Glory to God For All Things

June 15, 2023

The Communion of Tradition

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life–the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and […]
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Communion, Saints and Tradition, Tradition
June 12, 2023

Mystical Theology and the Orthodox Faith

A turning point in my life took place in an unremarkable manner. In my college years, my best friend approached me in the university library and thrust a book into my hand. “Steve, read this!” He said. The book was Vladimir Lossky’s Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. The year was 1976. I did as […]
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Communion, Modernity, Mystical Theology, Reflections
June 6, 2023

To Serve God

In a therapeutic culture in which our goal is to be our very best, it is almost impossible to serve God. The reason is quite simple: when my goal is to be my very best, the goal is my God. “Serving God” thus becomes a euphemism for a Christianity that we take to be therapeutic […]
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Knowledge of God, Liturgy
May 26, 2023

Falling Between the Cracks

… human nature is created and so, is unavoidably mortal; with death man’s entire psychosomatic being comes to an end. All of his psychological and mental functions cease to function: his self-conscience, reasoning, judgment, memory, imagination, and desire. Man is no longer able to function through the parts of the body in order to speak, […]
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Existence, Personhood
May 24, 2023

The Debt of Sin and the Sin of Debt

There are a number of ideas and phrases that most Biblically literate Christians would swear were in the Bible, but are not. Among those is the phrase (or concept) of the “debt of sin.” It is simply not there. Nor is there a phrase that describes sin as something that we “owe.” Again, it’s simply […]
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Forgiveness, Pascha, Scripture
May 22, 2023

Beneath the Letter of the World

For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be […]
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Icons, Modernity, Reflections
May 17, 2023

Truth, Lies, and Icons

As verbal beings, we live in a world of icons. We experience the world in an iconic fashion. A major difficulty for us is that we have lost the vocabulary of iconic reality. We have substituted the language of photography. The dissonance between reality and our photographic assumptions has led us to doubt […]
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Reflections
May 10, 2023

When Miracles Ceased

One of the stranger ideas that accompanied the Reformation, was the notion that miracles had ended at the time of the New Testament’s completion. Never stated as a doctrinal fact in the mainstream of Protestantism, it remained a quiet assumption, particularly when joined with an anti-Roman Catholicism in which the various visions, weeping statues, and […]
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Communion, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Secularism, The Sacraments
May 3, 2023

In the Form of a Slave

I love taking “deep dives” into history – going beyond survey material and making my way through pages and pages of boring detail. I can’t do it every day, nor even often. But it helps fill in detail that is often glossed over in broad treatments. My most recent foray has been into a book […]
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Incarnation, Reflections
April 29, 2023

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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Knowledge of God, Last Things, Reflections

This doesn´t really have anything to do with the topic at hand, but I wanted to share a quick comment…

Lord Jesus Christ Son of GOd have mercy on the soul of Michael! Peace Chris S

I have long enjoyed Michael’s comments and enthusiasm. He and Merry are in my prayers. May your joy be perpetual…

ML, That is one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me. We are doubtless shaped by our…

Besides yourself, Father, Michael was the first responder to my earliest post. And ever since until lately continued to do…