As Orthodox Christians, we can draw on a lot of wisdom on how to improve our lives. As we go into the New Year and all its hopes, let me share some nuggets that I have found useful. Resolution (i.e. “willpower”) is not enough. Our faith is built around this reality. If we want to […]
ON THE FIRST SUNDAY of the Great Fast our Church celebrates the triumph of Orthodoxy, the victory of true Christian teaching over all perversions and distortions thereof—heresies and false teachings. On the second Sunday of the Great Fast it is as though this triumph of Orthodoxy is repeated and deepened in connection with the celebration of the memory of one of the greatest pillars of Orthodoxy, the hierarch Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, who by his grace-bearing eloquence and the example of his highly ascetic private life put to shame the teachers of falsehood who dared reject the very essence of.Orthodoxy, the podvig of prayer and fasting, which enlightens the human mind with the light of grace and makes it a communicant of the divine glory.
2013 Nativity Epistle from the Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops outside Ukraine
January 6, 2014 By
PERMANENT CONFERENCE OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX HIERARCHS BEYOND THE BORDERS OF UKRAINE Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ 2013/2014 To the Venerable Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church beyond the Borders of Ukraine and to our Brothers and Sisters of the Faith in Ukraine: The people who […]
Patriarch Bartholomew, 2013 Nativity Epistle
January 6, 2014 By
I love it when our hierarchs write homilies for us! – Fr Anthony + BARTHOLOMEW, By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical PatriarchTo the Plenitude of the Church: Grace, mercy, and peace from the Savior Christ, born in Bethlehem Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,“For to us a child is born, […]
Guest writer: “Come When Called” by Nicholas Perkins
January 1, 2014 By
Skeletons danced in silver mist, and Kira wondered whether he was dreaming. He pinched his arm and gasped. Nope; definitely still awake. There really were dancing skeletons, and the cavern floor really was covered in a swirling layer of silver mist. His breath was hot and stifled behind his mask, and his robes were starting to stick to his […]
Waiting Tables, Nepsis, and Diaconia
December 27, 2013 By
A few days ago, I wrote about how much we are like the toy monkey with the cymbals: our buttons get pushed and we start to clang. It’s as if everything were pre-programmed. Psychologists have found that this isn’t far from the case. My favorite political psychologist Jonathan Haight puts it this way when summarizing […]
Day Thirty-nine – Comfort
December 23, 2013 By
The most iconic image of the comfort is found in Psalm 22/23: “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” Those words bring to mind all the warm fuzzies of a mother’s hug and all the calm of a father’s protection. Psalm 22/23 is like the greatest spell; reading, singing, or chanting it provides immediate […]
Teaching the Divine Liturgy – Meditations
December 22, 2013 By
Here are my notes from the teaching Divine Liturgy served on 22 December 2013 Prologue: Please meet the love of my life…I was nervous the entire week leading up this “Teaching Liturgy.” It was hard to figure out why. After all, I’ve been here for more than six years. That’s hundreds of homilies. I […]
Day Thirty-seven – Candy Canes
December 21, 2013 By
I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten a candy cane. I tried one once, and it was way too sweet. We have about a dozen of them in the house. We use them for tree ornaments. They are like family heirlooms; I’m pretty sure I got them from my mom. She probably got them from […]
Day Thirty-four – Log Cabins
December 18, 2013 By
Have you ever heard of “thin places”? The idea is that there are places where the barrier between our world and another are so thin as to allow us to sense its presense. Mythology is full of stories about “normal people’ finding adventure (and often doom!) by slipping into places like fairyland and the […]
Day Thirty-three – Nog, Glog & Grog
December 17, 2013 By
Nog, Glog, and Grog are awesome words. They sound like the names Tolkien would haven given to a trio of orcs or each of the heads of a three-headed giant. Speaking of which, have you heard of an ettin? What’s neat about this kind of giant is that each of its heads has a […]
