Social life. Contemporary issues.
On the Social and Moral Problems of Youth in the 21st Century
Why do many young people, despite all these pressures and temptations, nevertheless retain the high idealism of youth and find a more moral social ethos? Because we are not in complete bondage to the fallen human nature. God has given us another part to our own nature, and that part the Orthodox Church calls our "hypostasis." The hypostasis, which we would assert is a gift of grace, is our individual personhood. It is this that makes it possible for us to have a degree of freedom from the confines and forces of the fallen human nature.


Nov 21, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Don't Pre-Celebrate Christmas!
Some 40 or 50 years ago here in America, people decorated their Christmas trees on Christmas Eve. Slowly, through the influence of merchants and media, we started to put up our decorations and trees earlier and earlier each year. As a result, we take them down earlier and earlier, not waiting for the Theophany observances of January 5-7 [January 18-20], which are specifically part of the 12-day cycle beginning on Christmas.

Nov 20, 2008, 10:00

Lifes of Saints
Foolishness for Christ
Being baptized into Christ means putting Him on and living our lives according to His teachings and His example. If we have truly done so, then the same rejection and cries of ridicule await us as those that greeted His coming. When we look at the lives of the saints from this perspective, we can see, even in the most dignified of hierarchs and noblest of martyrs, the clear and unmistakable signs of Foolishness for Christ's sake
Nov 19, 2008, 10:00

Sermons, Lectures
The Discipline of Faith
But discipline is a scary word for us modern people. We chafe against the thought of being subject to any other authority except our own self-will. We equate freedom with doing what we want, when we want, and how we want. Our loss of discipline has led to us to a state of spiritual carelessness, and this carelessness has resulted in an empty, numb existence.
Nov 18, 2008, 10:00

Analytical articles
The tragedy of Man
The tragedy of our times lies in our almost complete unawareness, or unmindfulness, that there are two kingdoms, the temporal and the eternal. We would build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, rejecting all idea of resurrection or eternity. Resurrection is a myth.

Nov 17, 2008, 10:00

Library
An Underground Story
And then I did remember the 100 dollars. I felt terribly ashamed and bitter. I felt ashamed because no one had blamed me, and bitter because I saw I was so completely incapable of doing any good and all my ‘lofty feelings’ were suitable only for the theatre, to entertain the spectators. And what a mendacious creature I was! Begging the Lord to give me an opportunity to serve Him and dodging this opportunity at once! And the worst is that I would have never understood it on my own!

Nov 15, 2008, 10:00

Lifes of Saints
Mission Notes: Saint Nicholas of Japan
Saint Nicholas of Japan was a unique and notable example to all Orthodox Christian missionaries. First, he threw himself wholeheartedly into understanding the language and culture. When he was found reading non-Japanese books, his Archbishop rebuked him, and he resolved to only read Japanese literature. He got out into the community and listened to Buddhist and Shinto storytellers and preachers. He researched the history of Japan. He knew it better than most Japanese.

Nov 14, 2008, 10:00

Sermons, Lectures
The Lord in the Guise of a Woman
Our Lord described Himself as a woman because women are more careful than men in looking after property, in keeping the house in order and in receiving guests. If this short parable, which consists of only two sentences, is explained in this way, whose heart will not tremble? for it contains the whole tragedy of the world, visible and invisible. It explains why the Son of God came to earth. It sheds a bright ray of light on the history of mankind and the tragedy of each individual's existence.
Nov 13, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Confession — not a novel but a battle
How should I tell the priest about my sins? Is a feeling of repentance indispensable during confession? After confession, should one expect a feeling of spiritual relief, or lightness of soul? These beginners’ questions often remain troublesome even for very experienced parishioners. Many of us are too fainthearted to “waste a priest’s time” with such “simple and insignificant” questions. In order to fill in this gap about confession, such “simple and insignificant” questions were given by our NS correspondent Dmitry Rebrov to the highly-respected Protopriest Valerian Krechetov.
Nov 12, 2008, 03:56

Our Faith
Preparing To Go To Church
On Sundsays and Holy-days we ought to spend a part of the day in church assisting at the Liturgy and other services. It would be well for us, moreover, to follow the example of those first Christians, who “continued daily with one accord in the Temple” (Acts 2:46), and attend weekday services as well. To hear the Liturgy on week-days, if possible, is a highly commendable practice, for it may be the means of acquiring the greatest graces.
Nov 11, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
“READING OVER THE SHOULDERS OF THE FATHERS”—A Call for an Orthodox Approach to Scripture
When one steeps oneself in the literature of the Fathers, one is aware of entering a different world, of breathing a different air. For the Fathers, the Scriptures spoke with the voice of God and an apt citation of a Scriptural text (read and interpreted, of course, through the Tradition of the Church) was seen as bringing all godly controversy to an end.
Nov 10, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Historical and Liturgical Aspects of the Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation in the Byzantine Tradition
This paper has as its aim, the tracing of the historical development of the principal elements of the liturgical order of the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation.

