Glory to God for All Things
A Royal Nun and the Angels
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The following is a short excerpt from Mother Alexandra’s  (former Princess Ileana of Romania) small book, The Holy Angels. It is by far the best treatment I have seen on the subject despite its short length. This short account tells of her encounter with her guardian angel at age seven. In the service of Orthodox Baptism, the priest specifically prays that an angel of light be assigned to the life of the…
Glory to God for All Things
That Which Is Lacking
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In one of the most unusual of St. Paul’s statements we hear the following: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church… (Colossians 1:24) There are mysteries within mysteries in St. Paul’s statement (particularly if one does not accept the idea of “merits” – an extra-Biblical term). What could…
Glory to God for All Things
St. Nikolai Velimirovic - Prayers By the Lake
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Glory to God for All Things
The Strange World of Ecumenism
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I remember in my early years as an Anglican priest being appointed as the “Ecumenical Officer” of the Diocese. It was a tip of the hat from my Bishop that my interest in other Churches (including the Orthodox) would make me a very good candidate for ecumenical representative. As it happened, there really were no great ecumenical events in South Carolina in those years with the single exception of the visit of…
Glory to God for All Things
True Prayer
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True Prayer uniting us with the Most-High is nothing other than light and strength coming down to us from heaven. In its essence it transcends our plane of existence. This world contains no source of energy for prayer. If I eat well so that my body may be strong, my flesh will rebel against prayer. If I mortify the flesh by excessive fasting, for a while sbstinence favors prayer but soon the…
Glory to God for All Things
Stones Cry Out
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Christ, in a dialog with the rulers of His time, refused to ask His followers to be quiet. His answer is very instructive: As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name…
Glory to God for All Things
Speaking Carefully
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I officiated at a wedding last Sunday – one of several this year at the Church. It is always interesting to be part of an Orthodox wedding. Unlike most of our services, there is likely to be a majority of non-Orthodox in attendance. And they will have come to a service which even Baptists (no criticism intended) have a mental model for how it should look, liturgically. I recall my first Orthodox…
Glory to God for All Things
Risky Business
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Amoun found Abba Poemen and told him, “When I visit a neighbor or he visits me, he hesitate to talk with each other. We are afraid that we might bring up a worldly topic. The old man replied, “Yes, young people need to guard their mouths.” Amoun asked, “But how do old men handle this problem?” Abba Poemen said, “Those who have advanced in virtue no longer have any worldliness in them.…
Glory to God for All Things
Scattered Thoughts
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We have noticed with sadness that nowadays men suffer dreadfully because their mind is fragmented. Imagination, which is only one of the mind’s activities, is overindulged and dominates men’s lives, leading some to hardness of heart due to pride, and others to mental illness. According to the teaching of the Gospel and the Scriptures, the mind works naturally only when it is united with the heart. Mind and heart are naturally joined…
Glory to God for All Things
The Fullness of the Fullness
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It is frequently the case that Orthodox theology uses the word “fullness” to describe its understanding and life of the gospel. This is a far more apt expression than simply saying “we have the truth.” Fullness, I think, better describes something. Truth, in our modern vocabulary, can mean something quite flat – as in a correct answer on a test. However, “fullness” describes not only the truth but the truth with an…
Glory to God for All Things
Good To Be Home
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I give thanks to God for a safe journey home from Dallas. Slight mishap with our plane in Memphis. It was delayed because the cargo bay caught on fire. Then things got complicated. But we arrived home just a few minutes ago. Glory to God. I hope to do more writing in the next day or so. I was greatly moved by my time with Archbishop Dmitri and with the life of…
Glory to God for All Things
A Father in God
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I occasionally have to answer the question from the non-Orthodox who wonder why we refer to priests as “father,” particularly when the Scripture says, “Call no man father.” Of course, the verse following that would also forbid the use of the word, “mister,” but few seem to notice. St. Paul uses the term “father,” however, and it became and has remained a useful term, not because there is any disdain for the…
Glory to God for All Things
Dallas and the Diocese of the South
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 I will be in Dallas on Tuesday through Friday, attending the annual Diocesan Assembly of the Diocese of the South (OCA). My great joy is to spend time with my Archbishop DMITRI. It is also on our agenda to elect Igumen Jonah Paffhausen of St. John Maximovitch Monastery in California as our Auxiliary Bishop. May God direct our hearts. I will post articles from Dallas as I am able, and ask…
Glory to God for All Things
Repentance for the World - Prayers by the Lake XXIX
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This xxix prayer of St. Nicholai of Zicha from Prayers by the Lake, echoing the prayers of Pentecost should give us all hope in our sins as we seek the merciful God.  For all the sins of men I repent before You, Most Merciful Lord. Indeed, the seed of all sins flows in my blood! With my effort and Your mercy I choke this wicked crop of weeds day and night,…
Glory to God for All Things
With A Grateful Heart
