Contemporary Issues
Beneath the Surface – Sailing the Shallow Waters of the Internet
This is what the Internet does to us: it takes away the depth of knowledge and makes us settle in the shallows. Repeated every day it becomes our way of doing everything. We become wanderers through the hyperlinks of life, not making any effort to descend bellow the shiny surface of what surrounds us.
Jul 29, 2010, 10:00

Discussions and Opinions
What’s My Line?
So, what’s your line when someone asks about your faith? It’s usually the follow-up question that’s difficult for us. The first question is often “Are you a Christian?” The second question – what kind? People aren’t satisfied these days with just accepting that a person is Christian. Even people in so-called non-denominational Churches often ask a follow-up question like “Are you a “born-again” Christian or a “spirit-filled” Christian, or a “Bible-believing” Christian.


Jul 28, 2010, 10:00

Liturgical Life
English Text and Byzantine Chant: Some Problems and Issues
There is, as of yet, no definitive agreement on how best to reconcile Byzantine chant, in all its glorious intricacy, to this new world of English and Western Music. Given the complex factors involved, many people question not how an English text should be set to Byzantine chant, but if it should be done at all! For some, the answer is a definite, “No!”
Jul 27, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Religions
Can Orthodoxy Speak to Eastern Religious Seekers?
I recently had a conversation with an Eastern Orthodox priest, whose twenty-six year old son recently left home for an indefinite stay at a Buddhist monastery. The priest was heart broken. His son was not a stranger to Eastern Orthodoxy or to its monastic tradition either, having spent time at several Orthodox monasteries, and even two months on the holy mountain of Mt. Athos.
Jul 26, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Modesty Revisited
I first became interested in the subject of modesty for a rather mundane reason - because I didn't like the bathrooms at Williams College. Like many enlightened colleges and universities these days, Williams houses boys next to girls in its dormitories and then has the students vote by floor on whether their common bathrooms should be coed. It's all very democratic, but the votes always seem to go in the coed direction because no one wants to be thought a prude.
Jul 24, 2010, 10:00

Discussions and Opinions
Blessed Augustine's View of Self
But if St. Augustine's influence in the West was as great as it is touted to be, then "cut off from its intellectual sources" in the East (Augustine 324), cut off from the ecclesiastical life within the Grace of concensus patrum, the West may have inherited not only the greatness of Bishop Augustine of Hippo, but also his individuality, peculiarities, oddities, and (ready?!)...­ flaws (!).
Jul 23, 2010, 10:00

Parish
Youth Ministry: Meeting the Challenges
As I travel across the country leading teen retreats and activities, adult workshops, and assisting camping programs, I am blessed to talk with many clergy and laity about our Church’s youth ministry efforts Church-wide as well as locally. During our conversations people always bring up the obstacles they face.
Jul 22, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Time in Icon
To be able to understand icons it is necessary to know how people of the Middle Ages perceived and understood the concept of time. The difference between the concept of time in Western Europe and that in Byzantium was formed in the Renaissance period, when Europe, unlike Byzantium, acquired the new attitudes and outlook towards the world.
Jul 21, 2010, 10:00

Parish
Parents Evening Out
Our church community, like so many others, includes a number of families who have moved from various areas and find themselves lacking nearby relatives or a reliable babysitter. The church becomes their family. "Parents Evening Out" was designed to help this particular group of people.
Jul 20, 2010, 10:00

Social Life
Living the Liturgy: Daily Life
In an ideal world, what are the things about Orthodox Christianity that would somehow be picked up by our colleagues and fellow-citizens? If we were faithful to our calling, what would people make of that calling? What should be the hallmarks of our faith that inspire at least respect among those who find the contents of our beliefs (or indeed the idea of any elaborate and systematic religious practice) strange or bewildering?

Jul 19, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Russian Destinies
There are historians who consider that the martyred Tsar was a poor ruler; others consider him to have been one of the best of rulers. I do not wish to talk about this; my business is not politics, although I do know that Tsar Nicholas II was much slandered. Let us leave politics to academics. The last Russian Tsar and his family are not holy confessors, but holy martyrs. In other words, all the human errors and sins they committed in their lives (and Only One is without sin, Christ our God) were washed away by the blood of martyrdom.
Jul 17, 2010, 04:03

Our Faith
How to Grow Spiritually – Part III
As one Athonite theologian writes, “Since man is “called to be a god” (i.e. was created to become a god), as long as he does not find himself on the path of Theosis he feels an emptiness within himself... he feels that something is not going right, so he is not joyful even when he is trying to cover the emptiness with other activities.
Jul 16, 2010, 02:02

Contemporary Issues
Authority and Moral Life:
An Orthodox Christian Perspective
The teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles as well as those of the Fathers of the Church are directly or indirectly related to moral issues and the way a Christian ought to live his or her life. From the Orthodox perspective, Christ is the final or absolute authority of morality in a Christian society. Even though tolerance and respect of other faiths are a necessity within a pluralistic society, Christ is the supreme authority for the particular Christian community.


