“Thoughts in Christ”

It is presumed that all Christians pray—otherwise why call yourself a Christian at all? Excluding the Orthodox, not as many fast, at least regularly and often. Why would the Bible emphasize almsgiving, or charity to others, above prayer and fasting? The answer is evident. We pray in order to be united with the Holy Trinity, and we fast as an…

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is the home of a traditional sect of Amish. They are of German heritage. They lead simple, plain, reclusive lives. Many know about them; few know them intimately. A motion picture, Witness, filmed about a decade ago, brought them to the attention of the outside world by featuring their lives and locale. An Amish lad,…

We soon come to memorize this lovely passage of God’s blessings through nature, because it is chanted at the start of every vespers. The brilliant spiritual writer Nikitas Stethatos uses the verse to describe the progress of a human being on the way to spiritual perfection (On the Inner Nature of Things, 90).

He realizes that for a beginner on the…

Upon entering an Orthodox church for the first time, one cannot help but notice the icons of the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary ahead, at the left side of the Royal Doors on the icon screen, and elsewhere in the vestibule and adorning the walls of the nave. She gives a face and personality to the Church. We believers are proud of her, and we…

New missions are fun. No sooner does one come for liturgy when somebody asks him or her to help out in some way. It’s not an ordinary parish where all is fixed and in order. It may be a rented hall or room used for other purposes. Altar tables must be brought out, icon screen set up, icons placed, choir stands fixed, coffee and donuts set out; and…

St. Paul is closing out this unique record of the work of the Holy Spirit in Acts, beginning at St. Peter’s sermon in Jerusalem on Pentecost to Paul’s ministry in Rome. He reflects on his own people and their reluctance to receive Jesus as the Messiah. Salvation will go forward through the Gentiles. It must have broken his heart to come to that…

I celebrate his concern. I honor his insight. I affirm his wisdom in taking the lead among the earth’s religious leaders by lifting up God’s charge to humanity for all that He created. Is there an Orthodox Christian who is not eager to endorse this call to responsibility for all life in nature? It warms my heart to notice that other faith leaders…

I return to the book of Job every few years. I discover something new with each fresh reading. Of course, as our professor of homiletics, Metropolitan Andre emphasized, the words don’t change, but we do. Therefore, even after we have memorized the Bible, we ought to go on reading it daily.

Judaism is based on the Torah, the Law of Moses. It is…

In a culture of constant noise and distractions, one must pay a price for the precious golden gift of silence. We have made the glorious technological possibilities of electronic devices nothing more than noisemakers for so many who prefer the aura of stillness and quiet for the better use of their minds. Everywhere one goes in public, people are…

In pre-revolutionary Russia, when a seminarian proposed to the girl he hoped to marry and to have as his life’s companion, consort or “Matushka,” he would send her a note with the above words from the Bible. See what it suggests? You and I with God to guide us will go through life having a common purpose. Yes, marriage is about love, but it includes…

Why do we say that she, Mary the Lord’s mother, is more honorable than Cherubim and more glorious than Seraphim? How can she be considered higher than the angels? We are all asked this question in some form or another. The response is not simple. Is this mere hyperbole, poetic exaggeration, or are we serious?

It is indeed a lofty claim—that a…

St. John is warning us to flee from the world and love nothing in the sinful world, or else we shall lose the inner presence of the heavenly Father. This is asceticism. St. Paul is referring to himself when he describes having been raised above the world to the third heaven. That is mysticism. Which are you—either, neither, or both? Most likely, a…

Three sacred services of the Orthodox Church begin with the proclamation: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.” These are the Divine Liturgy par excellence, the marriage, and the baptism, the latter two demonstrating that they had once been part of the Divine Liturgy. Besides all…

The holy church sets the Gadarene demoniac [Matthew has two demoniacs] on two Sundays through the year. The message is vital for our salvation. It has to do with passions and the imperative to conquer them before we leave this lifetime.

A basic problem is that for our society passions are considered to be expressions of sincerity. A good thing.…

St. Paul was writing to Rome, a church he had never visited, yet he was certain that they had been praying for him. Prayer is what makes the Church one in Christ. Without prayer we are no more than any secular organization. Prayer is what unites us with the Holy Trinity and with one another. It is the language we all speak, though we do so in a…

It’s what the priest does at the beginning of the baptism sacrament—he breathes on the person presented in order to become a Christian. What do we think of but the very creation of the human being when “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). This time it’s not to an…

After the many blessings of the wedding couple, the Church adds the ecstasy of joy which Queen Helen experienced in Jerusalem when her scholars discovered the very cross on which our Lord, God and Savior had been crucified. What material object could be more precious to a Christian? We venerate it, display it and even kiss it as a sign of reverence.…

Those of us who encourage others to read the Bible, especially the New Testament and Psalms for guidance and comfort, understand that the advice will not always be heeded. People in a state of depression often like to think that nothing and nobody can help, not even the Lord revealed in the sacred scriptures. What a pity. They would find in Jesus…

Oh, what a powerful statement, and from the lips of the same loving Lord who said that we were not to judge, but rather to forgive all sinners. However, it’s not really a condemnation, but rather a prophecy of the ultimate fate of anybody who would twist an innocent child’s mind and cause him or her to sin. This includes the obviously notorious who…

Who can dispute these glorious words and the message of mutual love, which is the hallmark of Christianity? How many poems and songs have this precious entreaty at its base? Can it be possible that any rational person might confuse or misunderstand its sacred meaning? And yet the great theologian, St. Maximus the Confessor, in writing about love,…