Glory to God for All Things
Favorite Thoughts
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Any reader of this blog will very quickly notice certain ideas and words that come up repeatedly in my writings. Some of my parishioners say that I only have one sermon – so perhaps it’s also true that I only have one blog article… But I have been meditating on some of my favorite words or thoughts and why they are as important to me as they are. The first that comes…
Glory to God for All Things
The Longest Liturgy
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It is not uncommon for visitors and members alike to comment on the length of an Orthodox liturgy. Sunday liturgies are often an hour-and-a-half or more (longer still in monastic communities). Many of the services surrounding feast days such as vigils and the like take more than two hours (the version used in local parishes are extremely shortened in comparison to the literal “all-night” vigils for which some of the great monasteries…
Glory to God for All Things
Crushing Dragons in the Waters Across the World
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I must add to this post from last year, my memory of standing by Met. Kallistos Ware and other pilgrims for the Great Blessing of the Waters at the Jordan River this past September. As the Metropolitan’s voice rang out, a school of fish gathered in the water as an audience. The scene was surreal, as though standing within an icon, which indeed we were. The weather was hot – but the…
Glory to God for All Things
Living Saints in Romania
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Glory to God for All Things
Orthodox Dialog
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Metropolitan Kallistos Ware is among the better known figures in English-speaking Orthodoxy. One of the Greek Orthodox hierarchs in Britain, he is an articulate spokesman for the Orthodox faith. In this small video he speaks about three areas where Orthodoxy in the contemporary world needs to be in “dialog” – not to learn what it does not know – but to bring the riches of Orthodox understanding to places that should…
Glory to God for All Things
The Absent God - Introibo ad altare Dei
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Children in Church have a marvelous innocence – one that often sees past the barriers which we adults erect in our own ignorance. One of the children in my Church, young daughter of a Catechumen, has what I can only describe as a “devotion” to me as priest. I’ve never questioned her to see precisely who she thinks I am (some children, early-on, can make the mistake of thinking that the priest…
Glory to God for All Things
Brighter Than Any Royal Chamber
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At the end of the Great Entrance, when the priest places the Holy Gifts on the altar, there are several verses which he repeats quietly. They are all deeply meaningful to me, but one has been on my heart much of late: “Bearing life and more fruitful than paradise, brighter than any royal chamber: Thy tomb, O Christ, is the fountain of our resurrection.” For me, these words point to the true…
Glory to God for All Things
What We Do Not See
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One of the most striking features of the Gospels is the frequent response of the Disciples after the resurrection of Christ: doubt. I have always been sympathetic to the doubts and hesitations that afflicted their lives during the ministry of Christ. The disciples are almost endearing in their inability to grasp what Christ is all about. However, the same inability to grasp things after the resurrection seems to carry with it all…
Glory to God for All Things
Russian Art - Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942)
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Glory to God for All Things
The Beginning of the End
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Living year in and year out with a liturgical calendar – worship which moves from feast to feast – there is a freedom of sorts from the tyranny of your own one-sidedness. The liturgical calendar of the Church inevitably takes you through the whole story of salvation – in a manner that simply requires a year to be unfolded. On the other hand, this same liturgical calendar, particularly as it is manifest…
Glory to God for All Things
Bowing in Bethlehem
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Pardon a bit of history – then I’ll get to the point. St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great (also a saint of the Church), was, according to British legend, the daughter of King Cole of Britain – indeed, the King Cole of the famous English nursery rhyme: Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he. He called for his pipe and he…
Glory to God for All Things
St. John Chrysostom's Christmas Homily
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BEHOLD a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He Who is above, now for our redemption dwells here…
Glory to God for All Things
Angels Sing
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A Serbian Christmas Song – lyrics by St. Nikolai Velimirovich Andjeli Pevaju Noć prekrasna i noć tija, nad pećinom zvezda sija, u pećini mati spi, nad Isusom andjel bdi. Andjeli pevaju, pastiri sviraju, andjeli pevaju mudraci javljaju: Što narodi čekaše, što proroci rekoše, evo sad se u svet javi, u svet javi i objavi: Rodi nam se Hristos Spas za spasenje sviju nas. Aliluja, aliluja, Gospodi pomiluj! (deep voice) no matter…
Glory to God for All Things
Prayers By the Lake - St. Nikolai of Zicha
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C Accept the sacrifice of my words, my Father — accept the babbling of a penitent child, my Father! Correct my words with Your truth, and accept them on the footstool of Your feet. Cense my sacrifice with the fragrant incense of a saint’s prayer and do not reject it, O Triradiate Master of worlds. The ranks of angels offer You a more eloquent sacrifice, but their words stream to them from…
Glory to God for All Things
What Is Man - That Thou Art Mindful of Him?
