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Father Bill's Blog
144. Thirty Years Later - Reflections after being Orthodox since 1989, Part One
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First, let me apologize for all the spelling errors in last week’s Post (now corrected). I am recovering from Shingles (ugh!! If you can get the Shingles vaccine, please do!), and it was hard to concentrate. This concludes the medical segment of our program. Part One: The Thirty-year Search . I was chrismated on September 16, 1989. In 1999 I wrote an article giving my reflections “Ten Years Later”. Again in 2009, “Twenty…
A Lamp for Today
Gate, Temple, Palace, and Throne: Theotokion after the Aposticha, Tone Five
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The Psalter, Ezekiel 33-35, Isaiah 6 We have had several weeks of worship in which other hymns have pre-empted the usual resurrectional-dismissal hymns to the Theotokos. This week in our worship, we repeat the “Theotokion” in tone three, which I considered in this blog several weeks ago! I have decided, then, to delve into another stunning hymn used this week that concerns the Theotokos and her relationship to our Redeemer. For those…
Faith Encouraged
The Whole Armor of God
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I love this Armed Forces Motto: “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.” Isn’t that great? In other words, when you put the time into preparing for battle, the more ready you are to face the fight. And what is true for physical fighting is also true for the spiritual battle each of us faces every day! What? You didn’t know this was going to be a…
The Morning Offering
Being God's Messenger
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When we put on Christ, we become God’s messenger Walking through life with a smile on our face and a song in our heart is the best way to keep our mind and heart in a good place. Life has many turns and many trials, but when we keep centered on all the good that is in our life, the…
Behind the Scenes
Speakers and Topics for Facing Forward: An Ancient Faith Conference for the Second Half of Life
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The middle season of life marks itself in our experiences as an ending and a beginning. It is a season of change and realization and can be a time of great joy and great suffering. There are many questions to ask as we seek to reinvent ourselves, to stay connected with grown children, to care for aging parents, and to think practically about the end of natural life. We invite you to…
Faith Encouraged
We Did Not Yield!
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There was a day when I relished a good theological argument. Jousting with this or that “opponent” over this or that doctrine was as much fun as it was challenging. My favorite fights were over questions about the Trinity or predestination or even the very question about what was salvation anyway. I’d pour over scriptures and read books about apologetics and hone my “arguments” until I thought they were ironclad! And then…
The Morning Offering
Angels Unaware
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Let us be angels unaware to others There is not one of us who does not meet someone in a given week who is not in need of encouragement, love, and mercy. They are often mothers, whose children are going to bed at night hungry for lack of food money. The old woman whose husband is long gone, and whose…
No Other Foundation
The Western Rite and the Flow of History
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A minor debate within Orthodoxy has concerned what has been called “the Western Rite”. By this term is meant an (often doctored) version of the text of the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion Service. Is the substitution of this Western Rite in place of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy advisable for Orthodox churches? Is it even legitimate? I would like to examine this question as dispassionately as possible, keenly aware that…
Faith Encouraged
Examine Yourselves, Test Yourselves
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It is said that Aristotle once declared “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” And yet, St. Basil taught that the most terrifying thing for a man to do was to look into the “abyss” of his own soul. It seems one of the most important activities of one’s life is also the most difficult. But that makes sense. We humans are notorious for noticing the weaknesses of others all the…
The Morning Offering
Me First
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We must avoid centering on our own needs and desires Self-centeredness keeps us from focusing on the needs and interests of others, and obscures our true nature, as God intended. Pride keeps us from embracing Christ’s way of selfless service to others, even to those who especially need our love and support. Children of such people are deprived of the…
The Whole Counsel Blog
The Tree of the Cross
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Friedrich Nietzsche famously said regarding Christian readings of the Hebrew scriptures, “there followed a fury of interpretation and construction that cannot possibly be associated with a good conscience: however much Jewish scholars protested, the Old Testament was supposed to speak of Christ and only of Christ, and especially of his Cross; wherever a piece of wood, a rod, a ladder, a twig, a tree, a willow, a staff is mentioned, it is supposed to be a prophetic allusion to the wood of the Cross; even the erection of the one-horned beast and the brazen serpent, even Moses spreading his arms in prayer, even the spits on which the Passover lamb was roasted all allusions to the Cross and as it…
Glory to God for All Things
The Sacrament of the Soul
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Fr. Alexander Schmemann famously said that sacraments do not make things into something else so much as they reveal things to be what they are. We hear this in St. Basil’s Liturgy when we ask God to “show” the bread and wine to be the Body and Blood of Christ. The Baptismal liturgy does the same, asking God to “show this water…to be the water of redemption, the water of sanctification, the…
Time Eternal
The Virtues of a Daily Schedule: A #TemporalTuesdays Quote from Fr. Thomas Hopko
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Happy #TemporalTuesdays! An oldie but goodie from Fr. Thomas Hopko. May his memory be eternal!
Faith Encouraged
Don’t Make Me Stop This Car!
