“No Other Foundation”

There are many odd things to be found on the internet, things strange enough to make one’s eyes widen and blink.  But perhaps nothing is more odd (and to my mind, more blood-chilling) that the example and words of Mr....

On December 13, the Orthodox rejoice in the life and glorious death of Herman of Alaska, the first saint of Alaska, canonized by the Orthodox Church in America in 1970.  December 13 is the date of St. Herman’s repose and...

One of the things I hate about going shopping during the season of the Christmas rush is the music that is piped in over the mall sound system.  I would happy with traditional renderings of the old carols, but instead, my...

For a long time now, a war has been raging within the lofty towers of Academia, and consists of the pitched battle between biblical conservatives and biblical liberals.  The bombast accompanying the conflict reminds me of...

How much do you need to know to become a catechumen in the Orthodox Church?  That was the question put to me by an inquirer at the parish I serve one Sunday several months ago.  The young lady in question was drawn to...

St. John Chrysostom had a much slimmer Menaion than we do. The Menaion, of course, is that collection of hymns celebrating the lives of the Church’s saints, offering the proper liturgical hymns for the services of Vespers,...

I would like to tell you a sad story, the story of a single man, solitary and secular.  We were playmates at school together when I was young, both of us being the only children of our respective parents.  We got on well...

The service of Vespers is, I think, dramatically under-appreciated today.  The temptation for us busy people is to reduce our church-going to Sunday mornings only, and let everything else slide.  Since we under-appreciate...

The year is 1868; the place, Damascus. A self-taught mystic calling himself Abd el Matar left his wife, family, and home to found a group of disciples in Damascus, the Shazlis, basing it on a Sufi brotherhood established in...

One of the saddest books I read is the Church metrical book, the book containing the list of those baptized, married, and buried.  It can be a sad read because of the number of people once baptized and chrismated that no...