“Thoughts in Christ”

What is prayer? St. Isaac, an expert instructor, offers a broad definition: “Any conversation” [with God] that is secret, inward and positive, and any “reflection on the spiritual.” To be a true conversation, it has...

Too often Orthodoxy has been patronized by those who know little about us. The fault is our own. We allow others to describe and to define who we are. What they see are immigrants intent on perpetuating cult and customs...

This sin of yearning to have power attacks the serious Christian and can become an obsession. It appears in the prayer that all Orthodox Christians know by heart, since it’s recited countless times throughout the Great...

First to note for our times is that Thomas Jefferson and his peers assumed a Creator responsible for all creation.  Given their times, a rational Creator would endow the highest form of creation with attributes of life;...

Beyond evidence that no person, be he bishop or patriarch, is infallible even when speaking officially, the blunt comment above from St. Paul expresses two ways to experience and witness to the one true faith. Sts. Peter and...

When we hear the priestly prayer at the conclusion of a funeral or requiem inviting the beloved to the “bosom of Abraham,” we understand that as his children we too have passed through a lifetime where we had no...

The disciples were unwilling to realize that our Lord Jesus was explaining to them His departure. Love wanted Him to stay, but Truth was speaking wisdom, and it caused them great grief. “Because I have said these things to...

May 21, 2011, has come and gone:  Christ did not return, the rapture did not begin, and the world did not end.  The warning of the senescent preacher’s catastrophic prediction did not happen.  Sensible people had not taken...

At the start of the holiest part of the Divine Liturgy, we hear the call from the celebrant: “Let us lift up our hearts!” How do we do that? We know how it feels to be down-hearted. For some reason we may be sad and...

We chant the Nicene Creed at every baptism and Divine Liturgy. It is mandatory for membership in the Holy Orthodox faith. Unless a person openly confesses belief in every word, he or she does not belong to the true faith in...