Homily on Ephesians 4:1-6 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just […]
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.
Day Thirty-one – Idolatry
December 15, 2013 By
This may come as a shock to some folks, but Christians generally accept the notion that there are many gods. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the Hebrew word “elohim“ is used to represent the One True God, angels, the sons of God, the gods of foreign nations, the good and bad gods of the […]
Press Release
December 13, 2013 By
PRESS RELEASE: Fr. Anthony Perkins, Vocations Director of the UOC-USA, is the new webmaster of “Good Guys Wear Black”, the premier website on Orthodox Christian Vocations Fr. John Peck, the creator of the “Good Guys Wear Black“(GGWB) website, recently turned the management of the site over to Fr. Anthony Perkins. Fr. Anthony is excited […]
An Introduction to Vocations I: Every soldier is a rifleman…
December 13, 2013 By
An Introduction to Vocations, Part One; Every soldier is a rifleman; every clergyman is a Christian I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who […]
Day Twenty-nine – Saint Herman of Alaska
December 12, 2013 By
God is glorified in His saints! Along with a prayer book, one of the immediate blessings becoming an Orthodox catechumen brought me was bringing the saints into my life, mainly in the form of a used copy of The Prologue from Ochrid. I love that book. The new version is even better than the last; not […]
Day Twenty-seven – Deborah, Judge of Israel
December 12, 2013 By
Deborah was a hero. A bit of historical context: Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. As preparation for leading them into the Promised Land of Canaan, he sent twelve spies into Canaan to find out the enemy’s disposition. Of the twelve, ten came back and told how great the land was, but tried to […]
Day Twenty-six – Oil Lamps
December 10, 2013 By
Tending the Flame of Anor I’m pretty granola when it comes to certain things. This is especially the case when it comes to church. Being crunchy and being Orthodox go together like cream in coffee. Because the Glory of God resonates throughout creation, objective science gives use plenty of reason to prefer the old ways; […]
Day Twenty-three – Christmas Trees
December 7, 2013 By
Despite my “Bah Humbug” post about gift giving, I actually love the rituals of Christmas. The home ones are especially nice: hanging stockings (made by my Mom for my Pani, each of my kids, and me), putting up the Nativity banners, setting up the Nativity creche (are they statues if all the figures are pillows?), […]
Day Twenty-two – Saint Nicholas
December 6, 2013 By
There is amusing meme bouncing around Facebook that plays on St. Nicholas’ defense of Orthodoxy against Arianism during the first Ecumincal Council (325): he punch-uated this defense by striking Arius in the face. Both Christ and His Mother confirmed the righteousness of his action when they restored him to his episcopal dignity (the Emperor St. […]
Day Twenty – Incense
December 4, 2013 By
The smell of incense is so much a part of our experience of worship that the smell – smell is one of the strongest triggers of memory for the brain – automatically calms us and moves us towards prayer. Low-church Christians are often uncomfortable with incense in part because it is used in pagan […]
