Praying in the Rain
Wheat and Tares
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In St. Gregory Palamas’ homily (#27) on the parable of the wheat and the tares, he explains that one reason why God does not allow the angels to separate the ungodly before the End (that is, to allow death to take the ungodly immediately) is the following: “Many impious and sinful people, living alongside those who are godly and righteous, eventually change by means of repentance, learn to be pious and virtuous,…
The Morning Offering
Friday, June 18 / 5 (Church Calendar)
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Living the evangelical life of Orthodox monasticism in witness to the salvific truth of the Gospels of Our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 5 / 18. Hieromartyr Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre. Repose of St. Theodore Yaroslavich, older brother of St. Alexander Nevsky. Martyrs Marcian, Nicander, Hyperechius,…
Glory to God for All Things
Pardon my absence
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Deepwater Horizon: Why Evangelical theology is helpless in the face of a catastrophic oil spill
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Every so often, I think it’s okay to indulge in an inflammatory headline. I recently read the lament “Ecological Catastrophe and the Uneasy Evangelical Conscience” by Russell D. Moore. It seems to have gotten a decent amount of circulation online, if only because it is written by an Evangelical Protestant talking about how ashamed he is that “environmentalism” has been the near exclusive realm…
Praying in the Rain
The Role of Apologetics
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Based on my last blog post, some may come to the conclusion that I think there is no place for apologetics in the Christian life. That is not the case. I think apologetics have a small, but important role to play in the Christian’s dialog with the world. When Christians communicate with unbelievers in specific contexts, apologetics play a role. For example, Justin the Philosopher and Martyr used Roman religion and law…
The Morning Offering
Thursday, June 17 / 4 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 4 / 17. St. Metrophanes, first Patriarch of Constantinople. Hieromartyr Astius, Bishop of Dyrrachium in Macedonia. Martyr Concordius of Spoleto. Martyrs Frontasius, Severinus, Severian, and Salanus of Gaul. St. Zosimas of Cilicia, Bishop of Babylon in Egypt. St. Methodius, abbot of Peshnosha, disciple of St. Sergius of…
Praying in the Rain
Shall Thy Wonders Be Known in That Darkness?
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“Shall Thy wonders be known in that darkness?” In our culture, the words “faith” and “believe” and “truth” have been hijacked by rational assumptions in ways that limit their meaning and usefulness in a Christian context. According to our rationalist assumptions, to believe (or have faith that) something is true means that you assent to the historical, physical reality of something. To say that something is true is to say that it…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
A Localist Moment in Emmaus
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It seems that “quaint” Emmaus (the word the newspapers all use to describe our borough) has been targeted as a potential home for a swingers’ club, to be situated right on downtown Main Street. The fellow behind the club claims that it’s not going to be a “sex club,” that they’re going to be more innocuous than the Freemasons (will they also have funny…
The Morning Offering
Wednesday, June 16 / 3 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 3 / 16. Martyr Lucillian and those who suffered with him at Byzantium: four youths, Claudius, Hypatius, Paul and Dionysius; and Virgin Paula. Hieromartyr Lucian, and with him Julian and Maximian, at Beauvais in France. Translation of the Relics of the slain Crown Prince Demetrius of Moscow.…
Praying in the Rain
Who Sinned?
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Saturday as I was mowing the lawn, a young woman, somewhat disheveled and wearing very dark glasses, came walking up my driveway (we live in the countryside) and asked me if she could use my phone. She explained that someone was supposed to pick her up, but she was afraid that he had gotten lost. I got her the phone and as I took a closer look at her and caught phrases…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, June 15 / 2 (Church Calendar)
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Living the evangelical life of Orthodox monasticism in witness to the salvific truth of the Gospels of Our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 2 / 15. St. Nicephorus the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople. Great-Martyr John the New of Sochi, who suffered at Belgrade. New-Martyr Demetrius of…
Glory to God for All Things
Here and Now
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Strangely enough, the one place that most of us avoid is here and now. In the observations of Fr. Meletios Webber, we prefer either the past or the future. The past is marked by the thoughts of “if only,” the future with thoughts of “what if.” These thoughts are the voice of the logismoi, the constant barrage of thoughts and feelings that distract us from ourselves and from the world as it…
Praying in the Rain
Sequoia Blackberries
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Sin is a little bit like Sequoia Blackberry bushes. It’s an invasive species that takes over, yet because of the sweet berries, you let it. But the berries are only there for a few weeks, and the thorny bush it there all year. At first you decide you can live with the thorns. You try to avoid and ignore the thorny parts and think longingly about the next season of sweetness. And…
The Morning Offering
Monday, June 14 / 1 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 1 / 14. Martyr Justin the Philosopher and those with him at Rome: Martyrs Justin, Chariton and his wife Charita, Euelpistus, Hierax, Peon, Valerian and Justus. St. Dionysius, abbot of Glushetsk (Vologda). St. Agapitus, unmercenary physician of the Kiev Caves. St. Metrius the Farmer. (Greek Calendar: Martyr…
Glory to God for All Things
The Problem of Goodness
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From my first class in Philosophy 101 in college, the so-called “Problem of Evil” has been tossed up as the “clincher” in arguments against the existence of God. How can a good God allow innocent people to suffer? The most devastating case ever made on the subject was in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. Ivan Karamazov, in the chapter entitled “Rebellion,” which is the chapter preceding the famous “Grand Inquisitor,” makes the details of his…
The Morning Offering
Sunday, June 13 / May 31 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 31 / June 13. Apostle Hermes of the Seventy. Martyr Hermias at Comana. Martyr Philosophus at Alexandria. Martyr Marus the magician who was converted on witnessing the martyrdom of Hermias. New-Martyrs Hierotheus, Bishop of Nikolsk (1928), and his friend Schema-hieromonk Seraphim (1923). (Greek Calendar: Five Martyrs of…
The Morning Offering
Saturday, June 12 / మే 30 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day May 30 / June 12. St. Isaac, founder of the Dalmation Monastery at Constantinople. St. James, monk of Galich monastery. Martyr Natalius. Martyrs Romanus, Meletius, and Euplius. Martyr Barlaam of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Repose of Abbot Ephraim of Sarov (1778). Photo of the Day The Monastery recently hosted…
Praying in the Rain
The Proud Man
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Praying in the Rain
Our Duty
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Praying in the Rain
Oil and Miracles
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[Last day on the farm] I’ve got mixed metaphors rolling around in my head. They have to do with two kinds of oil, small amounts of oil that are given away. The first picture is of an oil pump on the side of an engine. Compared to the engine, the oil pump is very small and has very little power. It just squirts oil, a little bit at a time, onto the…
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…