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In 1839 the eighteen-year-old youth Dostoesvsky wrote to his brother: “Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.” From Konstantin Mochulsky’s Dostoevsky: His Life and Work A short time ago I wrote about the “soul as mystery” – the fear and wonder…
Glory to God for All Things
The Nature of Things and Our Salvation
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A number of you will remember this post from a year ago. It is foundational to many discussions on this site. I thought it might be helpful to post again – after all – new readers are always coming on board. +++ The nature of things is an important question to ask – or should I say an a priori question. For once we are able to state what is the nature…
Glory to God for All Things
The Freedom of Love - Two Selections
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“God created man like an animal who has received the order to become God,” says a deep saying of St. Basil, reported by St. Gregory of Nazianzus. To execute this order, one must be able to refuse it. God becomes powerless before human freedom; He cannot violate it since it flows from His own omnipotence. Certainly man was created by the will of God alone; be he cannot be deified by it…
Glory to God for All Things
The Wisdom of Man and the Foolishness of God
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The Feast of the Nativity, known sometimes in Orthodoxy as “the Winter Pascha,” is one of the great examples in the story of our salvation where the “foolishness of God” defeats the wisdom of man. It is not the story of an underdog defeating the mighty, but a revelation of who God is, and who we are – and what our salvation is all about. Nothing in the story of our salvation…
Glory to God for All Things
On the Porch in Nazareth
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During my pilgrimage to the Holy Land in September, I had an occasion that has become unforgettable. I had been in the Church of the Annunciation (Roman Catholic) which contains the home in which Mary lived when she was greeted by the angel Gabriel. Orthodox tradition holds that there was also a greeting at the well – and the Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel contains that holy site. Our pilgrimage had visited…
Glory to God for All Things
Traditional Byzantine Christmas Hymn in Arabic
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Glory to God for All Things
In Christ
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One of the most common phrases in the writings of St. Paul is “in Christ.” He uses this phrase so frequently that it is easy to overlook it and move on to something more interesting. My computer Bible program lists 73 verses in which he uses the phrase. As commonplace as it may be, it holds a world of understanding. It is interesting as well for what it does not say. St.…
Glory to God for All Things
The Smallness of God
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An annual December posting: Whom have we, Lord, like you – The Great One who became small, the Wakeful who slept, The Pure One who was baptized, the Living One who died, The King who abased himself to ensure honor for all. Blessed is your honor! St. Ephrem the Syrian We draw near to the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity, and I cannot fathom the smallness of God. Things in my life…
Glory to God for All Things
Lossky on Freedom and the Person
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Vladimir Lossky, who can be notoriously difficult to read, offers this observation on freedom and the person. It is taken from his essay, “The Creation,” in the small collection, Orthodox Theology: an Introduction. A personal being is capable of loving someone more than his own nature, more than his own life. The person, that is to say, the image of God in man, is then man’s freedom with regard to his nature,…
Glory to God for All Things
Living the Paradox
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The doctrines of the Christian faith are full of paradox. It is a reality that we sometimes forget – our familiarity can make us deaf to its jarring sounds: A virgin is a mother. Death is defeated by death. He who seeks to save his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will save it. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but…
Glory to God for All Things
What Do Angels Guard?
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It is a commonplace in our culture to speak of guardian angels, particularly when we have come close to a physical disaster and survived. Thus, a near-miss in an auto-accident, or even a survival from a terrible accident, conversation often lightly turns to mention of “my guardian angel.” Of course, such references also raise the question about those who do not survive their accidents, or when near-misses become “head-on.” Are we to…
Glory to God for All Things
Would You Believe...
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Would you believe that this is absolutely the most popular post on Glory to God for All Things? I mean, it has about 15,000 views. The comments are quite interesting, including a comment from a direct descendant of Mother Goose. To read the comments, go here. This delightful old English prayer said by children and their parents at bedtime has long ago been shortened to only its last verse. There is more (as…
Glory to God for All Things
The Luminous Eye
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Blessed is the man who has acquired a luminous eye with which he will see how much the angels stand in awe of Thee, O Lord, and how audacious is man. St. Ephrem the Syrian The Seraph could not touch the fire’s coal with his fingers, but just brought it close to Isaiah’s mouth: the Seraph did not hold it, Isaiah did not consume it, but us our Lord has allowed to…
