In the West, we view the Christmas Season as the pinnacle of happiness. We sing about it being the most wonderful time of the year in our carols. We sing of peace, happiness, and a word that often gets overlooked – joy! It may get lumped together synonymously with happiness, but joy is a peculiar […]
On Unexpected Joy Read More »
Introduction On Faith Faith is central to our modern world. We put faith in our governments, and our institutions to do what they say they will do. We put faith in our cars, buses, and bicycles to get us where we need to go. We have faith that everyday gravity will continue to work as
On Orthodox Faith & the Law of Attraction Read More »
I was speaking with a friend recently about the strange times our generation has grown up in. He recollected that once an acquaintance asked him a question he’d never heard nor thought about before. He asked my friend if he ever wondered what it would be like to simply disappear – not die and go
Summoned From Nothingness Read More »
The leaves are faded and falling as the summer has passed again. The sun’s light still shines in the sky, but it brings little warmth as the days grow shorter. The gradually sinking temperatures hint at the long winter ahead. Soon the ice, and snow, and the wind that chills to the bone, and the
Memento Mori (IX): Summer Has Passed Read More »
The conversation around open Communion is a complicated and somewhat controversial one. By open Communion, I mean allowing all people, no matter church membership, affiliation, or faith, or religion, to partake of the Eucharist during Sunday services. The Orthodox Church, following the traditional teaching of the Apostles, the ancient Church, the Fathers, and the Scriptures,
Against Open Communion Read More »
Picture, if you will, a fruit tree. Now picture that a branch is broken off from the tree and has fallen to the ground beside it. The broken branch professes faith in the same basic ideas as the still-attached branches. It uses mostly the same books and has a lot of the same forms in
Heterodox & Heretical Branches Read More »
As Christians, our job is not to innovate the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, nor reform it. It’s not to modernize the creed, dogmas, and Traditions as not to offend modern man. No, we Christians, as St. Paul said, are to stand firm and hold fast to the Traditions taught to us by word
O man, will you not cry out in your despair? Will you continue in darkness, stacking sin upon sin, covering them up in your heart thinking the Master of all does not see? Do you even recognize the heights from which you fell? There is no time to waste! Cry out to God for mercy
All-Good and Merciful Lord, I know that any enduring happiness in my life dependeth upon my wholehearted love for Thee and upon mine actions according to Thy Holy will in all things; wherefore, direct, my soul, O God, and fill my heart. I seek to please Thee alone, for Thou art my Creator and my
An Orthodox Prayer to Find a Spouse Read More »
Disclaimer: I wrote this about two months into the quarantine last year. At the time, I was an Evangelical heavily inquiring into Orthodoxy, but hadn’t yet converted, let alone attended a Divine Liturgy. Now that I’ve been brought into the Orthodox Church my views on this topic are more expanded, and even more staunch. However,
Solemn Online Assemblies Read More »
