The Morning Offering
Noetic Faculty
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The energy of the mind inside the heart In the patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. This self-awareness is the energy of the mind inside the heart, something the holy fathers referred to as our “noetic faculty”. There is an important distinction that must be noted concerning the difference between the Western and Eastern understands of…
Remembering Sion
Menpleasing and Murder: A Homily for the Beheading of the Forerunner
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The memory of the righteous is praised, says King Solomon (Proverbs 10:7 LXX); but the Lord’s testimony suffices the righteous one we remember today. What testimony? Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist(Matthew 11:11). What honor can our praises add to one who boasts such an eminent witness? How can the life that today is crowned with a glorious death be fittingly…
Walking an Ancient Path
Remembering the Cross, Again
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Have you seen anyone recently with a golden electric chair hanging from a chain around his neck? How about an elegant, elderly woman showing off a diamond guillotine brooch on her dress? Or maybe you spotted a buffed-up guy at GNC, buying a protein supplement while wearing a sterling silver noose over his tight workout shirt. No? Me neither. Even in our depraved modern world, instruments of violent death aren’t used…
Faith Encouraged
For This Purpose
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As we come to another infamous anniversary of September 11th, the perennial struggle with “purpose” comes to my mind. I was having a conversation the other day with a dear, educated man, who also happens to be an ordained clergyman in one of the many Protestant denominations in our fair city, and the conversation turned, as it often does, to the “struggle” in today’s religious landscape between the “conservatives” and the “liberals.” My friend…
The Morning Offering
Compassion
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None can be saved without compassion for others We must not be so self-consumed as to have no compassion for others. Saint Basil tells us that a man who has two coats or two pair of shoes, when his neighbor has none, is a thief. In the Holy Scriptures we read, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,…
Behind the Scenes
Book Review - The Age of Paradise: Christendom from Pentecost to the First Millennium
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Time Eternal
A #TemporalTuesdays quote from Dr. Seuss
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Faith Encouraged
For God So Loved the World…
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The famous author J.K. Rowling once said: “I’m interested in that drive, that rush to judgment, that is so prevalent in our society. We all know that pleasurable rush that comes from condemning, and in the short term it’s quite a satisfying thing to do, isn’t it?” And she’s right! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ranted and raved at the TV news reports, or some post on Facebook with some asinine political opinion,…
The Morning Offering
Fruitless Discussions
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The power and influence of good deeds “For it is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men (1 Peter 2:15). Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic tells us in The Prologue from Ochrid that we are better off if we do not engage others in lengthy debates and fruitless discussions, but that we…
Glory to God for All Things
St. Spyridon's Shoes - and My Shoes
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Earlier this year I was making my way to Antiochian Village for a Writers’ Conference. Walking across the expanse of the Atlanta Airport, I became aware of something odd about my shoes. At first, I thought something had gotten into my shoe, a rock, or some such thing. Then I thought that maybe there was something strange about the footbed. One of my toes seemed to be digging unusually deep as…
Faith Encouraged
Rights or Righteousness?
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Real inspiration isn’t easy! In fact, I’ve become suspicious of the real lasting power of inspiration based on mere sentiment or even “good intentions.” It just always seems to be reduced to nothing more than making someone else “feel” better about “inspiring” someone else. And the sentiment seems to disappear in an instant when “real life” sets in. So, is inspiration really possible? Yes, I think it is, but it has to…
The Morning Offering
Christian Friendship
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The necessity of Christian friendships In this age where secularism is on the rise, and materialism has become a major distraction from spiritual pursuits, Christian friendship has never been more important. The pursuit of personal fulfillment, entertainment, worldly pleasure, and the acquisition of material goods, has become the dominant theme of our age. Families that once placed the life of…
The Morning Offering
Spiritual Maturation
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Those occasions when we mature into spiritual adulthood There are those times in our lives when God seems distant, even absent from us. These are usually times when our faith seems weak and we struggle to believe God really cares for us, or perhaps we begin to question whether God even exists. In Western Christian tradition these moments are often…
Eastern Christian Insights
How a Barren Couple and the New Eve Prepared the Way for the Cross: Homily for the Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 6:11-18; John 3:13-17 One does not have to know very much about the different religions of the world to know that they differ not only in how they answer spiritual questions, but in what questions they ask. Who is God? What is the nature of the human person? What is our fundamental problem? What is salvation? These are only a few key questions that quickly reveal…
The Morning Offering
Incense
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The Orthodox Use of Incense From Old Testament times believers have burned incense as an offering when worshiping God. The ancient temple in Jerusalem even had priests whose sole duty was to keep the censer burning twenty-four hours a day. Ancient pagan kings were often escorted with large fans of peacock feathers and burning incense when entering their palaces. Early…
Father Bill's Blog
142. Greece 2012, Part One: Too much Talk, some mild Philosophizing, and some Travel
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Summer is about to flee here in the north, but September is the perfect time to visit Greece – not too hot, fewer tourists, lower prices, warm water. So in September 2012 I was off to my second favorite place in the world. (Wisconsin is first.) That was then. This is now. I can’t travel that far any more, and I get so homesick for Greece. At least I can read my travel…
A Light So Lovely
Did We Create Culture in Saratov?
