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Witnessing the Light or What happens after Resurrection?

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 earth. The only sad part is that we start with many and end up with a few. Many people come, they receive the light, listen to the Gospel and hasten to go home thinking they have fulfilled their duty as Christians. But just witnessing the Resurrection is not enough, and is not the goal, what comes after is equally important. The miracle… Continue reading

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Fasting abundantly

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 through this spiritual exercise.

In a legalistic understanding of salvation some believe that Christ has come on earth to fulfill a duty, to repair an offense that man has brought unto God. His sacrifice on the Cross satisfies this need and mankind enters again in God’s favors. From this perspective fasting is a similar symbol: a personal sacrifice that one makes to step back… Continue reading

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Concerning Angels by Metropolitan ISAIAH of Denver

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 with humankind.  So He sends out a zombie-like army led by an obedient Archangel Gabriel that stops to nothing in fulfilling their mission. The problem starts when the Archangel Michael disagrees with God and goes on to fight back with knives, machine guns and bazookas. Go figure.

Leaving  aside the fact that the movie is so bad, the most horrifying thing to me is the eroneous depiction… Continue reading

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The worshipping community

I recently stumbled upon an older interview with Bishop Kalistos Ware, one of the most known Orthodox converts, and, with great pleasure I’ve rediscovered a passage that always struck a delicate chord in my heart. Here it is.:
“I first came to know the Orthodox Church when I was seventeen years old, just before I was due to go to university. My first contact with Orthodoxy was, in fact, not through reading books and not through meeting, face to face, living Orthodox Christians; my first contact came through attending a church service. That, I think, is the best way to be introduced to the Orthodox Church. We shouldn’t see Orthodoxy just as a set of ideas or teachings. We need to see Orthodoxy as a worshiping community—a community of prayer… Continue reading

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Spiritual paparazzi

The quest for catching a glimpse of God

paparazziThere 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

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Silence of the minds

elevatorI 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

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The struggle of prayer – a short practical guide

Prayer_Beam_MonkIf you ask anyone in church about prayer they will most likely us a descriptor like: a pleasant experience, a conversation with God, a link with the absolute or other general terms,  all positive in nature. Things are different however when,  during Confession, a Father Confessor asks the same question. He will most likely hear more about  lack of time, loss of focus, procrastination and struggle in general. The truth is that prayer is easier said than done. Continue reading

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The case for early marriage

crowningA very interesting article by Mark Regnerus making the case for early marriage as a  a way to deal with pre-marital sexuality, divorce rates and economical crisis. You can read the article here. 

One of the most interesting statements of  the article in my opinion is this: “Most young Americans no longer think of marriage as a formative institution, but rather as the institution they enter once they think they are fully formed.”

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