Anything that is quickly obtained is also easily lost Since we have grown accustomed to having everything happen quickly, and without delay, we also expect our spiritual lives to be on the same quick time line. We don’t have the patience to build upon the knowledge of the holy fathers,
Darkness does not exist in its own right Our Orthodox Christian theology views evil not as a primeval essence that is co-eternal and equal to God, but rather a falling away from good. Evil does not exist in and of itself, and was not created by God. Our Orthodox Church
Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us Most Protestant churches strongly reject all saintly intercession, citing passages such as 1 Timothy 2:1-5, which says that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man, as well as Deuteronomy 18:10-11 which seems to forbid
And we therefore have friends in high places The saints show us what a glorious destiny we have in God, and through the example of their lives, they point the way to our becoming “partakers of divine nature.” The saints, as the cloud of witnesses in heaven, are present in
“Silence is the Cross that crucifies the ego (Saint Seraphim of Sarov).” The desert must be a part of our daily living, for without entering into the desert of the heart, nothing can be gained. With the noise of the radio, television, the Internet, and the world of computers, iPods,
The limits of human reason and the knowledge of God The things that are of God are far beyond the capabilities of our finite mind to comprehend. According to Othodox theology, the divine can only be known through the nous, that place in the heart that is our true center.
A sort of Orthodox Readers Digest As any of you who have been following my blog articles all these many years know, I am not a theologian. Nor am I an academic. I am simply a monk who has a heart for people, and a calling from the Lord, and
Creating a Christian environment in the home Creating a Christian home begins with the icon corner. The “bright corner” becomes the center for every domestic church, and where the family devotions take place. This is also the family’s way of declaring to visitors that this is a Christian home, where
The place of holy relics in the Orthodox Church Because of the revolution during the period of the Protestant Reformation, the veneration of the saints, came under attack, leading to the burning of the bodies of saints, depriving them of even a Christian burial, and thus leading to perhaps the
Without the corporate life of the Church our sins keep us captive It is next to impossible to live as a Christian without the Church. Although immersing ourselves in the assigned daily scripture readings according to the Ecclesiastical Calendar, and keeping a Prayer Rule, are important foundations for a life