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Where we can agree about the poor

I commented yesterday that our youngest daughter was married this past Saturday at a Greek Orthodox parish. That Sunday I concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with the parish priest. He and I are friends and have spent many hours around an altar. As a cradle Orthodox he was able to not only teach me much about both how to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and about the life of a priest, but also showed me something... [Read more]

Homosexuality and a legitimate complaint from an Orthodox believer

Two days ago I posted an answer to someone’s question on homosexuality and the Orthodox Church. I posted only one reply out of several possibilities–from the Q&A section of the OCA website–and it raised a legitimate concern from a fellow Orthodox believer. Let me quote of what s/he says below: I understand and adhere to the viewpoint of the “church” in regards to persons... [Read more]

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Pacifism, the military and Orthodoxy

I keep receiving questions from people about the military, particularly in a time of war. As you know, I work for a Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and have a daughter who has served in Iraq. Yet, I have written about just war theology and the need to refrain as much as possible from conflict. So, rather than do another post, let me simply repost an answer from the Q&A section of the Orthodox... [Read more]

Tolstoy on war

War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves. — Leo Tolstoy War on the other hand is such a terrible thing, that no man, especially a Christian man, has the right to assume the responsibility of starting it. — Leo Tolstoy Someone who commented recently asked if I ever read Tolstoy, since I have been quoting Dostoevsky. My... [Read more]

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There is no I in Church

From The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: “Once upon a time there was a peas­ant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a sin­gle good deed behind. The dev­ils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and won­dered what good deed of hers he could remem­ber to tell to God; ‘she once pulled up an onion in her gar­den,’... [Read more]

Christians, vaccinations, and herd immunity

A devout Christian heard an urgent news report on his radio that a flash flood was within minutes of entering the peaceful valley where he lived. Immediately he went to his knees and prayed for safety. The words were still on his lips when he became aware that water was gushing under his door. He retreated to the second floor and finally onto the roof of his house. While he sat on the roof, a helicopter... [Read more]

Synaxarion of Pentecost 2011

Excerpts below are from Holy Transfiguration Monastery: After the Saviour’s Ascension into the Heavens, the eleven Apostles and the rest of His disciples, the God-loving women who followed after Him from the beginning, His Mother, the most holy Virgin Mary, and His brethren-all together about 120 souls returned from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. Entering into the house where they gathered,... [Read more]

But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time

OK, so let’s get to the nitty gritty of these various posts. After Kuhn showed how even science was somewhat dependent on one’s worldview and showed how major advances did not tend to happen until somebody looked at the data with a different worldview, other philosophers began to look again at the whole issue of language and meaning. As a background, Freud and Jung had already done their... [Read more]

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An aside about servicepeople supporting freedom

Yesterday, Father Ernesto continued his discussion on Kuhn and a changing paradigm shift. He will continue that tomorrow with a small discussion on post-modernism and how that has impacted our view of truth. However, he brought up an event from 1946 nicknamed the McMinn County War. There is no recent comparable event, but it is certainly true that there still continues to be a strong feeling in America... [Read more]

And you can fool some of the people all of the time

Yesterday I had mentioned that another philosophy came up that caused an explosion within USA culture. Remember that I mentioned a philosopher named Kuhn? His book was published in the 1960′s, in the midst of the cultural explosions that did not begin in the 1960′s as most people think, but began in the 1950′s (well, just slightly before) when the civil rights movement exploded.... [Read more]