“Thoughts in Christ”

I’ve been contemplating the awesome partings of the Bible, such as Moses bidding farewell to the children of Israel on Mt. Nebo, as they would soon enter the Promised Land; except in my case I’m the one leaving and the spiritual children are remaining. St. Paul departs in several sorrowful scenes, such as the above from Acts.

A half century,…

The Orthodox Church in America continues our mother Russian Orthodox Church’s tradition; at least, it was like that a half century ago when I was ordained into the sacred priesthood of our holy Church. The silver cross given upon my ordination had the above words embossed on the back, my pectoral cross having been given to an unknown priest before…

Ponder with me the enigma of our American Orthodox Christian differences from our ethnic ancestors in our relationship with the Theotokos. How is it that the renowned Tikhvin Mother of God icon was received by upwards of a million fervent worshippers in her return to Russia, whereas for the half century of her residence, or rather hiatus, in our…

We recite it so simply and quickly, as though it is so obvious that it needs no discussion; however, we live in a world that challenges that fundamental truth and imposes the implications of its significance throughout society. Our culture emphasizes the rights of the individual to such an extent that we have all but lost the contrasting truth of…

Funeral homes – as they are called nowadays – are not literally “homes,” but more like way stations; or put in a more contemporary phrase, “terminals.” They are a stopping place on the way from life to life everlasting, our earthly houses and our eternal residence. They offer a welcome service to the family of the deceased, photographs…

Leonardo Da Vinci wrote: “A great love is the child of a great knowledge.” I wonder why he phrased it that way. He was himself an illegitimate child. He knew firsthand abuse and rejection. Among the greatest geniuses of all history, his knowledge taught him about love. He lived at the dawn of the Renaissance, when human reason was emerging from…

Note the passive voice [is given to N] deacon, laity, and to himself, because all comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, as in some of the back walls of churches where it is Christ Himself communing the apostles. This format is expressed in all sacraments. For example, in the prayers of forgiveness and absolution of holy Confession, it is not the priest…

The Divine Liturgy from the opening through the sermon is called “Liturgy of the Word.” We mean by Word the living Word who is the Son of God having come into the world as Jesus Christ in order to save sinners, the first among them being me. The readings of epistle and gospel are about the Word of God explained for us, a lesson for our…

What gift can we offer to You which is truly ours to give? Even the awareness of our poverty is a gift that comes from Your Holy Spirit. Like the Little Drummer Boy of the Christmas carol, we have no gifts to bring, unless it be the free will to desire to be here at this moment of the Divine Liturgy at the consecration of the bread and wine into the…

On the Sunday before Christmas the Church recalls the ancestry of the Messiah Jesus. Indeed, the whole holy history of salvation, the Old Testament, is completed by the bridge, this recall of humanity’s salvation. Here is the reason that His birth divides history. Many come to celebrate this wonder: The shepherds, the wanderers without real…

Orthodox Christianity claims to be the Church of the Holy Spirit – and we are. Unlike other Christian communions, we baptize soon after birth; following at the same service, we bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the newborn child, so that he or she is not deprived of entry into the Body of Christ by receiving the Holy Communion. At the…

Again I was asked, “Why is there so much repetition in our prayers?” And again I responded the way I always had before - our worship includes certain themes and terms that bear repeating, because they remind us to pay attention to something significant on the way, or else to waft us upwards into the rarefied spiritual atmosphere of the Kingdom,…

The first comment to the above reflection from the Orthodox Christian point of view is that praise the Lord we and the Church are not limited to the written word of sacred scripture.  Our constant response to Protestantism comes from II Thessalonians 2:15:  “Therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by…

Among the multitude of monasteries in pre-Revolutionary Russia, Optino, in the south central region, was noted for having produced a series of elders [startsi in Russian, geronda in Greek] who had gone through decades of silent meditation and prayer, then for several years before their death would open their cells to permit pilgrims to visit and…

The glory of the baptismal and Chrismation sacraments glows from the illumination of the faces of all who are witness to the blessed event. Nobody there is blasé, bored or unaffected by the celebration of one of those “many who have been baptized, have put on Christ,“ as we sing during the three-time encirclement of the font. Smiles on all…

If you want to be like Christ and model your life after His, then you can begin by forgiving others the way He did and is still doing. Read again His words from the cross – what a liberating phrase. Forgive. He did not take with Him to heaven a wish for revenge against Judas Iscariot. Nor was there any hatred against Pontius Pilate, the governor…

The evangelist St. Matthew remembered that strange exchange and pondered over Christ’s response to the polite young man who call our Lord “good.” At first it appears to be a put-down, a call for honesty beyond empty flattery. It’s more than that. It answers the question, “What shall I do?” The Lord responded – precisely what you are…

All Orthodox Christians are historians – that is, we take seriously events of the past and apply them to contemporary situations. When that does not happen, we are bereft of the lessons that took place at various times and situations, lessons that have molded and shaped the truth as the Holy Spirit has been working out salvation in the people of…

Most teenagers have read The Catcher in the Rye, that ritual of passage by J.D. Salinger, about a dropout from several high schools who lives in a society he feels full of shallow hypocrites, the sole sincere person being the drummer at Radio City Music Hall. This classic ritual of passage nails the know-it-all phase before realizing that we all…

Because the Lord God is one, you can only love Him unconditionally. Jesus is simply quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Every Jew would know this passage by heart. This is a great insight requiring much reason. Because He is one, He is alone the source and goal of your affection. Many will assume it is natural to relate to God by requests – isn’t that…