Author: Fr. Barnabas Powell

Fr. Barnabas is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He is also host of Faith Encouraged Live on Ancient Faith Radio and author of the Faith Encouraged podcast.

Acting Like Irrational Animals

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
In 1896, the author H.G. Wells wrote a horror story he called “an exercise in youthful blaspheme.” The title of the book was “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and it was a science fiction story about a mad scientist who was creating sentient animals and how the animals became so aware they were saying the humans were more like animals! The book is a true masterpiece of storytelling and quite revealing on…

Becoming Real

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
In the 19th century an Italian writer, Carlo Collodi, penned the classic Pinocchio about a wooden puppet who dreams of being a real boy. His creator, Geppetto, is a wood carver and he carves out this wooden puppet and names him Pinocchio, and the fairy tale takes off through learned lessons and hardships and deceit and joys and even tragedies until Pinocchio becomes a “real boy” and saves his maker from a…

She Gave All She Had

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What is it about giving money to the church that always seems to rile up folks? Do people think the parish runs on good intentions? Why is this topic one of the top subjects in the scriptures and one of the most controversial topics even today? To be honest, it has little to do with actual giving, and even less to do with money itself. The reason financial support of the Church…

Are You the King of the Jews?

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
“Free advice is worth every penny you pay for it!” With that, the old man proceeded to share with me some pearls of wisdom that I remember to this day. Isn’t it funny how much we already know? I mean the truth is I pretty much know how I should live and what decisions are best and what decisions are destructive to my life. In fact, it was a bit of a revelation to me…

The Kiss

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Everybody seems to have the same dream at one time or another. For me, it was a dream where I had a big presentation in front of a large crowd, and in my dream, I forgot my pants! Embarrassed and humiliated, I ran off stage wondering how I could have made such a mistake! All of us fear being humiliated and embarrassed. It’s a natural fear and it uncovers ( forgive the…

Transform Your Desires! Sunday’s Homily

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
The Orthodox Faith is not merely a behavioral modification philosophy but a Way of Life that transforms. The Faith teaches us that it is our desires that will determine our healing. If you allow the Faith to heal and mature your desires, you’ll finally be who you are created to be. And you’ll finally understand WHY the Church calls us to the Arena of the Virtues called Great Lent.

One Of You Will Betray Me

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One of Rembrandt’s classic paintings is called “The Raising of the Cross” and in this painting of the people raising the Cross where Christ is already nailed, is the picture of a strange man in a blue cap. Looking closer, we see it is actually a picture of Rembrandt himself. You see, Rembrandt was a Christian and he was saying that he also was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus because the…

The Lord Has Need of It

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It’s a paradox. A paradox is a concept that we humans, especially we humans shaped and formed by post-Enlightenment secularism, have a hard time grasping. Paradox makes us uncomfortable. It feels like a “problem” to be “solved.” That’s why we humans stumble over paradox. You know what I mean, don’t you? It’s like what Jesus said when He taught that to save your life, you must lose it, and to be a leader, you…

Compete According to the Rules

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I love a line from the Paraklesis to our parish saints, Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene: “We entreat you, O Martyr of Christ, who with Nicholas and Irene for His sake competed according to the rules: Save us from injuries by our unruly opponent, through your earnest prayers to our tender-loving Lord.” The good Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanites wrote this Paraklesis to our patron saints and I love how he contrasts the saints,…

Admit it; You’re Not OK!

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I’m my own worst enemy. The reason for this is that my ability to either delude myself or to overreact is so “normal” to me that it is really hard to be objective about my struggles by myself. I’m either too hard on myself or too easy on myself! Learning this opened my eyes to the wisdom of the Timeless Faith in encouraging me to have a regular confessor and to see…