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
Love turns chaos into harmony The inevitability of death is particularly difficult to face for most Americans. We’ve become a people that eschew traditional funerals, preferring to “celebrate” the life of our loved one, while disposing of the body, and banning any sign of death from the memorial service. Yet
Keeping a positive attitude Our attitude has an impact that can keep us from growing spiritually. A bad attitude impacts the way we live, and hurts those around us, negatively influencing our family, our friends, and our church community. We must commit ourselves to keeping a positive attitude, for negative
Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man 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 invoking departed souls. They also
The Church’s definition of repentance The act of repentance is the moment when we recognize the wrong we’ve done, either to another person, or to God. At the moment we accept we’ve failed to live as God intended, we must seek out to rectify our transgression by reaching out to
We must struggle to put off the old self As we struggle to make spiritual progress we do battle with the old self. We work against old habits that have kept us stuck and prevented the change we so desire in our quest for communion with God. Our sins and
We must pray for help in our struggle for repentance In our struggle on the path to God, repentance must be the central theme. Only in repentance will we find the true meaning of life, for only in repentance can one enter into communion with God. This life has been
And the opening of the doors to repentance In the Orthodox Church, the seal of confession is absolute, and there is no situation that will allow for the revelation of anything said in confession. As a member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains, I, as an Orthodox priest, am
The role of godparent is an awesome responsibility Since many baptisms took place on Holy Saturday, it is a good idea to revisit the important role godparents play in the life of the newly baptized child. Godparents are also expected to play an important role in the religious and spiritual
The difference between the doctrine of Original Sin and Ancestral Sin The fact that we Orthodox do not accept the doctrine of original sin as espoused in the West, does in no way suggest that we do not need to be born again (born anew). We believe, as did the