When we lose someone that is very near and dear to us, we are troubled by a solitary, perplexing question that we cannot answer, and it seems that no one else can give us a satisfactory response for it either. We all have the question, “WHY why did our loved one die?” It is a very natural…
Words are wonderful. June 30 is the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles. What is a Synaxis?
Interestingly, synaxis is a Greek word directly related to synagogue, both which mean “gathering. On June 29, we celebrate the memory of the Chief Apostles, Peter and Paul,…
Hank Hanegraaff is well-known as the “Bible Answer Man.” His recent conversion from Protestantism to Orthodoxy has caused comments across a wide spectrum of opinion. Some people have welcomed him home to the true Orthodox faith. Others say he has forfeited his soul by abandoning the faith of the Bible.
The…
Iceland has been in the news lately. For one thing, it has been named by the World Happiness Report as the third happiest country in the world. Only Norway and Denmark are even happier.
Two of the criteria by which countries are judged are national wealth per capita and perceived freedom from corruption in government…
by Father Andrew Morbey
The American poet and Orthodox convert, Scott Cairns, writes in a chapter of God For Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter:
.... at first, I was surely among the crew that Father Alexander Schmemann acknowledges when he writes (in his amazing and very helpful book, Great Lent), “For many, if not for the majority…
Orthodox Christian Scriptures proclaim—and the Liturgy celebrates, the Sacraments realize, the Icons depict, the Canons protect, the Martyrs witness, the Fathers explain, and the Saints live—the Blessed Exchange that God accomplished in the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and glorification of His Son Jesus…
by Matushka Valerie Zahirsky
When the great boxing champion Muhammad Ali died recently, events in his life were reviewed in the media. One of those events was Ali’s public embrace of Islam and his rejection of his birth name, Cassius Marcellus Clay, which he denounced as a “slave name.”
One has to wonder whether Ali really understood what…
by Father Theophan Whitfield
On the weekend of Palm Sunday, we begin the celebration of Holy Week—a 10-day long procession to the Cross, to the tomb, and to the Resurrection. And as we get ready, our Lord extends the same invitation to us as He extended to James and John. To all of us who wish to see His glory, who desire to be by His side at…
“The end is approaching, O my soul – it is approaching! So why do you not care or prepare yourself for it? Arise! The time is short! The Judge already stands at the door. Life is vanishing like a dream – so why do you continue living in vanity? Arise, O my soul, and reveal the evil things you have done. Ponder them well and…
by Father J. Sergius Halvorsen
Everyone loves a winner.
We celebrate athletes that run and jump, throw and catch better and faster than anyone else. We marvel at entrepreneurs who start companies that earn billions of dollars. We idolize the actors and musicians who are at the top of their craft. Everyone loves a winner.
We live in a culture…
by Fr. John Parker
The Great 40 Days are generally considered to be a time of introspection and repentance. The very first words of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew indicate the way: “Where shall I begin to lament the deeds of my wretched life? What first-fruit shall I offer, O Christ, for my present lamentation?”
The kontakion we sing in…
During Catechumens class last weekend, I offered an explanation of the Icon of the Nativity. How beautiful it is that this Holy Icon tells the entire Nativity Story in one remarkable image! In the upper left, we see the three magi, those remarkable Persian Stargazers, who feature prominently in the Troparion of the Nativity:…
All-hallow’s Eve—Halloween—is the night before the sacred remembrance of the Feast of All Saints on the calendars of the Roman Catholic and some Protestant Churches.
The word “saint” evokes many images in our minds. For some, saints are religious heroes of old, whose lives of piety and good works are the “stuff of…
For the first several days of October, South Carolina was hit by a storm of epic proportions. Boone Hall Plantation—three miles from my residence—received 26.88 inches of rain in three days time. While numbers vary according to temperature, that would be the equivalent of 268 inches, or 22 feet, of snow. Charleston, SC,…
In a single sentence, it could be said that evangelization is everyone’s business, since it is every baptized Christian’s vocation to bear witness to what he or she has seen and heard, to speak of all the good that God has done in his or her life, to share the “Good News” of the Gospel in word and deed with everyone who will…
In early May 2012, Jessica Precop, on behalf of the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry, traveled to the Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Rives Junction, MI, to interview Archimandrite Roman [Braga], who grew up and served in Romania under the…
When I was young, I would get to watch some great TV cartoons during the Christmas season. Waiting to devour a bowl of popcorn, I would anxiously anticipate the appearance of the “special presentation” logo and with abandon throw myself into the stories of Frosty, Kris Kringle, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Nowadays,…
“Before Thy cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy resurrection we glorify.”
In our culture, crosses appear everywhere—on the train, at the mall, cut and designed from metals, stones, and wood, and dangling on chains around the necks of men, women, and children. Crosses are emblazoned as tattoos on…
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not…
This article, recently translated by Archpriest Alexis Vinogradov, appears in a collection of talks and essays titled L’Appel de l’Esprit, Église et Société, les Editions Cerf, Paris 2001. The text originally appeared in “To Christians of My Nation,” Lissan-ul-Hal, January 14, 1968.
