“Thoughts in Christ”

America is a puzzle even for us Americans. Imagine how we look to the world. We export the majority of what passes for a universal culture. Our motion pictures dominate the screens on six continents. Our television studios have invaded other countries with our TV shows, movies and sitcoms. Indeed, our version of perversion is one of our major…

In the early days of the immigration of Slavs and other Orthodox Christians to America, many of them succumbed to the lure of the Episcopal Church. They felt it to be non-papal and yet having an external form of devotion much like they remembered in the Old World—structure, liturgical ceremony with choirs, incense, vestments and the other external…

We can only imagine what was going through the mind of our Lord, Jesus Christ at the time. He was leading His disciples to Jerusalem. He had been preparing them for the ordeal that He would endure there at the hands of their own people and the Romans. Then two of His inner circle approached to ask for a special favor—that they be given positions…

On my shelf are four thick volumes of prayers for special occasions. They are called “Books of Needs.” They include prayers for ewes and cows that cannot give birth, wells that run dry, blessings of fields and barns, but for our times and life styles, other such prayers that may no longer appear relevant. Clearly there may be little call for many of…

Today’s computers claim to offer instantaneous information on any topic imaginable. One need only to access a topic using the search engines, among the best being Google, the contemporary version of the old-fashioned encyclopedia. It’s actually a parody of the encyclopedia. Remember the old song: “Barney Google with the goo-goo-googley eyes?” Same…

To be a genuine Orthodox Christian is to share in the joy of fellowship gathered around the holy Mother of God, Mary the ever-virgin one. Yet in America a hesitancy arises even with the Church among the faithful. What is so normal and self-evident an attribute of the Church as family must be explained, even defended in our nation. The uncertainty…

O my poor, brave wonderful Serb brothers and sisters. In little more than a decade you have lost to Muslims and atheists so much of your precious territories in Bosnia and Kosovo. My own nation duped by the crafty and relentless led the plunder of those lands via NATO. I thought of the Serbs as I read one of their great poets who died in 1991, Vasko…

For three years a seminarian will be praying in the chapel of the institution dedicated to equipping him for the life of the holy priesthood. He will read those words above that are written on the scroll that Christ holds on His icon to the right of the Royal Doors of the holy altar. At least twice a day he will remind himself of the reason he is…

The prophet-priest Ezekiel is explaining the vision given to him by the river Chebar when he was in exile with his fellow Hebrews in Babylon. This gift was an encouragement to have faith in the Lord who would return them to their own land.

Angels are categorized in three sets of three types. The highest group is the Seraphim, the Cherubim and the…

It has always been true that the Christians were to pray for and to obey the civil authorities. That is both consistent through Church history and the official doctrine of the Church. It’s the official teaching, even when the ruler is a tyrant or a persecutor of Christians such as Diocletian and Nero. St. Paul insists on this rule for several…

A young man asked me if Jesus had a sense of humor. I told him that there’s little evidence of it in His words from the gospels. But as I reflected on it later, I’m not so sure. Granted, some scholars point to the exaggerations He made, such as the above comment on the wealthy, or others like it: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a…

Study these sentences and you will learn much about the Holy Trinity. The first lesson is the connection between love and obedience. Ours is a culture where defiance is acceptable behavior in many places: Children defying parents and teachers, adults defying the Church and its teachers, nearly everyone challenging the laws of society, all affirming…

When man fell and went astray, hopelessly lost and even unaware that he had a direction, goal and purpose for living, God in Christ emptied Himself, as St. Paul put it so clearly. But when Christ came to put it aright, offering a new and glorious way back to the Father, and when He ascended from the earth, then the Holy Spirit descended upon the…

Something is new under the sun. A great mystery is revealed—the birth of the Church with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is accidental to those who live by the light of Christ, and it is not by accident that Pentecost is celebrated by the Church near the time of graduation from schools and universities in our secular society. Pentecost is…

It pleases me to listen to the chanting in our churches done in English by those whose native language is not ours. They don’t get our articles right, especially “the.” The “th” comes out with a French “z” or a harsh “d,” but no matter. They try. They work at it, and to me it’s a beautiful accent. Better than to flow along in Old World tongues,…

Once I was asked: “Why should I say that I’m the ‘first of sinners’ in the prayer before Communion? I’m not the first. I know many people who are worse than I.”

I told the communicant that it’s a direct quote from St. Paul who felt that way about himself, and I wasn’t sure he was ready to put himself in the class of the Apostle. I understood,…

What we know of Titus comes mostly from his worth to St. Paul. He called Titus my trusted son. He meant by that Titus was initiated into the faith and maybe even baptized by the great apostle. When he was going up to Jerusalem, knowing he was distrusted for his former persecution of the Church, disliked and suspected by many of the Christians there,…

While the choir is singing and the Royal Doors are shut, and as I stand before the holy altar cutting the sacred Host into pieces to place them in the chalice, I worry that they will be sufficient for the multitude of communicants—and they always are. What a glorious privilege it is to be appointed distributor of the Body and Blood of Christ. I…

It’s time to rise, Mom, and leave the earth behind you
Rise up from the casket and pass on through
Your legs now work again; you may run if you choose
Like the little girl you once were—but there’s precious time to lose

Oh, go Mom, go and don’t turn around
For you’ll see now what we cannot, we creatures still earthbound
It’s all brightness there;…

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Christian churches had distributed bracelets to their children with the letters on them: WWJD. In each situation they found themselves they were encouraged to ponder the acronym: What would Jesus do? What’s wrong with that? Perspective! It turns prayer into simple reflection. It makes Jesus a memory rather…