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This past month, I had the enormous privilege and joy of taking part in a new recording of sacred music in the provincial Russian city of Saratov. This was the second such project, hosted by the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute (PaTRAM). The first occurred three years ago, a project which included 41 singers from three different countries singing together for the first time. That recording later won a Grammy nomination, only…
Faith Encouraged
Suffering CAN BE Perfect!
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A recent article on the Christian view of marriage is titled “Marriage is a Lifetime of Suffering.” You won’t see that on any Hallmark card for wedding anniversaries anytime soon. And yet, the idea of salvific suffering is so foreign to us as to be actually offensive to many. But the Christian understanding of life and salvation can be summed up in this quote from Elder Sophrony of Sussex “…in this world…
The Morning Offering
The Gift of Love
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Passing on the gift of love My father was a golf pro in Spokane, Washington, during my grade and early middle school years, and the country club was the center of our family’s social life. My brother, Dwayne, and I use to play an average of 18 to 36 holes of golf every day, during the summer months (when we…
Time Eternal
Autumn in a Greek Orthodox Village
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Nearly a year ago, I borrowed my priest’s copy of Juliet Du Boulay’s wonderful but hard-to-obtain book, Cosmos, Life, and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village. My priest is probably reading this right now, just as he must wonder everyday with scorn why he ever let me borrow that blasted book if I’m going to take so long…
Faith Encouraged
What Is Godly Grief?
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Queen Elizabeth once said “Grief is the price we pay for love.” And that is true, in part, but not the whole picture. In fact, I’m convinced in our modern world of therapy and “positive thinking” we run the risk of falling into the false notion that we should never “feel” bad or sad. And that mistaken way of thinking always leads to disaster as we never learn how to grieve well.…
The Morning Offering
Our Attitude
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We must keep a positive attitude Our attitude has an impact that can keep us from growing spiritually. A bad attitude impacts the way we live, and hurts those around us. It negatively influences our family, our friends, our co-workers, and our church community. We must commit ourselves to keeping a positive attitude, for negative thinking will not make anything…
Glory to God for All Things
What Is Beneath the Universe?
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In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1:1-3 +++ Throw a blanket over a chair. In all likelihood, you would recognize immediately that there is a chair beneath the contours of the fabric. The blanket is not the…
Faith Encouraged
Unequally Yoked
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My daughter is getting to “that” age. Yep, she’s discovered that there are such things as “boys.” I invite you all to pray and fast that I survive! Seriously, one of the most powerful concerns I have as a parent is guiding my children to avoid the shortsightedness that seems to dominate the human race when it comes to relationships. Of course, relationships is what humanity is created to embrace. But the…
The Morning Offering
Orthodox Worship
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Orthodox worship is unchanging, and grounded in tradition A visitor to the monastery recently shared his preference of contemporary worship with drums, guitar, etc. He insisted that God doesn’t really care how we worship, as long as we offer Him our praise. Knowing this man to be a serious Christian, and an upfront disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, made…
Time Eternal
Help My Unbelief: My New Podcast with My Husband
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Guess what, Time Eternalites? My husband Basil and I just launched a new podcast together! It’s been driving me nuts trying to keep this quiet until now, but now it’s finally out in the world! I think Time Eternal listeners will love Help My Unbelief. Listen to the trailer on Ancient Faith Radio and subscribe wherever you get…
The Whole Counsel Blog
The Name of the Lord
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The pivotal moment in the life of Moses as related in Exodus is his prophetic call at the bush which burned but was not consumed. Within this call narrative, an important and well known moment is the revelation to Moses of the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Despite how well known this moment is, there are a number of misnomers regarding the revelation of the name Yahweh, as well as precisely what this name means and indicates. This is true not only in terms of popular understanding but even major scholarly theories based on references to this name have recently lost most of their popularity if not been completely overturned. Archaeological finds have given further relevant…
