Search results for: “church as cross”
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Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?
Read more: Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?The first service of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church is “Forgiveness Vespers,” served on the eve of Monday of the First Week. There is nothing unusual about the service itself – other than the “rite of forgiveness” appended to it. In this, the priest and the faithful ask forgiveness of one another. Often this […]
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Walking in a One-Storey Universe
Read more: Walking in a One-Storey UniverseOur modern culture celebrates the individual and his/her choices. We prize freedom above everything. But we long for something we cannot express. Human beings were created for communion and participation and we lose our way without it. The instinct for such a life has never disappeared from our culture, despite almost centuries of nurtured individualism. […]
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Baptism and the Final Destruction of Demons
Read more: Baptism and the Final Destruction of Demons“Final” is not a word you often hear in Christian teaching. Most Christians leave the final things until, well, the End. But this is not the language of the fathers nor of the Church. A good illustration can be found in the Orthodox service of Holy Baptism. During the blessing of the waters the priest […]
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The Difficulties of Paradise
Read more: The Difficulties of ParadiseThe voices of the choir rise in wonderful harmonies, the light reflects on the icons, incense wafts into the ceiling – it is a wonderful liturgy on a feast day. We stand in the Church and begin to notice, with some guilt, that our mind has wandered. Worse, still, we are bored. This is perhaps […]
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Falling Between the Cracks
Read more: Falling Between the Cracks… human nature is created and so, is unavoidably mortal; with death man’s entire psychosomatic being comes to an end. All of his psychological and mental functions cease to function: his self-conscience, reasoning, judgment, memory, imagination, and desire. Man is no longer able to function through the parts of the body in order to speak, […]
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That We All May Be One
Read more: That We All May Be OneThe times I have written on the boundaries and borders of Church are occasions for a great deal of comment. Generally the comments run in two directions: Orthodox who agree that “we are the Church,” and defend my thoughts, and others who are challenged, or offended by the suggestion that “one,” might not include them. […]
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The Borders of Our Lives
Read more: The Borders of Our LivesYears ago, as a young seminarian, I wanted to paint icons. I knew nothing about icons, only that I liked them and that they were holy. The vast wealth of books and materials on their meaning and even on the technique of painting them simply did not exist. My knowledge of painting was also non-existent. […]
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The Fullness
Read more: The FullnessI am fascinated by what Holy Tradition does with the idea of “fullness” or “fulfillment.” The Church is described as the “fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). And it is not unusual for Orthodox Christians to express the meaning of Orthodoxy under the rubric of “fullness”: Orthodoxy is the fullness of the […]
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Patiently Waiting
Read more: Patiently WaitingChrist said, “In patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19). Orthodoxy presumes patience on our parts. The services take patience – they last a good length of time and without patience your mind will never stop wandering. Catechumenates can take a while. Learning many of the things of an Orthodox way of life cannot be rushed. […]
Michelle, Mallory, et al I confess that large projects are really difficult for me (including books). It’s a brain thing…