In 2004 a very powerful and emotionally driven movie, The Passion of Christ was released. As the title alludes, the movie began with Christ in the garden and the betrayal of Judas. The movie received a lot of media attention and brought numerous discussions and debates on both the local and international level. This year, the movie that is drawing attention, but certainly not as much as The Passion of Christ, is Son of God. The release of this film is timely as the Christian world begins its ... [Read more]
Pastoral Messages
Stewardship of the Holy Mystery of Marriage
Marriage is holy; it is blessed by God. It can bring a man and a woman tremendous satisfaction and fulfillment, but it is anything but easy. If we were to take a poll of those who enter into the monastic life and ask them what their number one reason for becoming a monastic was, we would hear the majority say it had something to do with SALVATION and HARD WORK! If we were to take the same poll of people getting married, my hunch is that the answer would be quite different. Most people get ... [Read more]
Looking Beyond Behavior and Preparing for Great Lent
It can be a bit confusing. Sometimes we hear people say “seeing is believing,” yet at other times we hear “don’t always believe what you see.” We are also taught not to judge a book by its cover (actually we’re taught not to judge at all), but at the same time isn’t what we see what we get? When it comes to witnessing poor or even mean-spirited behavior in other people, we have the tendency to draw a quick conclusion that the person himself is not good. We connect the “what” with the “who;” in ... [Read more]
Renewing Our Spiritual Life
It is only by coincidence, but I love the fact that our Orthodox Feast of Theophany and our calendar New Year happen together. Americans traditionally take advantage of the New Year to renew themselves, making New Year resolutions. As Orthodox, we see the great Feast of Theophany as an even greater celebration of renewal. Because we remember in the present Jesus’ blessing of the Jordan by His sanctifying presence in the waters, we make that blessing a present reality in our lives through the ... [Read more]
Real Heroes Don’t Dress Up for Halloween
It’s that time of year again when we are greeted at our local grocery store, among other places, with skeletons hanging from the ceilings, witches with big green noses and tombstones with R.I.P inscribed on them. Welcome to another festive celebration of Halloween where the average person will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, and when total Halloween spending is expected to reach $8.0 billion (National Retail Federation). Halloween has become one of the most popular “holidays” ... [Read more]
Volunteerism in the Body of Christ
In our holy Orthodox Faith, we often speak about Christian Stewardship. In our parish of St. John the Baptist, we have had the special opportunity to practice Christian Stewardship out of necessity. This has been a great blessing and has been largely due to the fact that we started our parish with only six families. In such a small parish community, each person is needed and this need, historically, was easy to recognize. As the parish has grown, two things have happened: the work-load has ... [Read more]
The Way of the Cross
The month of September in the Orthodox Church is a month of new beginnings. It marks the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year. All of the fixed feasts and fasts of the church calendar begin anew in September. Our Church offers us a chance to repeat this God-inspired cycle of salvation history and the sanctification of time itself. Whatever we did not take advantage of during the previous year, God, in His abundant mercy, gives us the opportunity to re-experience. This month also marks the ... [Read more]
The Sinlessness of Mary the Mother of God
In most, if not all Christian circles outside of the Orthodox Church, to say that Mary was sinless would be an objectionable statement. Holy Scripture is very clear regarding sinlessness, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). With Scripture being so clear, how then are we to understand the teaching of the Orthodox Church that the Mother of God was sinless? First we need to look at the word sin in this passage and obtain a clear understanding of what it means. ... [Read more]
Self Accusation: The Path to Innocence
While still in the season of the resurrection, which lasts forty days, the Church begins to focus our attention on the Feast of Pentecost. This feast, which means «fiftieth», commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the holy apostles and disciples of our Lord. It is entitled «fiftieth» to signify that it happened fifty days after Pascha; it was the fiftieth day since our Lord’s resurrection. Once the apostles received the Holy Spirit, they were transformed from "fishermen into ... [Read more]
Repent and Believe the Gospel
This article was written as a Lenten reflection by Abbot Joseph of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Hayesville, Ohio. Repentance is the one thing needful, it is the resurrection of our fallen life before the Resurrection, and it is the joy of the angels and the spark within us that gives rise to the Light of Christ. What joy there is when the whole Church is actively and intentionally repenting and making that great journey from “death to life.” There are so many things in this life ... [Read more]
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