Glory to God For All Things

Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia Tbilisi, August 8, Interfax – Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia is concerned with the situation in South Ossetia. He urged, “Both Georgian authorities and Ossetians, everyone who values human life and peaceful development of the country to spare no effort to cease fire and solve disputes peacefully.” “Georgian authorities […]

I live in a small town that has a history of very active, civic involvement. It is not unusual to be approached and asked to sign a petition. Generally, I do not sign petitions. Often it is someone else’s issue and I’m not always clear what is being asked of me. By the same token, […]

Among my continual reading (I read some books occsionally, and some I read continuously, a little a day), is Dimitru Staniloae’s Orthodox Spirituality. It is one of the finest and most comprehensive books on the inner life of a human being that I know. Generally, such a book could be read like a medical textbook, […]

I have come to understand very well that blogging, at many of its best points, is a ministry. Like most ministry, it carries certain limitations. It is not a sacrament of the Church. I trust that when, as a priest, I administer the Body and Blood of Christ, His perfection is everything and I need be […]

I am not a friend of philosophical answers – primarily because I think they run the risk of being nothing more than ideas. The same holds true for problems – philosophical problems are often just that – philosophical and little more. For a variety of reasons, God seems to be an easy subject for philosophical […]

I wrote recently of the genius of both Solzhenitsyn (who is pictured here lying at rest in Christ) and Dostoesvsky – that both refuse to genralize about the nature of the human struggle, but bring the entire struggle for salvation down to the existential level, to the level of the human heart and its encounter […]

I ask patience of readers for my lack of activity for the last 2 days. I am recovering from a virus and hope to be well enough for work by tomorrow. Your prayers are appreciated. A good feast to all (Transfiguration). What a blessed event as Peter, James and John saw the manifestation of the […]

A short but insightful quote from Solzhenitsyn. It came to him during his time in the Gulag: …. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through […]