From the Archives: The Holodomor, Lazarus, and the Rich Man

[This homily was originally given on 9 November 2015.] Holodomor (dedication and blessing of the Holodomor Memorial in DC). Background info: the Holodomor (i.e. murder by starvation) was an intentional policy of the USSR under Stalin.  In 1932-33, the Soviet regime killed upwards of ten million people (the number is disputed, but no one doubts that it […]

Homily – On the Anniversary of Great Evil

http://traffic.libsyn.com/orthoanalytika/20171105-TelltheTruth.mp3 Communism brought great evil to the world, but it did not create it out of scratch; it pulled it from our own hearts.  How should we respond to the evil in the world?  To the evil in our own hearts?  Note: It was the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, not the 75th (Fr. Anthony […]

Healing the Divisions of the Orthodox in Ukraine; the Diaspora as a Model for Reconciliation

This paper was prepared for presentation at conference; “Ecumenical Encounters between East and West.  Catholicism and Orthodoxy in Ukraine” on Saturday, November 12th 2016 at La salle University organized by the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, Inc. and the Lasalle University M.A. Program in Eastern European Studies and supported by the Shevchenko Scientific […]

The Holodomor, Lazarus, and the Rich Man

Holodomor (dedication and blessing of the Holodomor Memorial in DC). Background info: the Holodomor (i.e. murder by starvation) was an intentional policy of the USSR under Stalin.  In 1932-33, the Soviet regime killed upwards of ten million people (the number is disputed, but no one doubts that it was several million)  through the forced acquisition of […]

Homily – All Saints of Kyivan Rus’

Today we are remembering the Christian nation of Kyivan-Rus not just because they created a nation that built churches where they got baptized, married, and buried.  We remember them because they accepted Christ and they filled their lives with him. Christianity didn’t just give them something new to do on Sundays – it brought the […]

You do NOT have to hate the west to be Orthodox!

The rhetoric from Moscow – to include from the Moscow Patriarchate and its daughter Churches – may be great at gathering support for Putin’s domestic and foreign policy goals, but it is dividing Orthodox Christians in the West and threatens to do serious damage to Orthodoxy’s ability to spread the Gospel here.  There is no […]

A Boring Essay on Culture and Evangelization (class notes)

Fedotov and the Spirituality of Kyivan Rus’ This semester, I am teaching a class on “The Spirituality of Kyivan Rus’”.  It’s a fun course because I get to discuss topics like the dynamic between native cultures and Christianity and the effect this dynamic has on the penetration and spread of the Gospel.  One of the […]

Memory Eternal – Fr. Gleb Yakunin (3/4/34 – 12/25/14)

Soviet Dissidents: martyrs and confessors of freedom, truth, and human dignity I chose to major in political science back in the 80’s in large part so that I could study the Soviet Union, the “evil empire” that held a huge swath of the world’s population under the wicked yoke of anti-theistic, totalitarian, communist rule and […]

Podcast 20141104: Ukrainian Orthodoxy from the Inside

Two Ukrainian Orthodox priests share their thoughts on history and current events After a bit of satire on Putin’s war against Ukraine, Fr. Anthony has a long discussion with Fr. Paul Koroluk, a priest of the UOC-KP (the largest, though canonically-unrecognized, Orthodox Church in Ukraine).  We share a vision of Ukraine and Ukrainian Orthodoxy that we […]

Saving yourself from the damage of war

I am going to stay on this soapbox a bit longer because I am worried.  Many people who are dear to me are following the news from Ukraine very closely, searching out every twitter feed, youtube release, live video feed, local (i.e. Ukrainian) blogger, and MSM commentary that will keep them update on what is […]