Category: The Morning Offering

The Role of the Saints in the Life of a Christian Growing up Lutheran I always believed the veneration of saints by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians was a form of idolatry. They were idolaters because they “worshiped saints”. This worship of the saints was a major stumbling block for

Beware of False Idols Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object worshiped as though it were a god. Idolatry can also involve objects, persons, entertainment, even self. Anything that replaces the centrality of God in our life, can be a form of idolatry.

Consolation Follows Repentance “When the cares of my heart are many, Thy consolations cheer my heart (Psalm 94:19).” True repentance and Christian living proceeds God’s consolation. We reach out to God in every act we do, and in every activity we perform, all the while seeking to acquire a sense

Church as Hospital of the Soul Our Orthodox Faith defines sin as an illness that is in need of healing, not as a crime that requires punishment. The Church is a hospital for the soul whose therapists (priests) first sought therapy and then became therapists. As a healing institution the

The Past, the Future, and the Present Sometimes we get so bogged down with regret, and we fail to move on and grab the moment. The wonderful thing about the Mystery of Confession is the gift we are given, by our loving God, to receive absolution, and move into the

The Life in the Kingdom to Come will be Eternal The Divine Liturgy begins with the words, “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages”. This kingdom is our true home and our lives as

The Meaning of Salvation in the Ancient Church According to Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Dean of the Athens University School of Theology, “For we Orthodox the unique and absolute goal of life in Christ is theosis, our union with God, so that man – through his participation in God’s uncreated energy

Arming Our Children With Spiritual Weapons It is essential that we expose our youth to the teachings of the Church, and offer them serious facts about traditional Christianity, while letting them see that faith is not simply a religious expression of the ethnic heritage of their parents, or of keeping

Metaphysical Philosophy and Pure Theology There are only a few Orthodox saints who have been given the honor of being called “theologians”. Saint John the Theologian and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, to give two examples, were declared Theologians by the Church, because their theology was the result of their