What to do when we’re broken It is only human to become despondent when we have failed in keeping to our moral, ethical and spiritual standards, succumbing, instead, to temptation. Our Orthodox Faith teaches that we must be compassionate towards others, loving, quick to forgive, exemplar in our Christian living, and always demonstrating to the world that we belong to…
I thank all of you for your prayers, and for your acts of kindness I wish to thank all of you who sent messages of concern, following the attack on my person. Your caring outreach during this difficult time, meant a great deal to me. For all the cards, the painting done by a little girl, the beautiful porcelain tile…
And the beauty of God’s creation As long as I can remember I’ve been a visually oriented person. I’ve always liked being surrounded by family photos, paintings and photographs on the walls, bookshelves lined with books, and the density, variety and color of an English Cottage Garden. From childhood I’ve loved the beauty of a forest, the deep blue of…
And the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The jubilation of the Church is also the jubilation of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity at the accomplishment of our salvation. The resurrection of Christ, which brought on the defeat of the power of death, is the cause of joyful praise, because He is the cause of the death of death, and…
The importance of fasting for the Orthodox Christian Our fasting is pleasing to the Lord when it is accompanied by mercy and kindness, and done without hypocrisy or pride. Fasting brings the passions under control by not only taming the body, but bringing victory over the demons. Fasting gives us power over the demons because it has a powerful impact…
The good, the bad, and the ugly There is a lot of good that can be discovered on line. Many years ago I was charged by my archbishop with the task of addressing our Diocesan Pastoral Conference on the subject of “Fasting According to the Early Church Fathers”. Only after having agreed to the task of preparing such a lecture…
The corrupting influence of clericalism Orthodoxy has traditionally avoided clericalism, yet in more recent times corruption of priestly service has enter the doors of the Orthodox Church. It has led some clergy to be motivated by a desire for power and prestige, with their sight so clouded as to endanger not only their own souls, but the souls of the…
In every way we must strive to restrain anger Abba Evagrius the Monk said that, “Anger is by nature designed for waging war with the demons and for struggling with every kind of sinful pleasure. Therefore angels, arousing spiritual pleasure in us and giving us to taste its blessedness, incline us to direct our anger against the demons. But the…
Being the beauty of God in a darkened world When others see how we negotiate our life, how we treat our fellow workers, our neighbors, and our family, they should witness in us devotion and praise of God. Our deeds and our speech must reveal the love of God to all those who come in contact with us. Our whole…
The need to reunite a society divided by age There are two major populations within our society that are seeing a statistical rise in the number of suicides. At a time when a growing body of research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power, our nation’s youth, and the elderly,…
Open wide the doors of the Church to everyone The subject came up among clergy of our diocese as to whether it was proper to allow a man to attend services while wearing an earring. The point, as it seems to me, is to make him feel welcomed enough to want to be in church to begin with. Requiring the…
