Category: Prayer
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A Fast of Righteousness
I am often puzzled by the things theologians say about “righteousness.” First, there are a striking number of different treatments. That alone should tell anyone that we are standing on the ground of “theory” rather than knowledge when we hear pronouncements about the word. It is, of course, an important word. “Seek first the Kingdom…
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The Journey Towards Love
St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia treasured the following quote from the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian. He had it printed and handed out to his visitors. We should look upon all the faithful as one person and consider that Christ is in each one of them. We should have such love for them that…
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Prayers for the Dead
The Orthodox pray for the departed. The most pressing prayer within the liturgies appointed for this purpose is for God to forgive their sins. We say, “For no one lives and does not sin, for You only are without sin….” This is easily misunderstood, but it goes to the very heart of the mystery of…
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Eating Your Way to Paradise
It is interesting that the story of mankind’s first sin involved eating. We didn’t eat too much, only the wrong thing in the wrong way. But as sins go, it seems rather mundane. Murder is more dramatic (that was a second generation sin). Betrayal makes for a better novel. But there it was – we…
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The Scriptures and the Church
The notion of the “Scriptures” has undergone radical changes across the centuries. Today, we picture them as a single book, the Bible. Indeed, we picture that book as private property, perhaps a personal guide for all things spiritual. Even when we hear its words being quoted in public or in Church gatherings, we imagine the…
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His Appearing in the Liturgy
Standing in the Church, listening to the choir or chanter sing while priest censes the icons, words swirl with the rising smoke and connections and associations multiply as words evoke images and images evoke thoughts: participation, coinherence, incarnation, mystery, timeless form and formless time, fullness and emptiness, fulfillment and… And then the thought comes, full-formed…
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An Avalanche of Kindness
A chance conversation with my wife opened a world of wonder for me recently. I mentioned to her that, as I reaching for a scarf before my walk on a chilly morning, my thoughts drifted to a woman (a parishioner, now deceased) who had knitted several items for me. As I remembered her, I prayed…
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The Doors and God
You cannot attend an Orthodox service and not be aware of doors. There are the doors that form the center of the icon screen, opening directly upon the altar. There are the two doors that flank them, one on either side, known as the “Deacon Doors.” Someone always seems to be coming out of one…
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What We Shall Be
The city that I live in was founded in 1943 for the purpose of building an atom bomb. Various movies have shared Hollywood’s moral opinions on that endeavor, none of which are very surprising. When I moved here in 1989, I met a good number of the “Class of ’43,” people who were here during…
Joshua, I particularly had in mind the story of the paralytic (Matthew 9:2–8). There we see that his sins are…