Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Protestants and a Churchless Tradition: "Sola" vs. "Solo" Scriptura
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One of my ongoing fascinations is what I have come to refer to in my head as “the Evangelical appropriation of tradition.” Charismatics are celebrating Lent. Baptists are talking about the Eucharist. The inscrutable maybe-universalist and now Oprah-darling Rob Bell is even using the phrase the tradition. Maybe this tradition stuff isn’t so bad. I can branch out a little. I can…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Did God Tell You to Tie Your Shoes this Morning? The Micromanaging God
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God told me to get up and tie my shoes this morning.” With these words, my wife once described to me a kind of spirituality which baffled her. I must admit it baffles me, too, though I’ve had more exposure to it than she has. And what does it refer to? This 2008 post from fellow Antiochian priest Fr. Gregory Hallam in the UK (whom…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Is Your Name on Your Headstone? The Remembrance of Death
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Seeing my father’s name on this stone next to my recently departed mother’s reminds me that I used to be horrified at the morbid idea of having a tombstone with the name of a living person on it. It just didn’t seem right to be reminded of one’s death so baldly, literally to set up a monument to a future loss of life. But…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Is the Bible "above" the Church? A Chat with Moses
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I recently engaged in a sort of thought experiment about what it would be like for someone who believes that the Bible is “above” the people who actually produced it to have a chat with the earliest name associated with the production of the Scriptures. Here’s the result: “Moses, Genesis is above you.” “Um, I wrote it.” “But it is above you.” “Yeah, well,…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Unifying the Orthodox Church in America
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I’ve got a new piece published today at First Things, where I discuss the problems and solutions of Orthodox Christian unity in America. Here’s an excerpt: Are you Greek?” This is the question I get asked the most when I tell someone that I am an Orthodox Christian. At first, this question rankled, because I am not Greek. (I am, among other things, Lithuanian.)…
Nearly Orthodox
Ruminating: All the day
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
I've got a new book (and other news)
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If by some minor miracle you haven’t yet heard, I’ve got a new book out, An Introduction to God: Encountering the Divine in Orthodox Christianity, with a foreword graciously provided by my friend Jonathan Jackson. (It also includes a sneak preview of his forthcoming book, The Mystery of Art.) You can listen to an interview I did with Bobby Maddex about the book, read…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Did the Ecumenical Patriarch say that the Church is divided?: Response to an Anonymous Greek Orthodox Priest
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An anonymous piece by a self-identified Greek Orthodox priest entitled “On the Recent Events in Jerusalem and their Ecclesiological Underpinnings” has recently been circulating in response to the recent meeting in Jerusalem by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis, especially regarding certain statements by the Ecumenical Patriarch about the Church being “divided in time” and its ecclesiological ramifications. It’s been republished in…
Nearly Orthodox
A bit of ink, a bit of space...
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Nearly Orthodox
Remembering
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This week I celebrate two years as a full on Orthodox Christian. I also celebrate the feast of my namesake, Theodora of Vasta on September 11th. I had intended to spend some time in a rambling tumble of words about remembering and about being named and then I got word that an old friend of mine was killed in a car crash. And everything stopped. All my worries from this past week,…
Nearly Orthodox
Combat Boots and a Headscarf
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Eulogy for My Mother
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This eulogy was written for my mother’s funeral on August 29, 2014. A few months before, she was diagnosed with a Class 4 glioblastoma (brain cancer) which ultimately claimed her life. A somewhat shorter version of this text was delivered at the funeral service. Funeral Service of Sandy Damick, August 29, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick Colorado Springs, Colorado In the name of…
Nearly Orthodox
Nearly Orthodox: Book Review
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Really nice review of Nearly Orthodox from my favorite Orthogals!
Nearly Orthodox
Nearly Orthodox: Prone to Wander, pt 2
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Excerpt from Nearly Orthodox: on being a modern woman in an ancient tradition When the homeless woman with the beautiful smile passed my car at the stoplight the first day on the way to school, Henry asked if I would give her money. It had been a long time since the thought had even crossed my mind. I had gotten into the habit of looking away; to ease my conscience, I’d pray…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
7 Reasons that Reading the Bible = Tradition
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I recently came across a conversation online in which someone insisted that he didn’t need tradition at all, because he had the Bible. Why trust the word of men when you have the word of God? I was reminded again of just how complicated it is to try to believe in what the Bible says while rejecting Christian tradition. We’ve covered matters…
Nearly Orthodox
Under(pins)
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Whenever a new social media outlet opens up I give it a look. Nine times out of ten I will join it and then half the time I ignore it for a good long while until I figure out what it’s “for.” Facebook is a neighborhood with winding conversations taking place over the fence between our cyber yards and sometimes across the alley behind the house. Facebook is more or less static…
Nearly Orthodox
Greasy lips and thin mints
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When I write posts like this in the morning they will most likely start with some kind of commentary on coffee. I like my morning coffee. I have no shame in admitting that. I also have no shame in admitting that I like that really awful non dairy creamer you find in the refrigerated section very near the real dairy items like milk and sour cream. When I told someone I judge…
Nearly Orthodox
The magical mystery tour!
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Nearly Orthodox
Share the love...
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Nearly Orthodox
Nearly Orthodox: Prone to Wander
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Excerpt from Nearly Orthodox: On being a modern woman in an ancient tradition When I was a kid and we’d lose things, we’d chant, “Tony, Tony look around, something’s lost and can’t be found,” in the hope that St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things, would shine a magical beam of light on the missing object. When what was missing was inside of us and we felt desperate and alone, we’d pray…
Nearly Orthodox
Nearly Orthodox, the movie!
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My son, Henry asked me last week when I told him my book was coming out soon if I thought it would be made into a movie and I laughed. I guess it’s not completely crazy but it is fairly crazy-ish. In any case, no, it’s not a movie. That was a deliberate attempt to entice you to read the post, I admit it. Sorry. But because the countdown in on for the…
Nearly Orthodox
Typica...
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It’s on my calendar, as are most of the services offered each day at my church. I somehow was able to link my iCal account with Google one day, really, by chance because most of the time I’m a little hopeless with things like that. Google is kind enough to send me nice little reminders about the services, unfortunately they come at odd moments and usually I’m driving or parenting or panicking,…
Nearly Orthodox
Book release....Nearly Orthodox!
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Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy and "Ecumenism": An Editorial
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Recent discussions on some posts on this weblog, as well as some I’ve seen elsewhere on social media, have spurred questions about what the official positions of this site are, what my own positions are, etc. I have even had a few instances where commenters quoted to me from Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, attempting to catch me in a contradiction with something I…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Death and the Saints
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Sunday of All Saints, June 15, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Death and the afterlife are topics which are often on the minds of clergy, but they were especially on my mind this past week, as we not only experienced the death of one of…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Do They See the Difference in Our Lives?: Encyclical on Ecumenism, the Pope and the Patriarch
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Translator’s Note: His Eminence Nicholas (Hatzinikolaou) is metropolitan bishop of Mesogaia and Lavriotiki, suburban areas of Athens, Greece. He studied physics in Thessaloniki, Harvard, and MIT (receiving his PhD from the latter), and went on to work for NASA. His career took a decidedly different turn, however, when, after several years on Mt Athos, he became a monk in 1989 at the…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Pentecostal Fountain
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Note: An audio recording of this sermon is also available via Ancient Faith Radio. Sunday of Pentecost, June 8, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We come now to the “last day of the feast,” the fiftieth day from Pascha, the day of Pentecost. On this…
