The Morning Offering
Friday, June 11 / 29 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 29 / June 11. Virgin Theodosia of Constantinople. Repose of Blessed John of Ustiug, fool-for-Christ. Virgin Martyr Theodosia of Tyre. St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria. New-Martyr Andrew. New-Martyr John (or Nannus) at Smyrna. Commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council. (Greek Calendar: Hieromartyr Olbian, Bishop of Aneus, and…
Glory to God for All Things
The Crisis of Religion
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The term “sacramental” means here that the basic and primordial intuition which not only expresses itself in worship, but of which the entire worship is indeed the “phenomenon” – both effect and experience – is that the world, be it in its totality as cosmos, or in its life and becoming as time and history, is an epiphany of God, a means of His revelation, presence, and power. In other words, it…
The Morning Offering
Thursday, June 10 / 28 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 28 / June 10. St. Nicetas, Bishop of Chalcedon. St. Ignatius, Bishop and wonderworker of Rostov. Hieromartyr Helladius, Bishop in the East. St. Eutychius, Bishop of Melitene. Martyr Heliconis of Thessalonica. St. Sophronius, monk of Bulgaria. New-Martyr Demetrius. New-Martyr Zachariah of Prusa. St. Germanus, Bishop of Paris.…
Praying in the Rain
Light in the Darkness
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[On the farm in Saskatoon] We’ve been looking pretty hard and long at the darkness over the past few days, and if we’re not careful, we’ll forget to lift up our eyes. God saves those who come to Him, even you and me. Instead of bringing our broken hearts to God, if we are not careful, we will let the serpent beguile us into figuring it out. The deceiver will give us…
The Morning Offering
Wednesday, June 9 / 27 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 27 / June 9. ASCENSION Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Sardis. Translation of the Relics of St. Nilus of Stolbensk. Virgin Martyr Theodora and Martyr Didymus the soldier at Alexandria. Translation of the Relics of Saints Cyprian, Photius and Jonah, Metropolitan of Kiev. St. Therapont, abbot of Byelozersk.…
Praying in the Rain
A Quote
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Glory to God for All Things
The Price of the Liturgy
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Having written about the temptations of secularism within modernity – even within the liturgy – I offer this as a balance for our troubled hearts. +++ “We celebrate the Liturgy together. But we must pay what this costs: each one must be concerned for the salvation of all. Our life is an endless martyrdom.” The Elder Sophrony +++ The Divine Liturgy (the Holy Eucharist) is not a ritual action of the Church…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, June 8 / 26 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day ay 26 / June 8. Apostles Carpus and Alphaeus of the Seventy. Martyrs Abercius and Helen, children of Apostle Alphaeus. Great-Martyr George the New at Sofia. St. John Psichaita the Confessor of Constantinople. Opening of the Relics of St. Macarius, abbot of Kolyazin. New-Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica, who…
Praying in the Rain
God Gave Them Up
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[On the Farm in Saskatoon] What does it mean to give up? In English, a lot depends on the preposition and word order. I can give up, as in surrender, and stop fighting. I can give up something, as in to stop smoking: “I gave up smoking.” I can give up on someone, which means to despair, to no longer hope that the person I have given up on will succeed. And…
Praying in the Rain
The Wrath of God
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[In the Calgary airport] Carl Barth, a famous Protestant theologian and a hero of mine at one point of my theological development, once said, “God is not man written in capital letters.” What he was saying is that you cannot understand who God is by working back from who you are. A good example of how we tend to work back from who we are to try to understand God is illustrated…
The Morning Offering
Monday, June 7 / 25 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 25 / June 7. Third Finding of the Honorable Head of St. John the Baptist. Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Cyprus. St. Dodo, prince of Georgia. Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia: Saints Yaropolk, Stephen, Macarius, Igor and Juliana. Righteous John and Mary of Ustiug (Vologda). Commemoration of the…
Glory to God for All Things
Donald Sheehan - Memory Eternal
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Longtime Dartmouth professor and Orthodox Christian, Donald Sheehan, fell asleep in the Lord on May 26 this year at his home in Charleston, S.C. I learned of his death just this past week. Probably one of the most moving stories involving Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov was written by Dr. Sheehan. I first posted it back in 2007. The link is still up and the story is very much worth taking the time…
The Morning Offering
Sunday, June 6 / 24 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! All Saints of Russia Saints of the Day May 24 / June 6. St. Symeon Stylites (the Younger) of Wonderful Mountain. St. Nicetas Stylites, wonderworker of Pereyaslavl-Zalesski. Martyrs Meletius Stratelates, Stephen, John, and 1,218 soldiers with women and children, including: Serapion the Egyptian, Callinicus the magician, Theodore, Faustus, the women Marciana, Susanna,…
The Morning Offering
Saturday, June 5 / 23 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! The Apostles Fast Saints of the Day May 23 / June 5. St. Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada. Opening of the Relics of St. Leontius, Bishop and wonderworker of Rostov. Martyr Michael the black-robed of St. Sabbas’ Monastery. Virgin Euphrosyne, princess of Polotsk. St. Paisius, abbot of Galich. Holy Myrrh-bearer, wife…
