Keeping one’s mind and heart in a good place Walking through life with a smile on your face and a song in your heart is the best way to keep your mind and heart in a good place. Life has many turns and many trials, but when you keep centered
Receiving temptations with a peaceful heart Trials and temptations, when received by a peaceful heart, bring forth healing and make the soul stronger and healthier. Reacting does nothing but usher in paralysis of the soul, for it binds us to our fallen nature. When we receive all temptations with a
Keeping ourselves vigilant There are certain sins that become habitual, sins that we seem to repeat over and over again. We feel powerless against temptation, and a sense of resignation overtakes us. Saint Isaac the Syrian suggests that we confront these struggles head on. “If you bear your weakness constantly
The two centers of our Orthodox Christian life The catholicity of our Orthodox way of life finds its roots in the link between the monastery and the parish. Both are essential to the life of the Church, and neither is better than the other. The monastic life is not better
Living behind the mask of our own invention We are creatures who fool around with ambition, but are too weak to work on those things that will bring about infinite joy. Like the child who plays with his toys, but refuses to learn how to read and write, our distraction
Reaching out to our youth where they are Father Maxim Kurlenko, an Orthodox priest in Moscow, Russia, has a ministry of outreach to disenfranchised Russian youth through his use of rap music. Another priest has a mission next to his church that resembles a night club, a place where young
Commit to turning 2015 into the Year of Renewal According to Professor Mark Silk of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., “The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal.” Increasing, we are a
December 25th or January 7th? Regarding the Church Calendar (also known as the Old Calendar, and 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
Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Please continue praying for me. I have been unable to serve this week, so Hieromonk Paul is having to do all the Nativity services. I’ve got a lot of healing to do before I’m back to normal. The atrial fibrillation is especially hard on me,
An update on the health of Abbot Tryphon Abbot Tryphon went to see his primary care physician on Wednesday, following the advice of Abbess Markella of the Monastery of the Life Giving Spring in Dunlap, CA. Father had served as the keynote speaker for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s annual college