The Freedom of Morality and the Imorality of Freedom

The recent overthrowing of the authoritarian governments from the Middle East countries has brought up again the importance of freedom as an essential human value. The notion of freedom however is not as easy to define as one would think. In general we understand that freedom means the capacity to act without any outside restraint. As J. Rufus Fears, professor of Classics and chair in History of Liberty at the University of Oklahoma, asserts, this concept can be applied to a nation for example that is free from any outside domination, can be applied to a political system, meaning that one can elect its own choice of government, but most importantly can be applied to the individual that is… Continue reading

Into the lions den – The passions of Fr. Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa

I recently found this article on the wonderful website http://www.orthodoxphotos.com. Fr. Gheorghe Calciu spent 21 years in the communist prisons and was a symbol of freedom fighting for all Romanians. I knew Fr. Gheorghe personally in the last few years of his life.  He went to meet his beloved Lord in November 2006. The story he shares in the following text is a perfect example of human struggle for something better, for something beyond the crude reality of a rejecting world.

You can read more about Fr. Gheorghe at this wiki page:

http://ro.orthodoxwiki.org/Gheorghe_Calciu-Dumitreasa

Note: The photo was taken at the Romanian Episcopate Congress in 2003. Fr. Gheorghe always used to joke… Continue reading