Visitors from Norway, together with Hammi, the Norwegian Forest Cat Cooperating with the Physician of Our Souls Although imprecise, we often use anthropomorphic language when speaking about God. Thus, we can say that God is like a mother whose sick child is in need of healing, and is not offended
Walking Together Towards the Kingdom I recently heard a wonderful story of a group of African children who were assembled before a large basket of fresh fruit. They were told that the first child who could reach the basket could have all the fruit for themselves. The Western adults who
Members of Saint Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church visit monastery Sin is the Sign of Our Illness In our sense of guilt over our sinful nature, it is quite easy to gaze upon God as though looking upon a judge. We, as sinners, are guilty, and we stand in the dock
My bodyguards at Pacific Lutheran University Ministry is Never about Me This blog article is late, and whenever I am this late, someone, somewhere, will email me, wondering if I am alright. Since many of my essays are posted shortly after midnight, or certainly before eight in the morning, when
When God Seems Absent We all have those moments in our lives when we feel as though God is absent, even perhaps nonexistent. Those times leave us feeling alone and abandoned, as though we are lost in an empty stadium. We feel as though we are on a boat that
Remembering to Give Thanks Frequently “We thank thee, O Christ our God, that thou hast satisfied us with thy earthly gifts, deprive us not of thy Heavenly Kingdom; but as thou entered into the midst of thy disciples, O Saviour, and gave them peace, enter also among us and save
If we make every effort to live each day with an eager and grateful heart, receiving everything that comes to us with a joyful anticipation, virtue will increase, and we will have gained the Kingdom. Without a grateful heart, virtue will remain but a distant land, and spiritual growth will
Taking Orthodoxy beyond the Self-Congratulatory Archbishop Averky of Syracuse, of blessed memory, once said of converts, “they are like envelopes, they have a tendency to come unglued”. Many a convert, once they’ve embraced the Orthodox Faith, mistakenly given themselves over to a zealotry that is without any form of temperance.
Interior of monastery’s cupola Ancestral Sin versus Original Sin The fact that we Orthodox do not accept the doctrine of original sin as espoused in the West, does in no way suggest that we do not need to be born again (born anew). We believe, as did the Early Church
The Place Where Heaven and Earth are United As a priest, I bear the awesome burden of offering the Holy Oblation before the Throne of God, on behalf of all the people who’s names are submitted to the monastery, and who are Orthodox. I offer for my spiritual children, and