OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 30 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 St. Matthew 19: 16-26 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word […]
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.
Principles and Nostalgia
August 25, 2009 By
OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 23 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. 1 Corinthians 9: 2-12; St. Matthew 18: 23-35 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this: […]
Bishops, Health Care, and a Missionary
August 16, 2009 By
OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 16 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Homily1 Corinthians 4: 9-16 ; St. Matthew 17: 14 – 23 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to […]
Temples, the Three Little Pigs, and Birthers
August 9, 2009 By
OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 09 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. For the last few weeks, St. Paul has been using the image of the Body to help us understand our relationship with Christ and one another. When we imagine the Church as a body, we understand that working together with those around […]
More Thoughts on American Orthodox Church Unity
April 9, 2009 By
I have gone back and edited the most recent podcast (20090405_Mary.mp3) to take out the commentary on His Beatitude Mp Jonah’s talk. Unfortunately, I should have edited it beforehand. I was trying to make the point that many Ukrainians would be tempted to schism by the possibility of unification with the OCA, but I fear […]
Some thoughts on death, community, love, and funerals
April 8, 2009 By
As persons made according to God’s love, we were made to live in community. So it is natural for us to provide mutual support to one another through hard times. When one of us is sick, we visit them. When one of us is grieving, we console them. We reach out and, whether the medium […]
Saint Petro Mohyla – a defense of his confession
March 23, 2009 By
St. Petro Mohila gets attacked by folks who think he used too many Roman Catholic ideas. Some defend him against this because his blend of theology is uniquely Ukrainian. I defend him because he is an icon of general Christian evangelism. =========== Few people outside of Ukraine know much about St. Petro Mohyla. Most who […]
Of Mother Earth and the Invisible Hand
February 24, 2009 By
It’s been a real blessing to teach a course at seminary this semester. It’s not just that I love teaching no matter what the context (I do); it is just much more satisfying to work with people who share the same assumptions and goals I do, and to do so in a forum where we […]
On the Spirituality of Sleep
February 3, 2009 By
This month I started teaching a theology class on “Kyivan Spirituality” here in the parish and at our seminary in New Jersey. They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Given how mundane (i.e. non-spiritual) I am, there has been a LOT of prep work involved. St. Theophan describes this […]
Life on the Old Calendar
December 29, 2008 By
Introduction: Christmas on 12/25 or 1/7? While the majority of Orthodox Christians in the world use the Julian (aka “Old”) Calendar for liturgical purposes, the majority of Orthodox Christians here in the West join our heterodox and secular neighbors on the “New Calendar”, which is 13 days ahead.* However, a minority of Orthodox dioceses in […]
