Orthodox Christianity is an eschatological religion! O, Mr. Fancypants with your big words! 🙂 Ok, Orthodoxy is the Faith that keeps eternity in mind and the ultimate victory of Christ over all darkness. Is that better? In fact, the reality that eternity is more real than these temporary events is seen in how we worship, how we pray, how we deal with suffering, and how we live our lives. The power of…
St. John Climacus, the author of “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” once said “Humility is the only virtue that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons.” Humility is what kept 2/3rds of the angels in heaven and pride is what drove 1/3rd of the angels to fall. This pattern of ascent and descent is at the…
A recent article on the Christian view of marriage is titled “Marriage is a Lifetime of Suffering.” You won’t see that on any Hallmark card for wedding anniversaries anytime soon. And yet, the idea of salvific suffering is so foreign to us as to be actually offensive to many. But the Christian understanding of life and salvation can be summed up in this quote from Elder Sophrony of Sussex “…in this world,…
Our American nation is suffering a time of chaos, fear, anger, and, yes, even the scourge of hatred. And this suffering can lead us to despair. But the message of the Orthodox Christian Faith is that suffering can actually form and shape us into Christ-like persons IF only we wouldn’t waste these moments of suffering. The Christian understanding of life and salvation can be summed up in this quote from Elder Sophrony…
Our American nation is suffering a time of chaos, fear, anger, and, yes, even the scourge of hatred. And this suffering can lead us to despair. But the message of the Orthodox Christian Faith is that suffering can actually form and shape us into Christ-like persons IF only we wouldn’t waste these moments of suffering. The Christian understanding of life and salvation can be summed up in this quote from Elder Sophrony…
A recent article on the Christian view of marriage is titled “Marriage is a Lifetime of Suffering.” You won’t see that on any Hallmark card for wedding anniversaries anytime soon. And yet, the idea of salvific suffering is so foreign to us as to be actually offensive to many. But the Christian understanding of life and salvation can be summed up in this quote from Elder Sophrony of Sussex “…in this world…
The word “asceticism” is something of a mystery to our modern way of life. We have lived with such plenty and such amazing comfort and ease for so long that now we assume that all of life is meant to be pain (and even effort) free. Just consider our attitudes towards marriage. We assume that marriage is meant to “fulfill us” or “complete us” as if the Hollywood version of romantic love…
