The Morning Offering
Saturday, July 3 / June 20 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Feast of Saint John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco Saints of the Day June 20 / July 3. Hieromartyr Methodius, Bishop of Patara. Martyrs Aristocleus presbyter, Demetrian deacon, and Athanasius reader, of Cyprus. Martyrs Inna, Pinna, and Rimma, disciples of Apostle Andrew in Scythia. St. Leucius, Bishop of Brindisi. Holy Prince…
Praying in the Rain
Are You Saved?
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In the western Christian world, “saved” is a static concept. One either is or isn’t saved. The only difference among the various heterodox Christian confessions is how one acquires this state of salvation. For the Orthodox Christian, salvation is not something static. Salvation is iconic. A person is saved, ultimately and fully, when he or she is conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That is, salvation is to be an icon…
The Morning Offering
Friday, July 2 / June 19 (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 19 / July 2. St. John of Shanghai and San Fransisco. Holy Apostle Jude, the Brother of the Lord. Martyr Zosimas the Soldier…
Praying in the Rain
Education
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Praying in the Rain
26 Minute Friendship
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[At Seattle Airport] Bonnie has this amazing ability to make friends with people on airplanes. On the 26 minute flight from Vancouver to Seattle she had such an intimate conversation with the Pakistani woman sitting next to her that they exchanged phone numbers on landing in Seattle and the woman was earnestly inviting Bonnie to visit her home in Surrey. The Moslem woman kept talking about what the Koran says about Mary…
Glory to God for All Things
Envy and the Fullness of God
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In the Praises for Matins of Holy Wednesday, we read: Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! He saw the harlot kiss the footsteps of Christ, but deceitfully he contemplated the kiss of betrayal. She loosed her hair while he bound himself with wrath. He offered the stench of wickedness instead of myrrh, for envy cannot distinguish value. Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! Deliver our souls from this, O God. We are also told in Scripture…
The Morning Offering
Thursday, July 1 / June 18 (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 18 / July 1. Martyr Leontius, and with him Martyrs Hypatius and Theodulus, at Tripoli in Syria St. Leontius, clairvoyant of Dionysiou Monastery…
The Morning Offering
Wednesday, June 30 / 17 (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 17 / 30. Martyrs Manuel, Sabel, and Ismael of Persia. Hieromartyr Philoneides, Bishop of Kurion in Cyprus. Saints Joseph and Pior, disciples of…
Glory to God for All Things
The Nature of Things and Our Salvation
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Reflecting on yesterday’s post, I thought it worthwhile to share these thoughts again on the nature of our salvation. Few things are as critical for me as the distinctions given here. Perhaps it is timely. It offers a short summary of the difference between a moral and an existential understanding of the Christian faith and why the difference matters. Indeed, as I look through my writings I know this is a recurring…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, June 29 / 16 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 16 / 29. St. Tychon, Bishop of Amathus in Cyprus. St. Tikhon (Tychon) of Luchlv. St. Tikhon of Kaluga or Medin. St. Tikhon of Krestogorsk (Vologda). Martyrs Tigirius and Eutropius of Constantinople. St. Mark the Just of Apollonias, nephew of Apostle Barnabas. New-Martyr Hermogenes (Germogen), Bishop of…
Praying in the Rain
Choices and God's Will
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Living in today’s world we are confronted with hundreds of choices every day: red or blue, sweet or savory, toast or muffins. We cope with this plethora of choices by habit. We have our usual breakfast, our usual half-sweet, decaf mocha (no whip), our favorite color, our going-to-bed routine. And yet in spite of our routines and predictable patterns, all of the choices in our life serve a purpose in our culture.…
The Morning Offering
Monday, June 28 / 15 (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 15 / 28. Prophet Amos. St. Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow. Martyrs Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia at Lucania. Martyr Dulas of Cilicia. St. Jerome…
Glory to God for All Things
To Tell the Truth
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Abba Poemen said, “Teach your mouth to say that which is in your heart. Speaking the truth is as fundamental as the Ten Commandments. It also receives a great deal of attention within the pages of the New Testament. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image…
The Morning Offering
Sunday, June 27 / 14 (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 14 / 27. Prophet Elisha [Jas 5:10-20; Lk 4:22-30]. St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople. St. Niphon of Mt. Athos. St. Mstislav-George, prince of…
The Morning Offering