Jul 15, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : In the Church
Christ’s Ministry, Our Ministry
Any Christian work, in order to be truly in the service of Christ, is grounded in faith, prayer, and love. In fact, prayer itself is an active ministry. This is what distinguishes Christian service and ministry from secular social work. When we advocate lay ministry, we are not advocating the frenetic, often self-serving activity of do-gooders who feel justified by their sacrifice of time as the pharisee felt justified by his adherence to the law.

Jul 14, 2010, 10:00

Theology
Academic Theology: Swimming with Your Clothes on
In modern times we have become too ready to pronounce ourselves theologians by being informed rather than by being formed by the prayer of the Church and the practice of the spiritual life. Most Orthodox know that one does not become a theologian by merely memorizing Bible verses. Yet we often unconsciously adopt a similar Protestant approach toward theology, disguised by our acceptance of certain doctrines, of Church history, and of a liturgical “style” of worship.
Jul 13, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Holy Leaders of the Apostles
Different as these two Apostles were, they are most often depicted embracing or holding a church between them. The love of Christ transcends personal preferences and varieties in character. Close reading of the lives of the saints reveals many (especially among the holy hierarchs and theologians) who simply did not get along with each other. As an old priest once said to me, “We are called to love each other, not like each other.”
Jul 12, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
"You are the Christ!"
How do we truly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do our lives reveal Him through what we say and what we do, and what we do not say and do not do? Can He be seen in us, in who we are, in how we live? Or do we look just like everyone else, indistinguishable from all the rest of those in the world who do not say that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

Jul 12, 2010, 02:26

Orthodoxy in the World
Priest Daniel Sysoev: Even Provincial Imams Come to our Church
These days we hear a lot of different discussions whether it is possible to create such a missionary parish as the one described in the Missionary Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church or not. I would like to share my experience of organizing such a parish.


Jul 10, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : In the Church
Stewardship
A Future Vision
"Thank you, Father, for the beautiful sermon you delivered in church today." This common compliment is often received with a certain amount of skepticism by priests. They appreciate the kind words from their parishioners, but they wonder what lasting impact their message will have on those who heard it during Divine Liturgy.

Jul 9, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith
Doubt and the Monastic Journey
So many thoughts and questions barraged me, even thoughts against the basis of my faith, which hadn’t happened in a long time. Does God really exist? How do you know He answers your prayers? Don’t you want to have sex and a family? Will you really be satisfied as a monk? You’re such a sinner, how could you even dare to think you’re worthy of the schema?
Jul 8, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Nativity of John the Baptist.
‘What is the purpose of life?’ John the Baptist who never married, who remained a virgin, who prophesied, tells us that the purpose of life is to be spiritually fruitful. This is his prophetic revelation to us. Whether we are called to marriage and having children or not, we are called to bring forth spiritual fruit, to improve the world and not to worsen it, to be fruitful, and not to be barren, as his parents had been.

Jul 7, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : In the Church
Theological Education
St. Innocent Veniaminov, first ruling bishop in North America and later Metropolitan of Moscow emphasized that “it is the binding duty of every Christian, when he reaches maturity, to know his faith thoroughly, because anyone who does not have a solid knowledge of his faith is cold and indifferent to it and frequently falls either into superstition or unbelief”.
Jul 6, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : In the Church
On Tithing
Sadly, nowadays not very many Orthodox Christian communities can care for the poor, send missionaries, or even hold daily services to the One Who continually cares for us. The priests and deacons who serve in the Holy Altar are forced to leave God’s services and, in violation of canon law, obtain secular employment in order to feed themselves and their families.
Jul 5, 2010, 10:00

Photoalbum
Icons and drafts by nun Iuliania (Sokolova) are exhibited in Moscow - PHOTOS
Nun Iuliania Sokolova became an icon painter in the most antireligious years of the Soviet Union's history. In the 1928-1929 she was copying tha ancient icons and fresques of Vologda, Pskov, Novgorod.
Jul 5, 2010, 00:50

Lives of Saints
Six Encounters with St John of Shanghai and San Francisco
Vladyka's eyes brightened, as they had done earlier and, turning to me, with an affectionate and approving voice, said: "Look! 'He' has disappeared and won't come back again! Remember this once and for all: never turn away from a good intention!"
Jul 3, 2010, 10:00