Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
"Foundations of the Orthodox Faith" series fully online
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My Foundations of the Orthodox Faith series is now fully online at Ancient Faith Radio. This series represents an attempt at a sort of catechism—approaching the faith from four foundational angles: the revelation of God to man, authority in the spiritual life, worship, and morality. As with most of my work, I attempted to keep these talks fairly free of religious jargon, approaching the…
Praying in the Rain
Slaves, Victors and Forgiveness
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St. Nikolai of Zica (Velimirovich) in his Akathist to Jesus the Conqueror of Death (Ikos four) says, “For a slave, the most difficult act is to forgive; but for a victor, the act of forgiving is already part of his victory.” It may be particularly difficult for a slave to forgive because she is still suffering under the oppressions of the very one she needs to forgive. The victor, on the other…
Praying in the Rain
Fr. Gregory and Working With Your Hands
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Over the past few years I have had the privilege to get to know and spend time with an Orthodox hermit. Fr. Gregory and I don’t always see eye to eye, but over the years his prayers and the wisdom of his words have worked on me.* His words are making more and more sense me. One of the words Fr. Gregory often gives young men and women who are looking for…
Glory to God for All Things
Fellowship and the Tower of Babel
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I had an occasion last week to be confronted by a Protestant fundamentalist “street preacher.” Wearing a cassock and a cross in public clearly identifies me as a priest (though in this part of the world most people know nothing of Orthodox priests). It also makes you a target for some who want to have arguments about religion. Thus, last week, while doing work on the local university campus, I was approached…
Praying in the Rain
The Tongs Revisited
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In response to my blog entry called The Tongs, someone has asked me if, as a convert to Orthodoxy, I had a hard time at the beginning praying to the Theotokos. The answer is yes. In my whole-life confession the week before I was received into the Holy Orthodox faith, I confessed to the priest that I had a hard time praying to the Theotokos. I told him that I had no…
Praying in the Rain
The Feeling of Triumph, Mixed
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I have an odd mix of feelings when I read the first few verses of Psalm 97 (LXX): Sing unto the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done wondrous things. His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; in the sight of the nations He has revealed His righteousness. My first feeling when reading these verses is somewhat along the line…
Glory to God for All Things
To Walk in the Light
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If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have communion with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. For a variety of reasons, my thoughts have been drawn increasingly to the imagery within Scripture of darkness and light. It is powerful imagery that, for me, echoes the inner, existential experience of the Christian life. To walk in the light is to walk in…
Praying in the Rain
The Tongs
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When Jesus’ disciples asked him why he spoke in parables, Jesus did not say so that it would be easy for simple people to understand Him. Actually, Jesus said the opposite. He said, “so that in seeing they may not perceive and in hearing they may not understand.” No wonder I don’t get it. Jesus intentionally spoke so that he would not be easily understood. Perceiving and understanding is not a mere…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Discerning the One Thing Needful
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Holy Dormition, August 15, 2010 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Silence… is something that our culture wants to avoid at all costs. Some of us look for it on vacation. But on our way to that vacation, we make sure that we’re well insulated with noise, whether it’s blaring from the…
Praying in the Rain
The Rage Monster, the Cage, the Counter and the Offering
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Most people who know me now would never guess that I have an “anger problem.” At moments of sudden pain or disappointment (i.e. physical or emotional pain), a surge of adrenaline rushes through my body, and with satanic force, a clear picture appears in my mind of something (or someone) to hit, break, throw or kick. In my late teens and twenties I learned to keep the rage monster in its cage. …
Glory to God for All Things
Icons in a Literal World
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I wrote this reflection nearly a year ago. Today I found my mind wandering back to the topic – searching beyond what I could see to what is unseen and yet more real. I have become increasingly convinced that the “literal” world we see is deeply distorted by our own self-deception. It is not a problem with the nature of creation – but rather the distortion of our own falsely constructed existence.…
Glory to God for All Things
Knowing the Personal God
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The word personal has a commonplace meaning in English. If I have personal knowledge of an event, it means that I was actually there and saw what took place. Personal knowledge of another person, means that we have actually met, spent time together and shared information. Difficulty arises when this commonplace use of the phrase is mistaken for its theological meaning. The word person, is pretty much a Christian invention, or certainly comes to…
Praying in the Rain
Soy on Wednesdays
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It really is a small thing and feels somewhat exaggerated even to call it “fasting.” But it is fasting, it is going without. It is even strict fasting, but it certainly isn’t harsh. A small no. A limit that I do not set but that I submit to. I anticipate it as I wait for the coffee to brew: the sharp taste of soy instead of the smooth sweetness of cream. …
