Category: Orthodox Christianity
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How to “Read” the Church
If, as I have wrtten, the Orthodox Church itself is the proper interpretation of Scripture – then one might ask, “How am I supposed to read the Scriptures if their interpretation is the Church?” It is a good, even an obvious question, but one which points us to the very thing at hand: the nature…
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A Letter from Butyrskaya Prison – Pascha 1928
Serge Schmemann, son of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his wonderful little book, Echoes of a Native Land, records a letter written from one of his family members of an earlier generation, who spent several years in the prisons of the Soviets and died there. The letter, written on the night of Pascha in 1928 is…
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More on an Orthodox Hermeneutic
It is the common witness of the gospels that the disciples seemed to have no clue when it came to the death and resurrection of Christ – until after the resurrection. The classic story of this is to be found in St. Luke’s gospel: Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to…
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An Orthodox Hermeneutic
Is or can there be such a thing as an Orthodox hermeneutic (method of interpretation) of Scripture? I asserted in a recent post that there was such a thing and that the Orthodox would do well to work towards its recovery rather than using the hermeneutics of others who do not hold the Orthodox faith.…
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The Boundaries We Draw and the Boundaries God Draws
I pushed the envelope a little in my last post, intentionally pressing against what I understand to be false boundaries created by an inadequate understanding of Scripture and a view of the world that establishes limits at places they need not be. I am not an enemy of boundaries – indeed – without them we…
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Literally Wrong
I have written on a number of occasions about the interpretation of the Scriptures and particularly about the problems of Biblical literalism. I have also, on occasion, made a link between Biblical literalism and a sort of “literalism” about the world and the universe about us. I believe that both are deeply connected and share…
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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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God’s Great Sabbath
One of the most immediately puzzling passages in Genesis is in the creation story where we are told that God “rested on the Seventh (Sabbath) day.” It obviously cannot be taken in the literal sense that God needed rest. There is a deeper mystery. In the interpretation of the Christian Fathers and in the life…
Couldn’t You save us without being crucified ? I could, but I would show my power. I want to show…