Orthodox Christianity

Fear, Anxiety, and God – Pastoral Advice During Coronavirus Crisis

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

Fr. Johannes Jacobse Fear, Anxiety, and God (Advice During Coronavirus Crisis) by Fr. Johannes Jacobse –
If we seek the Savior, if we conform our lives in obedience to Him, then peace and assurance can reign in our heart and we will get through this trial strengthened and changed.

I did a live stream this morning on how to handle the anxiety and fear that grips a lot of people during this pandemic. Here are my recommendations.

(1) Use the media sparingly. Don’t spend the day watching the news. The constant repetition of the same “facts” (in precious short supply until more concrete numbers come in) amplifies them; it gives them a greater authority than what they warrant.

Most news readers (real journalists are few) don’t know much. They simply don’t have the time to study what they report. Consequently, most draw from the same sources, and some of those sources are suspect. Maintaining a critical distance is prudent. [Read more…]

An Orthodox Christian Response to the Coronavirus

March 9, 2020March 10, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

Orthodox Christian Response to Coronavirus Bishop Irenei of London by Bishop Irenei of London –
No genuinely believing Christian can for one moment accept that the Holy Mysteries might bring or be the source of sickness or ill-health: by no means!

As we enter now fully into this lenten period leading to the bright Resurrection of Christ, we find ourselves also in a period where many are stricken with fear at the spread of a new virus (Coronavirus COVID-19), which is affecting people in many parts of the world — including several countries within the borders of our Diocese. Since many are asking how this situation is to be approached, within our Church consciousness, I write to you in this initial week of the Great Fast to share the comfort and solace of the Church.

The Church of Christ has endured through many centuries — in the course of which she has been confronted with countless illnesses and diseases, small and great — in solid faith and with peaceful hearts, each member of the Church knowing that he or she is part of no worldly or man-made institution, but the Harbour of Life that is Christ’s Body. [Read more…]

When People of God Fall, They Behave Worse Than Pagans

February 13, 2020February 23, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

When People of God Fall They Behave Worse Than Pagans by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon –
How are pagans to take seriously those who profess to be better than the world, when in fact they live by norms conspicuously lower than the world?
…
How are pagans to take seriously those who profess to be better than the world, when in fact they live by norms conspicuously lower than the world? How is it possible for a Christian church to hold its bishops, for instance, to lower ethical expectations in matters of business than the chairman of a secular corporation?

Why are such scandals permitted, year after year? Or again, why should a priest not be unfrocked for offenses that would promptly send a school counselor to prison? How can we expect pagans to take any Christian church seriously if it does not call its own stewards to account?

Alas, it is a demonstrable fact that the people of God, when they fall, often enough do not fall to the level of good paganism, but much lower. [Read more…]

Giacomo Sanfilippo’s Unholy Vendetta Against Faithful Orthodox Priests and Teachers

February 7, 2020February 9, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

Giacomo Sanfilippo Unholy Vendetta Against Faithful Orthodox Priests and Teachers by Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –

Via multiple posts and articles full of hysteria, wild exaggerations, distortions, and innuendos Giacomo Sanfilippo (also known as Peter J. Sanfilippo), has been relentlessly defaming and attacking several Orthodox Christian priests, bishops, and seminary professors. Why? Because these men dare to publicly and fearlessly defend the Orthodox Church teaching on homosexual sin and warn the Church about many false teachers (like Sanfilippo) and deceitful venues that question, challenge, mock, deconstruct, contradict, and distort Church teaching, practices, and theology, especially regarding morality, human sexuality, and marriage.

Since 2017 Sanfilippo has used his inappropriately named “Orthodoxy in Dialogue” website, his Facebook pages, and his Twitter accounts to maliciously condemn these good men and smear their reputations. Sanfilippo has launched an unholy personal vendetta against these priests and teachers and is fomenting rebellion inside the Holy Orthodox Church. [Read more…]

Jesus Christ and the Social Problem

November 17, 2019November 18, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Jesus Christ and the Social Problem by Archimandrite Georgios Kapsanis –
The more that people are cleansed of the passions, the greater their capacity for real communion with God and other people.

Those who take a romantic and external view of the human person transfer wickedness from the person onto society, which is why they proclaim that any improvement in society will bring with it an improvement in people. But, without denying the importance of social effects on people, we Orthodox prioritize the transformation of the person through repentance and divine grace.

It’s a grave error to want to change society without first striving to change ourselves. It is, at the very least, naive to believe that a change in a few social institutions will also bring about a change in people even if they don’t repent. [Read more…]

Don’t Dialogue With Sin

October 9, 2019October 10, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Dont Dialogue With Sin Fr. Ioannes Apiarius by Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –
Don’t dialogue with sin. Don’t engage sin. Don’t self-identify with sin. Don’t take pride in sin. Don’t define sin as essential to human identity. Don’t celebrate sin. Turn away from sin. Flee from sin. Repent of sin. Struggle and fight against sin. Help others turn away from sin. Help them to fight against sin. Teach others to avoid sin and reject sin.