Nov 8, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
Don’t Sweat the Temporal Stuff
At the orphanage in Shanghai one day, a nun of St. John Maximovitch’s came to her wits’ end. A woman of great faith and trust under normal circumstances, she just couldn’t take it any more. She was surrounded by hungry children and the orphanage had no food—none. Panicked, she ran to St. John and voiced her fears: “What are we going to do? There is no food! Should we leave? Has God abandoned us?” St. John rolled his eyes a little bit and told her to have faith and trust in Christ. “I HAVE trusted!” she cried, “And the cupboards are bare.”


Nov 7, 2008, 10:00

Sermons, Lectures
To Live as a Christian
If we think long enough, we will probably all realize that we have not always been as Christ-like as our Lord expects us to be. Of course, we can always find excuses for our actions. We can always find a reason why we should not behave lovingly towards someone. We can so quickly see that some particular person does not deserve our concern. We know that God would not want us to have anything to do with «those sinners» or with «that kind of people.» In other words, we find it so easy to judge!
Nov 6, 2008, 10:00

Family life
LOVE, MARRIAGE, AND SEXUALITY
Orthodox Theological Perspectives for a New Millennium
St. Macarius of Egypt believed that hell resembles being bound, back to back with another person, unable for all eternity to face that person. Love shatters the chains of loneliness ; it tears down the walls of selfishness. Love is a profound strength, a spiritual energy. We are never more powerful than when through love we are vulnerable. Love casts out fear ; it is stronger than death. To say to someone : "I love you!" is to make a metaphysical statement ; it is like saying : "You will never die !"

Nov 5, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : In the Church
HEART PROBLEMS?
When our hearts are full of light and the life of God, it is very easy to give to Him and the Church. When our hearts are empty and devoid of His presence, even the meager dues that many parishes still require become a source of irritation and resentment for us. The life of God and the life of the Church can't be equated to a "price."
Nov 4, 2008, 10:00

Theology
Economy in the Tradition of the Orthodox Church
There is no doubt that there exists in our days a certain interest concerning the idea of “economy” beyond the circle of specialists of canon law, more so in the Orient than the Occident. This notion is sometimes considered as essential for the comprehension of the praxis of the Orthodox Church. However, it appears that interpretations are imposed concerning the nature of Economy itself, and further, it’s field of application.
Nov 3, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
Halloween Orthodoxy and Secular Culture
A group of Russians organized on this night a Halloween Ball. When the All Night Vigil celebrated to St. John of Kronstadt began, many people were absent, to the great sorrow of Vladyka. After the service, St. John went to the place where the ball was being held. He entered the hall and the music stopped as Vladyka, in absolute silence, glared at the people, and with his staff in hand, he slowly walked around the entire hall.
Nov 1, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
Toward Understanding Suffering
Unavoidable pain seems the most undeserved. The pain of birth, sickness, and death, or pain caused by others, or by some disaster. Some people, including children, go through extreme pain and suffering. We feel for such people, and the complications of their pain can leave us confused when the causes are not clear to us. In a society that defines happiness as a lack of suffering, this is a tragedy.


Oct 31, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
ETERNAL QUESTIONS:
ON HEAVEN AND HELL
A simple judgment, an angry thought or unclean movement of the heart, an empty word, is war against the Holy Spirit. It is an insult to heavenly grace, and if the sin remains unrepeated, God will leave this soul to itself. It is very easy to understand that all sins, great or small, have an eternal price. If the consequence of our sinful life is moral debasement and a temporal estrangement from God, this will carry over into our eternal life.
Oct 30, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
CONVERSION
In real conversion, a person is turned around and left permanently facing God. For such a person the presence of the risen Christ is the very essence of life. He is as much "in Christ" as he is in the air which he breathes. In real conversion, life is permanently turned towards God.

Oct 29, 2008, 10:00

My Way to Orthodoxy
The Orthodox Way
Another meaning of the word orthodox is right worship. We need always to remember that the Orthodox Church never experienced the Reformation. It is not "reformed" because it never needed to be reformed as the West defined it. The controversies of the West have had little or no influence in the East. One evidence of this is the fact that the Orthodox Church has never revised its Liturgies.
Oct 28, 2008, 22:00

Social life. Contemporary issues.
Combating Secularism's Most Serious Sin: Indifference
This metanoia, or change of "the mind in the heart," cannot be accomplished if obstructed. God cannot be seen when He is blocked by the vision of jeans, jewelry or gadgets. God cannot be heard when He is drowned out by the cacophonous sounds of the modern world. Jesus told us: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24) It is now our choice: secularism or God?
Oct 27, 2008, 10:00

Analytical articles
Orthodoxy and its Future
Most Orthodox, converts included, tend to think of the Faith as something very eastern, very Russian or perhaps Greek, or Byzantine. Actually, this is correct only as far as it goes. But if asked, it’s unfortunately unlikely that most of us would say that Orthodoxy has to do with holiness, with sanctity, or with a peculiar concept called “other-worldliness.”


Oct 25, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith
On Building Towers
So the Orthodox Church calls us to a demanding life, but she is always full of compassion for those who fail in it and seek forgiveness. No member of the Church (on earth) completely fulfills what Orthodoxy asks him to be, but each member who tries to fulfill it becomes more than he would have been. Some come into the Church with marriages already broken, lives already wrecked. Our Lord does not say, "Come unto me all you that are already perfect," but "Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden."
Oct 24, 2008, 10:00