... because the message is so utterly contrary to cultural assumptions that have been drilled into our minds. We are consumers and ... this look like in our daily lives? It begins within the Church with Holy Baptism. In Baptism we are united with Christ in His death. ...
... most difficult aspect of love is the freedom it inherently requires. Love, in its ultimate and ... Christian teaching (constantly affirmed in the Orthodox Church) that God’s intention towards us is to raise us up as equals. We say ... tragedy but embraces its consequences in His death on the Cross. It is fully within our freedom that He addresses us and rescues us from ...
... is probably too much to ask of youth. If I can remember myself in my college years, the most I could ... is ever present even within our own heart. The failures of Church and those who are most closely associated with it can easily crush the ... far too much to say about it. But it is the irony of the Cross: Love enduring all things. If you know the Cross and the Love that is ...
... Wednesday (August 15) is the Feast of the Dormition, the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this ... is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, on the one hand, deeply theological and even ... be revealed. (Luk 2:34-35) Here, Mary is linked to the Cross of Christ in the piercing of her soul. I describe these stories as ...
... marriage ceremonies, ministers think it’s interesting to ask if they love one another. What a stupid question! How would they know? A ... issues in the modern world seem to be pressing the Church with as much force as those surrounding sex and marriage. The so-called ...
Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians ... God rather than first about Christ and His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead. It is a mistake because it presumes we ... battles that are hidden from our knowledge. When the Church proclaims, “Christ is risen, trampling down death by death and upon ...
... and those yet to come. For Silouan and Sophrony, this was something known in the present tense, a “hypostatic” knowledge of the ... thought to all of these things. Is it any wonder that the Church teaches us to cry out, “Lord, have mercy!” over and over again? I ...
... the ancient civilizations of the Near East there were strange stories about the place of chaos in the beginning of all ... their later Christian descendants were glad to see the Church baptizing the trees as well as people. There simply is no “pristine” ... made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with ...
... I was seven years old, I "went forward" one Sunday morning in response to a ... a strange thing to say (or contemplate) but it is how the Church contemplates it: The Lord refashions broken Adam in the streams of the ... to Christ, for apart from Him, "we can do nothing." The Cross cannot be loved from a distance or theologized at arms-length. It is ...
... moral society. I pray my readers to be patient with me as I explain what I think is the problem. First, I will note that morality is ... but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (Eph ...
... was the last time you heard someone express concern for their soul? When was the ... a psychologized world-view. And even popular evangelical Churches presume that a born-again life will be a happier life. Jesus has ... those who would follow Him that they must “take up their cross.” This is not a description of the road to self-fulfillment - it is the ...
... is misleading. For a culture that puts such a great emphasis on materiality, our thinking about thought is decidedly spooky. The ... is very troubling to some when they begin to read the Church Fathers’ teachings on the heart (nous). The Fathers were well aware of ...
... God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22), there was no ... the same. Fast forward to the setting of an Orthodox Church. Here there are numerous icons of holy men and women (saints) adorning ... Orthodox render to saints and holy objects (relics, the Cross, icons, etc.) is understood to be honor or veneration. No sacrifices are ...
... than I know, and more than I care to say. But it is an occasion for thought. We read: The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in ... me some eight years later, being received into the Church at age 79. I have little doubt that my brothers would tell this story ...
Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians ... God rather than first about Christ and His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead. It is a mistake because it presumes we ... battles that are hidden from our knowledge. When the Church proclaims, “Christ is risen, trampling down death by death and upon ...
... in our culture. I recall in my freshman philosophy class the conundrum was used as the “coup de grace” in the logical assault on ... are seen to unravel the universe. The fathers of the Church were no strangers to suffering. More than a few were the victims of ...
... But at every turn, what we know of God involves others as well. We may rightly conclude that such a means of acting pleases Him. An ... entering death and hell to bring us back alive. The Church is nothing other than the conciliar salvation of God, bone of His bone ...
... fundamental unity of the human race. Sophrony described it as a necessary component in the Christian life of prayer. We have not been ... thought to all of these things. Is it any wonder that the Church teaches us to cry out, “Lord, have mercy!” over and over again? I ...
... who read the New Testament see it as advocating for and supporting the oppressive structures of its time. They ... subversion: they are practical applications of the Cross to life in this world. They do not exist to uphold the powers that be, ... of symphonia, the cooperative work between Emperor and Church that became a primary vision of the Byzantine synthesis. Its legacy is ...
... stood looking out at a river rushing past the rocks - a brisk morning in the North Carolina mountains, a rare setting for the Divine Liturgy. The tradition of the Church generally holds that services such as the Divine Liturgy are to be held ... in the Church. There are exceptions. In monasteries across the world, it is not unusual for a major feast to be held outdoors to ...
... walk around it, argue it, and change it or reject it. But as an idea, belief really isn’t such a big thing. It is probably quite ... we try to fix them. This same drive, in the life of the Church, can often lead to practical atheism. Obviously, “fixing things” ...
... be lost in their anger. Whatever the outcome, the nation has reached a frightful point in its history. Many will shout and many will ... its Communist past, but also built memorials and rebuilt churches (often returning properties that had been taken away) in an effort of ...
... of the kindness of God in the forgiveness of sins. As such, grace is instant and complete. This fits well within the legal ... indeed have a quality of "suddenness" - the thief on the Cross found paradise "in a single moment" according to the hymns of the Orthodox Church. But for most people - salvation is a life-long process in which we ...