“The demons want us to enter into dialogue with them. We must do everything we can to avoid this. The only way to do this is to totally ignore all their suggestions, to not pay them any attention,” wrote Elder Sergei of Vanves.

These are basic and universal Christian principles and moral precepts that keep us on the narrow road that leads to salvation and eternal life. They help us clear the weeds of destructive passions from the soil of our souls, and prep it for the Word of God to be implanted, take root, and bear much good fruit. They help us fight the good fight. They help us live in truth. They help us seek and worship the True God, not the idol many of us craft from our own distorted thinking and call it “god.” [Read more…]

Heresies and Schisms Will Appear in the Churches, in the Last Days

October 7, 2019October 7, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

St. Ambrose Heresies and Schisms Will Appear in the Churches Mocking The Holy Fathers St. Ambrose of Optina (1812-1891) –
My child, know that in the last days hard times will come; and as the Apostle says, behold, due to poverty in piety, heresies and schisms will appear in the churches; and as the Holy Fathers foretold, then on the thrones of hierarchs and in monasteries there will be no men to be found that are tested and experienced in the spiritual life. Wherefore, heresies will spread everywhere and deceive many.

The enemy of mankind will act skillfully, and whenever possible he will lead the chosen ones to heresy. He will not begin by discarding the dogmas on the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, or the Theotokos, but will unnoticeably start to distort the Teachings of the Holy Fathers, in other words the teachings of the Church herself.

The cunning of the enemy and his “tipics” (ways) will be noticed by very few — only those that are most experienced in spiritual life. Heretics will take over the Church, everywhere, and they will appoint their servants, and spirituality will be neglected. [Read more…]

Trust Faithful Orthodox Elders, Avoid Modernist Liberal Academics

July 18, 2019March 28, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

Trust Faithful Orthodox Elders, Avoid Modernist Liberal Academics by Fr. Michael Wood (Hieromonk) –
For the academic, nothing is a given, nothing is sacred, all must be questioned and challenged.

While I have spent a fair amount of my life in and around academic institutions, and would count myself an historian and liturgist, I am above all an eremitic monastic priest. While I certainly cannot lay claim to the extremes of monastic asceticism that many of our great Orthodox Elders have held to, nevertheless in all matters theological, I will always come down on the side of Scripture, Tradition and the Fathers, for that is where Orthodox truth is to be found.

We are, as Orthodox Believers in The Church, dependent entirely upon revelation and as such our real theologians are not academics at all, but rather the great experiencers of God.

Hence when we have academic clergy presuming to pronounce on the faith, from their height of academe, I would counsel the faithful to run away from them. [Read more…]

Warning to Orthodox Church: False Teachers and Deceitful Venues That Contradict and Distort Church Teaching

July 9, 2019March 25, 2020 by Orthodox Editors

Warning to Orthodox Church: False Teachers and Deceitful Venues That Contradict and Distort Church Teaching by Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –
Orthodox Church is being attacked by false teachers and deceitful venues that question, challenge, mock, deconstruct, contradict, and distort Church teaching, practices, and theology.

With help from the Orthodox editors, I have compiled a list of articles, essays, and petitions written by Orthodox Christian priests, deacons, professors, and writers warning the Church about false teachers and deceitful venues (especially Public Orthodoxy, The Wheel Journal, Orthodoxy in Dialogue, Fordham University’s Orthodox Center, Lazar Puhalo, Sister Vassa) that question, challenge, mock, deconstruct, contradict, and distort Church teaching, practices, and theology.

These links summarize the extensive true and public witness of approximately fifty-four (54) Orthodox Christians (mostly priests) all of whom are in good standing with the Orthodox Church (spanning multiple jurisdictions). They represent Orthodox priests, archpriests, hieromonks, seminary professors, and two deans of Orthodox Christian Seminaries. [Read more…]

Parable of the Wheat and the Tares – Why Priests Must Vigilantly Keep Watch

July 5, 2019July 8, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Parable of the Wheat and the Tares - Why Priests Must Vigilantly Keep Watch by Archpriest Victor Potapov –
The devil sows tares, says the Lord, while men sleep. In other words, the devil sows his tares secretly, unnoticeably, when the guards appointed to look after the field, that is, the pastors of the Church, keep watch inadequately, and when the faithful themselves live carelessly as well and listen too credulously to impostors and false teachers.

In the parable of the sower and the seed, the discourse was about how men accept the word of God in different ways, and how this word affects men in different ways. In the next parable that of the wheat and the tares Christ speaks of the fourth portion of seed, which had fallen on good ground, and how the enemy of man’s salvation does everything possible in order to ruin that which grows in this good ground.

