Glory to God For All Things

February 23, 2017

Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (John17:20-21) The Elder Sophrony, together with St. Silouan, wrote about the “whole Adam.” By this, they meant all the human beings who have ever existed and those yet to come. They were, for them, something known […]
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Cross, Dostoevsky, Forgiveness, Reflections
February 20, 2017

Standing at the Judgment Seat of Christ

“Icons do with color what Scripture does with words.” This statement by the 7th Council aptly describes the work of an icon – but fails to do justice to the reality. Scripture, as words to be read, necessarily becomes linear – words follow words and cannot be read except in the order in which […]
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Cross, Last Things, Reflections
February 16, 2017

A Cruciform Providence

The entire mystery of the economy of our salvation consists in the self-emptying and abasement of the Son of God – St. Cyril of Alexandria Trust in the providence of God is much more than a general theory of how things are arranged in our lives and in the world. We tend to discuss the […]
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Cross, Modernity, Reflections, Thankfulness, Union with God
February 12, 2017

Providence and the Guarded Heart

Imagine that you have been sentenced to seven years in a labor camp. The Church is weak, often riddled with spies, while the state proclaims that it is building a better world through its brutal efforts. Many of the laws specifically target the Church and activities within its normal life. Already in your lifetime, you […]
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Knowledge of God, Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, Thankfulness
February 5, 2017

Honor, Subversion and the Kingdom of God

Many who read the New Testament see it as advocating for and supporting the oppressive structures of its time. They argue that it is patriarchal and pro-slavery. St. Paul’s instructions for slaves to obey their masters is thus seen as an endorsement of slavery as an institution. His admonition, though, belongs to a category of […]
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Modernity, Reflections, Secularism
February 2, 2017

Church and State Are Not Separate – They Are at War

There are ideas that are so common, so oft-repeated, that they are critically examined only with great difficulty. Among the most powerful such ideas is the concept described as the “separation of Church and State.” The history of the phrase is its own study (it’s not actually in the Constitution, much less the Bible). It […]
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Church, Culture, Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, The Church
January 30, 2017

Democratic Madness

Dostoevsky’s The Demons tells the story of a revolution within the context of a small village and a handful of personalities. The strange mix of philosophy and neurosis, crowd psychology and fashionable disdain for tradition all come together in the madness of a bloodbath. It is a 19th century Helter Skelter that presciently predicted the century to come. Our own […]
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Modernity, Reflections, Salvation, The Church, The Sacraments
January 27, 2017

Politics and the Kingdom of God

The modern project holds that the world can be improved and made better. It also holds that human beings can be improved and made better. And finally, it holds that the means of that improvement and betterment are political. Modernity began only partly as a philosophical assertion. It found its voice first, and foremost, in […]
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Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, The Church, Tradition
January 24, 2017

The Despised God

In On the Orthodox Faith, St. John of Damascus declares: ‘The Son is the image of the Father, and the Spirit the image of the Son’. Such statements are easily read and passed over as among the more obvious Trinitarian statements. I add to this statement another from St. Irenaeus: “That which is invisible […]
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Incarnation, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections
January 20, 2017

The Fiction of Relationships and the Fullness of Life

It is very interesting that we use the word “relationship” to describe everything from God to our lifestyle. More interesting still, is that, used in this manner, the word dates back to only around the mid-20th century. There are older examples, but the psycho-social meaning that it carries today does not appear until around 1940. […]
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Communion, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Personhood, Reflections, Union with God

Thanks so much Fr. Stephen. Your hard work has paid off! I accept the Gospel as you have preached it!…

Thanks so much Margaret Sarah. I feel the same way about the Catholic liturgy. It is also not reductionist and…

Byron, You said: I tend to think in simplistic terms as I worked for a very long time with children.…

Byron, Preached to the peasant or just the poor in spirit – your description of the Resurrection is good! Really…

Jenny, Matthew, One of the most striking things when initially encountering Orthodoxy was its accessibility, without being reductionist or “simplistic”.…