For the last two days, I have been publishing commentary on a very important document from the Russian Orthodox Church. That document sets out the theology of the Russian Orthodox Church with regards to society. I, again, say that it is a document worth reading, given that Orthodoxy in the USA is not yet at […]

As a result of yesterday’s post, a question has come up as to where one can find a copy of the Russian Orthodox Church’s statement, “The Basis of the Social Concept.” Thankfully, you can find an English copy of the document posted by the Russian Orthodox Church herself at https://mospat.ru/en/documents/social-concepts/. It is a document worth reading […]

Recently, there was a small discussion on a friend’s Facebook© page concerning Orthodoxy and the blessing of weapons. Below is an ancient service for the blessing of weapons. Above is a photograph of a Russian priest blessing weapons. It should be noted that the Great Book of Needs, published by St. Tikhon seminary in 1999 […]

Kontakion of the Prodigal Son O Father, foolishly I ran away from Your glory, and in sin, squandered the riches You gave me. Wherefore, I cry out to You with the voice of the Prodigal, “I have sinned before You Compassionate Father. Receive me in repentance and take me as one of Your hired servants.” […]

The history of Saint Valentine is somewhat shrouded in history. In fact Valentinus was a common enough name that there are at least three different Saint Valentines, one of them a bishop. Generally, the one that has to do with February 14 is Saint Valentine of Rome in the third century, during the reign of […]

From a published article: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Jordan Bennett was suspended from his central Florida public school last year for playing cops and robbers. The 8-year-old’s crime? Using his thumb and forefinger to mimic a gun. … In the last 12 months, a seventh-grader in Rhode Island was suspended over a miniature toy gun keychain […]

I like the photograph above. It both expresses the love that a father has for his child, and the way his child will see him when s/he becomes a teenager. The good news is that then they become adults and you go back to being plain old father. In fact, in some ways Luke Skywalker’s […]

From Quora Atheism: If Jesus’s existence is claimed to be a fact and so are his supposed miracles, why do you, as an atheist, still choose not to believe in him? XXXXXX still struck speechless by a starlit sky Votes by [names edited out] If Mohammed’s existence is a fact and so are his teachings, […]

This will be real short tonight. The photo above comes from a website that shows just how much changing one can do on a human face, or a human body, simply by using Photoshop. My favorite one was the one above, in which a person who looks like he has seen the hard side of […]