Faith Encouraged
Blessed Are You Among Women!
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“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” This saying has been around a long time and been attributed to several famous and not-so-famous people, but it rings true, doesn’t it?: It’s hard to communicate AND easy to miscommunicate, especially if both speaker and hearer want to misunderstand! We are a people strongly shaped by an inherent mistrust of all…
The Morning Offering
Wisdom
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Wisdom is not based on age It has been said that wisdom comes with age, and to some degree this is quite true. I’ve often had conversations with old college friends about how nice it would have been to have had the knowledge and wisdom we have now, back when we were young. Knowing what we know now, back then,…
Orthodox Reformed Bridge
Memory Eternal! Kevin Allen
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One of contemporary Orthodoxy’s greatest evangelists in the blogosphere was Kevin Allen, host of The Illumined Heart. Many who visited the site have been touched by the many fascinating one-on-one interviews Kevin did with people from a wide range of faith backgrounds who came to Orthodoxy. On 7 August 2018, Kevin passed away from ALS aka Lou Gehrig’s disease (source). This progressive neurodegenerative disease is dreaded by many due to the…
No Other Foundation
Cutting Up Cadavers
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You will perhaps not be surprised to hear that I have never stood before a naked corpse and cut into its flesh with a sharp knife. That is, I have never participated in the dissection of a cadaver as is done as part of one’s medical education or at an autopsy, but I know a number of people who have done so. A deacon at our little church took part in such…
Faith Encouraged
It's WHY You Say It!
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“We must speak out! We CANNOT be silent! Silence makes evil possible!” We hear this a lot nowadays, and I confess, I have great sympathy for this message. I’m a preacher, after all. And the public and fearless declaration of the Gospel is normal for we Christians through history. But, as usual, a one-sided perspective on this will lead to a lack of sobriety and balance. There is an equal witness to…
The Morning Offering
My Own Sins
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I must accuse myself, blame myself, judge myself I see people’s sins, but I don’t know whether they have made peace with God. I don’t know if the person who has sinned regrets it, but I am not called to judge them, but only to forgive them. As I become aware of my own sins, and begin to realize how…
Glory to God for All Things
Why Mary Has Always Been Honored
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This Wednesday (August 15) is the Feast of the Dormition, the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this article as a reflection. The most difficult part of my Orthodox experience to discuss with the non-Orthodox is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, on the one hand, deeply theological and even essential to a right understanding of the Orthodox faith,…
Behind the Scenes
Two Become One: A Riddle and Its Answer
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Roads from Emmaus
The Churching of Infants: Reflections on Liturgics in a Pan-Orthodox World
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Among my less-public duties is that I serve in the Department of Liturgics for the archdiocese in which I serve. I am not a liturgical scholar nor a translator. My job is mainly to help make sure that the English we use is the finest and most appropriate. I am, however, a liturgist in the sense of being a liturgical celebrant at the holy…
Growing the Church
Church in the Land of Commerce: 2. Management/Administration: Introduction
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In the world of commerce, the seminal work of Frederick Winslow Taylor The Principles of Scientific Management is considered to have influenced almost all subsequent thinking on management.[1]According to him “The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee.”[2]After bemoaning the fact that early 20thcentury American industry was suffering from defective systems of management and thus rampant inefficiency…
Faith Encouraged
The Time is Fulfilled
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The American astronaut Buzz Aldrin once said “Timing has always been a key element in my life. I have been blessed to have been in the right place at the right time.” And, of course, this reminds me of the old saying in comedy, “Timing is everything.” It really is amazing when all the elements of time, opportunity, ability, and circumstances all mix together to create just the right environment for things to happen! Frankly, I could…
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…
Faith Encouraged
Here's Your Chance to Spend some Time with Fr. Barnabas
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Eastern Christian Insights
Personal Transfiguration in Holiness: Homily for the 11th Sunday After Pentecost, the 11th Sunday of Matthew, and the After-Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
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1 Corinthians 9:2-12; Matthew 18:23-35 There is a lot going on the life of the Church this time of year. Even as we continue to celebrate our Lord’s Transfiguration, we prepare by fasting to observe the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos during the coming week. In order to enter into the good news proclaimed through these feasts, the eyes of our souls must be cleansed so that…
The Morning Offering
Holistic Orthodoxy
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Our Orthodoxy must be holistic in practice As an adjective, the word holistic is characterized by the comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole. Holistic Medicine is characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a…
Faith Encouraged
That is Enough to Give Me Hope