Praying in the Rain
A Unique Monastic
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In the Preface to the English edition of St. Nikolai (Velimirovich) of Zica’s Akathist to Jesus Conqueror of Death, the following comment is made: “The foremost calling of a monastic is to be unique–unique in how one witnesses to the risen Christ.” Unique? A monastic? And yet, I have heard this saying before. Those of us not in a monastic setting are deluged from infancy by the presumptions of individualism which drive…
Glory to God for All Things
The Quiet Work of God
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Now Moses built an altar and called its name The-Lord-My-Refuge; for with a secret hand the Lord wars with Amalek from generation to generation  (Exodus 17:16 LXX). After a number of decades as a Christian pastor, I am convinced that most of what God does in our lives and in our world remains hidden. I have many thoughts as to why this is so – but that it is so, I have…
Praying in the Rain
The Jesus Prayer and Pentecostals
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I ran across a blog this morning by “Orthodox Monk” in which the author recommends that Pentecostals not practice the Jesus Prayer because it may be spiritually dangerous. On the one hand, I agree that practicing the Jesus Prayer is dangerous–for anyone, especially someone who is not under the guidance of a spiritual father who has spent years practicing (himself under the guidance of a spiritual father) the prayer. The greatest danger…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Hussedaag
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Some years ago a resident of Emmaus said to the writer in her native dialect [Pennsylvania German], “Heit iss der Hussedaag” (Today is Huss Day). I asked her what that meant. She did not know, but said that they always sowed their turnip seed on that day. Thus did the memory of John Huss, the great pre-Reformation reformer, find a place in our local…
Glory to God for All Things
Right, Wrong and the Image of God
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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). St. Paul calls the Christians in Rome (as he would Christians…
Glory to God for All Things
Restful Beauty
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Glory to God for All Things
Time and History
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Christianity is sometimes referred to as a “historical” religion – its beliefs are specifically tied to events which have taken place in space and time. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ are events which have taken place in space and time or Christianity is not true. No matter how noble or inspirational its teachings – the space-time reality of Christ’s death and resurrection are fundamental to the faith. Those who deny that…
Glory to God for All Things
Humility and Spiritual Warfare
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From the Elder Sophrony’s Wisdom from Mount Athos: Thus the whole of spiritual warfare wages round humility. The enemy fell from pride, and would draw us to perdition by the same means. The enemy praises us, and should the soul listen to his praise grace withdraws until she repents. Thus throughout her life the soul is occupied with the lesson of Christ-like humility. So long as she has not humility wrong thoughts and…
Glory to God for All Things
Giving and Receiving
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In the immense cathedral which is the universe of God, each man, whether scholar or manual laborer, is called to act as the priest of his whole life – to take all that is human, and to turn it into an offering and a hymn of glory. Paul Evdokimov in Woman and the Salvation of the World +++ Abba Zosimas used to say: “We have lost our sense of balance.” Reflections, XI,…
Praying in the Rain
Saint Myron
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Most of the saints that we know about were monks. This is probably for two reasons. First, monks, in the best of circumstances, live a lifestyle that enables them to pay attention to their inner life in ways that are difficult for married people with children. Second–and I think this perhaps is more to the point than the first–for most of history only monks could read and write, and so most of…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The God in the Bread
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Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Lammas), August 1, 2010 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today, let’s spend some time thinking about bread. I don’t think we have any British wheat or grain farmers here, but if you were such a person, you would probably be working right around this time of year…
Praying in the Rain
The Science of Transformation
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The word in the New Testament that we translate “kingdom”–as in Kingdom of God–is interesting in that it is not a reference to the realm (the place, the geography, the property), but to the rule. That is, those who have the Kingdom of God–as in “theirs is the Kingdom of God”–are those who are ruled by God. That is the blessing of the Beatitudes: to be ruled by God. On the one…
Praying in the Rain
Pierre's Happy Insanity
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Just before the Epilogue in War and Peace, the character Pierre, who has gone through the life changing experience of his suffering as a POW and his recuperation afterward, accidentally meets Natasha again, the only woman he has ever loved. Natasha is staying with Princess Marya, the sister of her fiance Andrei, who was mortally wounded in the only major battle before the capture of Moscow and who slowly dies as Natasha…
Praying in the Rain
Happy Anniversary!
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Bonnie and I had a wonderful “Day Holiday” in Vancouver. We stayed at a very nice hotel near Stanley Park and brought our bikes to ride around. The first trip around the park at about 1:00 PM on Wednesday was terrible. There was a 5K long traffic jam of tourists and Japanese school children wobbling awkwardly along on rented bikes. I was so stressed out that when we got back to the…
