Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5) If we are to be true to our calling as the children of God, we must live in imitation of Christ. We must imitate His meekness and humility. We must love others just as did He. We must be willing to be
Category: The Morning Offering
Good Deeds Must Come From The Heart If the performance of good deeds are done in order to attain personal benefit for oneself, or to receive the praise of others, it falls under the sin of avarice, vanity, and greed. Anyone who performs good deeds for such purposes is guilty
Frank Atwood, Who Was Tonsured A Monk With The Name Ephraim, Has Been Executed By The State Of Arizona For eight years I served as the Orthodox chaplain in two State of Washington prisons, eventually stepping down to begin my eighteen years of service to our island’s fire department, as
We Must Embrace Our Material Self, Together With Our Soul Unlike angels, who are entirely spiritual beings, God has made each of us as creatures dwelling in a material world. To be whole, we must worship God both in body and soul. This teaching is central to our Christian faith
Prayer should be the vehicle that takes us into the Heart of God Over the years, as strange as it may seem, we’ve had a number of people ask us if we’d pray they win the lottery, promising that if they did they’d donate a large portion to the brotherhood.
Living Our Lives in Total Commitment Christianity is a religion of asceticism, instructing us to store up our treasures in heaven, where the benefits have eternal value. Throughout the New Testament we read of the importance of struggle, where focus on the acquisition of a humble and contrite heart is
Sanctification Refers to Becoming Christ-like Through Theosis The Orthodox understanding of salvation, with its emphasis on the process of becoming united to God through deification, clearly departs from the view held by evangelicals, with their emphasis on change that begins with the moment they begin to believe. Whereas the evangelical
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
Do unto others as you would have done unto you​ (Luke 6:31​)​​ It is a terrible temptation to wish our enemies destruction. Our Lord instructs us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us or persecute us. To wish for their destruction is to ignore