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Today we welcome a guest contributor to the Faith Encouraged community, Christina Kampas. From time to time on the weekends, we will be featuring guest writers on the Faith Encouraged blog. May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him. Romans 15:13 I am 25 years old and landed a corporate dream job, only to realize that months later my health would take a turn for…
The Morning Offering
Representing Orthodoxy
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On being ambassadors for the Faith It was relatively late in my life when I embraced Orthodoxy. Having wandered in a spiritual wasteland, and knowing I was drying up spiritually, I found myself looking for something that would fill the void. Orthodoxy had not been in my scope, seeming, as it were, to be some exotic, eastern form of a…
Father Bill's Blog
78. The Falling Asleep of the Theotokos
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This feast is observed by Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and some traditional Protestants. Most Protestants ignore Mary’s death because they say it’s not in the Bible. This is true. They also ignore Mary after her death because they say that is not in the Bible. This is false! We’ll come to that later. Mary’s Death We Orthodox title this day the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos – or her Dormition (from the…
Faith Encouraged
On A Very Special Faith Encouraged LIVE This Sunday
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This Sunday on an all new Faith Encouraged LIVE, join Fr. Barnabas and his special guests as we remember and pay tribute to the pioneering media ministry of Kevin Allen. Kevin was the first LIVE broadcaster on Ancient Faith Radio with his show “Ancient Faith Today” that aired LIVE on Sunday nights. Kevin reposed in the Lord last week after a lengthy illness and the Ancient Faith Family wants to gather and…
A Lamp for Today
“The Lightning of his Godhead:” the Resurrectional Hymns in the Second Tone
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Job 26:7-14; Isaiah 51:9-11, Mark 9:3, Matthew 17:2, Luke 9:29. The hymns in tone two for the resurrection (both the troparion and kontakion) are, like the others in the eight-tone sequence, dramatic. Taking their cue from the story of the resurrection itself, these songs highlight the glory of the One who is the Resurrection and the Life, the contrast of the high (the heavens) and the low (“the nethermost depths”) into which…
Faith Encouraged
Anticipation! It’s Making Me Wait
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You remember when you were a kid and Christmas seemed to take forever. My mom used to use that old tried and true way to get me and my brother to behave through the year: “Boys, Santa is watching and Christmas is just (fill in the blank) away!” Well, the older I got the shorter that line would get me to behave! And Christmas seemed to come quicker and quicker as my birthdays increased!…
The Morning Offering
Why Ask the Saints?
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Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man Most Protestant churches strongly reject all saintly intercession, citing passages such as 1 Timothy 2:1-5, which says that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man, as well as Deuteronomy 18:10-11 which seems to forbid invoking departed souls. They also point to the fact that there are no examples in…
Faith Encouraged
Will There Be a Secret Rapture?
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Standing in line at the supermarket is such an education. As I’m placing my grocery items on the conveyor belt and watching them slide toward the cashier, I glance toward the ubiquitous magazines there in the check-out line and read headlines screaming at me that Big Foot has been seen again, the latest Hollywood starlet has been cheated on or has cheated on her spouse, an aging actor tells all, and (most…
The Morning Offering
A Monastery Blessed
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My saintly elder and eldress are the foundation of this monastery Established in 1986, our monastery was dedicated to Christ our All-Merciful Saviour, and we began the journey into a greater and deeper dedication of ourselves to Christ. We’ve had a difficult path to travel, with many hardships along the way. There was a night I remember clearly, when I…
The Whole Counsel Blog
Christ in the Apocalypse
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The book of Revelation takes its name from the first verse, identifying the text as ‘the Revelation (Apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ’. This is important to understanding the text. It is not the revelation of ‘end time’ events in the distant future. It is not the revelation of esoteric spiritual secrets about the cosmos. It is a revelation of who Jesus Christ truly is. The Revelation received by St. John is a communication from Christ to seven churches in Asia Minor, who are facing persecution, schism, compromise, and heresy. In answer to all of these difficulties faced by his people, Revelation proclaims the divine identity of Christ, who he is, what he has done, and what he shortly will do when…
Faith Encouraged
Bad Words?
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I was reading a seventh-grade public school exam from many decades ago and was struck with the level of language, grammar, and difficulty of the exam. It was very sophisticated and I struggled to “pass!” No one can look at the current culture and not witness the coarsening of the language of our day. Between the mainstreaming of pornography to popular music, our children are being exposed to a kind of communication that simply…
The Morning Offering
Orthodoxy is Not Magic
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Our Orthodoxy must not be allowed to be mere formulas We can’t just order up that which God has for us, but we must make sure we are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Making life around the Church a high priority in our week can serve as a good start, but Orthodoxy is by…
