The Decline of Christianity in America Some thirty-six years ago our monastic brotherhood arrived on Vashon Island, establishing ourselves in a rental house near the Village of Dockton. This little village had two churches, built by the original founders of the community. Dockton, in the 1880’s, had the largest dry
Category: The Morning Offering
How do we know the Word? https://www.brighteon.com/c42f31b0-b250-4ae6-8f42-218d7e12f52d
And Our Struggle for Repentance In our struggle on the path to God, repentance must be the central theme. In our fallen state, our brokenness keeps us separated from God, for our darkened nous can not see clearly. Repentance changes our nous, clearing the way for complete union with Christ,
Is all darkness spiritual? “Abbot, I live near you and the depression from lack of sunlight is very hard to tolerate. When I’ve lived in sunny and warm climates I have felt fine. Do you ever have this problem? What do you do, if so? I know it’s partially always
When We Fall We Must Get Up Again It is often the case that we fail to keep God’s commandments and find ourselves despondent, unable to make progress in the battle over our sins. The same sins seem to constantly plague us. Despondency is our enemy, for it is the
Salvation is not skin-deep. https://www.brighteon.com/ad6ce4ae-e9c3-4435-9e01-62c6e1aed731
Thoughts on the Oneness of Creation 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 known as
“The chief end of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end the Son of God became incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the fall into sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we enter into communion
The Jesus Prayer and the Acquisition of Inner Peace The Jesus Prayer, also known as the Prayer of the Heart, is the central prayer for monastics. One of the early desert fathers, Saint Macarius the Great, said of the phrase from the Psalms, “The meditation of my heart is in
We Must Not Repay Evil For Evil The decision to forgive another person a wrong done to us begins when we decide to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. To forgive someone does not mean that we forget what they did to us, for this may be impossible.