Reflections in Christ

The mystery of Christ’s Nativity is above all a paschal mystery. Pascha, in our Orthodox tradition, refers first of all to Easter, the feast of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Yet it refers as well to every image of...

What is he saying? He is dead? How can that be? St. Paul is expressing something that shatters all logic, unless it is mere hyperbole—but he is dead serious. Rather, he is alive and quite serious. The crucified Christ is...

Prior to the two great fasting periods that prepare Christ’s Nativity (Christmas) and His Resurrection (Pascha), the Sunday lectionary invites us to read the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). This...

Every parish has them, praise the Lord. They are never heard, yet they hear all that takes place in the church. They rarely speak up at parish meetings or in the clusters of talkers who have so much to say about the pastor...

St. Luke, who had a gift for observing and recording human nature, capturing idiosyncrasies for his readers, offers us the contrasting characteristics of these sisters—Martha the extrovert, Mary the introvert. Jesus uses...

Our Lord Jesus points out the miracle of life’s renewal in a grain of wheat. The inanimate grain multiplies when it dies and is buried. Living things also hibernate. Now in the late autumn countless millions of cocoons hang...

Let’s contrast the ending of the conventional Old Testament [without the Apocrypha] with the conclusion of the New Testament. They are both presented above. The prophet Malachi predicted that Elijah would appear to Israel...

There is a troubling and fascinating debate going on right now that we should all be at least somewhat familiar with. It concerns our most fundamental vision of God, the world and ourselves. And it has divided Christian...

It sounds so obvious that you may wonder why the Bible would present such a platitude. It’s not a simple thing, however, to trust in the Lord with all your heart. We don’t always realize how often we trust others instead....

I’ve always been intrigued at what it takes for a person to betray a leader or a country. It’s not done on a whim or an impulse—as we see above, it took forethought for Judas to turn against Jesus, until “from that time he...