Orthodox Christianity

Father John: Spiritual Mosquitoes

are random thoughts that just seem to pop into your head without invitationby Fr. John Moses –
It is a rare saint who attends hesychasm, or internal stillness. This may be due in part to the fact that most of us don’t take prayer and meditation very seriously or we allow the busyness of life to move prayer to the edges of our daily life.

I’m sure you’ve had this experience. You’re just about to fall asleep when suddenly you hear the tiniest of sounds go by your ear. You know immediately that a mosquito has targeted you for lunch. So, you cut on the light, but no matter how much you look around, you just can’t see it. So you cut off the light, and in just a little while you hear the buzzing again. You cut the light on, but nothing. So you cut the light off and try to ignore it. You know that sometime during the night, you’ll be donating blood.

It’s the same in spiritual life. You’re trying your best to be positive, to have some sense of spiritual progress, and then the mosquitoes start buzzing in your brain. Sometimes it seems that they have sucked all of the blood from your spiritual life. These spiritual mosquitoes are called logismoi. [Read more…]

Mere Existence and the Age to Come

Great Divorce Mere Existence by Fr. Stephen Freeman –
C.S. Lewis, in his marvelous little book, The Great Divorce, uses the imagery of “solidity” versus “ghostliness” to make a distinction between those who have entered paradise, and those who have not. He clearly did not mean to set forth a metaphysical model or to suggest “how things are.” But the imagery is very apt and suggestive when we take a look at what it means for something or someone to exist.

The nature of our secularized worldview is to take all that we see as a presentation of reality and truth. The daily world as we experience it is considered to be the very definition of reality. This is the natural world. Any other perception or presentation of reality is thus supernatural or something other than natural. For those who accept this definition, the onus is on those who suggest that reality is in anyway different than the daily perception of the modern secularized world. To be a “skeptic” is thus not to question everything, but to question everything other than what is perceived as normal and natural. [Read more…]

Catholicism & Orthodoxy: A Common Sanctity of Life

Sanctity of Life Orthodox Catholicby Deacon Keith Fournier –
‘Sacred Scripture and Holy Tradition emphasize the sacred dignity of the human person and God’s purpose in creating, to confer his blessings upon him. In today’s society, we have witnessed many attacks on human life, especially in its most vulnerable stages. As our heavenly patrons, Ss. Peter and Andrew were one as brothers and Apostles of the Lord, we too are united as brothers, as we affirm the sacred dignity and value of every human life.’ (From the Common Declaration) …

I am one of a growing number of people calling Pope Benedict XVI the “Pope of Christian Unity”. In his first Papal message he proclaimed, “Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope in the Upper Room. [Read more…]

The Way or Not the Way – Orthodoxy and Why It Matters

Jesus Christ Lord Orthodoxy by Chuck Colson –
Can we truly live out the Christian faith if we don’t understand its foundational tenets?

According to the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 57 percent of self-identified Evangelical Christians agreed with this statement: “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” Think about the staggering implications of what you just heard: 57 percent of Evangelicals believe that many religions can lead to eternal life!

Yet Jesus Himself was very clear. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Either Jesus was right, or he was wrong. What Christians, Muslims, and Jews say about the person and work of Jesus Christ can’t be reconciled. They may all be false, but they cannot all be true.

It’s called the law of non-contradiction — it goes back to Aristotle: If proposition A is true — that is, if it conforms to reality — then proposition B, making a contrary claim, cannot be true as well.

If nearly six out of ten Evangelicals don’t believe the most basic tenets of the faith, it’s no wonder the Church is losing its influence over the culture. Because what we believe affects how we live. [Read more…]

Blagovest Bells Appeal to Orthodox Community

Blagovest Bells - Orthodox Church Bells
Blagovest Bells
by Mark Galperin –

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Christ in our midst! Since 1998, upon the blessing of Father Stephan Meholick, Rector of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in San Anselmo, California, I have tried to create an awareness of the once self-evident essential role of bell-ringing in Orthodox worship as prescribed by the Church’s typikon.

Consequently, I have facilitated the selection, purchase, importation, installation, and implementation of traditional Orthodox Church bells here in the U.S. and also in Canada. This work has been rendered as a project of Expanding Edge LLC, under the trade name of Blagovest Bells. Our Blagovest Bells are ringing now in more than 100 churches across North America.

As the result of the current US economy downturn, our churches are experiencing serious financial difficulties, which results in a decreasing number of bell orders. Because of that, Blagovest Bells (http://russianbells.com/) recently hasn’t been generating enough revenue to take care of my family, so I have to restructure my occupation. [Read more…]

The Bridegroom Matins – Orthodox Holy Week

Icon of Christ The BridegroomChrist the Bridegroom is the central figure in the parable of the ten Virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13); Christ is the divine Bridegroom of the Church as described in the Book of Isaiah (chapter 54), as well as the primary image of Bridegroom Matins.

The title is suggestive of His divine presence and watchfulness (“Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night…”) during Holy Week and His selfless love for His Bride, the Church.

The Troparion
Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching, and unworthy is the servant whom he shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, oh my soul. Do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the kingdom.

But rouse yourself, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou our God.

Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us. [Read more…]

The Fathers of the Orthodox Church on Abortion

Christ, the Author of Life from OrthodoxyToday –
The following represent the teaching of the Orthodox Church from the [early] second century through the fifth century…. Note that penalties, when they are given, are neither civil nor criminal, but ecclesiastical and pastoral (excommunication for the purpose of inducing repentance). Also note that the these quotes deal with both surgical and chemically induced abortion, both pre- and post-quickening.

From the Letter to Diognetus:
(speaking of what distinguishes Christians from pagans) “They marry, as do all others; they beget children but they do not destroy their offspring” (literally, “cast away fetuses”).

From the Didache:
“You shall not slay the child by abortions.”

From the Letter of Barnabus:
“You shall not destroy your conceptions before they are brought forth; nor kill them after they are born.”

From St. Clement:
“Those who use abortifacients commit homicide.” [Read more…]

We Should Not Despair, Even If We Sin Many Times

St Peter of Damascus by St. Peter of Damascus –
Even if you are not what you should be, you should not despair. It is bad enough that you have sinned; why in addition do you wrong God by regarding Him in your ignorance as powerless? Is He, who for your sake created the great universe that you behold, incapable of saving your soul? And if you say that this fact, as well as His incarnation, only makes your condemnation worse, then repent; and He will receive your repentance, as He accepted that of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15:20) and the prostitute (cf. Luke 7:37-50).

But if repentance is too much for you, and you sin out of habit even when you do not want to, show humility like the publican (cf. Luke 18:13): this is enough to ensure your salvation. For he who sins without repenting, yet does not despair, must of necessity regard himself as the lowest of creatures, and will not dare to judge or censure anyone. Rather, he will marvel at God’s compassion, and will be full of gratitude towards his Benefactor, and so receive many other blessings as well. [Read more…]

What Is Hell Like? Does It Even Exist?

Hell is what happens when human beings say to the God in whose image they were made, we don’t want to worship You. We don’t want our human life to be shaped by worshiping You. We don’t want who we are as humans to be transformed by the love of Jesus dying and rising for us. We don’t want any of that. We want to stay as we are and do our own thing.
[Read more…]