Hammi the Norwegian Forest Cat, and his Norwegian Abbot friend Soon after moving our monastery from a rental house and into the temporary quarters of an old trailer house, Hammi arrived. We startled each other midway between the foundations of what is now the library and the trailer. I reached
Holiness comes only to those who struggle Not an hour should pass without taking time to examine our heart, for the hour of judgement can come at any time, and we must be ready to give account to God for our life. When we practice examination of the heart, we
Modesty should govern the way we dress The Old Testament is filled with the image of God’s people being a holy people, set apart. The ancient Israelites were not like their neighbors. Their values and their faith impacted everything about them. They dressed differently than many of their neighboring pagan
The role of bodily suffering in the salvation of human kind Elder Ambrose of Optina Monastery said, “We should not forget that in our age of ‘sophistication’ even little children are spiritually harmed by what they see and hear. As a result, purification is required, and this is only accomplished
The Ship that is the Church The nave of every Orthodox temple is symbolic of the image of the Church as being a ship. As the waves of passions confront us and threaten to hurtle us against the rocks, it is good to remember that as long as we remain
The Condescension of God and the Deification of Man Those of us who observe the Julian Calendar are now about to complete the Nativity Fast, where we have abstained from meat, eggs, dairy products, anger, envy and other habits, for the sake of promoting the discipline the soul. We are
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
“Do not turn to the right or to the left (Prov. 4:7).” Evil is the sickness of the soul, for it deprives the soul of its own healthy nature, which is virtue. Virtues are in the middle between excess and laxness. It is the middle way that keeps us on
We must not react, we must be at peace Each day brings on new challenges regarding the health of your soul. Those moments when a family member or coworker makes a remark that are meant to anger you, are those times you need to guard your heart. When those around
Closed Communion in the Orthodox Church When a stranger approaches the Holy Gifts during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy it is the norm in the Orthodox Church for the priest to ask the person to “kiss the chalice”. Not knowing if the person is Orthodox, or whether they are