The parable of the wheat and the tares is extremely topical for our days, when people raise the question of the origin of evil in the world and are perplexed over the temptations, schisms and fallings away which they encounter in the Church Herself. [Read more…]

The 2018 Resolution on Same-Sex Relationships the OCA Bishops Rejected

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

As publicly confirmed by a senior OCA priest and privately confirmed by other OCA priests, at the Nineteenth All-American Council in July 2018, a Resolution aimed at asking the bishops to correct errant clergy and lay persons who promote false teaching on same-sex relationships was rejected by the OCA Synod of Bishops and not permitted to be voted on by the assembly. Concerned that publications such as The Wheel were perceived to be given a tacit blessing by the hierarchy, senior priests urged the bishops, through the resolution, to send an unambiguous message that false teaching will not be tolerated.

The OCA Synod rejected the resolution citing that it was not appropriate for the All-American Council to “give direction” to the Synod. The OCA bishops also did not provide any feedback to revise or edit the priests’ statement to make it more acceptable to them. [Read more…]

No Scriptural Approval, Acceptance, or Tolerance of Homosexuality

June 27, 2019June 27, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Bishop Alexander Mileant - no example in all of the New Testament of approval, acceptance, or even tolerance of homosexuality by Bishop Alexander (Mileant) –
There is no example in all of the New Testament of approval, acceptance, or even tolerance of homosexuality.

Homosexuality: Although there is much more open discussion about homosexuality in the twentieth century than in previous times, there is definite reference to it in ancient writings. The frequently used synonym, sodomy, comes from the apparent homosexual activity among men of Sodom (Genesis 19), and the severity of strictures set forth in the Holiness Code, with nothing short of the death penalty being imposed, suggested that the need for discipline must have been great, (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13). The Old Testament understood normal sexual intercourse as not only a way of expressing a loving relationship, but also as a divinely appointed way of procreating new life.

In the New Testament, St. Paul condemns male prostitutes and homosexuals (I Corinthians 6:9-11). In the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans (Romans 1:24-32), he also judges it as unnatural. [Read more…]

Orthodox Worldview: Orthodox Christianity Not Limited to Church Building

June 23, 2019June 24, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Orthodox Worldview: Orthodox Christianity Not Limited to Church Building by Fr. Seraphim Rose –
There exists a false opinion, which unfortunately is all to widespread today, that it is enough to have an Orthodoxy that is limited to the church building and formal “Orthodox” activities, such as praying at certain times or making the sign of the Cross; in everything else, so this opinion goes, one can be like anyone else, participating in the life and culture of our times without any problem, as long as we don’t commit sin.

Anyone who has come to realize how deep Orthodoxy is, and how full is the commitment which is required of the serious Orthodox Christian, and likewise what totalitarian demands the contemporary world makes on us, will easily see how wrong this opinion is.

One is Orthodox all the time every day, in every situation of life, or one is not really Orthodox at all. Our Orthodoxy is revealed not just in our strictly religious views, but in everything we do and say. Most of us are very unaware of the Christian, religious responsibility we have for the seemingly secular part of our lives. [Read more…]

Rebuke and Publicly Denounce Blasphemers

June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Rebuke and Publicly Denounce Blasphemers - St Nicholas Slaps Arius Icon by St. John Chrysostom –
But since our discourse has now turned to the subject of blasphemy, I desire to ask one favor of you all, in return for this my address, and speaking with you; which is, that you will correct on my behalf the blasphemers of this city. And should you hear any one in the public thoroughfare, or in the midst of the forum, blaspheming God; go up to him and rebuke him; and should it be necessary to inflict blows, spare not to do so.

Smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify your hand with the blow, and if any should accuse you, and drag you to the place of justice, follow them there; and when the judge on the bench calls you to account, say boldly that the man blasphemed the King of angels!

For if it be necessary to punish those who blaspheme an earthly king, much more so those who insult God. [Read more…]

Repentance is a Change, Not a Simple Regret

June 8, 2019June 12, 2019 by Orthodox Editors

Repentance is a Change, Not a Simple Regret - Patriarch Daniel of Romania by Aurelian Iftimiu (on Patriarch Daniel of Romania) –
‘Repentance is an effort for inner change, not a simple regret,’ His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel [of Romania] said in his Sunday homily at St Gregory the Enlightener Chapel of his Patriarchal Residence.

His Beatitude noted that repentance does not simply imply saying ‘I’m sorry’ and moving on, ‘it is an effort to change the way of thinking, of speaking and of acting.’

In this regard, the Patriarch recalled that many saints ‘were originally thieves and criminals, but through repentance they changed themselves and became wonderworking Saints.’ ‘Some of them used to be decadent, as Mother Mary of Egypt who through much repentance became a Saint. When praying she rose from the ground because she was more related to heaven than to earth,’ Patriarch Daniel said Jan. 13.[Read more…]