Home / Work of the Church / Reflections in Christ
It was the nature of St. Thomas to question and confront, not taking anything at face value. When the Lord said to the apostles: “Where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:4), Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, how can we know the way?” His temperament was to be a contender and an outsider, yet we are better for…
You’ll hear us priests chant this psalm with great joy in our hearts, interspersed with the choir’s affirmation, “Christ is risen from the dead,” answering the Old Testament hope with the news that their wish has been granted. He has risen, His enemies are scattered, and the righteous are celebrating. That has already happened, yet the ultimate…
Even at the end, after several years of being with the Lord, following Him daily, hearing Him teach the message of the heavenly Father and His plan for the world as it was intended to be, Peter was armed for battle. Oh, how our animal instincts overwhelm us when conflicts confront us! Fight or flight, our basic nature urges. So easy to explain, so…
Long before the film The Passion of The Christ was released, a cry went out from many in the Jewish community that Mel Gibson’s portrayal of the last 45 hours of Christ’s life on earth was anti-Semitic and that it posed Jews in a false light. The only concession that Gibson made to the charge was to not translate the above phrase in the English…
St. Symeon the New Theologian explains the symbolism of this parable for us. He writes that the lamps that the ten virgins have in their possession as they are waiting to greet the bridegroom each held oil for fuel and wicks for illumination. But the lamps are small and not capable of holding much fuel. The lamp is the human soul; the oil is our…
Our world has no lack of religion. Regardless of how it’s expressed or the forms it takes, we live in a religious time. They are incorrect who claim that faith is passe, something for an era now behind us. Osama bin Laden is a committed believer, certain of his cause. Those who follow him call themselves martyrs. They are more than willing to die…
Here is the meeting of our Lord Jesus with the woman at Jacob’s well. As we eavesdrop in their conversation, we learn so much about true and false faith and prayer. Hers was a partial faith. He wasn’t being unkind, just truthful when Christ said that the Samaritans didn’t know the God that they prayed to. How many, even among the Orthodox Christians…
Most if not all Christians throughout the world know and recite the Lord’s Prayer, but only the Orthodox Church in the Divine Liturgy prefaces it with the above plea by the celebrant. Why does it take boldness, and why is it a daring action to address the heavenly Father in this prayer taught us by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself?
First of all, it…
When we think of the apostles gathered together, we conjure up the icon of the Last Supper. It crests every Royal Gate of our icon screens; or perhaps we think of them with the flames of fire above each, receiving the Holy Spirit on the great day of Pentecost. Maybe it would help us more to consider what it was that drew them together on that first…
Consider the spiritual light within you. Maybe you are not thinking of it, you may have forgotten, perhaps you never even knew you had a light to illumine others. But why would the good Lord ask from you something that He knew wasn’t in you? Your light then is not from you originally, but the gift and present of the Holy Spirit. You’ve had it in a…
Just before the Divine Liturgy begins, the celebrant invokes the Holy Spirit by reciting the hymn above. Nothing can happen without inspiration. What the word means is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What happens is that each of us becomes aware of some new energy within us, filling us with power that raises our consciousness to a higher lever of…
The Lord God Almighty is the Giver of life. This is the greatest of His blessings, and the life we now live is a prelude and preparation for everlasting life in His kingdom. This is why the gravest of all sins is suicide. The ordeal of suicide regardless of how it may be justified is the rejection of God’s gift of life. It is the ultimate defeat,…
Suppose the heretics were right. Imagine if you will that all you and I believe about Jesus Christ were false—that the Church made up the story that our Lord were the Son of God, and that He were just another human being, even if He were somebody really special. Would it matter? Many who call themselves Christians in our time feel it doesn’t make…
It happens more than you may think. I find persons in the church sitting or kneeling in the empty seats. Not those looking at the icons on the walls, but the ones alone or just lonely, staring ahead or with bowed head. Do I leave them to their reflections and prayers, or should I offer some counseling or consolation?
Some I recall more than…
The more I write about Orthodox Christianity, the more I find myself returning to the fundamentals. For instance, among the first words from the lips of Jesus Christ is the phrase, “One does not live by bread alone.” He tells us so much in this phrase:
The voice of the Father, the Lord Jesus and the Spirit like a dove—Three Persons acting in unison for our salvation. Here is the meaning of Theophany, or God’s manifestation par excellence. The Church spells it out in the hymn:
“The voice of the Father bore witness to You, calling You His beloved Son; and the Spirit in the form of a dove,…
Warm joy leaps in my heart as I recall my first years as the youngest priest in our New York City cathedral. I would stand holding my taper at the end of the line of priests listening to the glorious Afonsky choir pour forth hymns of exquisite loveliness from the loft. Now and then one tenor’s voice would rise aloft to transcend all the other…
We hear so often, “She’s just like her mother,” or “He’s the spitting image of his father.” Even the old Russian proverb repeats the cliche: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It can mean so much or be inconsequential. Eye color, the stride, the way they deal with traumas, or the faint trace of a smile stamp the child as carrier of the…
Here is the traditional method for cleansing all Israel of their sins committed in a year. The ritual is carried out liturgically. The actions of religion performed ceremonially express in dramatic vividness what it is that the clergy hope to demonstrate. The high priest prays over one of two goats, pleading with the Lord to combine all the sins of…
A true Orthodox Christian doesn’t have to have a sense of humor, but it helps when comparing our faith with the fantasies of the society we share with the non-Orthodox. Take for instance the platitudes surrounding St. Nicholas, a.k.a. Santa Claus. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” children are told despite their misgivings. And what is Santa…