Fear, Doubt and Closed Doors
While the tomb was sealed, You shone forth, O Life. While the doors were closed, You came to Your Disciples, O Christ God, renewing in us through them an upright spirit, according to the greatness of...
View ArticleFive Spiritual Lessons from the Coronavirus
Here, we will discuss five major lessons of the coronavirus for the spiritual lives of the faithful, and for the life of the Orthodox Church as a whole. The post Five Spiritual Lessons from the...
View ArticleWorship without Love is Useless
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)....
View ArticleBuilding an Orthodox Parish
A large part of the problem with some Orthodox parishes (at least of my acquaintance) is not lack of money or lack of a nice building (nice as money and good buildings are), but the fact that they have...
View ArticleThe Greatest Battle Is at Hand
The true battleground of the spiritual life is only found where temptation abounds. The post The Greatest Battle Is at Hand appeared first on A Russian Orthodox Church Website.
View ArticlePersonalism, Small Churches, and Building Community
When was the last time you heard a sermon or read an article or blog post on Romans chapter 16? Apart from Rom. 16:1, which describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church which is at Cenchrea” (the...
View ArticleCreating Christian Counter-Culture
Every week I meet with our catechumens, inquirers, and other faithful for a time of instruction, which includes a Q & A session. Lately we were talking about how Christians were to live...
View ArticleFinding A Spiritual Father
I received an e-mail from someone asking advice on how to find a spiritual father. I had to tell him that finding a spiritual father, in one sense, is very difficult and may take a lifetime. In fact,...
View ArticleThe Fan and the Fire
It is easy to loudly declare one’s loyalty to the local parish family, and one’s humble submission to the Church’s hierarchy. A sudden crisis reveals exactly what those protestations of loyalty,...
View ArticleThe Difficult Path To Peace
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (6:31-36) Today’s gospel reading is a reminder that the values and behaviors of a Christian, a son or daughter of God, must be drastically...
View ArticleOn Stewardship
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you...
View ArticleA Silver Lining? Life Is Slower
Identifying the silver lining in a dark cloud can be delicate. You don’t want to minimize anyone’s pain or offer insensitive rationalizations. My limited exposure to Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)...
View ArticleHow Do We Keep Our Youth in the Church?
We are living in an age that has witnessed changes on a massive scale as never before. The way we communicate has changed with the coming of the internet, with information available that would have...
View ArticleWhat Can the Church Offer the Youth of Today?
Where are the dangers hidden? Are they in having fun and going out at night, and constant attachment to television, cell phones, or the internet? Or is it more than this, the danger of drunkenness and...
View ArticleThe Road to Love Goes Through Repentance
Christianity is the religion of love. That’s what we say. That’s what many of us hold to as our reason for existence. We revert to that passage in the Book of Acts that says, “see how these...
View ArticlePatience: What Growth In Christ Looks Like
A small but always persistent discipline is a great force; for a soft drop, falling persistently, hollows out hard rock…. When patience greatly increases in our soul, it is a sign that we have secretly...
View ArticleWhat Does Asceticism Look Like?
One of the temptations of being an Orthodox priest and pastor is to present a view of the spiritual life and the ascetic path by which one develops his or her relationship with God in the Church as if...
View ArticleBe Bearers of Light
“If your eye is simple, then your whole body will be full of light and if your eye is wicked, then your whole body will be full of darkness.” If we translate this verse into language comprehensible for...
View ArticleAn English Speaking Community in Orthodox Georgia
Within the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church, there have been several difficulties faced by the Georgian people from nearly constant invasions and internecine wars, from the Zoroastrian Persian...
View ArticlePilgrimage to Nine Cross by English Speaking Orthodox Community of Tbilisi
Within the small nation of Orthodox Georgia, there are numerous holy sites that number in the thousands, which have accumulated since the Christianization of Georgia in the fourth century AD. In...
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