Posts

The Temple of the Living God

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 30, 2012 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. “You are a temple of the living God.” We hear these words today from St. Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians, and they are followed by exhortations from Paul, quoting from the Old Testament, that the Christians of Corinth…

Writings, Recordings and Recommendations: An Update

As you probably can tell, I’ve mainly been focusing my weblogging energy into the new Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy weblog. Forgive my neglect here. I’m still working out the balance of the kinds of work I plan to do there and here. In any event, in case you don’t happen to be a reader over there yet (and why not?), I thought I’d update you…

The Annunciation and the Absence of God

Annunciation of the Theotokos, 2012 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, who was the Orthodox Church of Russia’s bishop in London from 1957 to 2003, in the opening paragraphs of his book Beginning to Pray, directly addresses what is perhaps the most central struggle and disappointment of anyone who…

On the Altar of the Cross

Sunday of the Adoration of the Holy Cross, 2012 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In today’s reading from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, we read his further elaboration of the dominant theme of the work, namely, the priesthood of Christ. The book, being written to the Hebrew people, that is,…

A Man Fully Alive

Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, 2012 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Every single person, whether a man, a woman, or a child, has been given by God a deep, primal longing for Him. We generally go through our days thinking of our desires for other things: I want breakfast. I want…