When I was still living in Romania I was going for confession to a hieromonk in a monastery not very far from my hometown. One day I took Maria, my daughter, with me. We participated in the services, got a blessing from the elder and on our way home she asked me, after being very [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Apologetics'
Ferdinand and the ragging bull
August 24th, 2010 No Comments
Reading the news can be a source of inspiration and sometimes even an enlightening experience. For instance a recent news flash from Spain, about a bull that jumped 10 yards into the audience of a Spanish bullring injuring 40 people, curiously made me think that life, in a way, is like a bullfight, a “corrida [...]
Pearls to the pigs and communion to dogs
July 30th, 2010 2 Comments
“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine” (Mat 7:6) When I was a kid I had a pet, a cat, and loved it dearly. It slept with me every night and in my teenage years felt at times as my only true friend. But there was no [...]
Tags: Adam · animals · christian · Communion · dog · Eastern · humans · man · orthodox · saints
Beneath the surface – Sailing the shallow waters of the Internet
June 24th, 2010 No Comments
“When carried into the realm of the intellect, the industrial ideal of efficiency poses, a potentially mortal threat to the pastoral ideal of contemplative thought” Nicholas Carr, The shallows There is a lot of commotion in the teaching industry around generational learning. The premise lays in the different approaches that consecutive generations take when it [...]
Tags: contemplation · generational learning · internet · media · prayer · shallow
My father? I don’t know…
June 3rd, 2010 No Comments
I’ve recently stumbled upon two blog posts addressing the donor artificial insemination from a perspective that goes against the grain of the society trends, acknowledging a problem that is often dismissed. Here are the links: Orphaned at conception: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/deadbeat_donor_dads/ Who did I come from? The children of donor dads grow up: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/who_did_i_come_from_the_children_of_donor_dads_grow_up/ I also wanted [...]
Tags: adultery · artificial · bank · christian · church · fornication · insemination · marriage · orthodox · sperm
Through their eyes – On the Holy Icons
May 27th, 2010 No Comments
Then a second time they called the man who was blind and said to him, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that being blind, now I see.” (Joh 9:24-25) I would [...]
Tags: heavens · Icons · orthodox · senses · transfiguration · windows
Curing the new depression era
April 23rd, 2010 2 Comments
For what has man from all his labor, and from the troubling of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his labor sadness; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. (Ecc 2:22-23) North European airports are still fighting with the giant cloud [...]
Tags: anxiety · Depression · fear · fear. Orthodox · salvation · volcano
Witnessing the Light or What happens after Resurrection?
April 7th, 2010 No Comments
O Jerusalem, be exultant, dance and leap for joy, for you have witnessed Christ the King coming forth as a Bridegroom from the sepulcher (Stichera of Pascha) It is magnificent to participate in the Church services on Pascha night, to be part of the joyful festival of light that the Resurrection of Christ brings on [...]
Tags: Anastasis · Easter · Greek · orthodox · Pascha · Resurrection
Fasting abundantly
January 30th, 2010 3 Comments
The idea that any Westerner has about fasting is strongly linked with renunciation, with giving-up, with sacrificing something for God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church however, fasting achieves a much richer meaning. Fasting is not only about giving-up, but it is actually more about gaining, about being able to reach things that are possible only [...]
Concerning Angels by Metropolitan ISAIAH of Denver
January 26th, 2010 No Comments
Due to a series of unfortunate events I recently watched the super Holywood production “Legion”. Five minutes into the movie I wished I was not there and by the end I concluded that nothing is sacred to the film industry. The movie is an apocaliptical thriller about the destruction of humankind by God that got fed-up [...]
Tags: angels · Archangels · Orders · orthodox · Tradition
