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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
It Is More Blessed to Give!
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It’s a bit of a paradox, but the truth is Faith and Joy are gifts that can only be possessed by giving them away! Strange, isn’t it? But think about it. joy and faith are always the casualties of inattentiveness. When I stop prioritizing Faith and Joy, they diminish their presence in my life. When I focus on Faith and Joy, they grow and spread to others around me. It’s kind of…
The Morning Offering
Discernment
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We must use discernment when sharing the faith The holy Elder Porphyrios of Mount Athos, was forced to move to Athens because of his poor health. While walking with two young spiritual daughters in the area of Omonoia one day, they spotted a young woman coming their way wearing the familiar “super mini skirt”. “You do well to not judge…
No Other Foundation
Justifying Genocide and Building a Better World
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I have just finished watching a brief ten minute video on Youtube from 2008 entitled, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Nazi”, originally entitled “Happy Nazis”. It is a chilling documentary which compares two photo albums received by the US Holocaust Museum. One set of photos shows some of the upper level leaders and some women workers at Auschwitz in happy and light-hearted moments of fellowship and camaraderie, such as sing-alongs. Another…
Walking an Ancient Path
Liturgy Survival Guide: The Liturgy after the Liturgy
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Faith Encouraged
What Draws a Crowd?
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Just because something is popular, doesn’t make it good or right. William Penn said, “Avoid popularity; it has many snares and no real benefits.” In my previous religious circles, we were always working to build a big crowd so that we could assure ourselves we were doing the right thing. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with large churches AS LONG AS they are staffed properly so that families…
A Light So Lovely
What is Art? Part II of an Essay by Ivan Ilyin
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Last week, I posted an excerpt from a wonderful essay by Ivan Ilyin. Although sometimes his language verges on the kind of “epicness” that people nowadays tend to laugh at, what he says is important. Even people who write primarily as a source of income are forced, sooner or later, to come to terms with their legacy, with what it means to be an artist. He reminds us, first and foremost, that…
The Morning Offering
Unceasing Prayer
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Unceasing prayer is simply keeping our mind attached to God by our desire As we address our prayers to God, it is good to remember that we need not confine our prayer in words. It is also good to remember that God does not require us to remind Him by our words, for He knows our needs even when we…
The Whole Counsel Blog
Propitiation and Expiation
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Debates surrounding atonement theology over the last several decades have centered on two terms, propitiation and expiation. Both of these terms describe the function of particular sacrificial rituals. There is not, of necessity, a conflict between the core meanings of these two terms. They have come, however, to be emblematic of entire theological positions regarding the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Clearing away the accumulated theological baggage from these terms, however, allows them to highlight two important elements of the sacrificial system described in the Hebrew scriptures which will, in turn, reveal elements of the Gospels’ portrayal of Christ’s atoning death. Rather than summarizing two incompatible views or options or theories regarding “how atonement works,” these elements, along with others, convey…
Faith Encouraged
Nothing is Unclean in Itself
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The preacher was telling the story of the plight of those in biblical times who suffered from leprosy. They were social outcasts and had to live in leper colonies and if they ventured out, they had to call before them to warn all around the “Unclean! Unclean!” You see leprosy was highly contagious, even to the point that the clothes lepers wore were burned instead of recycled or given away. The leper…
The Morning Offering
Our Thoughts
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Our thoughts determine our lives “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility (Elder…
Faith Encouraged
Childlike OR Childish!
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The great 20th-century thinker, Aldous Huxley, once said: “Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.” Funny, now that I think about it, he’s right. Children have the power of clarity of thought that is absolute and simple. No wonder they are so stubborn when they want something. It simply never occurred to them that they didn’t have…
The Morning Offering
My Sins
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I must accuse myself, blame myself, judge myself I see people’s sins, but I don’t know whether they have made peace with God. I don’t know if the person who has sinned regrets it, but I am not called to judge them, but only to forgive them. As I become aware of my own sins, and begin to realize how…
No Other Foundation
Taking It Personally
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As a rule I do not share personal things on my blog. I consider that my office as a presbyter/ teacher obliges me to transmit the teaching of the Church and deal with challenges to it when they arise. My personal feelings, life, and relationships are irrelevant to my ministry and my blog, and so I try to keep them quite separate. How I feel about individual persons, therefore, is no one’s…
The Morning Offering
Silence
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Entering into the Silence All Orthodox Christians are aware of the importance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in our journey to God. These three practices are at the heart of the Great Lenten Fast. Prayer is our way of communicating with God on a daily basis, and fasting days (Wednesday and Friday) are called for throughout the Church Year. As…
The Morning Offering
Where is God?
