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The Mystical Reality of Holy Week
Read more: The Mystical Reality of Holy WeekAs we journey through Holy Week… For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we […]
Holy Week, Knowledge of God, Liturgy, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Pascha, Reflections, The Sacraments, Time, Union with God
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Get Out of Hell Free
Read more: Get Out of Hell FreeThe 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 […]
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Saving A Democratic Man
Read more: Saving A Democratic ManEverywhere he goes, he meets his equals. All of the world is open to him, bidding him enter in, take what he wants and go his way. Early on he learns to negotiate his way through competing crowds of others, jostling for position, asking for attention, making his way forward. His direction is a matter […]
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A Lesser Atonement
Read more: A Lesser AtonementIt has long been known that people tend to see what they think they are seeing. This is particularly the case where what we think is familiar and expected. The case of “mistaken identity” flows from our assumptions and expectations. This is no where more true than when we are reading Scripture. If a passage […]
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Our Conciliar Salvation
Read more: Our Conciliar SalvationI consider it both a strange mystery and a settled matter of the faith that God prefers not to do things alone. Repeatedly, He acts in a manner that involves the actions of others when, it would seem, He could have acted alone. Why would God reveal His Word to the world through the agency […]
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Come Join Me for a Retreat in San Francisco
Read more: Come Join Me for a Retreat in San FranciscoI will be speaking at the Lenten Retreat in San Francisco at Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral this coming weekend. My topic will be “Running on Empty in the Abundant Life.” I am greatly looking forward to meeting the faithful in the Bay Area and participating in the life of one of the great […]
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Superstition and the Material God
Read more: Superstition and the Material GodPeople gather at the end of Church for a “travel blessing.” A priest chants a prayer and sprinkles water over them with a brush. They cross themselves and have some sense that their travels will now be better. Many modern people watching this procedure would describe the process as “superstitious.” It appears to them that […]
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Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko – Memory Eternal!
Read more: Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko – Memory Eternal!The Protopresbyter, Fr. Thomas Hopko, has fallen asleep in the Lord. His life and impact on the Church in the modern world cannot be exaggerated. He was a pastor, a scholar, a teacher, mentor and friend to several generations of priests. He will be missed more than words can say. I first met him in […]
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Should I Forgive the Unrepentant?
Read more: Should I Forgive the Unrepentant?It has been noted that forgiveness is often directly tied to repentance. This is doubtless true, but also fraught with misunderstanding. It is important to understand what forgiveness is and is not and what repentance is and is not. The heart is filled with twists and turns – understanding is helpful at every moment. “Without […]
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Can You Forgive Someone Else’s Enemies?
Read more: Can You Forgive Someone Else’s Enemies?I have written from time to time about the concept expressed in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, “Forgive everyone for everything.” It is a quote taken from the fictional Elder Zosima, but it is certainly a sentiment well within the bounds of Orthodox thought. I have recently been challenged in several places by people arguing that we […]
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Latest Comments
Thank you for this. The words (describing where our heart needs to be) “Noble” “Sensitive” and “Pure” immediately gave me…
Dee, When I think about this reality (ontological prayer and repentance) I think mostly about grace. St. Sophrony recognized that…
Matthew – and Matthew W, I thought I would share a brief anecdote regarding Orthodoxy and St. Francis of Assisi.…
Fr. Stephen said: “In such prayer, we would wonder whether we are praying or the Spirit is praying within us…and…
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Thanks Father for your reassuring words!