This month we celebrate one of the great American holidays: Thanksgiving. We remember our Pilgrim forbearers who had endured an extremely harsh New England winter. Many of their family members died of cold and starvation. Yet some were preserved: a remnant of the colony survived. After a toiling spring and summer of growing crops and building houses so that they could survive another winter, they paused for a great celebratory meal, to give thanks to God for preserving them. The description ... [Read more]

Doctors wear “scrubs.” Police officers wear uniforms. Christians wear Crosses. The most universal sign of a person’s allegiance to Christ is the wearing of a Cross. By the Cross we Christians are known. And as Orthodox Christians, we not only wear a Cross–which is given to us at our Baptism–we also make the sign of the Cross with our hands in times of need or during worship, and we venerate the Cross with our lips whenever we encounter it. (I once saw a young child walking down the aisles of ... [Read more]

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ is risen! As I write these words, I am distinctly aware that the season of Pascha is coming to a close. By the time of publishing, it will already be past Holy Ascension, and that joyous greeting – “Christ is risen!” – will be exchanged for “Christ is in our midst” until the evening of Great and Holy Pascha next year. A week from now the Paschal cycle will come to a close with Pentecost, and a new season will begin. On Pentecost Sunday ... [Read more]