drink of the sacred meal. He identified Himself with the bread and wine: “Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink of it all of you; for this is my Blood of the New Covenant” (Matthew 26:26-28).…
Glory to God for All Things
The Power in Thought - It's Not What You Think
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Among the dark little corners of the Orthodox world, particularly in its ethnic homelands, is a left-over trace of witchcraft (I don’t know what else to call it). It consists of a collection of superstitions, often mixed with semi-Orthodox notions. There are concerns about the “evil-eye,” “curses,” “spells,” and such. These things are “left-overs” in that they likely predate Christianity, having never disappeared from Europe’s earlier pagan past. These are not practices…
No Other Foundation
Reading the Song of Solomon Today
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The Biblical Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) has always been read by Christians on two different levels—that is, it has been read on an historical level and on an allegorical one. This is how Christians read the entirety of the Old Testament. Take for example the story of the passage through the Red Sea. Christians have read this on an historical level as narrating the liberation of Israel…
With Lamps in Hand
When You've Fallen Off Your Spiritual Wagon
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Christ is risen! The Paschal season is upon us, filling us with new hope, new joy, a lightness of heart, and a fresh start. And in the light of the Resurrection, I’m overjoyed to be restarting this project after barely getting it off the ground last year. Have you ever started something and then found yourself not following through the way you thought you would? And have you ever noticed that the…
Faith Encouraged
To Repent is to Refresh!
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Christ is risen! I like this quote: “A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.” Yep, I bet you know that feeling of being so fed up with the everyday activities of life that you say “STOP!” And yet, why is it that too many of my vacations have been as stressful or more stressful than my regular schedule? It’s because an actual “refreshing”…
The Morning Offering
Building a Relationship
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Building a personal relationship with Christ Most of us struggle with questions about things eternal. It is part of relationship building. If we are to have a personal relationship with God we must be open and honest and unafraid to question. The Lord wants us to be real with Him. Like the sound relationship that one sees in a long…
The Morning Offering
The United States
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A pre-soviet society that would be the end of our freedom “What began in Russia will end in America.” ~Elder Ignatius of Harbin, Manchuria Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his “Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag”, explained how the Russian revolution and the communist takeover were facilitated by an atheistic mentality that lead to the secularization of Russia, and alienated the…
Glory to God for All Things
Obstacles to Faith in the Modern World
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My writing and thoughts often carry me to the “edges” – to the edge of unbelief and to the edge of the depths of belief. My instinct for these places is an instinct for the obstacles to faith. Why do some believe and others not? And what is the exact nature of belief and unbelief? There is a form of belief familiar to everyone. It is simply the manner in which we…
The Morning Offering
Internal Strife
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The workings of the enemy of the Church There have always been attacks on the integrity of the Church. Sometimes these attacks have been directed head on toward the Church, such as the invasion of Islam into Orthodox lands. At other times the Church has experienced attacks within her own walls, with divisions occurring that threatened the integrity and unity…
Behind the Scenes
Everyday Wonders: Small Events That Shape a Life
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Father Bill's Blog
61. Orthodoxy and Other Faiths: Classical Protestantism - Part One
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DO NOT READ THIS BLOG POST! At least not yet. I mistakenly published it too soon, and I’m still making corrections. Please come back on Friday April 18 to see the accurate text – along with pictures of beautiful Protestants. I’m very sorry for the confusion, which you may attribute to senility if you wish. Old Father Bill (One advantage of old age is that you get to attribute all your stupid mistakes to senility.)…
Father Bill's Blog
60. My Travels: 2009 Trip - Saint Nektarios, Crete
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Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! We’ve been dealing with a lot of heavy subjects lately. We need a break. Our late Antiochian Metropolitan Archbishop Philip (of blessed memory) directed that clergy should stay in our parishes during Great Lent, but now it’s Pascha – and besides, our Milwaukee forecast says freezing rain and snow this weekend. Snow?! In fact we’ve had no spring at all so far, no tulips. So…
A Lamp for Today
Shine, O New Jerusalem!
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Isaiah 66, Ezekiel 44-48, Revelation 12, Revelation 21-22 This is the week for shining, the week to be bright. It is one of the few times during the year that Orthodox are forbidden to fast, for there is an action to match every season. Indeed, during Pascha we heard that wonderful hymn to the Theotokos that addresses all of us, for in her we see a picture of our own inheritance: The…
Faith Encouraged
Bright Friday - ZEAL
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Christ is risen! “What would Jesus do?” That phrase was popular a few years ago, and I confess to being amused by this fad of “easy religion.” One of the main reasons was that the life of Jesus is not easily categorized as the comfortable “Jesus” we moderns would prefer. You know the “Jesus” I’m talking about: The “meek” Jesus that pats everyone on the head and tells them they are “OK,…
The Morning Offering
Procrastination
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Putting off for tomorrow what can be done today We all have times when we procrastinate. There is a story of a young monk who confessed to his elder that he was always struggling with procrastination. His elder told him it was his lack of faith which made it impossible for him to see God everywhere, and in all things,…
Glory to God for All Things
Bookends and the Resurrection
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A series of recent conversations with a parishioner turned up the problem of “bookends,” that is, questions of the beginning and the end. It is only natural in our day and age to attack problems in this manner. “How did it start?” is a way of saying, “What is it?” The end, of course, is not so obvious, other than its connection with our insatiable desire to know how things will turn…
Behind the Scenes
What does it mean to be an Orthodox Christian writer?
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Faith Encouraged
Bright Thursday - REFRESHING
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Christ is risen! Ah, the beauties of Springtime! And the hay fever! For those of us susceptible to the reign of terror that is pollen season; the watery eyes, the stuffy nose, basically all the bad stuff on all the commercials we see for medicine to combat this scourge of this wonderful season; we love and hate this time of year! Especially when the wind is blowing around all that yellowish-green pollen…
The Morning Offering
Human Reason
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The limits of human reason and the knowledge of God The things that are of God are far beyond the capabilities of our finite mind to comprehend. The divine can only be known through the nous, that place in the heart that is our true center. It, unlike the brain, is capable of knowledge that is beyond human comprehension, coming…
Grace Here and Now
New life! New spring! New hope!
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I think of Pascha as a new beginning. New life! New spring! New resolve to live in the hope of the Resurrection! It is a perfect time for beginning again to take seriously my vocation as co-creator, pouring into each day as much beauty and goodness and kindness as humanly possible, trusting God The Creator to transform my humble offerings and efforts into divine reflections of His great compassion for this…
No Other Foundation
What It Was that Saved Thomas
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Thomas had a heart that had taken one too many beatings. Despite his often being stigmatized by later generations as “Doubting Thomas” there is nothing in his past record to indicate such a defect of character. In John’s account of Christ’s raising of Lazarus, when the Lord said that Lazarus had died and that He was going to enter the cauldron of dangerous Judea to “go to him” (John 11:15), the disciples…