“Thoughts in Christ”

Orthodox Christianity claims to be the Church of the Holy Spirit – and we are. Unlike other Christian communions, we baptize soon after birth; following at the same service, we bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the newborn child, so that he or she is not deprived of entry into the Body of Christ by receiving the Holy Communion. At the…

Again I was asked, “Why is there so much repetition in our prayers?” And again I responded the way I always had before - our worship includes certain themes and terms that bear repeating, because they remind us to pay attention to something significant on the way, or else to waft us upwards into the rarefied spiritual atmosphere of the Kingdom,…

The first comment to the above reflection from the Orthodox Christian point of view is that praise the Lord we and the Church are not limited to the written word of sacred scripture.  Our constant response to Protestantism comes from II Thessalonians 2:15:  “Therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by…

Among the multitude of monasteries in pre-Revolutionary Russia, Optino, in the south central region, was noted for having produced a series of elders [startsi in Russian, geronda in Greek] who had gone through decades of silent meditation and prayer, then for several years before their death would open their cells to permit pilgrims to visit and…

The glory of the baptismal and Chrismation sacraments glows from the illumination of the faces of all who are witness to the blessed event. Nobody there is blasé, bored or unaffected by the celebration of one of those “many who have been baptized, have put on Christ,“ as we sing during the three-time encirclement of the font. Smiles on all…

If you want to be like Christ and model your life after His, then you can begin by forgiving others the way He did and is still doing. Read again His words from the cross – what a liberating phrase. Forgive. He did not take with Him to heaven a wish for revenge against Judas Iscariot. Nor was there any hatred against Pontius Pilate, the governor…

The evangelist St. Matthew remembered that strange exchange and pondered over Christ’s response to the polite young man who call our Lord “good.” At first it appears to be a put-down, a call for honesty beyond empty flattery. It’s more than that. It answers the question, “What shall I do?” The Lord responded – precisely what you are…

All Orthodox Christians are historians – that is, we take seriously events of the past and apply them to contemporary situations. When that does not happen, we are bereft of the lessons that took place at various times and situations, lessons that have molded and shaped the truth as the Holy Spirit has been working out salvation in the people of…

Most teenagers have read The Catcher in the Rye, that ritual of passage by J.D. Salinger, about a dropout from several high schools who lives in a society he feels full of shallow hypocrites, the sole sincere person being the drummer at Radio City Music Hall. This classic ritual of passage nails the know-it-all phase before realizing that we all…

Because the Lord God is one, you can only love Him unconditionally. Jesus is simply quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Every Jew would know this passage by heart. This is a great insight requiring much reason. Because He is one, He is alone the source and goal of your affection. Many will assume it is natural to relate to God by requests – isn’t that…

It’s said that the writer of this letter, the youngest of Christ’s apostles and the only one to survive premature death, would be borne by loving hands to the place of worship. More than a hundred years of age, he would keep repeating: “Little children, love one another.” This recalls the last years of both metropolitans Leonty and Ireney.…

With each visit to our Cleveland Museum of Art, I make time to stop at the early Christian art exhibit. Inside are several ivory carvings about four to six inches in height. All depict a young beardless Christ. He is trudging forward, gripping the legs of a lamb hung across His shoulders. One might only imagine the impact on Christians in the early…

The greatest joy of my priesthood is to lift up a newborn infant, naked as at birth, holding him above the holy water before plunging him or her down as though in liquid burial and raising the child washed clean and given a new, spiritual birth. “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  Alleluia!”  If only it were possible…

Whenever St. Paul is writing about life and death – and he does it quite a bit – it’s not so much the vital signs measured by physicians and nurses, such as oxygen levels, blood and brain functions, but rather the state of one’s soul measured by sinfulness and purity. Clinically, our death is out of our hands, unless of course we commit…

Wisdom is the requirement not just to listen to the gospel, the normal translation, nor to read it ourselves at home or in the English translation provided in those churches praying in other languages, but to grasp the inner meaning. The inner sense comes from wisdom [Sophia. Premudrost.] Sophia means the deep things of God which we understand not…

All Orthodox Christian theologians return again and again to these phrases from the story of creation. They explain the difference between “image” and “likeness,” they proclaim God as Trinity, they present the Holy Spirit in the human being, and they anticipate the great doctrine of iconography, affirming the Son of God, one of the Holy…

The great councils of the holy Church would begin by affirming a continuity with past councils, teachings of the holy fathers and sacred scriptures as accepted and endorsed by the Church. We hear it affirmed and proclaimed at the conclusion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy vespers each year during Great Lent. This truism is so fundamental one would think…

Civilization advances in civility not all at once, not even in gradual progressions of sense and sensitivity, but rather in spasms of shock, outrage, reflection, remorse, regret and reevaluation. These spurts are what make civilization civilized. How did it happen that the ancient Roman Empire brought to a close the atrocious entertainment in their…

In the second decade of the twentieth century, western civilization had its fill of warfare. There was formed a League of Nations to seek ways to overcome separations and to live in harmony. Protestant leaders in Europe felt it time to imitate that vision among all Christians, a rather quixotic quest. Nevertheless, invitations were sent to…

The feast of Holy Transfiguration falls near the end of the liturgical year. Only the Dormition of the Theotokos follows, to complete and close the cycle. Why now? The time of the event comes six days following the confession of St. Peter [Matthew 17:1, Mark 9:2], or “about eight days” [Luke 9:28], although that doesn’t fix the date precisely.…