Author: Abbot Tryphon

The True Christian Life is One Filled With Grace Many people sail through their life thinking happiness is something they have created for themselves. Good fortune, and success in work and play, is something they’ve brought about, either through struggle, or by pure luck. Yet when they experience difficult times,

An Ignored Heart is a Lost Heart It is important that we direct all our thoughts, all our actions, and all our desires towards a burning love for God. Our heart must become inflamed with the love of God, and all our intellectual and emotional striving must be directed towards

Where Heaven and Earth are Joined Whenever we have non-Orthodox visitors, I am touched by the look on their faces as they gaze for the first time at the sublime, otherworldly, beauty of the interior of our little temple. They are often speechless, just as one would be when seeing

The Saints Serve as our Guides in Serving the Poor In many parts of the American countryside one can find the remnants of poorhouses (sometimes called workhouses), institutions run by local county or state governments as a means of dealing with the issue of the unemployed poor and homeless. These

The Feast of the Revelation of the Holy Trinity Our Holy Church commemorates Theophany as the time when Saint John the Forerunner baptized his cousin, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, in the River Jordan. The Tropar or hymn for the Feast of Theophany tells us that the

We Must Put the Blame in the Right Place We all have a natural tendency to lay blame on others, when in truth we must blame only ourselves. When facing our own sins and shortcomings, it is always easy to put the blame on others, yet our faith tells us

Righteousness Is Not A Part Time Job Teachers and parents routinely remind children of the importance of refraining from giving in to peer pressure, knowing that good behavior can often be undermined by the desire to fit in with their friends and schoolmates. We adults need to remember that we,

Without Suffering the Cross cannot be Embraced In comparison to eternity, the trials we suffer in this life are but a blip on the meter. Many are suffering job loss, illnesses, mortgage foreclosures, and all kinds of strife and hardships. Yet if we look at all these difficulties in light of

Let Us Shrug Off A Dead Religiosity According to Professor Mark Silk of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., “The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal,” Increasing numbers of people are concerned