The starting point of the Christian faith, is the acknowledgement of certain historical events, in which God has acted, sovereignly and decisively, for manâs salvation, precisely âin these last days.â ~ Fr. Georges Florovsky In the film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo first sees Gandalf riding down the road to the Shire in a carriage loaded with fireworks for his uncle Bilboâs âeleventy-firstâ birthday, and he calls out to him, âYouâre late!â âA wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins,â Gandalf reprimands, ânor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.â UnableâŠ
“I am convinced and believe that even after the resurrection [Christ] was in the flesh. Indeed, when he came to Peter and his friends, he said to them, âTake hold of me, touch me and see that I am not a bodiless ghost.â And they at once touched him and were convinced, clutching his body and his very breath. For this reason they despised death itself, and proved its victors.” St. Ignatius of Antioch Growing up, my mother tried to enforce age-appropriate entertainment consumption for me. However, she did make exceptions, one such being legal dramasâŠ
[T]he scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image, if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in danger, or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the heart by the Spirit: and, in short, to deify, and bestow heavenly bliss upon, one who belongs to the heavenly host. This is the wish of our schoolmaster the law, of the prophets who intervened between ChristâŠ
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
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
“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