Glory to God for All Things
Living Knowledge of God
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From Fr. Nicholas Sakharov’s I Love Therefore I Am… As far as spiritual knowledge is concered, it has a unique basis: “Our knowledge is a result of the revelation from above.” Spiritual knoweldge is understood as “con-joined existence,” or “co-existence” (sobytie), as “uniting fusion” (spaika) of very being. In Felicite, Fr. Sophrony writes: “Knowledge is conceived as communion in being.” Scientific “knowledge” rests on the resources of human rational thinking, while “authentic”…
The Morning Offering
Monday, April 6 / March 24 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Closeup of our newly installed icon of Christ, that graces our iconostasis. Saints of the Day March 24 / April 6. Forefeast of the Annunciation. St. Zacharias the Recluse. St. Artemon, Bishop of Seleucia. St. James the Confessor, Bishop of Catania. Hieromartyr Parthenius, Patriarch…
Glory to God for All Things
To Remember God
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Abba Macarius said, “If we remember the evil that others have done to us, we shut down our ability to remember God.” There are many ways to misunderstand the Christian faith – certainly far more ways to get it wrong than to get it right. One of the deepest misunderstandings of our culture is the popular concept of Christian morality. The history of this is its own complex story – how Christians…
The Morning Offering
Sunday, April 5 / March 23 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ~Great and Holy Lent~ The Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt Photo of the Day The Holy Altar, prior to the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy. Saints of the Day March 23 / April 5. Monk-martyr Nicon and 200 disciples with him in Sicily. St. Nicon, abbot of the Kiev Caves. Martyrs…
The Morning Offering
Roastmaster
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Saturday, April 4 / March 22 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Abbot Tryphon, Roastmaster. Why not go to our website and order some of our fine coffees for Pascha? You’ll be supporting the Monastery, and enjoying one of the worlds finest coffees, all at the same time! http://www.vashonmonks.com Saints of the Day March 22 /…
The Morning Offering
The Valaam Trail
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Friday, April 3 / March 21 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Hammie, on the Valaam Trail, deep in the Saint Seraphim Wood. Saints of the Day March 21 / April 3. St. James the Confessor, Bishop of Catania. St. Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople. St. Cyril, Bishop of Catania. St. Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis in Lower…
Glory to God for All Things
Worth the Time to Think It Through
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There are many things written in theology that are difficult to understand. Certain writers, certain realities are difficult if not impossible to grasp with reason alone. I can recall spending several days with a single sentence from Met. John Zizioulas’ Being As Communion. However, after several days, “the coin dropped,” as the saying goes, and it started a chain reaction that changed my life. Three days well spent. I am offering here…
Glory to God for All Things
My Heart Is Heavy
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I received official notice this afternoon that the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America officially accepted the retirement request of Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas and the South, my diocesan bishop. The heaviness of my heart is made lighter by the fact that His Beatitude Jonah, Metropolitan of the OCA will become Locum Tenens, taking care of the needs of our diocese as we look for a new bishop.…
Glory to God for All Things
At the Center of Everything - the Cross
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Fr. John Behr, in his book, The Mystery of Christ, takes a very close look at the earliest centuries of the Christian faith, and at the very heart of Orthodoxy itself which is to be found there. In particular he speaks with great clarity about the “rule of faith,” certainly known to all of the Apostles and to the Apostolic Church. If placed in words it sounds much like the Apostles’ Creed (which…
The Morning Offering
Hammie
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Thursday, April 2 / March 20 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Hammie, the Monastery’s beloved Norwegian Forest Cat. Saints of the Day March 20 / April 2. The Holy Fathers slain at the Monastery of St. Sabbas: Saints John, Sergius, Patrick, and others. St. Nicetas the Confessor, Archbishop Apollonias in Bithynia. Martyr Photina (Svetlana) the…
Glory to God for All Things
In the Beginning
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The previous post, a substantial quote from the work of Archimandrite Zacharias, a disciple of the Elder Sophrony, carries the reader back to the “Big Bang” or something to which it is compared. Beginnings are always interesting things – with even greater significance if seen in a proper theological light. The Christian understanding of beginnings differs little if at all from its understanding of endings. Christ Himself is said to be the…
The Morning Offering
The Water of the Jordan
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23rd Annual Monastery Pilgrimage Beginning with the Feast of Saint Olav of Norway, Tuesday, August 11th, and Concluding with the Patronal Feast of the Monastery, The Feast of the All-Merciful Saviour Friday, August 14th (August 1st, Old Style). Camping space is available in the Monastery’s Saint Seraphim’s Wood, and there are many B&B’s available on the island. Our Metropolitan Hilarion…
Praying in the Rain
Prophetic Ministry
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I have been thinking lately about the prophetic ministry. Particularly, I have been thinking about how this ministry is manifest in the Church. Coming from a Pentecostal background, I have a lot of experience in what the prophetic ministry is not. Prophetic ministry does not include utterances in King James English or ecstatic proclamations preceded by “Thus sayeth the Lord.” Nor is prophetic ministry about prediction. Based on the example of the…
Glory to God for All Things
Humility and the Big Bang
