Glory to God For All Things

July 5, 2007

Losing My Religion

I could not resist using the title from the R.E.M. hit of a few years ago for this post, though it’s really not about losing one’s religion: it’s more about losing your soul. In one of my favorite C.S. Lewis novels, That Hideous Strength, Lewis tries his hand at the description of a soul in […]
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Conversion, Orthodox Christianity, The Journey of Faith
July 4, 2007

The Wonder of Communion

Despite the title, this post is not directly, or at least not yet about the Mystery of Holy Communion. Instead it begins first with the mystery of communion that can only take place when other persons are about. For yet the third time in my family’s life, a child is soon to marry, though this […]
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Family, Orthodox Christianity, The Church, The Sacraments
June 30, 2007

The Struggle for Communion

For many Protestants whose Church experience was largely shaped in the past few decades, one of the most disconcerting aspects of a first visit to an Orthodox Church is the fact that not everybody, not all Baptized Christians, are permitted to receive communion. Indeed, communion is restricted to Orthodox Christians who have made preparation to […]
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Liturgy, Orthodox Christianity, The Sacraments
June 29, 2007

Kind Words and Wisdom

I have added to my blogroll (under the category of “Catholic”) Moretben’s Undercroft. I always find him to be a good read, and more than occasionally to be a very kind reader of Glory to God for All Things. His words of kindness are a reminder of our common human bond and of so much […]
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Liturgy, Orthodox Christianity, Prayer
June 28, 2007

The God Who Is Beautiful

Everything is beautiful in a person when he turns toward God, and everything is ugly when is is turned away from God. Fr. Pavel Florensky I come to the end of a day that has been filled with other activity and little time for writing. But in my reading at bedtime I came across the […]
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Conversion, Culture, Dostoevsky, Evangelism, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity
June 28, 2007

Things I Never Did for Summer Vacation

I am frequently impressed by the things done by youth these days (yes, they do many positive things). When I was in high-school summer was job time. In college, summer was again, job time. Of course, I had no international connections at the time. One of the youth from our parish, Ryan Erickson, is a […]
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Culture, Prayer, The Journey of Faith
June 27, 2007

Where the Heart Resides

One of the questions that surrounds the knowledge of God, as spoken of by the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Eastern Church, is that of where the heart resides. By this, I do not mean where the heart is located (in the chest or wherever), but where the heart itself lives. Though the heart […]
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Conversion, Icons, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, Prayer, Tradition
June 27, 2007

Many years! Fr. Al

I read with sadness that Fr. Al Kimel is ending his blog, Pontifications. I would not be writing here except for his gracious invitation several years ago to write occasional pieces on his blog. It was his suggestion as well that I try to do this on my own. These are only two of many […]
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Orthodox Christianity
June 26, 2007

Ars Gratia Artis

This is for my daughter – who is a young artist and in the Governor’s School for the Arts this summer. I say this is for her – though I’m not sure she reads the blog everyday – and, of course, I’m letting the rest of you thousand or two people read it, too, so […]
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Culture, Icons, Knowledge of God, Music, Orthodox Christianity
June 25, 2007

Fools for Christ – Remembering What Matters

I have been viewing the movie, Ostrov, which I reviewed here, simply because watching it feeds me where watching something else would not. I think I have been particularly fed by mediatating on the actions of the character of Fr. Anatoly, who is something of a “fool for Christ.” He is not the most learned […]
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Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, The Journey of Faith, The Sacraments, Union with God

Thank you for this. The words (describing where our heart needs to be) “Noble” “Sensitive” and “Pure” immediately gave me…

Dee, When I think about this reality (ontological prayer and repentance) I think mostly about grace. St. Sophrony recognized that…

Matthew – and Matthew W, I thought I would share a brief anecdote regarding Orthodoxy and St. Francis of Assisi.…

Fr. Stephen said: “In such prayer, we would wonder whether we are praying or the Spirit is praying within us…and…

Dear Father thank you so much for your helpful answers. As often as I read St Sophrony and Archimandrite Zacharias,…