“Thoughts in Christ”

by Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky

Constant Prayer

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 to include the Other. It’s not a prayer if it’s a monologue, when the one praying is not listening for a response. At first…

Unceasing Prayer

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 brought from the Old World to the New – funny foods and folk frolics. At long last Orthodox Christianity has been acknowledged as…

A Spirit of Lust

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 Lent. I lift it up to the Lord all year long because it has such depth and meaningfulness. Why “lust for power”? Why not just…

Pursuit of Happiness

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; therefore, an ideal government would affirm life as a God-given right, together with the freedom to experience and express life to…

One Faith, Two Expressions

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 Paul are portrayed on our icons in an embrace of love, and that without reservation or hesitation. Their spiritual bond is…

Homeland of Promise

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 permanent residence. Like our great spiritual father, we too have left behind a foreign land, even if we had been born in it.…

Descent of the Holy Spirit

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 you, sorrow has filled your heart” (16:6). Such overwhelming sorrow that it could lead to a state of deep depression. Who of…

False Alarm

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 seriously his dire forecast of the world’s end.  Yet it is fascinating to realize how many did indeed prepare for all life…

Ascending to the Lord

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 forlorn. We had been hurt by some event or person. Or maybe we are out of work, we failed an exam, or a blow to our pride and…

Illumined by the Feast

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 Jesus Christ. When we sing the glorious words above heard after midnight on Holy Pascha night, we proclaim the conditions for…

Celebrating God’s World

Here is a phrase from the Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord Jesus is explaining to His disciples the outlook on life one must possess in order to experience the Kingdom of God within one’s heart and soul. It may have been springtime when flowers burst into bloom. Do more than notice – Consider [reflect deeply, observe thoroughly, study] the way they…

Christ and Closure

St. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where the Lord Jesus had been laid because she was restless. She could not sleep. Her mind filled with anguish and confusion. In the common contemporary phrase, she suffered from lack of closure. After a disaster in flight, when a plane falls into the water, the family and friends appear at the edge of the ocean,…

The Church of the Living God

How blessed are they who have a home address but who live in the house of God. For them the church is where you find their hearts and passions. They are called in our native tongues “churchy people.” To be Orthodox Christian is to love your parish with a passion, whether it be a huge cathedral or a garage-size chapel. And such Christians know…

The Day of Rest

The writer of Hebrews is comparing the “Day of Rest,” or “Sabbath rest,” which can mean getting to the Promised Land as in the Old Testament, or maybe as Christians we would think of it as the peace of God that our Lord said “passes all understanding,” life everlasting with the Holy Trinity. We do not understand because it lies ahead of…

Claudia’s Dream

How would the apostles know the name of Pontius Pilate’s wife that tradition has named Claudia? Why would they care to know the spouse of the executor of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ? Why would she be mentioned in the gospels at all, if it were not for her dream, and how would the faithful learn about it unless she was one of them? And…

The Shut Door

The first reference is mystical, the revelation that Christ Himself awaits an invitation to the heart of every human being. He never intrudes or enters where He is not wanted or invited. The second is actual and practical, announcing to the doorkeepers that the non-baptized have been prayed for and now are to leave, because what follows is “for…

Light of Christ

The first reading ends. The Royal Gates open. The celebrant appears holding aloft a candle in one hand, the censer in the other. He faces the people of God and chants: “The light of Christ illumines all.” The Word of God, the Logos Who with the Father and Holy Spirit were from the beginning of everything, the same Son of God is from the baptism…

Seven Last Words

Preaching from the last words of our Lord, God and Savior on Good Friday is quite common in western churches. In the medieval period preachers emphasized the darkness and desolation. Later they stressed the overwhelming love poured out from Christ’s glorious sacrifice. In any case the emotions of all Christians are brought to a climax by the Son…

Betrayal

What made Judas decide to betray the One who chose him from among all the followers of Jesus to be an apostle? Several suggestions come from the above passage. Judas was called Iscariot. That wasn’t his last name. He came from Kerioth, a place beyond Galilee. He was the only apostle from somewhere else. Sometimes we feel that we are unlike…

Salvation

This is what we Orthodox Christians do all the time, but especially through Great Lent. We take from the reliquary of our souls the most precious Pearl who is Christ in whom we were baptized, but we first wash ourselves clean as we had been on our baptismal day through fasting and prayer. We start again as infants, knowing that He will be patient…