Every year on Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks to God for our wonderful life. We rejoice in the fruits of the earth (with or without feathers) gathered around a table of abundance. A good thing indeed! Saint Basil the Great advised us to do this as early as the 4th century:
”When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the… Continue reading
The Sunday of the Romanian Saints – a universal celebration of all the Saints
By Prof. Dr. Rev. Dumitru Staniloae
Romanian Christianity has given fruit to many and wonderful saints, even though, the humility characteristic to our nation, or other unfavorable historical circumstances in which they lived in, have not allowed our Church to canonize but a very few of them and only in 1955.
The Romanian saints were real and they have been recognized by popular piety, even though the Church has not formally canonized them and has not dedicated them certain calendar days; this is why their deeds have not been praised through special church hymns.
Actually, for the longest time, the saints have been… Continue reading
We remember and we honor because it matters
Sunday of Orthodoxy 2014
We all take Orthodoxy for granted and we forget all about Synods, Saints and Holy Fathers. We are mostly ignorant that torture, prison, exile, even death were things experienced by previous generations, even close to us, just to keep the faith. Persians, Turks, Communists, even modern secularists all tried to break the faith but all failed.
However the greatest danger comes always from within: heresies. The most dangerous are things that seem right, are apparently well intended but are actually not. In the First ecumenical council one iota (the letter i in Greek alphabet) made the difference between Orthodoxy and heterodoxy (homoousios vs homiousios).
The last ecumenical council argued over what a kiss represents. What do I believe when I venerate an… Continue reading
Everyday Saints
This article marks the beginning of my collaboration with the OCN blog, the Sounding. So there we go!
The recent book of Archmandrite Tikhon, “Everyday Saints and other stories”, is one of those books that fulfill the prophecies on their back covers: it was impossible to put down and I felt very sorry when it ended. What is so special about this spiritual book, that made it into a major bestseller and almost a pop phenomenon in Russia, is that it brings the elements of faith right where they belong: in real life. I’ve read many books about the unmatched spiritual battles of the saints from the desert of Egypt… Continue reading
Why We Come to Church or Entering the Bridal Chamber
Christ is risen!
A new church opening is a major event in the life of a parish that gathers together the entire body of its members in the extraordinary joy of a mission well accomplished. The reason why parishes build such new traditional Church buildings, beside the obvious capacity requirements, is to bring the community closer to the ideal Orthodox way of worshiping, through spaces, shapes and finishes that are appropriate for its intended liturgical purpose. This means that a new church will not only host more people but will also allow them to worship in a more meaningful manner.
As a community gets closer to enter a new… Continue reading
Pearls to the pigs and communion to dogs
“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 moment during the time we had together, that I confused my pet pal with a true human friend; it remained a cat the entire time. There seems to be however a lot of confusion nowadays about animals and their role in our lives. People treat their animals as family, take them to beauty salons and spas, leave them fortunes in their wills and expect to be joined by them in heaven… 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
The Egypt’s Desert Fathers – Humility
An old man was asked, “What is humility?” and he said in reply, “Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour and believe yourself a sinner and make yourself subject to all.” Then a brother said, “What does it mean, to be subject to all?” Continue reading
Marriage As a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints
“Marriage As a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints” is a very interesting book taking a closer look at saints that lived a married life.
Here is an excerpt from the foreword by Bishop Kallistos Ware
“Drawing on that rich but often neglected source, the Lives of the Saints, this book provides us with a representative selection of models, of icons in words, to encourage us on our own journey to the kingdom, whether we are married or not. . . . What is striking first of all about the examples chosen is their diversity. They are spread in time across nearly four thousand years, from the Old Testament era up to our own day. In space… Continue reading