Saturday, June 26 / 13 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 13 / 26. Martyr Aquila of Byblos in Syria. St. Triphyllius, Bishop of Leucosia (Nicosia) in Cyprus. Martyr Antonina of Nicaea. St. Anna and her son St. John of Constantinople. St. Antipater, Bishop of Bostra in Arabia. St. Andronicus, disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and St.…
Glory to God for All Things
Tradition and the Heart
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He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus can hear even its silence. St. Ignatius of Antioch (To the Ephesians, XV, 2) The faculty of hearing the silence of Jesus, attributed by St. Ignatius to those who in truth possess His word, echoes the reiterated appeal of Christ to His hearers: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” The words of Revelation have then a margin of silence which…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
A Localist Moment in Emmaus, reprise
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I wrote last week regarding the proposed opening of a swingers’ club (to be named “The Vault”) on Main Street in Emmaus, at the very heart of the borough. Last night, to consider the matter, the borough’s zoning hearing board met at the Emmaus Community Park (an aptly named venue for this event), rather than their usual borough hall location. Suffice it to say…
The Morning Offering
Friday, June 25 / 12 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 12 / 25. Saints Onuphrius the Great, and Peter of Mt. Athos. St. Arsenius, abbot of Konevits. Saints John, Andrew, Heraclemon, and Theophilus, hermits of Egypt (also 2 December). St. John the Soldier of Egypt. St. Onuphrius, abbot of Malsk (Pskov). Saints Onuphrius and Auxentius, monks of…
The Morning Offering
Thursday, June 24 / 11 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 11 / 24. Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas. Opening of the Relics of St. Ephraim, abbot of Novotorzhk. St. Barnabas, abbot of Vetluga. Translation of the Relics of St. Arcadius, monk of Vyazma and Novotorzhk. Commemoration of the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to a monk on Mt.…
The Morning Offering
Wednesday, June 23 / 10 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 10 / 23. Hieromartyr Timothy, Bishop of Prusa. Martyr Alexander and Virgin Martyr Antonina at Constantinople. St. Bassian, Bishop of Lodi in Lombardy. St. Theophanes, monk of Antioch, and St. Pansemne, the former harlot of Antioch. St. John Maximovitch, Metropolitan of Tobolsk. St. Silvanus of the Kiev…
Glory to God for All Things
Reading Tradition
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For those who are unused to the place of Tradition in the understanding and interpretation of the Christian faith, it is easy to assume that Tradition is simply an additional set of texts to be read alongside and in addition to Scripture. There are certainly texts which belong to Tradition (indeed the Church would consider the texts of Scripture itself to be part of Tradition). The teachings of the Apostles were “handed…
Praying in the Rain
Serving God
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Praying in the Rain
Fasting
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At the end of Romans, starting with chapter 12, St. Paul begins to give practical application. It is the common pattern in St. Paul’s letters to start by thanking and praising God (doxology), and then move on to explaining a little about who God is and what He has done for us (theology), and then to move on to behavioral application, the “so what” of theology: how we apply theology in our…
The Morning Offering
Tuesday, June 22 / 9 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 9 / 22. St. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria [Heb 13:7-16; Matt 5:14-19]. St. Cyril, abbot of White Lake (Byelozersk). St. Alexander, abbot of Kushta (Vologda). Five nuns beheaded in Persia: Martyrs Thecla, Mariamne, Martha, Mary, and Enmatha. Righteous Cyril of Velsk or Vazhesk (Vologda). (Greek Calendar: Hieromartyr…
Praying in the Rain
Assurance and Spiritual Advice
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In War and Peace, Tolstoy describes a certain military advisor named Pfuel, a German expert in military science. He says of Pfuel that he is a “hopelessly, permanently, painfully self-assured man…on the basis of an abstract idea–science, that is, an imaginary knowledge of the perfect truth. [He] is self-assured worst of all, and most firmly of all, and most disgustingly of all, because he imagines that he knows the truth, science, which…
The Morning Offering
Monday, June 21 / 8 (Church Calendar)
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Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! Saints of the Day June 8 / 21. Translation of the Relics of Great-Martyr Theodore Stratelates [II Tim 2:1-10; Matt 10:16-22]. St. Ephraim, Patriarch of Antioch. St. Zosimas, monk of Phoenicia (Syria). St. Atre (Athre) of Nitria in Egypt. St. Naucratius, abbot of the Studion. St. Theodore, Bishop of Rostov and Suzdal.…
Glory to God for All Things
Reason's God
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In a comment to my recent post on the “problem of goodness,” I was challenged on the question of “proving God’s existence.” I understand the question but I do not think the question understands God. There is a definition of God that has floated around philosophical circles for centuries – a very reasonable definition – but not a definition that has anything to do with the Christian God. The modern rise of…
