The Spiritually Rich Man Needs Nothing More The spiritually rich man is someone who is happy with what he has and doesn’t need anything more. The spiritually poor man is one who has everything but it is never happy. The spiritually rich man is one who is always satisfied with
Spiritual Pain Control or Spiritual Healing? Since the Church is a hospital for the soul wherein we come for healing, it is important that we take full advantage of all the resources the Church offers us for such healing. Frequent confession, where we bare our sins before God with the
Counteracting the Dark Side of the Internet I often google topics that interest me, finding information that would have required hours in the library in the past. I’ve visited Russian monasteries, watched videos of chanters in Greek monasteries, viewed Orthodox patriarchs serving the Divine Liturgy, all on the Internet. I’ve
Proper Preparation for Receiving the Holy Mysteries The Russian Orthodox Church requires anyone who desires to receive Holy Communion prepare themselves with confession, the Precommunion Prayers and to abstain from food or drink from midnight on. Most of the world’s Local Orthodox Churches hold to this standard, recognizing that the
MURDERED Pope Tawadros Egypt: Muslims murder Coptic priest Coptic Pope Tawadros, spiritual leader of Egypt’s 12 million Christians, giving his blessing to the removal of Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi, and His Holiness’s having attended the announcement by armed forces commander General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suspending the constitution, sectarian violence erupted
How to Kill the Ego In our self-centered age we have come to believe we must feel good about ourselves and have rejected the idea of guilt and sin. Sin is seen as religion’s outdated instrument for keeping people in line, making them dependent on an institution that should be
How your Soul Differs from that of an Animal The Orthodox Church teaches that animals have souls, although not the same as ours. When conceived, God bestows upon us the nous, which distinguishes us from the other animals. It is the nous that is the eye of the soul, intelligent
The Role of Saints in our Christian Lives Growing up Lutheran I always believe the veneration of saints by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians was a form of idolatry. They were idolaters because they “worshiped saints”. This worship of the saints was a major stumbling block for most protestants, since
And the Struggle Between Two Worlds The world is in a new struggle not unlike that which happened during the Soviet Union and the cold war that was brought on after the fall of the Royal House of Romanov. This was followed by World War II when we saw the
Two young bucks in our yard Looking for Hopein all the Right Places Earlier this evening I was listening to one of the last songs recorded by Johnny Cash, probably the best country western singer of all time. The line in his song, “put me in my box on