One of the oddities of the Church calendar is that there are certain feasts that are celebrated on one day in the East, but another day in the West. This is the case of the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The West celebrated that feast yesterday, but the East celebrates it today. Here is what […]
Pithless Thoughts, $40.00, and moist eyes
Normally I do not port someone else’s blog post to my blog. But, I am porting this one because it is such a good example of how the Desert Fathers used to give. It comes from the blog of Pithless Thoughts, and I hope that he will not mind my porting it here. So, please […]
He came to us, God with us.
On this day the Virgin cometh to a cave to give birth to God the Word ineffable, Who was before all the ages. Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before […]
Mystery is sometimes very mysterious
One of the standard Evangelical definitions of mystery takes all the mystery out of mystery. That particular definition claims that there is no mystery to mystery. In other words, the claim is that a New Testament mystery is only something that was mysterious in the Old Testament but that is no longer mysterious in the […]
A non-theological appreciation of free will and the sovereignty of God
A person commented the following on my post yesterday: You know, the more I read and learn concerning Orthodox theology, the more I see an acceptance of paradox that even exceeds my native Lutheranism. My reply is that it has more to do with the idea of mystery, but rather than try to explain it […]
Free will and salvation
I quoted both Patriarch Dositheus and Metropolitan Kallistos yesterday to point out to my Orthodox brethren that some of them go to the other extreme from Saint Augustine and almost end up claiming that our free will was, at best, barely damaged. But, both an approved Orthodox confession and a current Metropolitan who is a […]
Free will is not simply a philosophical definition
If you remember my first posting two days ago, I commented that I had a problem with some of my fellow Orthodox. It is in that vein that I continue the discussion. Some of my fellow Orthodox react so strongly to Augustinianism, and its derivative Calvinism, that they go to the point of going to […]
We are fallen and damaged
We Orthodox often do not take seriously enough what it means that we are fallen and damaged. It is true that we do not believe in various forms of total depravity. However, all too often we react against extreme forms of total depravity by going to the other extreme and almost denying that we are […]
Proof that USA Marines never retire
Some of you have suggested that I am exaggerating when I say that a US Marine never retires, they are simply not currently on active duty. The story below is evidence that what I have said is true. I only quoted part of the story, I recommend that you read the full story. Hmm, btw, […]
Some guardian angels look a little different
This is a small “shout out” to those who are Marines, Semper Fi. And, as we all know, there is no such thing as a retired Marine, there are only Marines who are not currently on active duty. No, I am not going to say that the Marines are guardian angels. I have known enough […]
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