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When we feel abandoned and alone, and God seems absent from us We all have those moments in our lives when we feel as though God is absent, even perhaps nonexistent. Those times leave us feeling alone and abandoned, as though we are lost in an empty stadium. We feel as though we are on a boat that has been…
Remembering Sion
Not Yours, But You: Almsgiving in the Modern Age
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In the Gospels there are many “hard sayings” of our Savior. Of these hard sayings, there are also many which have been all but forgotten — even by those who sincerely strive to be faithful Christians. Of these hard and forgotten sayings, I would like to call our attention today to one in particular: When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your…
Glory to God for All Things
The Kingdom Within
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In December of 1849, the Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, stood waiting his turn for execution, having been found guilty of plotting against the Russian Tsar. At the last minute, under instructions from the Tsar, the sentence was commuted from death, to four years in a Siberian prison. Later that day, Dostoevsky wrote a famous letter to his brother, describing the experience. He was shaken and changed to the very core of his…
No Other Foundation
“Two Men in Bed Together”: a Failure of Exegesis
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In a world of change it is (almost) comforting to see how some things can always be counted on to stay the same—such as Sanfilippo’s Orthodoxy in Dialogue blog, which consistently treats its faithful readers with repeated attempts to legitimize the sin that the Church has always condemned. Answering every one of his blog posts point by point would require something like a full-time job, and most of us are already fully…
Father Bill's Blog
134. Last of the Seven Deadly Sins: Envy, Part One - Beware!
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Saint Basil the Great said it well: “There is no other passion engendered in human souls more pernicious than envy. It does less harm to strangers, but is the chief homegrown evil for whomever possesses it. As rust eats away at iron, so envy eats away at the soul in which it lives. Envy is grief over a neighbor’s wellbeing. Therefore the envious man never has a lack of sorrows and afflictions.…
A Lamp for Today
Dancing with the Prophets: The Resurrectional Hymns in Tone Three
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Both the troparion and kontakion for the resurrection in tone three are brimming full of joy. Indeed, I remember being so taken by the troparion that, long before I was chrismated, I sang it for those who were listening to me give a talk on Anglican hymnody. I think it was the end of the verse that was so compelling, with its emphasis upon “great mer—cy!” And the two hymns, taken as…
Faith Encouraged
Free At Last, Thank God Almighty, I’m Free At Last!
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Janis Joplin had a hit record after her death in 1971 called “Me and Bobby McGee” that had a line that said, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Kind of a depressing thought, but then again, the song is about the memory of a happier time and the loss of that time, so I guess that makes sense. The whole concept of freedom is at the heart of most of human…
The Morning Offering
Deceitfulness
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We must strive to always be truthful In our daily encounters with our spouses, family, friends, and coworkers, we must always strive to be truthful. Deceitfulness must never be allowed to be a part of our life, for deceitfulness in relationships with others will always translate into being untruthful with God. Our relationships with others and our relationship with God…
Faith Encouraged
How Much Do You Love Me?
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My daughters and I have this little game we play. I ask them “How much do you love me?” And they, giggling and smiling, try to stretch their little arms as wide as they can and say “This much, daddy!” Of course, then they ask me how much I love them and I make as big a show as I can to stretch my arms as wide as I can and say…
The Morning Offering
The Holy Oblation
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The place where heaven and earth are united As a priest, I bear the awesome burden of offering the Holy Oblation before the Throne of God, on behalf of all the people who’s names are submitted to the monastery, and who are Orthodox. I offer for my spiritual children, and even for the whole world. I commemorate my own beloved…
No Other Foundation
Building an Orthodox Parish
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A large part of the problem with some Orthodox parishes (at least of my acquaintance) is not lack of money or lack of a nice building (nice as money and good buildings are), but the fact that they have not been built upon a proper foundation. The Scriptures have lots to say about the value of a good foundation, and the Lord teaches us that if the foundation has not been properly…
Faith Encouraged
Many Blessings Equal Great Responsibility!
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“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.” All through my life, I’ve heard that we should “count” our blessings. If we would do this, we would be protected against falling into the “pit of despair” and we would be encouraged by how much we have in our lives. I guess that’s why I love the Orthodox wisdom of “nepsis” (wakefulness). This encouraging…
A Light So Lovely
What is Art? Part 1 of an Essay by Ivan Ilyin
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What do you think is the most common essay title in the history of literature? I don’t know. But if I were to guess, I’d say it would be “What is art?” No one wonders about “what is art” more than artists. We can’t help ourselves. We want to know that the long hours of giving birth to our thoughts and our words are actually worth something. In our time, when people…