Search results for: “church as cross”
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A Sacrifice of Emptiness – the Fullness of Life in Christ
Read more: A Sacrifice of Emptiness – the Fullness of Life in ChristConversation this past week on this site has centered around mercy and justice and the understanding of the sacrifice of Christ. I began with an article on a quote by St. Isaac of Syria, who famously questions the human concept of justice and its relation to God. The Christian treatment of the atonement – what […]
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We Have Seen
Read more: We Have SeenSt. John, in the prologue of his gospel, says the following: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father (John 1:14). In his first Epistle he says the following: That which was from the beginning, […]
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Living on the First Floor
Read more: Living on the First FloorI am currently working on a small book that gathers many of my thoughts on the metaphor of the “one-storey universe.” Readers of this blog should be well familiar with the image. I cannot claim to be its originator – I can think of several sources that first suggested this way of explaining things. It […]
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On Behalf of All and For All – A Family Reunion
Read more: On Behalf of All and For All – A Family ReunionAs a child one of my more common experiences was the gathering of my extended family. My mother was one of twelve children, my father one of five. Their siblings largely settled in the same South Carolina county that was home. There they settled into their careers and set about having their own families during […]
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Conversion to the True and Living God
Read more: Conversion to the True and Living GodI grew up in a culture where religious conversion was frequent as well as often short-lived. Religiously, the only remedy to many of the ills of life was conversion. On the face of things I could hardly argue with that now. However, the deeper problem within that particular religious culture was a very truncated view of conversion. […]
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The Unplanned Life
Read more: The Unplanned LifeThe following article was first written and posted in March of 2007. I have added a few additional thoughts to the end. One of the geniuses of modern life is the plan. It is certainly the case that if you have a company and a product, or whatever passes for those in these days, there is […]
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Paradise in a Single Moment
Read more: Paradise in a Single MomentThe Exapostelarian for the Matins of Good Friday is the hymn, “The Wise Thief.” It draws our attention to the mercy of God – who promised paradise to the wise thief, “This day.” Thoughts on the nearness of paradise are also a theme in the writings of Dostoevsky. If paradise is so near – why […]
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From Friday to Friday
Read more: From Friday to FridayOrthodox and Western calendars rarely coincide on the question of the date of Pascha (Easter). They work with different numbers and come up with different answers. Thus it is that the common pattern obtains this year: Pascha one week apart. It is possible as an Orthodox Christian to ignore the world around you and pretend […]
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Where He Leads
Read more: Where He LeadsThe journey to Pascha is nearly complete. This weekend the Orthodox celebrate Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, marking the beginning of Holy Week. I sat in the tomb of Lazarus last year, located in Bethany. It is not a very long journey from there to Jerusalem. Perhaps one of the most striking features of Holy […]
Father, These words are so comforting. Sometimes I really struggle with loving others, especially those who express their disparagement of…