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Travel Day

Today is a car travel day as I return home. May the Lord bless all of you and prepare you for the Lord’s Day. For today, I will simply include a copy of Metropolitan Jonah’s message for Sanctity of Life Sunday. It is one of the most balanced pro-life messages that I have seen. === Sanctity of Life Sunday Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah Metropolitan Jonah January... [Read more]

Patriarch Alexiy of Russia – 1929 to 2008

This morning, Patriarch Alexiy of the Russian Orthodox Church died at the age of 79. He was the man credited with restoring much moral authority to the Russian Orthodox Church after the years of Communism. He became patriarch in 1990, shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union. I can remember that he faced serious questions about himself, with some people vehemently arguing that he should step down... [Read more]

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And the bishop cried

Have you ever heard a bishop cry? I do not mean the crocodile tears that some pastors seem to be able to drop on cue. I mean, the honest release of emotion that expresses our deep inner feelings. No, most of us have not. The last two days have again delayed my planned blogging, but given me another view of God at work. You see, a couple of days ago, a priest friend of mine telephoned me and told... [Read more]

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St. Luke and the Prophet Joel

Every so often the liturgical calendar has a happy confluence. This weekend is such a one. Earlier today I concelebrated Orthros and Divine Liturgy for St. Luke the Evangelist. Tomorrow is the day of the Prophet Joel. And, the two are intimately linked. You see, the Prophet Joel prophesized the coming of the Holy Spirit. And, St. Luke recorded the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in the Book... [Read more]

Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 03

There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead; when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad she was horrid. — Mother Goose The Orthodox Church in the United States is somewhat like that apocryphal little girl of Mother Goose fame. The two men behaving badly, the subjects of these posts, have shown us something of the horrid side of the Orthodox... [Read more]

Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 02

Two men behaving badly have clearly exposed some of the arguments going on within the Orthodox Church in the USA, as I mentioned in part 01 of this post. At the same time, both of them have shown, almost crudely, the bad thinking and misunderstandings going on behind the arguments. So, let’s look at them in the hope that unraveling them will help us look at the future of the Orthodox Church. Let’s... [Read more]

Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 01

I have seldom seen the Bible come to life as much as I have in the last month as I have read two articles, one by a priest and one by a layman, that exemplify the great disputes going on within Orthodoxy in the USA. The first article, “The Orthodox Church of Tomorrow” was published by a convert priest, but was later removed. However, you can still read a copy of it here. The second article... [Read more]