No Other Foundation
Commentary on the Divine Liturgy: the Antiphons
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In the Divine Liturgy, after the Great Litany, come the three antiphons and their litanies/ prayers. These antiphons exist in several forms. The original Greek practice is to use psalms for the antiphons, interspersing the verses of the psalms with repeated refrains. For the first antiphonal psalm the refrain is, “Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Saviour, save us!” The refrain for the second antiphonal psalm is the refrain, “O Son…
Eastern Christian Insights
Ascending with Wounds into Heavenly Glory: Homily for the Sunday After the Ascension in the Orthodox Church
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John 17:1-13 With all the problems in the world today, as well as the challenges in our own lives and families, it is tempting to lose hope. It is easy to think that the best we can do is simply to cope with the difficulties that we face from day to day. We may think that there is no alternative to living in terms of whatever…
The Morning Offering
Orthodoxy
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A religion for the sick Our Orthodox Church has always seen herself as a hospital for the soul, the place where her children can seek healing. It is within her walls that we find the medicine we need to make us holy (whole), and where we can find the means for transformation that opens the doors to the Kingdom of…
Orthodox Reformed Bridge
Response to James White (3 of 4)
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This article is the third of a four part series in response to James White’s 13 April 2017 podcast: “Can a Consistent Eastern Orthodox Believer Be the Bible Answer Man?” For my previous responses, please see: “Response to James White” (1 of 4) and (2 of 4). The purpose of these articles is not to defend Hank Hanegraaff, but to promote good reasoning and courteous interaction between Protestants and Orthodox. Why…
The Morning Offering
Unbelief
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The ultimate sickness Humankind’s ultimate sickness is that of unbelief. This world is the place of preparation for our life in eternity, the place where we are prepared for the Kingdom that is to come. Within this world, Our Lord Jesus Christ established a hospital in which the medicine for the cure of our sickness is available, and this hospital…
Roads from Emmaus
Jesus Doesn't Fit Into My Life
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Sunday of the Blind Man and the Feast of Ss. Constantine and Helen, May 21, 2017 Acts 26:1, 12-20; John 9:1-38 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Christ is risen! It is challenging to be a Christian in our times. It is challenging for many reasons—our…
Faith Encouraged
Go And Tell; See And Hear
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Life can be discouraging at times. A wise man once told me this during a particularly discouraging time in my life: “Son, don’t quit when life is tough. You don’t throw your ticket away just because the train goes through a dark tunnel!” I still remember that today. And yet, there are dark times when the temptation to give up is very strong! In fact, during those times it seems that inner…
The Morning Offering
Discovering God
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The importance of discovering God for oneself Some time ago I had the mother of a boy of about thirteen arrive at the monastery, son in tow. She was upset because her son had declared himself an atheist and she was afraid he was in danger of eternal damnation. I sat down with the boy and told him that each…
Time Eternal
When Yeast Kills: The Group Dynamics of Despondency
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A blessed Feast of the Ascension to all reading this in realtime! This weekend, I have the opportunity to speak at the 29th-Biennial National Assembly for the Ladies’ Philoptochos Organization in Canada. (For anyone who read that and thought “Philo-… what?,” the Philoptochos is basically the Greek Orthodox equivalent of a deaconness society or sisterhood; most parishes have…
Father Bill's Blog
15. The Story of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council: Part 2
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Let me say again that throughout this four-part series I draw often on the book The Fathers of the Eastern Church by Robert Payne. The Council begins. This First Ecumenical Council, the First Council of Nicaea, was not held in secret. We have five accounts of it. The Council was held in a great marble hall above the beautiful Lake Askanios. In the center was a throne on which a Gospel book was placed.…
Faith Encouraged
Times And Seasons
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“To everything (turn turn turn), there is a season, (turn turn turn) and a time to every purpose under heaven.” I was 5 years old when that song was recorded and released by the Byrds. It was a song that was based on the verses in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes. Here, Solomon struggles with the vanity of existence and the hope found in God’s ultimate will and wisdom for life. By…
The Morning Offering
The Ascension
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The Feast of the Ascension of Christ Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The importance of this historical event, is that Christ ascended into Heaven as man and as God. Having condescended to take on our flesh, becoming both perfect man, and, at the same time, perfect God, he never put off His manhood, but deified…
Glory to God for All Things
The Community We All Need
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I once read that the Russian instinct, when under pressure, was to gather with other people, while the American instinct was to flee. Thus, the Russian landscape was marked by villages, while America was marked with isolated homesteads. My Russian knowledge is just hearsay, but I know that Americans like to homestead and to be alone. The American suburb is not a village, it is streets filled with little homesteads, islands of…
Faith Encouraged
Strengthen, Don't Weaken!
