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Why Does God Hide?
Read more: Why Does God Hide?God hides. God makes Himself known. God hides. This pattern runs throughout the Scriptures. A holy hide-and-seek, the pattern is not accidental nor unintentional. It is rooted in the very nature of things in the Christian life. Christianity whose God is not hidden is not Christianity at all. But why is this so? In a previous article, I wrote: Our faith is about learning to live in the revealing of things that were hidden. True Christianity should never be obvious. It is, indeed, the struggle to live out what is not obvious. The Christian life is rightly meant to be…
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On the Elder Aimilianos
Read more: On the Elder AimilianosThis interview is with my Archbishop, whom I have come to love and enjoy. His own story is quite interesting. A descendant of Prince Golitzin (one of the Russian royal families) and a child of the Church, his studies at Oxford in Patristics brought him up against a wall of questions and doubts. His doctoral work was on Dionysius the Areopagite. He said in a conversation with me that the press of patristic studies brought him to the point of saying, “What’s all this got to do with Jesus?” He left Oxford to do studies in Thessaloniki and from there…
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Ninety Percent of Orthodoxy Is Just Showing Up
Read more: Ninety Percent of Orthodoxy Is Just Showing UpSometime back, I was asked about “being present.” The question was rooted in the problem of a “wandering mind.” My answer was simple and straight-forward: “You are always present. It comes with having a body.” We speak of the mind “wandering,” and it is a colorful metaphor, but it’s not true. The “mind” hasn’t gone anywhere else, it is simply thinking about something other than where your body is, or, it’s not “thinking” at all. Many times the noise in our head is just an artifact of other things, including our bodies. If we define “thinking” as a rational, intentional…
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You Belong Here – And It’s Beautiful
Read more: You Belong Here – And It’s BeautifulAmong the most uncomfortable feelings is that of “not belonging.” It is one of the forms of shame, for, when we do not belong or are “out of place,” we feel exposed and inherently vulnerable. It is not a feeling that we sustain for any length of time without engaging in behaviors designed to make it go away. Strangely, this is an aspect of ugliness (in its many forms). Just as we would likely argue about the meaning of beauty (as a word or concept), so “ugly” would come up for similar treatment. The etymology of the word is found…
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Pascha 1928 – Letter from a Soviet Prison
Read more: Pascha 1928 – Letter from a Soviet PrisonSerge Schmemann, son of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his wonderful little book, Echoes of a Native Land, records a letter written from one of his family members of an earlier generation, who spent several years in the prisons of the Soviets and died there. The letter, written on the night of Pascha in 1928 is to a family member, “Uncle Grishanchik” (This was Grigory Trubetskoi who had managed to emigrate to Paris). This letter should become a classic of Orthodox writing and witness to the faith that sustained so many and is today being resurrected in so many places. The triumph of…
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Christ Is Risen!
Read more: Christ Is Risen!
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An Atonement of Shame
Read more: An Atonement of ShameSome decades ago in my early (Anglican) priesthood, a parishioner brought a crucifix back from South America. The question for me as a priest was whether I would accept the crucifix as a gift and place it in the Church. I like crucifixes, my taste was always towards the Catholic direction. But, you have to bear in mind that Spanish/Latin crucifixes have a tendency to be, well, rather gory. My congregation was pretty straight-up WASP. But, I was young, a still largely unbruised banana, so I installed the crucifix over the rear door of the Church. Everyone could see it…
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Let’s Get Out Of This Place
Read more: Let’s Get Out Of This PlaceThe Saturday before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday among the Orthodox, and they celebrate Christ raising him from the dead just prior to His entrance into Jerusalem (gospel of John). It is a feast that offers something of a preview of Christ’s resurrection, and a foretaste of the General Resurrection at the End of the Age. Some years back I sat in a cave that is purported to be the grave of Lazarus. I could not help but think of him – but of him in Hades rather than the tomb. It is said in the Fathers that when Christ…
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This Time Is That Time – Holy Week Thoughts
Read more: This Time Is That Time – Holy Week ThoughtsAt the very heart of traditional Christian worship is an understanding of time. “This time is that time.” When the Jews gathered for Passover and recited the words given to them, they said, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.” Passover was not (and is not) a historical re-enactment, nor a simple memorial in which things done long ago are remembered. The key word is “we.” The events in Egypt and at the Red Sea are described as happening to us. “This time is that time.” This same understanding runs throughout the liturgies of the Church. The Eucharist is not…
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With Envy and Justice for All
Read more: With Envy and Justice for AllWe use many words and concepts in our daily lives without bothering to consider their true content. In my experience, few words are less examined than “justice.” It is a word that is foundational in the modern world with deep roots in religious tradition. Most people would agree that the desire for justice is virtually innate in human beings. However, it has a dark side of which very few seem to be aware. In the religious tradition, justice is usually grounded within God Himself. Some associate this justice with God’s demand for right conduct from His creation. There is also…
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Rob, There is a saying in Orthodoxy that “no one is saved alone.” Thus our communion with the community around…
With Christ being the medicine and physician to our souls, do you perceive any danger in becoming too self-forgetful in…
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I’ve been thinking an awful lot about Roman Braga’s 3 years of solitary confinement and his experience there ever since…