It's been a while since I last posted anything here. Many reasons for that. I'm still receiving physical therapy from a bad fall last August that led to hip surgery. And my church work load has increased in unprecedented scope as I've been doing catechesis with some very eager new entrants into the Orthodox faith. …
Taking Christ’s Humanity Seriously
The goal of the Christian religion is not the idolizing of Christ, not christolatry, but that we all "are in Christ," as the mystical expression goes, that we have a part in the life of Christ. This savior is a wounded healer, and he heals so that we may become as he is. Be as …
Translating 2 Corinthians 5:19
It hit me the other day, out of the blue, while driving: "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." I looked it up immediately when I got home. 2 Corinthians 5:19 expresses Saint Paul’s faith in concise and unprecedented simplicity, and yet it is one of the deepest expressions of theology anywhere …
On this Earth Day
CHRIST IS RISEN! HAPPY EARTH DAY! I'm so glad I can say both of these greetings together. They do belong together. In our Orthodox theology the life and sanctification of our Earth is intimately bound to our becoming holy. The inspiration for Earth Day goes back to Rachel Carson's book The Silent Spring, The crisis …
What it means to take Christ seriously
The desert fathers and mothers were not learned theologians. They weren’t even deep spiritual guides. Their lives were simple and their teachings were simple and directly related to their circumstances in the desert. Sometimes their teachings provoke laughter in us who are more ‘sophisticated’ than they are. More sophisticated we might be, but are we …
Happy Easter!
To all who read my WordPress blog and who celebrate this holiest day of the Christian year, I wish a blessed and joyful Easter. May the life of the risen Lord shine in your lives and may we all "live to please the Lord in the land of the living." I haven't posted anything here …
A Forgiveness Worthy of Golgotha
In the spring of 1996, Christian de Cherge, prior of a Cistercian community at Tibhirine, Algeria, and six of his fellow monks were beheaded by GIA, the Armed Islamist Group. These men knew full well that their lives were in great danger, but they refused to leave the place where they shared so much of …
The Uncreated Church
A man went to Elder Porphyrios: “Geronta, I want your blessing, so that I can take communion tomorrow.” “Do you hate anyone?” “No, Geronta.” “Good. Go and receive communion.” Simple, right? Why do we Orthodox prefer to complicate things, with rules and man-made traditions? Porphyrios was a profound thinker and man of the spirit, but …
The Needed Touch
Jesus called her 'daughter' - θυγάτηρ. I bet no one had called her that in a real face-to-face encounter. Certainly not in the 12 years that she had the flow of blood, which made her untouchable, an outcast from society. She was cured by being recognized, by being loved, by entering relationship. But it started …
A Magnificent Prayer
The Responses to Thalassios is considered by many to be the greatest work of St. Maximos the Confessor, the great Byzantine theologian of the 7th century. The book consists of 65 answers that Maximos wrote in response to Thalassios, a renowned spiritual teacher in North Africa. Question 48 in this book begins with a prayer that …
Ancient Modern Faith 