God shares His Divinity with our humanity The idea that Christ would have incarnated in the flesh, even if Adam and Eve had not fallen, was taught by a number of early Church Fathers. Although not a formal teaching of the Orthodox Church, the understanding comes from the view that
Category: The Morning Offering
The eye of the soul and the mind of the heart There is the seen, and there is the unseen, the material and the immaterial. That which is material can be scientifically examined and experienced, the immaterial can only be seen and experienced spiritually. These are two worlds that are
Grateful for the love of my mother The most important gift I received from my mother was the gift of love. She loved me, and demonstrated her love for me throughout my childhood. She also showed me how to love others, and that ability to be willing to be open
What will we experience in the after life? There is no formal doctrine in the Orthodox Church concerning the afterlife for animals, including our pets. Those Fathers of the Church who have expressed themselves on this matter were simply expressing theological opinions that have not become universally accepted, and remain
The new religions of America At seventy-three, I have witnessed many changes in the United States, but the one change that has saddened me the most is that Christianity has been replaced as the common faith of our nation, by a new religion. This new religion is devoid of Christ,
Pride destroys virtue and renders it useless The absolute necessary element for salvation is faith, and the enemy of faith is pride. Our faith in Christ will bring us into everlasting life, because faith brings us into communion with God. Pride destroys faith because it makes us believe we do
The two natures of the Church image the two natures of Christ Christ, the God-man, was equally divine and human, and His Church is an image of this dual nature. Since we are not fully realized as the children of the Most High, journeying, as we are, to the Kingdom
Thinking upon our own death Saint Sisoes, the great ascetic, standing before the tomb of Alexander the Great, beheld the skeletal remains of one who was once covered in magnificent garments. Astonished, the saint mourned for the vicissitudes of time and the transience of glory, and tearfully proclaimed, “The mere
Disappointments are meaningless with peace of heart We often find ourselves disappointed in life. The job we really wanted is given to another person. An associate at work doesn’t invite us to the dinner party, yet invited a coworker and his wife. A person we’d love to have as a
Blame for all that is wrong with the world rests with me “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we