A quick google search will yield endless entries of various websites and blogs giving advice as to how to stop feeling lonely during the holiday season. Our uber-connected world is lonelier than ever. This constant strain is exacerbated by the holidays, a time when the religious and the irreligious focus upon the home and traditions flowing from the hearth and table. The year end rhythm of joyous raucous gatherings, gift giving, and tables laden with celebration are for many absent. Our screens flicker with images and sounds of joy and yet we sit in a darkâŠ
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, âAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.â Matthew 28:18 Who said it? âThe man of faith acts, not as one endowed with free will, but as a beast that is led by the will of God.â Martin Luther? John Calvin? No, the answer is St. Peter of Damascus, from the Philokalia. He goes on to pray, âDo what Thou wilt to Thy creature; for I believe that, being good, Thou bestowest blessings on me, even if I do not recognize that they are for myâŠ
Robert P George, of Princeton University, in his recent essay, âThe Pagan Public Square: Our Christian Duty to Fight Has Not Been Cancelled,â sounded a âcall to armsâ to faithful Christians to stand courageously against a rising and newly aggressive progressivism. This is not a call to physical arms, but a call to âboldly bear witness to truths that are unpopular among those controlling the levers of cultural, political and economic power.â It is a call to arms which we are beginning to hear from many corners more and more, not just from the depths ofâŠ
âWhat must be implemented is not a âsteadily expanding economy,â but a zero-growth economy, a stable economy. Economic growth is not only unnecessary but ruinousâŠwe must renounce, as a matter of urgency, the gigantic scale of modern technology in industry, agriculture, and urban development âŠâ – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Orthodoxyâs principled objection to Communism is widely known and understood and, given that Eastern Orthodoxy was the religious tradition that bore the brunt of the Marxist-Leninist assault upon religion and Christian culture, the fact that the vast majority of Orthodox thinkers have been profoundly distrustful of the political leftâŠ
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, âBehold the Man!â John 19:5 In a famed episode of The Twilight Zone in 1962, aliens known as Kanamits make first contact with earth, claiming that they come in peace. They offer advanced technology that eliminates famine, disease, and war. When they go, they leave behind a book, written in their undecipherable alien language. Naturally, the cryptographists get to work decoding it, led by scientist Michael Chambers. While some responded with skepticism toward the Kalamitsâ mission, their technology works. A new eraâŠ
We began this series by underlining the absolute necessity to develop the virtue of discernment in our spiritual lives. According to the St John Cassian and the Fathers he encountered in the deserts of Egypt, discernment is the âmother, the guardian, and the guide of all the virtues.â This may come as a surprise. Perhaps we would imagine another virtue to hold such a high office or maybe we just find ourselves at a loss in regard to the virtues and how they relate to each other. Whatever the case we find ourselves in a timeâŠ
âWe are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.â Lord Acton We live in an age where people read little, but yet vehemently assert the verity of their own opinions. Debates during the Reformation were bruising affairs. Not only did they demand quick wits, a vast memory, and a comprehension of all the implications of various doctrines and the arguments attendant on them, but it took thick skin and a ready wit. The key thing, however, was never to underestimate your interlocutor. Sure, you couldâŠ
“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:40 In âYorktown,â the climax to the first half of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, the victory that marks the end of the American Revolution ends with the refrain âthe world turned upside downââan apt description of the birth of the first modern, liberal, democratic republic that has survived to the present. A decade later, a very different liberal and democratic Revolution in France would upend the established political and social orders allâŠ
In his famous poem, âArchaic Torso of Apollo,â Rainer Maria Rilke writes about the experience of looking at a great piece of art. His point is that great art looks at us, too; we find ourselves observed, questioned and judged. I argue that this is as true of literary art as of sculpture. What will we do after we close the book? The last line of Rilkeâs poem tells us, âYou must change your life.â The same Orthodox Christians who rightly express concern over the dangers of gaming or the number of hours being spent inâŠ
The origin of the American fixation with conspiracy theories is hard to trace through history. Perhaps the very fact that our nation emerged from a revolution against its motherland has something to do with this proclivity. Some historians point to the role of secret societies like the Freemasons in the plot leading up to American independence. But it is probably true that our founding fathers spent more time meeting in pubs over pints than they did gathering under the cloak of darkness at a masonic lodge. And although some American religious groups forbade membership in secretâŠ
