Our Faith : Sacraments
The Body and Blood of Christ
Those of us fortunate enough to be nourished frequently by the Holy Liturgy will perhaps find it difficult to recall just how strange it is to aspire, and indeed be commanded, to eat of the Body and Blood of Christ. Mysterious grace, peace, and healing so wonderfully flow to us in Holy Communion that it may never occur to us to wrestle with what, for many non-believers, easily seems the macabre, cannibalistic overtones of the Eucharist.


Dec 23, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
The Orthodox Marriage Ceremony: Why It Is The Way It Is
The adoption of non-Orthodox customs into the Marriage ceremony raises the larger question: How much of American religious tradition, can be absorbed into Orthodox liturgical worship? This is a very difficult and controversial issue. The church in its history has adopted and blessed many cultural traditions, such as the date of Christmas, numerology, Greek philosophy, iconography, and in modern times in America, fellowship, Sunday school, and pews.
Nov 14, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Disease and Holy Communion
The dean of the Romanian archdiocese in France recently published a document that brought this question to a head. Taking into consideration recommendations made by several medical professionals, he urged that communion be given without touching the lips of the communicant, who would simply hold his or her head back a little so the priest could drop the particle into the open mouth. The dean also recommended that the priest, with the deacon's help, wipe the spoon after each person had received. Reaction to this proposal was swift and unequivocal.

Nov 4, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
On Reverence
It is unrealistic to make people attend regular church services during the week. I agree that many people, at least in our parish, take their communion quite regularly now. For all that, we shouldn't forget that the whole week and the night before the Holy Communion, you should live your life accordingly, that is in the fear of God. It is considered that people cannot partake of the Holy Communion if they have not done their morning prayers or have not attended the early morning service at the church. For example, a priest cannot serve Divine Liturgy if he has not served Matins
Oct 30, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
But, what about communion in a time of illness?
That same question came up when the HIV virus was first identified as causing AIDS. It comes up in the USA every time that something starts making the rounds. And, it keeps coming back despite the fact, and I do mean fact, that there is no record of a congregation getting ill as a result of communion. Believe me, were the common cup to be a danger, we would have epidemiologists breathing down the neck of the Church claiming that we did not care about people.
Sep 8, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Personal Integrity and the Closed Chalice
One of the most difficult and sensitive areas that our clergy must deal with when non-Orthodox attend the Divine Liturgy is the "closed chalice." This refers to the teaching and practice of the Orthodox Church worldwide that only Orthodox Christians may partake of the Eucharist (or any sacrament for that matter) at our worship services. It is a simple concept, but one that seems to cause a lot of strife.
Aug 26, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
You are what you eat
The interrelationship between the Christian community and the Christian is a reality that is often overlooked or downplayed. When this happens we grow accustomed to thinking that "my" relationship with God is a private matter and has no connection to those with whom "I" pray. Taking into account the eucharistic community, the life of the community affects the life of each person and the life of each person affects the life of the community. No one stands as a solitary individual.
Aug 7, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
The False Teaching about the "Seven Sacraments"
All theologically educated people know that in the language of Holy Scripture and of Orthodox Christian patristic works, the expression `Mystery' does not have a sacramental sense, which is attributed to it by the scholastics. Not only in the poetical and rhetorical works, but also in the deeply theological expressions of the holy fathers, the term "Mysteries" designates all the manifestations of divine grace, independent of any formalistic conditions of their accomplishment. Incidents in the life of our Lord are also referred to as "Mysteries," and the very Christian teaching itself is called a "Mystery."
Jul 11, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
How Often Should Orthodox Christians Receive Holy Communion?
If we search the canons which the Holy Spirit has given us through the Holy Church, and the teachings of our Holy and Godbearing fathers, then we will find that with one accord and as if with a single voice, they direct us to partake of the Holy Mystery not merely frequently, but constantly.


