The Morning Offering
An Ethnic Fraternity?
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We are called to share our Orthodox Faith Two Byzantine brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, brought Orthodox Christianity to the Slavs in the ninth century. The brilliance of Eastern Orthodox missionary outreach, as opposed to that of the Latin Church, was in the very use of the vernacular. These great saints who became known as the Apostles to the Slavs,…
Walking an Ancient Path
Liturgy Survival Guide: Musical Theology in the Liturgy of the Word
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In the previous post in this series, we delved into the first part of the Divine Liturgy, the Liturgy of the Word. We examined the Doxology and the Great Litany, where we give “glory unto God, who gives the light” and join the deacon in prayers that encompass the whole world. Next, the Church teaches us her liturgical theology in a musical section that is full of textual richness and depth. The…
Raising Saints
Falling in Love with Lent, A Guest Post on Hopeful Patience
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Michelle writes a beautiful blog called Hopeful Patience, in which she asks the question, what does it mean to dwell in hope? She and her husband, Ariel, were married in 2009 and work together as their church’s secretaries. Ariel’s health challenges (Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type III) make their daily routines unique, and over their ten years of marriage, they have tried to wait patiently and hopefully to see what children God might…
Faith Encouraged
The Great and Powerful Oz
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When I was a boy, I remember seeing the Wizard of OZ for the first time on a color TV set. Needless to say, I was absolutely mesmerized by the wonder of the change from black and white to color, but I also remember being very much sympathetic to the Cowardly Lion when the group of seekers of help first encountered The Wizard. The effects of the head floating in the air and the smoke and the fire…
The Morning Offering
Real Change
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Apart from the Church, all achievements are insufficient The Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica said, “We think we know a lot, but what we know is very little. Even all those who have striven all their life to bring progress to mankind — learned scientists and highly educated people — all realize in the end that all their knowledge is but…
Raising Saints
Preparing the Family for Great Lent (with printables!)
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Great Lent is the path back home to Paradise. Because of their sins, Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise, but through repentance and fasting, we find our way home: we take the journey to Pascha, when Christ will trample down death by death and break down the gates that closed us out of Paradise. How glorious! We are invited to prepare for that journey right now, and to take it…
The Whole Counsel Blog
Paradise
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The garden of Eden, the place where God dwells with his divine council, is known in Greek translation as Paradise. The word Paradise is a Persian loan word to Greek which refers to a particular type of walled garden. Likely the most high profile example of a paradise garden in the world today is the Taj Mahal, built according to Persian custom. An aerial photo of the Taj Mahal reveals even four waterways in parallel to the Biblical description. Modern literalism has sought to locate this garden somewhere on the planet earth, with the assumption that at some point, usually the flood of Noah, it was destroyed. While a ‘this worldly’ interpretation of Eden is attractive to many, it fails…
No Other Foundation
A Review of Rowan Williams’ Christ the Heart of Creation
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My familiarity with Rowan Williams was, like that of most people, confined to knowing that he was the archbishop of Canterbury. Having left the Anglican Communion in 1985 I did not keep abreast of the latest news in the Church of England, and had little personal interest in its fortunes, errors, and schisms. I was, and am, content to wish them well from a distance, and am grateful that their experience of…
Faith Encouraged
Delusions Of Grandeur
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“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way! I can’t wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better lookin’ each day.” Hilarious, right? But what makes it funny is that we know people who actually feel that way about themselves. They are always saying things like “Listen, it’s going to be huge. I’m going to make everything right again!” OK, careful there padre! (hee hee)…
The Morning Offering
The Abuser
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No one is required by God to remain in an abusive relationship The best way to respond to another person’s anger is not to withdraw, but to move towards them with kindness. There are times when distancing yourself from someone who is angry, is necessary, for there is absolutely no good reason for you to move towards another, when they…
The Morning Offering
Honest Piety
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Piety without stoking the flames of pride Many years ago I remember attending a Liturgy at a parish church and noticing a young man standing near the iconostasis, while making profound bows, and frequent, almost exaggerated signs of the cross. My first thought was that he must be a newly baptized Orthodox Christian. After embracing Orthodoxy, many people fall into…
Glory to God for All Things
What Is Beneath the Universe?
