Author: Fr. Michael Gillis

I serve as the parish priest of Holy Nativity Orthodox Church in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. I am also host of the Praying in the Rain podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Love In A World Of Uncertainty

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St. Isaac the Syrian said that only the tomb is the “land of certainty”.  Writing to hermits living in the desert, St. Isaac wanted to free them from the delusion that they could be certain about anything in this world.  I wonder if St. Isaac was reflecting on the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 8: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  If anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows…

Aceticism: Facing The Sun

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A confusing aspect of our Christian growth is that we can, sometimes even at the same moment, have a very peaceful, godly thought full of love for God and neighbour, and then have a terribly sinful and embarrassingly nasty thought.  How can this be?  If God is alive in us, how can such terrible thoughts keep appearing in our minds?  How do we combat this? One unhelpful way to combat this experience…

Peace In Chaos

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One of the things that Fr. Stephen De Young reminds us of in his book, The Religion of the Apostles is that God’s fundamental triumph is over chaos, death being an aspect of chaos.  The Church believes and teaches that God created the world out of nothing, Genesis 1:1.  However, beginning with Genesis 1:2 and following, throughout the whole bible, the emphasis is on God’s triumph over chaos.  And this chaos is…

Hiding In The Midst Of Strife

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I write a weekly letter for our community and this week I thought I would share this letter with a broader audience. Dear Holy Nativity Faithful, Christ is in our midst! We celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos this week.  Mary the Mother of God was born into a world full of oppression and confusion, yet she was able to become the Holy dwelling place of God.   We…

Christian Outrage?

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After my last blog post, John commented that the burning of Churches in Canada calls for “Christian outrage” now, while love and forgiveness can wait until after the crimes have been investigated and resolved.  I can honestly say that I know how John feels.  In fact, I will go so far as to say that until one feels outrage, one can’t honestly love and forgive.   Outrage is a natural human response…

Breaking the Cycle of Sin and Pain: A Letter To My Parishioners

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Last night I attended a prayer service in the street in front of the Coptic Orthodox Church that was burned down early Monday morning. Although some evidence points toward arson, arson has not been proven and no motive has yet been identified. However, there has been a recent spike in violence against churches (vandalism, arson and threats), some sources report over 200 significant incidents in Canada since June. Many of us may…

What Does Success in Bodily Warfare Look Like?

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Some of the most accessible and practical wisdom from the ancient Christian desert tradition can be found in the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John.  They lived in Gaza (Palestine) in the early sixth century.  Over 800 letters are preserved for us, and in these letters we get an inside look at what spiritual guidance looked like in the desert monasticism of those early years.  And although much is different in the…

“Just” Waiting on God

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I haven’t been inspired to write anything lately, and I find that if I just force myself to write something, the product is much more filled with my passions that usual.  However, I do occasionally write to parishioners, or former parishioners and others who ask me questions about the spiritual life.  Seldom does the correspondence go beyond the first one or two exchanges.  I can be rather brusque.   But one young…

The Wrath of God According to St. John Chrysostom

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One of the earliest writings of St. John Chrysostom are two letters written to a friend, Theodore, who had fallen away from Christ.  In these letters, St. John encourages Theodore to return to Christ and repent of his sinful folly—Theodore had run away from the monastic life to return to academia and a life of wealth, privilege and, most of all, fornication.  Theodore had become captivated by the beauty of a young…

Beginning To Sojourn

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After my last blog post on the Great Reset, Anne Marie asked an important question, and instead of responding only to her, I will share my response with everyone.  This is what Anne Marie wrote, she begins by quoting the end of my blog post: “‘If we are comfortable in the world then an economic reset or political upheaval will evoke fear and anger… But if this world is not our home.…