by Fr. Geoffrey Korz A well-known and esteemed American priest recently spoke on the topic of the use of appropriate terminology for describing Orthodox clergy, both priests and bishops. Since many issues from secular society present themselves in the life of the Church, it has also become common to use secular labels (all too familiar in political discourse) to describe views expressed by the clergy. This priest was pointing out, quite wisely, that while it is certainly appropriate and necessary for the Church and Her clergy to speak to many political issues which face Orthodox faithful, the political labels of “conservative” and “liberal” do not in fact have any meaning in the Orthodox … [Read more...]

Tomorrow, my children, you do not know what laws will be enacted—in a few years who knows what kind of laws will be passed? There might be laws which will make it illegal for us to go to Church. What will we do then? Will we start to take into account the laws of the state when the impinge upon our faith? Do not forget the martyrs, most importantly the ones who were soldiers, who fought on behalf of the Emperor. Whenever the Emperor’s decrees impinged upon their faith they said: “The first in order is the Heavenly King, and then the earthly.” [...] That is why I am telling you always to be ready and on guard, for we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I will only tell you this, the … [Read more...]

From September 28, 2021 - another example of the weakness of Islam. A woman from Northern Israel was strangled to death by her own son last month for converting from Islam to Orthodox Christianity. According to the indictment, the murder of 46-year-old Rasha Muklasha by her 27-year-old son Muad Hib was premeditated, with Hib arranging a meeting with her near Nazareth on August 5 with the intention of killing her and disposing of her remains, reports the Times of Israel. Muklasha left her husband and severed ties with her five children in 2006, later converting to Orthodoxy. Having learned of the death of her ex-husband, she resumed contact with her children, but they were angered by her … [Read more...]