Snow for Sunday morning Short Prayers used in Personal Devotion Many Church Fathers taught the use of the “arrow prayer”, deliberately short prayers for personal devotion that were easily remembered, and could communicate one’s love for God, while seeking His help. They were like arrows being shot into the air,
Lives Transformed Impart 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 an image
We Are Our Brothers Keeper Countless fellow Americans are about to lose their extended unemployment payments. This translates into the fact that even more individuals and families will be facing homelessness. Through no fault of their own, these people are facing the likelihood they will be forced to live in
On Being a Good Father I’ll forever be grateful for the love and support I received from my father. My dad never let a day pass without assuring his two sons of his love and acceptance. Albert Parsons always imaged to his sons the importance of living an honest life,
Whom Do We See When We Look into the Face of Another? Our world is polarized in ways not seen in many generations. This polarization is bought closer to home because we now live in a nation that is far more cosmopolitan than in the past. Even small towns across
Tapping into the Noetic Memory of the Heart The heart does not only have a natural operation as a mere pump that circulates blood. In Orthodox patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (+1809) calls the heart a natural and supernatural
Looking Only for the Good in Others The newly glorified (canonized) Saint Paisios of the Holy Mountain said there are two types of people. There are the bees and the flies. The bees are attracted to flowers and sweet smells, whereas the flies are only attracted to dirt and stench.
The Communal Nature of Salvation Salvation is communal by its very nature. The fierce individualism found in much of what claims to be Christianity is in opposition to the Orthodox understanding of faith. The Church as the Body of Christ is where we are united in Christ, becoming part of
When People Don’t Forgive There are people who insist on holding on to resentment, often inventing situations in their minds that never happened, justifying their bad behavior, and putting the blame on others. They see themselves as the abused party, always quick to take offense. Rarely are they able to
Struggling with the Passions As we struggle with our passions, the only way we can overcome our sin is through humility. The snares of the enemy are all around us, and if we think we can win the battle with the enemy without humility, we are wrong. Love in Christ,