Many gay men and lesbians claim that the Christian faith is the guiding rule of their lives. Some of them hold that their sexual orientation is given by God, that it is good, and that there is nothing wrong or sinful with their homosexual activities. These persons say that the Bible and Church Tradition do not condemn…
Great Lent is a wonderful, if trying, time. It’s an opportunity to recharge our spiritual batteries and tell ourselves that despite falling down all year, now is the time to get back up. It’s a time to guard ourselves and give of ourselves in a multitude of ways. We often hear that it is not enough to merely abstain…
When Lent arrives, parents have schedules to maneuver, menus to plan, and services to squeeze in on busy school nights. We take stock: when does Holy Week fall? Whose birthday will be trumped by Lent this year? How will we make it to the extra services when we are in the middle of Little League season?
The following collected words of wisdom from…
This past summer, I was working out at the YMCA for an hour a day, five days a week. Thanks to free child-care, I was able to aerobicise, weight lift, and torture my core muscles via Pilates on a very regular basis, and I felt strong, lean, alert. When fall rolled around, however, my schedule got a whole lot tighter and more…
by Metropolitan Jonah
In what is necessary, unity; in what is dubious, diversity; in all things, charity.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Creativity is inherent within the Tradition, as synergy vivified by the energy of the Holy Spirit. It is the power that fuels the continual growth of the life of the Church, and its adaptation to each new cultural…
Despite her trembling limbs and the contorted expression on her tear-stained face, I thought she was graceful and beautiful, like a Barbie Doll. I was seven-years-old, drinking ginger ale straight from the can on a queen-sized bed in a Holiday Inn. On the television screen in our hotel room, a sparkling evening gown clad…
Over Christmas break, while staying with my parents and brother’s family at the endearingly rustic Turkey Run Inn in Southern Indiana, the unseasonably warm weather and our wide open schedule beckoned us out of doors for a nature hike. We made for a motley crew of explorers, my husband, Troy, our three oldest kids, niece…
St John Chrysostom’s Catechetical Homily, proclaimed during the Paschal Vigil at Matins, is one of the most profound moments of the Resurrectional Celebration. It paves the way for the rich celebration of the Paschal Divine Liturgy, leaving no one without cause for receiving with joy the triumphal news, “Christ is Risen!” It…
The driving guitar rift and raspy-voiced lyrics of this Rolling Stones classic gives a kind of pop-articulation to the disaffection of the lonely and alienated urbanite who, try as he might, just cannot succeed at satisfying the material and romantic/sexual goals droned into his mind on the radio and TV. Nevertheless, this song—regardless of its…
“If an earthly king, our emperor,” wrote Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-83), “wrote you a letter, would you not read it with joy? Certainly, with great rejoicing and careful attention.” But what, he asks, is our attitude toward the letter that has been…
Hello. My name is Vera Faith Lord. I am the Director of Alpha Omega Life, Orthodox Christian Pro-Life Outreach. I have with me today the Chairman of my Board of Directors, Father George Livanos, Fr. Theodore Petrides, Fr. Jerry Hall, Fr. Frank Milanese, Fr. John Touloumes, Fr. Kosta Petrogeorge, and Mother Abbess Christophora.
Today as I speak to…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This reflection on Holy Week was written in 1998 by Dr. Constance Tarasar, who chaired the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Christian Education and served as Executive Secretary of the Orthodox Christian Education Commission for many years before her repose in 2014. The text also is available in PDF format for reproduction…