Glory to God For All Things

May 8, 2017

Goodness and a Word in Due Season

There is an old mystical Jewish belief that when God created all things, He did so by speaking their names (in Hebrew, of course). It was further believed (and here’s the mystical part) that if you could manage to speak that name in the right way, you, too, could cause it to be. The instinct […]
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Beauty, Doctrine, Heart, Icons, Knowledge of God, Reflections
May 4, 2017

Speaking the Words of God

Nothing is as difficult as true theology. Simply saying something correctly is beside the point. Correctness does not rise to the level of theology. Theology, rightly done, is a path towards union with God. It is absolutely more than an academic exercise. Theology is not the recitation of correct facts, it is the apprehension and […]
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Beauty, Knowledge of God, Reflections
May 2, 2017

Shame in the Public Arena

In 401 AD, twenty-nine Saxon “slaves,” strangled each other to death with their bare hands in their prison cells. They chose this death rather than being forced to fight one another in Rome’s arena. Better death than shame. Their “owner,” the Senator Symmachus (famously known as the “Last Pagan”), wrote of them that they were […]
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Cross, Forgiveness, Morality, Orthodox Blogs, Reflections, Salvation, Union with God
April 27, 2017

The Sins of Our Fathers – the Epigenetics of Shame

There is a new word and a new idea in science: epigenetics. It is the study of how the environment and experience alters our body – and alters it in a way such that it becomes part of our genetic legacy. It is, to the mind of some, a genetic form of inherited sin. That’s […]
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Atonement, Communion, Forgiveness, Reflections, Salvation, The Church
April 25, 2017

The Soul Is a Mirror

There are meditations and insights that simply change your life. I recall walking across the campus at Duke some 30 or so years ago. I had been plowing through a book of Orthodox theology (very thick reading). I would read a page and think, and read it again. But I recall very plainly a moment […]
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Culture, Hell, Modernity, Personhood, Reflections
April 20, 2017

The Healthy Shame at the Heart’s Core

Imagine: A large crowd has assembled and you know that something special has been planned. Unknown to you, however, is the fact that the something special is for and about you. At a given moment, you are called forward. A short speech detailing some extraordinary thing you have done is given. You had not thought anyone […]
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Communion, Pascha, Reflections, Thankfulness, Union with God
April 18, 2017

The Paschal Gift

It is impossible to describe the joy of Pascha, particularly as I experience it as a priest. This year, I was deeply aware that I stand in a place that was both created for me, and for which I am unworthy. The joy of such a combination is the realization of the Gift. When you […]
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Pascha, Personhood, Reflections, Union with God
April 13, 2017

Unbelief and Good Friday

Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians are more public about their faith than at other times of the year and this brings with it an annoyance. Christmas bespeaks the birth of God as a human being. Easter bespeaks a resurrection from the dead. For those […]
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Cross, Holy Week, Pascha, Reflections
April 9, 2017

The Bridegroom and Judgment

Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse […]
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Holy Week, Last Things, Reflections
April 7, 2017

Comfort for a Child – Speaking Peace to Shame

In my previous article, I described the origins of the “self-talk” (logismoi) that haunt our minds with negative chatter. They lie very deep within us, even having something of a signature within the deeper parts of the brain itself. It is very “old” and yet very “young.” It is old in that its foundations were […]
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Communion, Prayer, Reflections

Thanks Fr. Stephen and Dee. Fr. Stephen said: “I’ve spent years reading in Orthodox literature, history, thought, etc.,” What exactly?…

Matthew and Father, I’ve seen similar fears and ignorance concerning science (not referring to technology or math). Too few have…

I know a family that makes it impossible to care for each other. The level of selfishness is so high…

Matthew, Well, I suspect that I’m showing my age. When I think of the liberal arts, I have in mind…

Thank you, Fr. Stephen, for this very clear and stimulating post ! I smiled when I read “in the hands…