Faith Without Works Is Dead We are not compelled to love God, having been created with free will. God does not, nor can He, compel His creatures to love Him. Mutual love requires, by its very nature, freedom to either respond in love, or not. Yet when we respond to
Keeping One’s Mind and Heart in a Good Place Walking through life with a smile on your face and a song in your heart is the best way to keep your mind and heart in a good place. Life has many turns and many trials, but when you keep centered
Pettiness is the Enemy of the Priesthood Pettiness is that sickness of the heart that can lead some clergy to constantly be on the lookout for anyone who might offend them. Ready at a moment’s notice, they are poised to confront the offender. Such clergy build up their low self
On Being Ambassadors for the Orthodox Faith Before becoming Orthodox I’d found myself wandering in a spiritual wasteland, knowing I was drying up, spiritually, and hoping there was something out there that would fill the void. Orthodoxy had not been in my scope, seeming, as it were, to be some
Never Converse With Demons In 1986 I spent fourteen days in retreat at Saint Tikhon Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. Staying in the monastic quarters, I had two weeks of wonderful fellowship with the monastics, worshiping in their temple, eating with them in trapeza, walking the trails through their forest,
None can be Saved without Compassion for Others We must not be so self-consumed as to have no compassion for others. Saint Basil tells us that a man who has two coats or two pair of shoes, when his neighbor has none, is a thief. In the Holy Scriptures we
Lives Transformed Give Witness to the Faith That our Orthodox Church possesses the totality of Apostolic Truth is a given, yet if in our weakness as believers, the obviousness of that Truth is invisible to others, we will have betrayed that Truth. If in our weakness we fail to be