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With deep thanksgiving my wife and I received news of the birth yesterday of our first grandchild. Son of Matushka Mary and Fr. Hermogen Holste, he is Peter Alexis Holste. He weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz. and is quite handsome, we are told. Our joy is immeasureable and we offer thanks for the many of you who have kept this wonderful child and parents in your prayers. May God grant…
Glory to God for All Things
Why the Intercession of the Saints is a Dogma
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Biblical interpretation and doctrine based on Scripture have certain parameters that anyone rightly handling the word of truth must observe. The particular rule that I have in mind in this posting is the simple avoidance of anachronisms. That is, if an idea did not exist at the time of the New Testament, or shortly thereafter, but is, in fact, a modern development, then, whatever the writer might have meant, he could not…
Praying in the Rain
Passions as disease
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the passions and how they afflict us like a disease. Even when you fight against the passions, I find that I am often tricked by them. Really the only hope I have found is to call out to God (using the Jesus Prayer) when I am strongly feeling a passion. However, if someone doesn’t strongly fight the passions, then they take over his life. Some…
Glory to God for All Things
All Saints and Their Intercession
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I reprint this article in honor of All Saints’ Day (which is the Sunday after Pentecost on the Orthodox Calendar). Doubtless one of the less understood aspects of the Orthodox faith, particularly by Protestants, is the importance of the intercession of the saints. Orthodox doctrine and teaching is quite clear that we do not treat saints as objects of worship, nor as worthy of worship. This would be blasphemous to us. Nevertheless,…
Glory to God for All Things
When Insults No Longer Annoy
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Amma Dionysia gave alms to a beggar, but less than he wanted. The beggar began to speak harshly to her, and Dionysia took offense, wanting to strike back. Abba zosimas corrected her, saying, “You are striking against yourself. You are chasing every virtue from your soul. Can you endure what Christ endured? My lady, I know that you have given away your possessions as though they had no value. But until you…
Glory to God for All Things
Eternity and the Rationalists
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I attended a semi-religious college – one affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention at the time. Though it had a reputation for being “liberal,” beneath it’s surface it still had something of the simple faith that had marked the settlers of upper South Carolina. I recall a debate about the nature of the resurrection body of Christ in one of my religion classes. My professor, who held two doctorates (the second one…
Glory to God for All Things
True Knowledge of God
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The Elder Sophrony made a strong distinction between the knowledge we gain by rational speculation and the knowledge of God that comes as a gift of grace. He used the term “dogmatic consciousness” to express the knowledge of God as found in the lives of the saints and great ascetics. It is not a contradiction of the dogma of the Church, but an existential encounter with God that ineffably confirms the teaching…
Glory to God for All Things
Prayers By the Lake - I
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Saint Nicholai Velimirovich, of whom I have written before, is the author of the wonderful, Prayers By the Lake, which he composed on the shores of Lake Ochrid. They are a treasure of modern Orthodox verse. His first poem in the cycle reflects a sense of the creation as God’s own, rather than an inert arena for secular life. I offer this poem and a link to an online edition of His…
Glory to God for All Things
Sacraments: The World as Mystery
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My recent post on Pentecost and Evangelism occasioned several thoughtful responses. One of the responses seemed to me particularly worth further reflection. I start with an excerpt: Truly it is God we need and want, nothing less. I experienced in my heart, but didn’t realize in my head until I began to study Orthodoxy, that in my evangelical world we affirmed “by faith” having God living by His Spirit within us and that…
Glory to God for All Things
Pentecost and Evangelism
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We are told that on the Day of Pentecost, about 3,000 souls were added to the Church (Acts 2:41). This simple fact has for many linked the Day of Pentecost and the Gift of the Spirit to the Church to the process of evangelism. For many Christians in our culture, for whom evangelism has come to be the defining action of the Church, Pentecost need be nothing more. Thus the feast of…
Glory to God for All Things
Blessings on the Feast!
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     When He came down and confused the tongues, The Most High divided the nations; but when He distributed the tongues of fire, He called all people to unity. Therefore, with one voice we glorify the most-Holy Spirit. Kontakion of Pentecost Please forgive my absence from the blog for the last few days. I have been conducting a youth retreat at a monastery in South Carolina and have…
Glory to God for All Things
The Emptiness of Christ
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St. Paul speaks of Christ “emptying” Himself in His voluntary sacrifice for us all (Philippians 2:5-11). It is the only place in the New Testament that speaks of this particular action of Christ – at least as an “emptying” (kenosis) but the concept has always played a large role in the Church’s understanding of Christ’s death on the Cross. It is interesting to me that Father Sophrony, in his writings, takes this…
Glory to God for All Things
"The Systematic Organization of Hatreds"
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I normally do not comment on politics and do not plan to have discussions during this political season. However, I ran across a quote that makes a great deal of sense and certainly has bearing on the spiritual life. It is from Henry Adams’ novel Democracy: Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. Imagine what this means if one is speaking of “politics” in…