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In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1:1-3 +++ Throw a blanket over a chair. In all likelihood, you would recognize immediately that there is a chair beneath the contours of the fabric. The blanket is not the…
Time Eternal
Time and Despondency: Online Lenten Reading Group
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Hi Time Eternalites! It’s officially Triodion Season, which means Great Lent is coming! If you’re looking for a spiritually beneficial book to read AND a way to have deeper fellowship with others this Lent, I recommend joining the Lenten reading group for _Time and Despondency_! It’s open to anyone with a Facebook account who plans to read or re-read…
Faith Encouraged
Me and Jesus Got Our Own Thing Going
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In 1972 America was experiencing an amazing movement among young people called “The Jesus Movement.” Jesus was the “hero” of a lot of the youth of the day! And I was right there in the middle of it. At 12 years old and about to step into my teenage years, I was a big participant in the new “Contemporary Christian Music” of “The Second Chapter of Acts,” “Andrae Crouch and the Disciples,”…
The Morning Offering
Noetic Faculty
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The energy of the mind inside the heart In the patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. This self-awareness is the energy of the mind inside the heart, something the holy fathers referred to as our “noetic faculty”. There is an important distinction that must be noted concerning the difference between the Western and Eastern understanding of…
Eastern Christian Insights
Preparing for Lent with Humility: Homily for the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican in the Orthodox Church
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2 Timothy 3:10-15; Luke 18:10-14 The Savior said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” These words speak directly to each of us, for we all follow in the path of our first parents in refusing to live in a manner worthy of people created in God’s image and likeness due to our pride. Our great dignity means that we will become more…
The Morning Offering
Guilt
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We must not allow guilt to destroy us The conscience is that gift God has bestowed upon us that tells us when we have sinned against Him, and against our neighbor. The conscience calls us to turn from our sin, and seek to change the patterns of behavior that have caused us to sin in the beginning. This tug by…
No Other Foundation
Gender Confusion and the Extinction of True Manhood
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Just as it is difficult to gain a true perspective of the size of a mountain when one is actually on the mountain, so it is difficult to understand how revolutionary a change is when in the midst of the revolution. And we are today in the midst of a great revolution, a dramatic shift in the way we understand human nature. That is, our culture in the West is changing the…
Father Bill's Blog
106. Abortion, Part Two
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This time we’re going to look at 1 How the Orthodox Church deals with Abortions, 2 How should we try to apply Orthodox principles to Society? 3 Being consistently Pro-Life, 4 the Spirit of Judgment. How the Orthodox Church deals with Abortions As I understand it, from ancient times the Orthodox Church has handled sin pastorally, not juridically – less concerned with culpability and punishment and being legally acquitted, more concerned with helping people overcome sin, getting them back “on…
Faith Encouraged
The Slave Who Became Bishop
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The transformation in our world from a time when slavery was a “peculiar institution” to a time when the notion of “purchasing” a human being is unthinkable is nothing short of wonderful! And yet, human trafficking is still a very real crime in our modern world, even in our own “land of the free.” Look at our lesson today in Philemon 1:1-25: PAUL, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,…
The Morning Offering
Bad Thoughts
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Holding bad thoughts negates everything good The Fathers, such as Saint Paisius of Mount Athos, teach us that when we hold bad thoughts about anyone, or nurture a grudge against another, we negate everything good that can come from keeping vigil, or fasting. Ascetic discipline is useless if we do not expel bad thoughts against another. One good thought is…
Glory to God for All Things
The Mythic Character of Reality
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The friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien is well-known, as is Tolkien’s role in bringing Lewis to Christ. Less well-known (unless you dig a bit further) is Tolkien’s role in bringing Lewis out of a rigid and flat understanding of the world and into the rich possibilities afforded by “myth.” Without this conversion, Lewis would likely not have become a Christian, and certainly would not have authored the fiction that is…
Faith Encouraged
Good Suffering and Bad Suffering
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We live in an age where our advances in technology and medicine have gone a long way to remove inconvenience and suffering from we humans. People are living longer than ever before. In fact, it seems soon living to 100 is going to be the norm among us. We are healthier, have better medical treatments, have technology that makes our lives easier, and gives us a higher standard of living that practically…
The Morning Offering
Cloud of Witnesses
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The saints are alive in Christ Jesus Vigil lights are placed before the icons of the saints, according to Saint Symeon the New Theologian, as a way of showing that without the Light, Who is Christ, the saints are nothing. It is only as the light of Christ shines on them that they become alive and resplendent. The saints show…
Grace Here and Now
What We Need Is Here
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What We Need Is Here Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear. What we need is here. – Wendell Berry For decades, I placed contingencies on my joy: …
Faith Encouraged
Keep Sane and Sober!
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St. Paisios once said “What I see around me would drive me insane if I did not know that no matter what happens, God will have the last word.” I can relate! And yet, there are also many wonderful and beautiful people and events happening all the time around us. Why is it so hard to keep a sober perspective about our lives? Well, one reason is that it’s all too easy…
The Morning Offering
Racism
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Racial discrimination has no place in the life of a Christian It is important to understand that genetically, all humans are of but one race. Indians, Arabs, Jews, Caucasians, Africans, and Asians, are not different races, but rather, different ethnicities of the human race. God created all humans with the same physical characteristics, with only minor variations. Furthermore, He created…