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Christ is risen! I love this quote: “A word of encouragement after a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after a success.” By the way, remind me sometime to tell you how I got the name “Barnabas.” Let’s face it, most of us struggle with feelings of inadequacy and fear. We are afraid of failure so much that we are frozen into never trying. But I’ve known some people…
The Morning Offering
The Temple
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The link between the Old and New Testament temples Orthodox temples have kept to the same form and function since ancient times. Using the Old Testament Temple model, Orthodox churches are divided into several courts or spaces peculiar to their function. The Holy Table, upon which is celebrated the Eucharist, is situated at the east end of the building behind…
No Other Foundation
Commentary on the Divine Liturgy: the Great Litany
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In the Divine Liturgy, after the initial doxology in which the celebrant blesses the Kingdom of God and blesses with the sign of the Cross the altar table and its antimension before using it, the assembled Church next prays the Great Litany. This represents the intercessory prayers of the royal priesthood, wherein the Church prays for the whole world in the Name of Jesus, standing in the gap and lifting up the…
Faith Encouraged
Strange Things, Indeed
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Christ is risen! It’s called “spoiling the Egyptians.” Now, before you run off and start saying “Fr. Barnabas is being disrespectful to Egyptians” (I’m not, really), let me explain what that means. It comes from the Hebrew scriptures story about the Children of Israel finally leaving the slavery they suffered in ancient Egypt. As they were going, they took with them the wealth they had earned, and the Egyptians themselves gave them…
The Morning Offering
Restraining Anger
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In every way we must strive to restrain anger Abba Evagrius the Monk said that, “Anger is by nature designed for waging war with the demons and for struggling with every kind of sinful pleasure. Therefore angels, arousing spiritual pleasure in us and giving us to taste its blessedness, incline us to direct our anger against the demons. But the…
Faith Encouraged
Upside Down or Right Side UP?
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Christ is risen! It actually was funny, but I had to get past my embarrassment first! You see, I had taken off my coat one winter day in Middle School and, lo and behold, I had put on my shirt inside out. All the kids saw it and started laughing. I had been in a hurry. I was going to miss the bus, and I didn’t pay attention. But it was sure…
The Morning Offering
Our True Self
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The restoration of our true self The Lord Jesus Christ was humble, meek and good, and with the help of the Lord we too can be humble. Fasting and prayer are the means by which God can change our hearts, but we must approach both with humility and purpose. Saying our prayers quickly just to get through them is no…
Eastern Christian Insights
We Must Obey in Order to See: Homily for the Sunday of the Blind Man in the Orthodox Church
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John 9: 1-38 Christ is Risen! Seeing is believing. There are many things in life that we will not accept unless we see them with our own eyes. And there are some things that we have to learn how to see because they are not obvious to the untrained eye. It often takes experience to see something rightly, to understand its true significance. If that is true in everyday life, it is…
Orthodox Reformed Bridge
Response to James White (2 of 4)
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This article is a continuation of “Response to James White – Part 1 of 4.” Loaded Words At the 2:55 mark, James White refers to sola fide and sola scriptura as “fundamental beliefs.” Here he uses a phrase filled with good feeling words. This can lead the listener to think that these are basic beliefs held by all Christians universally from Day One. This claim needs to be substantiated by historical…
The Morning Offering
Sustainable Living
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Stewards of what God has given us Our monastery has two large organic vegetable gardens, and we purchase all our additional food from organic sources. We believe living without chemicals to be much healthier for ourselves and the planet. Raising free range chickens and ducks, and eating only organic eggs fits in with our overall view of living as good…
The Morning Offering
Proof of Love
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The proof of love is in the works The very moment faith enters the soul is that moment when we turn toward God in repentance and recognize we can not live without Him. As we grow in our faith we come to realize we must remain in a continual state of repentance, for grace abounds in the heart of the…
Father Bill's Blog
14. The Story of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council: Part 1
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Why have I titled this post “The Fathers” of the First Ecumenical Council? Because the Orthodox Church, in her personal approach to everything, titles her commemorations not after events but after the people in them. I like that. The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council dealt with many matters: the date of Pascha (why does this keep coming up generation after generation?), the Meletian schism, regulations for the clergy and much more. But…
Glory to God for All Things
Old Friends
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A young man imagines that the mistakes he is making are, with more effort, things that he will correct. An older man knows better. It can be a source of humility, or a source of painful regret. Humility is to be preferred. I wonder if this by itself is the reason why the spiritual life is not populated with wise young people. If you are young and holy, you are likely a…
Time Eternal
Tracking Time, Day 1: Lessons in Life, Mortality, Stress, and Faith
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Yesterday, I started doing something I’ve been putting off for a while: I started tracking my time. As in, recording how I spend my time for virtually every waking minute. (Scroll to the end of this post for a more practical explanation of how I did this.) You’re probably wondering why I would voluntarily torture myself like this.…
