And the beauty of God’s creation As long as I can remember I’ve been a visually oriented person. I’ve always liked being surrounded by family photos, paintings and photographs on the walls, bookshelves lined with books, and the density, variety and color of an English Cottage Garden. From childhood I’ve
Category: The Morning Offering
And the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The jubilation of the Church is also the jubilation of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity at the accomplishment of our salvation. The resurrection of Christ, which brought on the defeat of the power of death, is the cause of joyful praise, because
The importance of fasting for the Orthodox Christian Our fasting is pleasing to the Lord when it is accompanied by mercy and kindness, and done without hypocrisy or pride. Fasting brings the passions under control by not only taming the body, but bringing victory over the demons. Fasting gives us
The good, the bad, and the ugly There is a lot of good that can be discovered on line. Many years ago I was charged by my archbishop with the task of addressing our Diocesan Pastoral Conference on the subject of “Fasting According to the Early Church Fathers”. Only after
The corrupting influence of clericalism Orthodoxy has traditionally avoided clericalism, yet in more recent times corruption of priestly service has enter the doors of the Orthodox Church. It has led some clergy to be motivated by a desire for power and prestige, with their sight so clouded as to endanger
In every way we must strive to restrain anger Abba Evagrius the Monk said that, “Anger is by nature designed for waging war with the demons and for struggling with every kind of sinful pleasure. Therefore angels, arousing spiritual pleasure in us and giving us to taste its blessedness, incline
Being the beauty of God in a darkened world When others see how we negotiate our life, how we treat our fellow workers, our neighbors, and our family, they should witness in us devotion and praise of God. Our deeds and our speech must reveal the love of God to
The need to reunite a society divided by age There are two major populations within our society that are seeing a statistical rise in the number of suicides. At a time when a growing body of research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those
Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit The Divine Liturgy begins with the words, “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages”. This kingdom
Open wide the doors of the Church to everyone The subject came up among clergy of our diocese as to whether it was proper to allow a man to attend services while wearing an earring. The point, as it seems to me, is to make him feel welcomed enough to