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The Unexplored Landscape
Read more: The Unexplored LandscapeLike the Kingdom of God itself, the landscape of the human heart (considered spiritually) remains largely unchartered territory and beyond the easy access of most people. Our culture uses the language of “heart” quite easily, but means by it something emotional, something psychological and not at all in the sense it is used in either […]
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The Praying Mind
Read more: The Praying MindThe praying mind does not think – does not reason – but lives. Its activity consists, not in the manipulation of abstract concepts but in participation in being. The truly praying mind has to do with categories different in quality from those of rational reflection. It is concerned, not with intellectual categories but with actual […]
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Spiritual Fatherhood
Read more: Spiritual FatherhoodI am the father of five children, four who are living and one who has gone to his rest. The oldest of my children is now 27, soon to be 28, and, by God’s grace, soon to give birth to my first grandchild. God is truly gracious. Closely related to this is the notion of […]
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Orthodox Serbian Monasteries in Kosovo
Read more: Orthodox Serbian Monasteries in KosovoThis is a beautiful sharing from the heart of the earliest Serbian Orthodox homeland.
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The Truth of Ourselves
Read more: The Truth of OurselvesAbba Poemen believed that the only time you could observe a person’s true character was when that person was tempted. From the Sayings of the Desert Fathers There is obvious wisdom in the saying about Abba Poemen: it is not our strengths that best define us, but our weaknesses. In our culture, where virtual reality […]
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Nothing but the Whole Truth
Read more: Nothing but the Whole TruthBecause Christ Himself is the Truth, we cannot have any such thing as “partial” Truth. Something or someone can be close to the Truth or moving towards the Truth – but in a proper Christian sense – only Christ is the Truth and Christ is one. And thus within Orthodoxy it becomes problematic to speak […]
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Humility
Read more: HumilityWhen someone asked a hermit to define humility, he answered, “Humility is when you forgive someone who has wronged you before he expresses regret.” I cannot think of how many times in my experience the subject of apologies has come up along with the subject of forgiveness. Of course when someone asks forgiveness we should […]
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Is a Relationship with God What We Want?
Read more: Is a Relationship with God What We Want?An excellent question was raised in the comments of my previous post – the question being about the nature of relationship. It is commonplace in our modern parlance to speak of a “personal relationship” which is either redundant, or a way of weakening the true meaning of “personal.” I suspect that the modern meaning of […]
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The Depths of the Personal
Read more: The Depths of the PersonalI have written on modern distortions of “personal relationship” in which “private” relationship is one of its corrupted meanings. I have also noted that, properly understood, “personal” always carries a meaning of “corporate” as well. To be in personal relationship with Christ necessarily means that I am in relationship with His Body, the Church. There […]
Conversion, Culture, Fathers, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, The Church, The Journey of Faith
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The Orthodox Church and Personal Salvation
Read more: The Orthodox Church and Personal SalvationA priest friend sent me an article from Franklin Graham’s website, describing a revival in the Ukraine. Like others who have gone to Eastern Europe to preach the gospel, there is frequently a mistaken assessment of the Orthodox Church. Graham’s article recognized a holiness present in the Church’s there, but described it as “Old Testament,” […]
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Helen, Indeed. The humility that makes it possible to accept a false accusation and bear it is likely prepared by…
Thank you, Father Stephen – there is much to reflect and meditate on. I am not sure that I fully…
Father, it seems there’s a relationship to “bearing a little shame” in this.
Margaret Sarah, But everything is always about Pascha! (wink)
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Gisele, What a profound insight from Bishop Jean. I think that when Christ “becomes sin” – it could also be…