In one of my pilgrimages I happend to arrive at the great Lavra Pecerska in Kiev, Ukraine and there I found in a small flee market, organized at the entrance of the Monastery, a gentlemen who was selling the most beautifull crosses I’ve ever seen. I liked them so much that I’ve spent all my money I had with me on those crosses (they were not that expensive and I did not had that much money…). The other day I stumbled upon an article about the master that fashioned those crosses. Read it bellow and enjoy the pictures. Don’t forget to click also on the links at the bottom for some more breathtaking Orthodox creations.
When a physicist by education becomes an artist by calling, it can be regarded as a… Continue reading
On the spiritual Struggle – by Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
On the first Sunday of the Great Fast our Church celebrates the triumph of Orthodoxy, the victory of true Christian teachings over all perversions and distortions thereof- heresies and false teachings. On the second Sunday of the Great Fast it is as though this triumph of Orthodoxy is repeated and deepened in connection with the celebration of the memory of one of the greatest pillars of Orthodoxy, the hierarch Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, who by his grace-bearing eloquence and the example of his highly ascetic private life put to shame the teachers of falsehood who dared reject the every essence of Orthodoxy, the podvig (in an approximate translation the word podvig means… Continue reading
How can God be inside man? – St. Nikolai (Velimirovic)
To a soldier of a student’s brigade who asks how God can be inside man
You asked somebody, “where is God?” And you got an answer that God is inside you. And you marvel at this answer. How can that be?
Kind of like light in a room, or like fire in a; stove. When you are able to feel God within you, you will feel and know that He is inside you, but you will not be able to explain it to someone else. But you will look for images in nature and then you will speak to the other person as I speak to you: God is within me like light in a room, or… Continue reading
Spiritual paparazzi
The quest for catching a glimpse of God
There is no secret for any one that I am a passionate amateur photographer. As any other photo enthusiast I get caught up into the quest for the best resolution camera, the clearest, low dispersion, aspherical glass and all the other bells and whistles of photography; all this to make sure that I will be able to capture the best image possible at any given time. My passion for capturing image is nothing particularly odd; on the contrary, I would argue, is a universal pursuit.
Man has a passion for images, for representations because he himself is an image, an image of God. So inherently we are searching for the image of the… Continue reading
“To be” or “to know”‚ that is the question
Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, from William Shakespeare’s synonymous play, starting with the memorable phrase “To be or not to be, that is the question”, is a reflection that profoundly resonates with the Eastern Orthodox theology. Let me explain this. Continue reading
Thank God is Monday…the day honoring the Holy Angels
The Seven-Day Commemoration In The Orthodox Church “The Week: A Seven Day Holiday”. The Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical year (Indiction), begins in September, and is marked with events and holidays of our religious history. In addition to the annual cycle, the seven-day week…
Why would we? – Not accepting sin as normality
Anyone that drives on some of the major highways in DFW can see a number of bilboards carrying the logo: “Would Jesus discriminate?/Why would we”. The astonishing thing however, that almost made me loose control of the vehicle, is the big picture of Christ along with the words “Jesus affirmed a gay couple” Continue reading
Silence of the minds
I always liked this dialogue from the movie Pulp Fiction (slightly adapted for language):
“Don’t you hate that?”
“Hate what?”
“Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it’s necessary to yak about nonsense? In order to be comfortable?”
“I don’t know. That’s a good question.”
“That’s when you know you found somebody really special, when you can just shut […] up for a minute. Comfortably share silence.” Continue reading
Why we commemorate the Saints Joachim and Anna?
I always asked myself why we commemorate the Saints Joachim and Anna at the end of almost every church service. Beside the Savior and the Theotokos only the “holy and righteous ancestors of God” are never omitted from any daily dismissal. Continue reading
Gladsome Light Dialogues on your iPhone!
Gladsome Light Dialogues are now available for your iPhone, iPod touch or Android mobile devices!
When viewed from one of these mobile devices, you’ll see all our posts formatted as an iPhone application Continue reading