I was reading an article today by Michael Wheeler of Harvard Business School on how to make necessary split second decisions. Interestingly enough, Mr. Wheeler concluded that these kinds of decisions we all face always flow from our life-long and deeply developed character. Dr. Wheeler’s article “Marines Don’t Do That: Mastering the Split-Second Decision” concludes that making these kinds of decisions in our lives require us to constantly summon the better parts…

This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world; So let no one threaten; This is the night of the Most Gentle One – Let no one be cruel; This is the night of the Humble One – Let no one be proud. Now is the day of joy – Let us not revenge; Now is the day of Good Will – Let us not be mean. In this Day of Peace…

There is a line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet that I have always loved. It comes in Act 1, scene 5: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” It’s such a wonderful encounter in the play, and it serves as such a wonderful illustration of the necessary humility that we all must embrace when it comes to our own intellect and our so-called “rational” mind.…

Date: December 19, 2013 ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER RHETORIC TO CONVERT HAGIA SOPHIA INTO A MOSQUE NEW YORK – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, expressed his grave concern over current rhetoric by some Turkish state officials regarding the intention to convert the historic Hagia Sophia (the magnificent 6th-century Orthodox Christian Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) from a museum to a functioning mosque.…

Let’s face it, we live in a society that has exalted radical uncertainty to a virtue. Where the “really sophisticated” people pride themselves on being able to “see all sides” of an issue without ever coming down clearly on a position. The modern thinkers fear being labeled “fundamentalists” or “close minded” and fear this so strongly that the fundamentally refuse to hold a position on anything except that they refuse to hold…

One of the greatest attractions to me towards the Orthodox Church was the continuity of practice and, more importantly, memory. There’s an old story about a British journalist visiting the library of one of the ancient monasteries on Mt. Athos in Greece. He was walking among the stacks with the monk librarian and the old monk was talking about this and that saint or writer and telling stories about the people who…

There’s a song I heard in my youth that was popular on the Christian radio stations at the time. It went something like this: “Salt makes people thirsty. People are thirsting for more of His word. Sisters and brothers pour salt on each other. You are the salt, the salt of the earth.” Since the most ancient of times salt has been important to the cultures who had it. In fact, there…

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-coptic-christians-of-egypt/

O Lord, grant that I may meet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Your Holy Will. In every hour of the day, reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds…

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And they (whoever they are?) are right. The truth is mimicking behavior we see starts from our earliest days. Infants get to know the face of their parents and start to try to copy the facial expressions they see. It’s how we learn to react, talk, move, and behave. We learn to live by doing what we see others doing. And that…