Category: The Journey of Faith
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You Can’t Pray Too Much
Some years ago I stood by the bed of an elderly Pentecostal woman in mountains of East Tennessee. She was dying from respiratory complications – I was visiting her as a Hospice chaplain. We chatted about many things – mostly the things of God. She showed me a well-worn Bible she had owned for most…
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Peace
From the teachings of St. Silouan: The man who likes to have his own way will never know peace.
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The Kingdom of God Is Not A Choice We Make
The Kingdom of God is coming whether you like it or not.
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Christos Voskrese! (Christ is Risen)
This delightful youtube video was shared in comments yesterday. I thought it worth posting up front. Our reader Dejan has offered a translation in the comments. The words are from a poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich who served for a time as the Rector of St. Tikhon’s Seminary – truly one of the great Serbian…
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Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, And upon those in the tombs bestowing life! ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ! ВОИСТИНУ ВОСКРЕСЕ !
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How Deep Does the Journey Go?
The journey to Pascha, which is made during Holy Week, is a liturgical action that marks the path to the greatest depths of our heart and to the heart’s true home. The deeply moving image of the Bridegroom, whom we address in the words of the hymn, manifest to us in His icon of humility,…
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Is Hell Real?
On one of the roads leading into my small city a billboard has recently appeared. It is part of a larger campaign by a nationally known evangelist who is to have a revival in Knoxville. The sign is simple. In very large bright yellow letters (all caps), the sign says: HELL IS REAL. In small…
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“Learning” to Sin
I wrote this more than a year ago. As I go through Great Lent, particularly as it is marked with successive Saturdays (“Soul Saturdays”) in which we pray for the departed, these thoughts become increasingly relevant. I repost them here for that reason. As strange as it sounds – human beings have to “learn to sin.”…
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What Makes the World Go ‘Round?
It is a popular theme in music to suggest various possibilities for “what makes the world go ’round.” I know of two immediately: music and love. Both are wonderful sentiments but not very useful to me as answers. I have asked the question in this way to yet again bring our thoughts to the nature…
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With A Secret Hand
One of the joys of the newly published, Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), containing all the canonical Orthodox books of the Bible, is the fact that the Old Testament was carefully brought into agreement with the text of the Septuagint, long a standard and important liturgical translation for Orthodox Christians. The early Church generally used the…
As one who majored in Am. History and considered going for a PhD in Andrew Jackson, the phrase “History teaches…