The Ancient Christian Church in the modern world We are part of the worldwide Orthodox Church – the oldest Christian Church in the world. This is not a theological statement, it is an historical one. In every part of the world there are Orthodox churches, missions, and monasteries. They are
And a new beginning Today we celebrate the beginning of 2019, a New Year, and with it a chance to recommit ourselves to working harder at making changes in our lives that will lead to spiritual growth. The Lord’s patience never runs out, so we always have the invitation to
We Orthodox are Duty Bound to Share the Faith As we usher in a new year, we Orthodox Christians are duty bound to share our faith with others. Christ is for everyone, but with all the bad press Christianity has been getting during the past decade, it is especially important
I am humbled by your feedback I am humbled by the feedback I’ve received from so many of you, telling me you are blessed by my blog articles and podcasts. “The Morning Offering” was born out of my deep love for all of you, and my desire to share the
Without winter there will be no spring Like many of my readers, I’ve experience much pain and sorrow over this past year. But a beloved bishop friend gave me this sound advice: “The grass is greener where the manure is thickest.” The devil, warring against us, would have us believe
As the Living Word, God was born into our midst As the Living Word, God became one of us, taking on the condition of our flesh in every way, yet remaining sinless. In doing so, God has invited us to come out from the darkness that is our fallen nature,
Where the temporal and the eternal are connected We can be rich in liturgical correctness and wealthy in traditions, but if we do not have love and mercy, we are in reality bankrupt. Our Lord Himself made love and mercy the chief criterion whereby we will be judged on the
Taste the presence of Christ within you We all need a good dose of silent prayer each and every day. Finding that perfect place in your home that can become your cave, or prayer closet, will afford you that sacred space where you can go deep into the heart and
December 25th or January 7th? Regarding the Church Calendar (also known as the Old Calendar, or the Julian Calendar), I am grateful that our monastery is part of a jurisdiction that has remained true to the Traditional Calendar. The move to the Papal Calendar was, to my mind, divisive, and
God is in control of the forces of nature The massively destructive and deadly hurricanes that have ever increasingly been plowing into the east coast of the United States should not surprise to any of us. How could we expect there should not be consequences for a nation that has