Glory to God for All Things
Heavenly Minded
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Years ago, I recall hearing someone complain about zealous Christians, “They are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” The truth of the statement depends entirely on the understanding of heaven and earth. It is possible to pursue a version of “heaven” such that the spiritual life is undermined. It is also possible to pursue heaven in such a way that the world around us is transformed. It isā¦
Praying in the Rain
Blessed Isidore the Fool for Christ
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I was thinking about the life of Blessed Isidore the Fool for Christ. He was a convert to Orthodoxy who became a Fool for Christ. His āfoolishnessā was that he lived in rags and had no home except a hut made from branches. He spent his nights in prayer and his days teaching and preaching. What I find interesting is that he was considered insane and thus a Fool for Christ becauseā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Within a Mandorla
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There is a small class of events within the gospels that are treated in a special manner by iconographers. This special treatment reflects the language of Scripture as well. In the icons of the Transfiguration, Pascha and the Ascension, there is a particular artistic device used called a Mandorla. Sometimes circular, sometimes almost star-shaped, it serves as something of a “parenthesis” within an icon. What is being set in the parenthesis isā¦
Praying in the Rain
Reading the Parable of the Good Samaritan
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Almost every contemporary biblical commentary interprets the parable of the Good Samaritan as moral exhortation. But this is not the primary way this parable is understood in the hymns of the Orthodox Church. Most commentaries (and most sermons) read this parable as though the audience is called to identify with the Good Samaritan (who helped the wounded man), not the priest or levite (who passed by āon the other sideā). Jesusāā¦
Praying in the Rain
Praying for Joey
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A friend of mine, Don Hill, has a son, Joey, who has DMD (I donāt even know what that stands for, but it is a degenerative desease of some sort) and is now in ICU. Here is an excerpt from Donās e-mail to me. Please pray for the Hill family. …. I am not a medical professional so don’t bother yourself with correcting my attempt to describe Joey’s medical condition. I amā¦
Glory to God for All Things
God Has Gone Up with a Shout
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There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a hostā¦
Praying in the Rain
Confidence (continued)
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Anonymous wrote: What is the difference between spiritual confidence and other kinds of confidence? Is there any kind of confidence that is healthy other than confidence in knowing we are loved by God? Is it normal to feel less and less confidence generally the longer you are orthodox? Dear Anonymous: This is a matter of discernment, for a lot depends on what is masquerading under the guise of confidence. A tradesman, forā¦
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Upcoming Series: Foundations of the Orthodox Faith
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Praying in the Rain
Spiritual Masquerade
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Spiritual pride often masquerades as spiritual confidence. In fact, in my experience, spiritual pride never looks like spiritual pride–or at least what you think spiritual pride looks like. The context, of course, is detecting spiritual pride in oneself. It is very easy to detect spiritual pride in others (or so we think). In fact, some people seem to have the a āspiritual giftā of discerning almost all the spiritual, emotional and psychologicalā¦
Glory to God for All Things
The Mystery of Love
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It is common to both the writings of Dostoevsky [particularly inĀ the Brothers Karamazov] and in the teachings of the Elder Sophrony and St. Silouan, that each man must see and understand himself to be responsible for the sins of all. This can be a statement that troubles some – as if doing this were a mere spiritual game – or a violation of others’ responsibility. It is, in fact, a profound understandingā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Our Selves, Our Souls, Our Bodies - More on Faith
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And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto Thee… From Thomas Cranmer’s Eucharistic Prayer Regardless of what opinion one may have of the English reformer Thomas Cranmer’s theology, no one can deny him a central place in the history of the English language and the impact of his phrasing on the traditional prayers offered inā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Saving Faith
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In a recent post I quoted Vladimir Lossky on the nature of faith. Several have asked me to expand on the Orthodox understanding of faith. I begin with Lossky’s quote: What one quests is already present, precedes us, makes possible our question itself. ‘Through faith, we comprehend (we think) how the ages have been produced’ (Heb. 11:3). Thus faith allows us to think, it gives us true intelligence. Knowledge is given toā¦
Praying in the Rain
We Have St. Nicholas Church!
