Aug 28, 2008

Everywhere you go in Alaska you'll see Orthodox communities. What kind of evangelism was it that was so successful in converting the Native Alaskan peoples to Christ? Here is an example of the sort of preaching that won the Alaskans, translated from the original Aleut.

Aug 27, 2008

When the Lord Jesus Christ, having gathered his disciples round him to supper on the night before he suffered death, solemnly broke bread before them and blessed a cup of wine and gave them to his disciples, he enjoined them to continue this thenceforward as a continual memorial of his death and passion undergone for the redemption of the world. This command was obeyed from the time that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church shortly after our Lord's ascension into heaven. We are told, of those who were converted by the preaching of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, that 'they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers'.

Aug 27, 2008

There's a river flowing through the Scriptures. Ezekiel saw it welling up under the temple of God. Zechariah saw the river flowing on earth at Christ's coming. John saw the same river at the end of time flowing from the throne of God...

Aug 26, 2008

The body which was born of the Virgin Mary, without any stain, without destruction of her virginity, without opening of the womb, without presence of man, and which was crucified and which arose after three days from death...

Aug 25, 2008

Try to attain the full measure of this Name [of Jesus], and you will find it on your mouth and in the mouths of your children. When you make high festival and when you rejoice, cry Jesus. When anxious and in pain, cry Jesus. When little boys and girls are laughing, let them cry Jesus. And those who go down to the Nile, cry Jesus. And those who see wild beasts...

Aug 23, 2008

A brother overcome by lust went to see a great old man and besought him, saying, ‘Be so good as to pray for me, for I am overcome by lust.’ And the old man prayed to God for him. A second time he went to the old man and said the same thing, and once more the old man did not omit to beseech God for him, saying, ‘Lord, reveal to me the manner of...

Aug 22, 2008

An Athonite hermit said:  What guarantees a safe journey to eternity is effort, dignity, the sense of being unworthy before God, and hope: the spiritual oxygen, consolation, and certainty.  Not misery and compelled obedience and forced prayer; not tears and sadness – these all come from Satan. Yes, I ought to weep for my sins, but all the while hoping in...

Aug 12, 2008

Return of the Jedi is positively Dostoevskian in its moral content, and I am convinced that Lucas is familiar with Orthodox teachings and lives of Saints...

Aug 12, 2008

In a time when churches of every description are faced with Vanishing Male Syndrome, men are showing up at Eastern Orthodox churches in numbers that, if not numerically impressive, are proportionately intriguing. This may be the only church which attracts and holds men in numbers equal to women...

Aug 7, 2008

Pietism made its appearance as a distinct historical movement within Protestantism, at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, around 1690-1730. 1 Its aim was to stress "practical piety," as distinct from the polemical dogmatic theology to which the Reformation had initially given a certain priority. Under different forms and in various "movements," it has not ceased to influence Protestantism, and indeed also the spiritual life of other churches, to this day...