Glory to God For All Things

September 11, 2018

Orthodoxy Represents Our Original Incompetency

There is one thing to be said about Church-shopping: you can always find a better one… I often see examples of what I would describe as “comparative denominationalism.” It is the comparison of one Church to another (yes, I know that Orthodoxy is not a denomination). Indeed, the drive for a “better Church,” a “more […]
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Church, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, The Church
September 5, 2018

Saved in Weakness – Redux

We are not saved by our talents and gifts nor by our excellence – we are saved by our weakness and our failure. I have made this point many times over the years – and the question comes up – but what does that look like? How do I live like that? The question can […]
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Cross, Reflections, Salvation, The Church
August 29, 2018

Love and Freedom

The most difficult aspect of love is the freedom it inherently requires. Love, in its ultimate and proper form, only exists between equals. There can be a sort of benevolence and nobility towards another who is not equal, but never love. This makes it difficult to understand the God-who-is-love. It will quickly be said […]
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Incarnation, Knowledge of God, Personhood, Reflections
August 24, 2018

Irony and Belief

Irony is probably too much to ask of youth. If I can remember myself in my college years, the most I could muster was sarcasm. Irony required more insight. There is a deep need for the appreciation of irony to sustain a Christian life. Our world is filled with contradiction. Hypocrisy is ever present even […]
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Forgiveness, Knowledge of God, Mercy, The Church
August 20, 2018

A Mediated Presence – Thank God

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5) There is no way to adequately explain priesthood without reference to mediation. A priest is a mediator between God and Man. From time to time over the years, I have had the verse from 1 Timothy […]
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Knowledge of God, Liturgy, Modernity, Reflections, The Sacraments
August 13, 2018

Why Mary Has Always Been Honored

This Wednesday (August 15) is the Feast of the Dormition, the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this article as a reflection. The most difficult part of my Orthodox experience to discuss with the non-Orthodox is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, […]
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Mother of God, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections
August 6, 2018

Transformation and Forgiveness

There are various applications in our culture directed towards “feeling good about ourselves.” In contrast to being shamed and condemned it is an improvement. But it also misses the truth of things. Pretending that everything is ok does not make it so. There is within this, a kinship to the Penal Substitution Theory of the […]
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C.S. Lewis, Morality, Reflections, Repentance, Salvation
July 30, 2018

The Singular Goodness of God

It has long seemed to me that it is one thing to believe that God exists and quite another to believe that He is good. Indeed, to believe that God exists simply begs the question. That question is: Who is God, and what can be said of Him? Is He good? This goes to the […]
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Cross, Hell, Interpretation, Pascha, Personhood, Reflections
July 22, 2018

Consent to Reality

Catholic philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue), has presented perhaps the most cogent account of our modern cultural landscape. It is not an account of how one set of ideas gave way to another set of ideas, but how a once-upon-a-time consensus gave way to our current collection of competing truth-claims and world-views. Indeed, he demonstrates […]
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Knowledge of God, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, Tradition
July 16, 2018

Face to Face – Without Shame or Fear

We are apparently living in the age of the face, and I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. I know all the complaints about our culture of “selfies,” and there are certainly many things in that to make us wonder, but our fascination with our faces long predates the technology of our phones. In the usage […]
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Communion, Icons, Personhood, Reflections, Salvation

I echo Owen´s words Michael.

Fr. Stephen, You both have been an inspiration to me. Two bright lights of faithful creativity in American Orthodoxy. For…

Owen, Jonathan is a dear friend. Some years back (maybe 2015-2016 or so) we did some speaking engagements together -…

The Canadian iconographer, Jonathan Pageau, specializes in icon carving. I think it’s an interesting middle ground between paint-on-board iconography and…

Michael, I’m glad to hear you were recently released from the hospital. May Christ be with you and strengthen you.