by Abbot Tryphon The Bible can only be understood through the Church, for the Holy Scriptures came forth from the Church. The reformers dumped the papacy only to replace that institution with themselves as the ultimate authority. Since reason and logic ruled, there was no room for the intuitive, noetic nature of the heart. Thus the interpretation of the Bible became a debatable subject between believers, ending in new denominations proliferating like rabbits. The Bible is the written account of the first Christians experience with God and was a living, oral tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit, and put down in written form. To think that it is therefore open to personal interpretation, … [Read more...]
Why We Fast Before Nativity
by Vincent Martini The time of preparation before the great feast of the Nativity of Christ (i.e. “Christmas”) is, through the wisdom of our holy fathers, intended to be a time of purposeful asceticism, almsgiving, and learning to say “yes” to God while saying “no” to one’s own desires. Christmas (especially in the present day) has become a time of great anxiety and materialism for many, despite the fact that most every song one hears, most every retail ad that one reads, and most every film with “Christmas” as a theme that one watches will try to convince them that Christmas is a time for warmth, joy, spending time with one’s family and even taking a break from the regular hustle and … [Read more...]
There is Nothing on Earth More Powerful than the Divine Liturgy
From the Inkless Pen, the Blog of Fr. Zechariah Lynch Below the reader will find my translation from the Russian of sermon number 15 by St. Seraphim (Zvezdenski), On the Divine Liturgy. These sermons by St. Seraphim are of the uttermost importance for Orthodox Christians today. He tells us clearly that there is no greater gift on Earth than the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is the very heart and soul of the Body of Christ. St. Seraphim makes clear to us today the extent that the early Christians went to in order to protect and attend the Liturgy. Speaking from the harmonious voice of the Fathers, he tells us that for the sake of the Divine Liturgy the sun shines and the earth brings … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving: A Day Set Aside to Give Thanks to God
We have much to be thankful for. by Abbot Tryphon Thanksgiving has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. The “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after having been safely delivered by God to the shores of the New World. This feast lasted three days, providing enough food for thirteen Pilgrims and ninety Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables (peas, pumpkin, beetroot and … [Read more...]
On Thanksgiving
by Fr. Stephen Freeman Everyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation. - Fr. Alexander Schmemann I do not believe it is possible to exhaust this topic. I have set forth a few suggestions of how we might build and maintain a life of thanksgiving. Particular thought is given to those times when giving thanks is difficult. 1. I must believe that God is good. I struggled with this for many years. I believed that God was sovereign; I believed that He was the Creator of heaven and earth; I believed that He sent His only Son to die for me. But despite a host of doctrines to which I gave some form of consent, not included (and this was a matter of my heart) was the simple, … [Read more...]
UN Draft Proposal Classifies Resistance to LGBT Lifestyles as a Crime Against Humanity
The United Nations (UN) is considering the adoption of a treaty that would defend homosexual lifestyles and may lead to the addition of so-called “homophobia” to the classification of a crime against humanity. A document titled “Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity” is the unofficial treaty that has removed a long-accepted definition of gender as male and female, leaving open the possibility of defending the truth about gender and sex to qualify as a crime against humanity in the form of targeting LGBT people. The draft treaty proposes changes that are both consistent with and in opposition to the 1999 Rome Statute, which established the … [Read more...]
The Moral Heresy of Sexual Immorality
by Fr. Zechariah Lynch In true Christianity — Orthodoxy — right faith and living go hand in hand. For instance, a person cannot confess that "Jesus Christ is not God" and be an Orthodox Christian. In confessing something contrary to the revelation of God in His Church, such a one is setting himself at odds with that revelation. Of course, one may repent, that is, change his faulty confession and receive the true confession of Christ in His Church. Yet a person who willingly persists in a false teaching, willingly sets himself outside of Christ and His Body. A person who rejects the manifest teachings of true Christianity is not a Christian at all. Such a one subscribes to heresy and is a … [Read more...]
Why God’s Pronouns are Masculine, Not Feminine
by Fr. Hans Jacobse Let me condense what rejecting the masculine pronoun for God really means. To reference God with the masculine pronoun (He, Him) affirms that His (God's) manner of creating differs from how new life is brought into being within His creation. Within the creation new life is brought into the world through a birth. But God did not create the world through any birthing process. God spoke the world into existence. Speaking the world into existence creates ontological separation between the Creator and His creation. God and creation are not the same. In a manner of speaking this distinction is the primordial binary. Put another way, if we call God "She", we imply that … [Read more...]
Christ’s Greatest Miracle
by Abbot Tryphon Of all the miracles of Christ, the greatest is the Eucharist. The Gospels are filled with accounts of miracles performed by Christ, but the greatest of them all was when He offered the simple elements of bread and wine, made by man, and transformed them into His very Body and Blood. This miracle continues to this very day, after some two thousand years, to bring Christ into our very midst and allow us to receive Him for the healing of both our bodies and our souls. That He would use as agents for this transformation, priests, to call down the Holy Spirit to continue this miracle, is one of the great mysteries of our Christian Faith. Just before the priest offers Holy … [Read more...]
The Powers of the Soul and their Curative Exercises
In the soul we find three powers: the intellect, the will, and the heart, or, as the Holy Fathers say, the intellectual, desiring and incensive powers. Each of them is assigned particular curative exercises by the holy ascetics. These related exercises are both receptive and conducive to grace. They need not be contrived according to some theory, but rather chosen from tested ascetic labors particularly suited to a given power: For the intellect 1) Reading and hearing the Word of God, the writings of the Holy Fathers and the lives of the God-pleasers. 2) Studying and impressing upon yourself all the God-given truths in brief statements (the catechesis). 3) Asking questions of those … [Read more...]
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