Category: Reflections
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Remembering the End
Orthodox Christianity often seems inherently conservative. The unyielding place that tradition holds within its life seems ready-made for a conservative bulwark against a world all-too-ready to forget everything that is good or beautiful. There are subtle but important distinctions that make this treatment of Orthodoxy misleading and can lead to the distortion of the faith…
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The Sacrament of All Things
How many sacraments does the Orthodox Church have? This is a question that an inquiring 16th century European might have posed. The Catholics had seven, while the Lutherans (and some other Protestants) said there were only two. “Of course,” thought the Orthodox in struggling to answer a question that had never been spoken in the…
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The Everything of Orthodoxy
“He can’t see the forest for the trees,” the saying goes. It’s a recognition that attention to detail can obscure an overall pattern. Of course, someone could respond by saying, “He’s so overwhelmed with the forest that he can’t see the trees.” In point of fact, human beings are hard-wired for both trees and forest,…
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The Character of Orthodoxy
What kind of person does that? This is a simple question – one that goes to the heart of Orthodox moral thought. For some, “morality” is a question of what is right and what is wrong. The Orthodox insight is much deeper: knowing right from wrong is of little use unless you’re the kind of…
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What’s In A Name?
I do not know its cause, but, on occasion, I hear my mother’s voice call my name. Perhaps it’s a random set of neurons going off, or something more mystical and spooky. I do not know. I know, however, that it is powerful and goes deep into my soul. Names are like that. There is…
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What To Do With What You Know
In a world driven by information, it is more than a little easy to mistake knowing something as important and good in and of itself. As such, the acquisition of spiritual information is something of a going industry. In a Russian novel written back in the 90’s, a woman intellectual encounters a monk who is…
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St. Melito and Pascha – Hell Is Not The Last Word
Among the most powerful meditations on Pascha are the writings of Melito of Sardis (ca. 190 AD). His homily, On Pascha, is both a work of genius as poetry and a powerful work of theology. Its subject is the Lord’s Pascha – particularly as an interpretation of the Old Testament. It is a common example…
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Pascha – Risen with Christ
“If you then be risen with Christ…” With these words, St. Paul introduces an encouragement to his fellow Christians: “If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For…
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Good Friday and Unbelief
Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians are more public about their faith than at other times of the year and this brings with it an annoyance. Christmas bespeaks the birth of God as a human being. Easter bespeaks a resurrection from the dead. For those…
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The Frightful Path of Judas
I recall the first time the phrase, “On the night in which He was betrayed,” struck my heart. I was attending the evening service of Maundy Thursday at an Episcopal parish when I was a student in college. There was communion, followed by the “stripping of the altar” that symbolized the arrest and scourging of…
Padre Albino, My email: stephenfree@comcast.net