Category: The Church
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Like A Refugee
It was June 13, 1940. A young Vladimir Lossky (later to be author of The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church) was making his way on foot with the crowds from Paris who were fleeing from a victorious, invading German army. The invasion was sudden, surprising, and completely overwhelming in its success. The entire operation took no…
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Your Prayers and Assistance Needed
I began my Orthodox ministry in Knoxville, TN, with the planting of St. Anne Orthodox Church. We grew from a handful of people meeting in a home, then a warehouse, then a storefront, to a small building. That beginning was 26 years ago. The landscape of Orthodox across America and the South has changed dramatically…
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The Seeds of Love – Orthodoxy and the World
I saw a news story recently in which a student was asked for their thoughts on the recent campus turmoil. Her response, “History teaches us that only disruption brings about change.” No doubt, it is a common thought for many. The various mantras and slogans of revolution, as well as the myth of revolution itself…
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The Tradition of Being Human
Being human is a cultural event. No one is human by themselves and no one becomes human without the help of those around them. This is so obvious it should not need to be stated, but contemporary man often imagines himself to be his own creation. The exercise of individual freedom is exalted as the…
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Have a Dickens of a Christmas
In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest. However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the…
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Riding the Tsunami
There are periods of history that fascinate me, particularly if their events can be felt in our present world. My method of study is to read multiple works with a focus on detailed accounts and only a minor amount of analysis. The past couple of years, my attention has been drawn to periods of plagues…
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You Are Not Alone – And Neither Is God
I consider it both a strange mystery and a settled matter of the faith that God prefers not to do things alone. Repeatedly, He acts in a manner that involves the actions of others when it would seem, He could have acted alone. Why would God reveal His Word to the world through the agency…
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When America Got Sick
It was in the years following the Civil War, America was hard on the path to “becoming great.” The industrial revolution had moved into full swing, railroads criss-crossed the country, immigration was gaining speed, and wealth was accumulating at a rate never seen before. We were slowly moving from our original agrarian economy towards life…
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To Live Within the Tradition
For a period of about three years in my late teens and early 20’s, I was deeply involved in a charismatic house church. It was a deeply committed group of people (some of us lived in a commune together). Our services could run for hours with very intensive Bible teaching. A feature of that time…
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The Greatest Battle Is at Hand
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul warns of the dangers of being “tossed about with every wind of doctrine.” Early Christianity had very little institutional existence or stability. Churches met in homes (usually those of the wealthy). They gathered around their Bishop (or Bishops) with their Presbyters and Deacons. They were grounded in…
I don” t think the world necessarily has a problem when we love. There are many loving people the globe…