How do we keep our youth in the Church? We are living in an age that has witnessed changes on a massive scale as never before. The way we communicate has changed with the coming of the internet, with information available that would have required a library and advanced degrees
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
Abbot Tryphon speaks on the importance of House Cleaning (YouTube click here)
“The rich exist for the sake of the poor. The poor exist for the salvation of the rich.” Saint Gennadius of Constantinople 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
The soul requires discipline to overcome disinclination The soul suffers from a certain blindness when it comes to itself. In its desire to be more relaxed, indolence, insensitivity and deceit rule the soul, and in our refusal to master the work of salvation, complacency sets in. Since no one can
Detachment and the life of a Christian Detachment from the world is not necessarily cutting off all social contact with people, or avoiding any exposure to or contact with things of the world in some sort of pharisaical obsession with keeping oneself ritually ‘pure’. The work of purification is an
Christ is both human and Divine When the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became incarnate, He took on Himself the entirety of human nature. From that moment on in Jesus Christ there were two natures, two minds, two wills, all united in the One Person of the One Christ.
We Chrisitians are collectively united in Christ The Church Fathers saw Orthodoxy as a Way of Life, rather than a religion. Although the Church has many of the same attributes as religion, this does not mean she is herself a religious institution. Rather, she is a Hospital for the Soul,
Also known as the Feast of Lights The Feast of the Holy Theophany of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ is celebrated each year on January 6 (19 New Style). The Feast commemorates the Baptism of Christ and the divine revelation of the Holy Trinity. At the Baptism of
Do not turn to the right or to the left (Prov. 4:7) Evil is the sickness of the soul, for it deprives the soul of its own healthy nature, which is virtue. Virtues are in the middle between excess and laxness. It is the middle way that keeps us on