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Every parent has heard themselves say this at one time or another: “If you two don’t stop bickering, I’ll stop this car and punish you both!” I mean, surely I’m not the only one! Please tell me I’m not the only dad that has threatened this! Seriously, as parents, we really do set expectations of behavior for our children. One of the most fundamental tasks of parenting is to both model and…
The Morning Offering
Dangerous Times
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We’ve created a pre-Soviet culture in the United States “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 people from…
Raising Saints
Guest Post: Hannah Vazquez on her new podcast on Mothering!
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I’m happy to introduce Hannah Vazquez, who has recently released a wonderful new podcast for parents on Ancient Faith Radio! All These Things is likely to become a favorite among Raising Saints fans, so I recommend that you subscribe now! Hello everyone! I’m Hannah Vazquez. When I met Elissa at the Ancient Faith Writer’s Conference this summer, and shared my idea with her, she was so enthusiastic and supportive. I’m…
Faith Encouraged
Now Is the Acceptable Time
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“There’s no time like the present.” This and many other “time” quotes really get to a central wisdom we humans have learned: Timing is everything. I have a dear couple who are dating. And, on top of that, they are exploring becoming Orthodox. Talk about a double whammy! Their relationship is growing with each other and the Faith. They recently asked me a question I get a lot from folks exploring the…
The Morning Offering
Artificial Christianity
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Avoiding hypocrisy in our journey to God It is very easy to live our lives in hypocrisy if we are not mindful of the pitfalls of the spiritual life. We can become Pharisees without even noticing, if we let our Christianity be artificially lived. Living our lives as though we have been rehearsed by a stage director, we will have…
The Morning Offering
Depression
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And the demon of dejection Depression is one of the plagues of the modern age, overtaking many with it’s insidious poison, and ravaging many a life. The pain and suffering that comes with deep depression can infect those who surround the sufferer, for the depression of one person can spread like mold on stale bread. Psychiatrists are kept busy writing…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Struggle for Freedom from the Fear of Death: Homily for the Sunday After the Elevation of the Holy Cross in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 2:16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1 In celebrating the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we do something that would have made no sense to anyone at the time of our Lord’s ministry in first-century Palestine. The cross was then the most feared instrument of execution that the Romans used to discourage anyone who thought of rebelling against the military occupation of their homeland. That is why Pontius Pilate had…
No Other Foundation
Can a Christian be Demon-possessed?
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Believe it or not, I am sometimes asked the question “Can a Christian be demon-possessed?” Not often, admittedly, since our culture declares that demons do not exist, and that anyone who imagines that demons do in fact exist should probably be locked up and not let out with their keeper. Belief in angels is sometimes allowed (though presumably not by people like atheistic Richard Dawkins), because that belief makes us feel good,…
Orthodox Reformed Bridge
David Rockett’s Journey to Orthodoxy
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Folks, David is the silent partner behind the OrthodoxBridge blog. After writing a draft of a blog article, I will send it over to David. He then gives me his thoughts on the content, phrasing, and tone of the article. Over the years, David has been to me a beloved older brother, trusted advisor, and valuable ministry partner. His wise counsel and perspective has helped make the OrthodoxBridge effective in speaking…
The Morning Offering
The American "Purchase" of Alaska
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And the injustices perpetrated against the indigenous peoples When the United States purchased the Russian-American Company from the Imperial government of Russia, they were not sold Alaska, as has been claimed, but a Russian company. However, once the American government took control, they subdivided Alaska, considered land owned by the native people by the Russian government, into thirds. Alaska was…
Father Bill's Blog
143. Greece 2012, Part Two - All by myself, Wicked Church Hopping, then Home
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All Alone Khouria Dianna flew home and I was on my own on Crete. The place where I stayed was over a mountain, down the cliff to the Libyan Sea on an incredibly scary one lane gravel road. Pictures don’t begin to do it justice. That’s a 500 foot drop-off to the left. The nearest grocery, petrol station and health care were thirty minutes away. I always liked isolated places, but was this wise…
Faith Encouraged
Consider Jesus
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Ever thought about giving up? Yeah, I know. What time is it? I confess to struggling with this temptation all the time. And the temptation to give up seems to come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; from small things to big things. Plus, it seems we live in a modern culture that celebrates and even encourages “giving up.” The “easy path” of abandoning that which is hard flows from the…
The Morning Offering
Mercy and Love
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Where the temporal and the eternal are connected We can be rich in liturgical correctness and wealthy in traditions, but if we do not have love and mercy, we are in reality bankrupt. Our Lord Himself made love and mercy the chief criterion whereby we will be judged on the Last Day. The fulfillment of the law is love, not…
Time Eternal
Work as a Path to Prayer in St. Basil's Longer Rules
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This semester, I’m excited to be co-teaching a course called the Sanctification of Time at the Orthodox School of Theology in Toronto. It revolves around the various liturgical and prayer cycles of the Church and how they are lived in time. One of the first texts we are reading is an excerpt from St. Basil’s Longer Rules on…