Glory to God For All Things

September 23, 2019

The Management of the Soul

For who knows the things of a man except the spirit of that man, which is in him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb: One. But the lightbulb really has to want to change. I like lightbulb […]
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Knowledge of God, Modernity, Reflections, Salvation
September 17, 2019

The Sacrament of the Soul

Fr. Alexander Schmemann famously said that sacraments do not make things into something else so much as they reveal things to be what they are. We hear this in St. Basil’s Liturgy when we ask God to “show” the bread and wine to be the Body and Blood of Christ. The Baptismal liturgy does the […]
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Modernity, Reflections, Salvation, The Sacraments
September 12, 2019

Can You Forgive Someone Else’s Enemies?

My thoughts have been drawn to this topic any number of times in the past few days. As we near the anniversary of the tragic events of 911, I see plaintive postings of that day saying, “Never forget” (or words to that effect). The Orthodox faith teaches us that the remembrance of the departed should […]
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Dostoevsky, Enemies, Forgiveness
September 9, 2019

St. Spyridon’s Shoes – and My Shoes

Earlier this year I was making my way to Antiochian Village for a Writers’ Conference. Walking across the expanse of the Atlanta Airport, I became aware of something odd about my shoes. At first, I thought something had gotten into my shoe, a rock, or some such thing. Then I thought that maybe there […]
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Fathers, Reflections, Relics, Saints
September 4, 2019

What Is Beneath the Universe?

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1:1-3 +++ Throw a blanket over a chair. In all likelihood, you would recognize […]
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Allegory, Knowledge of God, Pascha
August 28, 2019

Who’s Minding the Kids?

I was sitting in a Sunday School class, and was probably around eight or nine years old. I cannot remember what the Scripture was that day. However, the room was brought into a very serious state of mind as we were presented with something and were asked to sign it. I had never entered into […]
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Asceticism, Family, Morality, Reflections
August 22, 2019

Justice, Temperance, Prudence and the Virtue of “No”

I have sometimes quipped that children are born lawyers. Their cries of, “That’s not fair!” would be at home in any court in the world. Children reveal our instinct for fairness, the root concept in the virtue of justice. Of course, as every parent knows, that instinct is often distorted, with the desire for fairness […]
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Modernity, Personhood, Reflections, Tradition
August 18, 2019

A Crisis of Virtue – The Good That We Need

C.S. Lewis once said that courage is the “form of every virtue at its testing point.” It is easy to forget that figures such as Lewis, Tolkien, and even Chesterton, did not write during a time of Christian ascendancy. Lewis was denied a chair (a full professorship) at Oxford for years precisely because of […]
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C.S. Lewis, Reflections, The Journey of Faith, Tolkien
August 7, 2019

Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

In my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring […]
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Mother of God, Personhood, Reflections, Saints, Salvation
August 5, 2019

The Scandal of the Transfiguration

My Archbishop (Alexander Golitzin) shares the story of a young man whom he taught some years ago. He was Orthodox from Estonia. He grew up in the Soviet era and had come to hate all things Russian, including the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, he saw an Orthodox procession in the streets of his city one year, […]
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Forgiveness, Knowledge of God, Liturgy, Reflections

Thank each and all

I have to be Laugh!!! The living, joyful Church would not be present or possible were it not for Our…

Here’s my favorite from Georgia. There’s also an English version of it. It’s the Christ is risen from the dead……

Thanks so much Fr. Stephen. I will have a look around! 🙂

Matthew, Byzantine music is distinctly different from Western music. It certainly had its development. It’s worth noting that it continues…