Praying in the Rain
On The Correct Use of Secular Leaning
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His Grace Bishop Joseph, Antiochian Bishop of Los Angeles and the West (our archpastor and my boss), was given an honorary doctoral degree from St. Tikhon’s Seminary. His Grace’s commencement speech gives an excellent overview of the Orthodox Christian understanding of the relationship between secular learning and what we in English normally call spirituality (which in Orthodoxy is just called experience or noetic knowing, or knowing above reason). He provides a nice…
Glory to God for All Things
A Secular Eucharist
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Thinking about God and communion with God are not the same thing. The modern world is a difficult place for those who believe in God. The reigning culture has relentlessly moved God out of the day-to-day world and relegated Him to various “religious spheres” of existence. And so it is that we live in what I describe as a “two-storey” universe. We dwell in a world defined by nature and its laws,…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Mystery of Christ
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The Morning Offering
Friday, June 4 / 22 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! The Apostles Fast Saints of the Day May 22 / June 4. Martyr Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana. St. John-Vladimir, ruler of Serbia. New Hieromartyr Zachariah of Prusa. Blessed James, youth, of Borovichi (Novgorod). Commemoration of the Second Ecumenical Council. Righteous Melchizedek, king of Salem. (Greek Calendar: Martyrs Marcellus and Codratus. Martyr Sophia…
Praying in the Rain
God Is On Our Side
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In my blog about the movie Avatar, I mention that God is not like an impersonal, balancing force in the universe that does not take sides. God is personal. God takes sides. This idea needs a little more unpacking. When I say that God takes sides, I do not mean that, for example, God is on my side of an argument and not on my opponent’s side. Neither is God on the…
Praying in the Rain
Religion in the Public Square
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I just read an interesting article on religion and public life by Ray Pennings. I think Canada much more than the U.S. has the potential for a sane working out of religion in the public sphere. I’m clueless as to what it would look like, but I think it will have to do with respecting the other’s right to be themselves–even if it includes a God part that is different or even…
The Morning Offering
Thursday, June 3 / 21 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! The Apostles Fast Saints of the Day May 21 / June 3. Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen. St. Constantine and his children Saints Michael and Theodore, wonderworkers of Murom. St. Cassian the Greek, monk of Uglich. St. Agapitus, abbot of Markushev Vologda). New-Martyr Pachomius of Patmos (Mt. Athos). St.…
Glory to God for All Things
The Presence in Absence
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This short post is among the first to appear on this blog – dating back to October of ’06. In the light of conversations about hiddenness – it seemed here timely to bring this back to our attention. I have written on the topic of the absence of God (or our sense of it) since the beginning of my work. And even though conversations with contemporary non-believers can be tedious – they…
The Morning Offering
Wednesday, June 2 / May 20 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! The Apostles Fast Saints of the Day May 20 / June 2. Martyr Thalalaeus at Aegae in Cilicia, and his companions, Martyrs Alexander and Asterius. Opening of the Relics of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and wonderworker of All Russia. Martyr Asclas of Egypt. St. Thalassius the Myrrh-giver of Libya. Saints Nicetas,…
Praying in the Rain
Denying Christ Before Men
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“The Lord said to His disciples, ‘Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father Who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father Who is in heaven’” (Matt. 10:32). Until recently, I have understood this passage to to refer only to those who acknowledge (by word or action) their faith in Christ in the context of persecution. The persecution…
Glory to God for All Things
The Apostles' Fast
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The Orthodox year has a rhythm, much like the tide coming in and going out – only this rhythm is an undulation between seasons of fasting and seasons (or a few days) of feasting. Every week, with few exceptions, is marked by the Wednesday and Friday fast, and every celebration of the Divine Liturgy is prepared for by eating nothing after midnight until we have received the Holy Sacrament. It is a…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, June 1 / May 19 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! The Apostles Fast Saints of the Day May 19 / June 1. Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prusa, and his companions: Presbyters Acacius, Menander, and Polyenus. St. Cornelius, abbot of Komel (Vologda). Martyr Acolothus of the Thebaid. St. John, Bishop of Goths in Crimea. St. John, prince of Uglich, tonsured as Ignatius (Vologda).…
Glory to God for All Things
At the Last Battle
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The Scriptures end with the description of a battle that is truly “apocalyptic” in its scale: all the forces of evil arrayed against all the forces of good. It is grand theater, having caught the imagination of countless generations (and even Hollywood). I do not know quite what to make of the description. That it describes a reality, I do not doubt. What that reality will look like to its bystanders (if…