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We can rent–and possibly eventually buy–the St. Nicholas Church building! The Red Sea has parted for us. Glory to God! The OCA has given us very generous terms. God has been very good to us. Iām sure that more problems will follow, they always do. But for now we can rejoice that we have found a home that should serve us well for several years. We still need to buy property andā¦
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Samuel Johnson's Foot
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The following is an excerpt from a much longer talk I wrote but did not deliver, as I learned the day before the event that it was desired that I deliver a very different sort of lecture. The essential thrust of the talk, written for a mixed audience of both believers and unbelievers, was to prepare them to receive the Gospel, in this case,ā¦
Praying in the Rain
Perfection and Mercy are the Same Thing
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Christ commanded his disciples to give alms. To āgive almsā means literally āto doā or āto make merciful deedsā or āacts of mercy.ā According to the Scriptures, the Lord is compassionate and merciful, longsuffering, full of mercy, faithful and true. He is the one who does merciful deeds (see Psalm 103). Acts of mercy are an āimitation of Godā who ceaselessly executes mercy for all, without exception, condition or qualification. He isā¦
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Earnest Contention
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This past weekend, I had two occasions on which I might have been said to go into “apologetics mode.” In the first (which was not really apologetical, strictly speaking), it was a study circle led by Roman Catholic theology and philosophy professors with their students, discussing Roman Catholic theology. I ended up speaking entirely more than I had intended, especially considering that those folksā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Hidden and Triumphant - Learning the Story
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Orthodox Christianity has sometimes been called, “The World’s Best Kept Secret.” There is a certain truth to this – the ignorance in the Western world of Byzantine history, let alone Russian and Balkan history – is staggering. Many Orthodox are uninformed about the full story of their faith – as well as most modern converts. There is, at times, a make-believe history, created by lively imaginations of a pure Church somehow preservedā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Why Small Things Matter
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A reader’s comment on an old posting of mine (from 2007) took me back to read the same. It seemed worth re-posting. Some things bear repeating – again and again, as they say. Perhaps one of the greatest disservices done to Christians by the spate of “Left Behind” novels and the like, and the romanticism that is inherent in the drama depicted – is that it makes the true struggle undergone byā¦
Praying in the Rain
And the Darkness Does Not Overcome It
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Last night I got back from my visit with Monk Anthony. Monk Anthony is a prisoner in the Super MAX federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. He is sentenced to life in solitary confinement. Although his only presenting crime (the crime for which he was originally arrested) was to forge his step-fatherās signature on a $150. check, several foolish actions after he was incarcerated–actions of a confused and angry young man–have added upā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Mustard Seed
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Christ said: “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, āMove from here to there,ā and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20). +++ Skeptics and Naturalists through the years have always had a field-day with this verse. I recall a passage in Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, where a boy with a club foot, goesā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Praying for the World
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We must pray for other people with contrition and pain in our soul. We can only achieve this, if, due to our humbleness, we consider ourselves the cause of all the problems in the world. The Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain +++ This insightful but “hard” saying of the Elder Paisios is very similar to a statement made by the literary character, the Elder Zossima, in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, whoā¦
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Orthodox Spiritual Life and the Environment Conference
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All of the talks from the April 16-17, 2010, conference of the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration held at St. Tikhon’s Seminary are now online, courtesy of Ancient Faith Radio: Dr. Seraphim Bruce Foltz: Nature and Other Modern Idolatries: Kosmos, Ktisis, and Chaos in Environmental Metaphysics. (Dr. Foltz is philosophy professor at Eckerd College, a founder of SOPHIA, the Orthodox philosophical association; author ofā¦
Glory to God for All Things
My Deepest Thanks - At a Milestone
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Today, Glory to God for All Things, passed a milestone in its history, passing the mark of 2 million views. Since its beginning there have been over 1200 posts with over 20,000 comments. This is not a testimony to my industriousness – but rather my joy of writing. It is also a record of many friendships made of a sorts. I meet readers wherever I travel across the Church – a greatā¦
Glory to God for All Things
Making Choices
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Our culture celebrates the ability we have to choose – and so we think a lot about choices. We are told every four years that we get to “choose” our leaders (though the choices given to us might not be suitable in either direction). As I look back and think of my preaching over the years I can see a change – and not just a change wrought by my conversion toā¦
Praying in the Rain
Planting and Harvesting
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We have all heard the old saying, āYou reap what you sow.ā This principle has more influence in our lives than we often think. In simple ways, we can see this principle at work: generally, if you work hard, you experience a good benefit; and if youāre lazy, you donāt. But we have to preface this principle by āgenerally.ā If fact, many of us might argue that āgenerallyā is not really theā¦
Glory to God for All Things
The Irony of Believing
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Irony is probably too much to ask of youth. If I can remember myself in my college years, the most I could muster was sarcasm. Irony required more insight. There is a deep need for the appreciation of irony to sustain a Christian life. Our world is filled with contradiction. Hypocrisy is ever present even within our own heart. The failures of Church and those who are most closely associated with itā¦
Praying in the Rain
Left and Right and Poison
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One of the metaphors commonly employed by the Holy Fathers and Mothers of the Church has to do with erring to the left or to the right. Jesus has called us to walk the narrow way, to pass through the narrow (strait) gate. We err when we do not walk in the narrow path, which means to live according to His commandments. However, we can also err by tending too far toā¦
