Sealed With The Kiss
During my pre-Orthodox days when I was an Anglican priest, one of the most popular services for the devout was the so-called “8 am service”—a much-shortened Communion service offered without hymns, without sermon—and...
“No Other Foundation”
by Fr. Lawrence Farley
Big Damn Heroes
Fans of the TV series “Firefly” will recognize the title as a quote from a line in one of that series’ episodes. Two of the protagonists were about to be killed by a howling mob when their friends suddenly showed up to...
E Pluribus Unum?
The Latin phrase e pluribus unum is found on the seal of the United States, adopted by an Act of their Congress in 1782. It was considered de facto as their national motto until 1956, when the motto “In God we trust” was...
A Christmas Meditation
In becoming incarnate as a baby in Bethlehem long ago, God revealed a change in His modus operandi. That is, in all His previous visitations (such as His appearance to Israel on Mount Sinai when He gave them His Law, or His...
‘M’ is the Million Things She Gave Me
Readers of my vintage (and historians) will recognize the above title as the first line in the song extolling motherhood, with each letter in the word “mother” standing for a particular maternal attribute.
(‘O’...
St. Tabitha and the Silence of the Synaxarion
The good people of the “Come Receive the Light” radio programme wanted to interview me about St. Tabitha (whose resurrection by St. Peter is described in Acts 9:36f), so I found myself going to the Synaxarion to see what...
Aliens
The Church has classically been described by four adjectives: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. If I were looking for a more concise way to sum up these attributes, I would choose one word: alien.
The on-line Oxford...
Sainthood in the Express Lane
A wry joke was making the rounds in 1978. It went something like this: “Have you heard how the Catholics are electing Popes these days? They’re going to the polls!” The reference, of course, was to the then-recent...
Musing on the Holy Fire
Like many Orthodox, I am fascinated by God’s annual gift to His Church of the Holy Fire, which He kindles faithfully in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem every Holy Saturday. (That’s “the Church of the Holy...
Encountering the Patriarch’s Book
The year 2008 saw the release by Doubleday Press of a book written by (the cover reads) “His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew”, entitled Encountering the Mystery. (It is one of the few books I have read in...