The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, Mary, having spent her life after Pentecost supporting and serving the nascent Church, was living in the house of the Apostle John, in Jerusalem, when the Archangel Gabriel revealed to her that
Author: Abbot Tryphon
I am abbot of All-Merciful Saviour Orthodox Monastery (ROCOR) on Vashon Island, WA. The island is a twenty minute ferry ride from West Seattle, and a fifteen minute crossing from Tacoma.
Surrounded by the Salish Sea, the island is some 87% undeveloped forest, with a rural population of around eleven thousand citizens. If you wish to contact me personally, you can email me at: abbottryphon@vashonmonks.com
The Destruction of the Ego Begins with Repentance Modern psychology has told us we must feel good about ourselves, and instructed us to reject the idea of guilt and sin. Sin is seen as religion’s instrument for keeping people in line, making them dependent on an institution that should be
As Christians We Need to Impart Christ’s Love to Others Several years ago I was sitting in a Seattle coffee house, laptop open, working on correspondence. Two young college-age men were sitting at a table about two feet away. One of them made a rude remark that was obviously meant
The Eucharist is the Greatest Miracle Of all the miracles of Christ, the greatest is the Eucharist. The Gospels are filled with accounts of miracles performed by Christ, but the greatest of them all was when He offered the simple elements of bread and wine, made by man, and
Humankind is a Microcosm of the Whole Universe It has been said that humans are a microcosm of the whole universe because we have within ourselves the entire material world and with it all the noetic powers of the cosmos. Created as we were for immortality, it is our fallen
The Energy of the Mind Inside the Heart In the patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. This self-awareness is the energy of the mind inside the heart, something the holy fathers referred to as our “noetic faculty”. There is an important distinction that must be noted
And Our Capacity to Reject the Will of God According to Saint Gregory Palamas, God has given us lordship over all the earth because of our capacity for sovereignty. With this sovereignty comes the responsibility to be good stewards of that which God has given us. Saint Gregory wrote, “There
Putting Our Trust in God, Regardless It is often difficult for us to put our total trust in God. We have our own agenda as to what WE think needs to happen and wonder where God is when we don’t get the answer to our prayers the way we think