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The following is an excerpt from Archimandrite Zacharias’ The Hidden Man of the Heart. As we draw closer to Pascha, my own heart is drawn towards that moment – the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is impossible to exhaust the subject of Pascha for within it is contained the whole of God’s plan for mankind. Here, Fr. Zacharias, working largely from the writings of the Elder Sophrony (his spiritual father) directs our attention…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, March 31 / March 18 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day In the Monastery’s Metropolitan Laurus Memorial Library. Saints of the Day March 18 / 31. St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem. St. Ananias, monk of the Euphrates. Martyrs Trophimus and Eucarpus of Nicomedia. Martyrdom of King Edward of England Repose of Abbot Mark of Optina…
The Morning Offering
Monday, March 30 / March 17 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day The Monastery is about an inch to the right, from the white complex in the middle of the photograph. Our property starts just an eighth of an inch from the white buildings (an organic farm with green houses), and is engulfed in the forest.…
Glory to God for All Things
The Incarnation: Cause of All Things Made, and Caused by None
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The title of this post is a chapter heading in George Gabriel’s Mary the Untrodden Portal of God. Gabriel occasionally strikes hard at the West and the book would perhaps be strengthened with a less combative approach to the differences of East and West in the faith (my own opinion), but I liked the book and found Gabriel addressing many things, well foot-noted, that are not found in many other places. I share…
The Morning Offering
Father Spyridon
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Sunday, March 29 / March 16 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Saint John of the Ladder Photo of the Day Monk Spyridon, the oldest member of our community. Saints of the Day March 16 / 29. Martyr Sabinas of Egypt. Martyr Papas of Lyconia. Martyr Julian of Anazarbus. Martyrs Trophimus and Thalus of Laodicea. Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy,…
The Morning Offering
The Divine Liturgy
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Saturday, March 28 / March 15 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Abbot Tryphon celebrating the Sunday Divine Liturgy. Saints of the Day March 15 / 28. Martyrs Agapius, Publius (Pauplios), Timolaus, Romulus, two named Dionysius, and two named Alexander, at Caesarea in Palestine. Martyr Nicander of Egypt. Hieromartyr Alexander of Side in Pamphylia. St. Nicander,…
Praying in the Rain
Hiding From God
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I got to go up to spend a night at the monastery this week, and while there, Br. Samuel shared the following with me. In the Septuagint version of Genesis Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, hide “themselves within the tree in the middle of the garden from the presence of the Lord” (3:8). This tree in the middle of the garden is none other than the tree of the…
Glory to God for All Things
A Story of Repentance
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One of my favorite books comes from the last years of the Soviet Union. It is the story of Tatiana Goricheva, a member of the “intelligentsia” and a Soviet-era dissident. Her book, Talking About God Is Dangerous, offers fascinating insights into both a period of time and the period of a human soul’s conversion by grace. The little volume is out of print but can be found on the internet for as little…
Glory to God for All Things
Careful Devotion to Christ
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In writing about monasticism, I recently made mention of what I called “careful devotion to Christ.” In turn, a reader asked me to write further on “careful devotion.” In many ways the great problem of our age is the two-storey universe (which is make-believe) in which we live as religious people. We live in a secularized atmosphere, where “reality” means the hard stuff around us, but generally does not include what we…
The Morning Offering
Friday, March 27 / March 14 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day The interior of our monastery’s temple. Saints of the Day March 14 / 27. St. Benedict of Nursia, abbot. St. Euschemon, Bishop of Lampsacus. St. Theognostus, Metropolitan of Kiev and Moscow. St. Rostislav-Michael, prince of Kiev. Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of St.…
The Morning Offering
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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Thursday, March 26 / March 13 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day The monastery’s icon of Saint Seraphim of Sarav. Saints of the Day March 13 / 26. Translation of the Relics of St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople. Martyr Alexander of Macedonia. Martyr Sabinus (Abibus) of Egypt. Martyrs Africanus, Publius and Terence of Carthage. Martyr Christina…
Glory to God for All Things
Monasticism - What Is Possible
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In the 4th century, the great Bishop, Athanasius of Alexandria, wrote a biography on St. Antony of Egypt. St. Antony was among the first hermits. St. Athanasius was both a first rate theologian and an outstanding writer. For a time in which books were copied by hand, his small tome on St. Anthony became a “best-seller.” More than that, it set on fire the imagination of a generation of Romans (from all…
The Morning Offering
New Icons for Iconostasis
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Wednesday, March 25 / March 12 (Church Calendar) ~Great and Holy Lent~ Photo of the Day Painted by Matushka Ann Margitich of Santa Rosa, California, these two new icons now grace the iconostasis of our temple. Saints of the Day March 12 / 25. St. Theophanes the Confessor of Sigriane. Righteous Aaron, brother of Moses the God-seer. Righteous Phineas, grandson…
Glory to God for All Things
Southern Orthodoxy - Personal Reflections
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I am a native of the American South, born in a time when cotton still grew in the fields and Jim Crow laws made life hell for a black man. For all of its strange contradictions – the South truly was a Christ-haunted culture. When Martin Luther King, Jr., began his preaching and marching for justice – his message was pretty much Southern gospel. It was the religion of his message that…