Jun 16, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
The Holy Sacraments: "Picture and Pattern" of Spiritual Growth
But here we note that the sacraments are not supernatural in the magical sense, as if just by performing them they might automatically affect anything useful. Instead, the sacraments reveal their inner power only when we as believers participate in their work by an act of choice. Each of them is inductive in that they invite us to join them in their mystery of salvation.
May 18, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Break the Holy Bread, Master: A Theology of Communion Bread
In the sacral life of the Church, we may speak not only of natural bonds between humans, not only of the “gluten” inherent to humans and coming from within them, but also of the leaven of the Holy Spirit that transforms and transcends, that lifts up, raises the otherwise “flat” mass, that comes from without and makes us what we have not ever been. In Orthodoxy, “the liturgy of the Eucharist is best understood as a journey or procession … of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom” (ibid. 26).
Apr 16, 2009, 10:01

Our Faith : Sacraments
The Service of Holy Unction
In receiving the sacrament of Holy Unction on this, the eve of Holy Thursday, we do much more than petition God to heal us of body and soul that we may enjoy the good things of this worldly life. We are beseeching him to heal us of body and soul in such a way that the vesture of our soul will be enlightened and that our body will be raised up in spiritual wholeness that we may walk in his ways, that we may eat the words of his teaching which are sweeter than honey and be nourished in the life of his Holy Spirit.
Apr 15, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Strugglers Will Be Saved
The usual compromise that people choose of how to confess one's sins is a sort of a question-answer confession, which might as well be used for a "how to repent" manual. The penitent comes to the confessor, lists all their sins and gets absolution. They are now absolved of their sins. In this case, the Sacrament of Penance becomes an ordinary, sporadic event that happens from time to time in the course of a person's life. Lent comes and a person goes to confess their sins and receive holy communion...
Apr 6, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Preparing for Confession
Often, when children play in competitive games, one will call out “that’s a do over!” Haven’t we all, at more than one time in our lives, wished for that chance to undo the past and start over? This is the first step in repentance. Repentance offers us this new beginning. We are telling God that we have changed our mind about our past direction and would like to move back into communion with him.


Apr 3, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
A Pastor’s Thoughts on Confession and Communion
Every pastor in the Orthodox Church struggles with how often to expect the Sacrament of Confession from those in his parish who regularly approach the chalice. People years ago went to Communion once a year because “that’s what Father taught us to do.” Now, people come to the chalice regularly because “that’s what Father taught us to do.”
Mar 10, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Sacraments
Hurrying to Wash Away the Filth of Sin
Many priests (including even Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) have argued against frequent confession. They believe that one may come to confess once a month, or even less often, that only in this case would repentance be truly deep, as the person would have more time to realize his sins and repent of them truly.
Dec 1, 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 : 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 : Sacraments
A Conversation with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Sacramental Life
I long for the day when all Christians can receive Communion together. It causes me deep sorrow that I cannot offer the Holy Communion to non-Orthodox. At the same time I believe that the Orthodox discipline here rests on important theological principles. When we come to Holy Communion, this is not simply an isolated act – me personally coming to my Saviour – I come to Communion as a member of the Church – as a member of the family of believers, not alone but with others.
Aug 29, 2008, 13:03

Our Faith : Sacraments
"NO THANKS, DOC" Rejecting spiritual medicine
Many fathers testify that the words they speak in Holy Confession are not the words they intend to say to their spiritual child; many even leave hours of Confession wondering where the words come from! Of course, we know the real answer: the real physician is the Great Physician, Who leaves the priesthood dependant not on itself, on its seminary education, on psychology courses or counseling training, but on His Grace.

Aug 4, 2008, 10:12

Our Faith : Sacraments
The sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist
I remember how I — at that time a subdeacon — once went to common Confession in the lower church of St Daniel ’s monastery. When, after all the canons and prayers, I approached the priest, he — a severe hieromonk — asked me: ‘Did you fast yesterday?’ I answered: ‘Yesterday I was in an airplane’. The severe hieromonk asked: ‘Where are you from?’ I said: ‘From Paris ’. His answer was: ‘It’s not Paris here. It’s Moscow . I cannot allow you to take Communion!’
Nov 22, 2007, 23:23

Our Faith : Sacraments
....An Image of the Trinity
These crowns have two meanings. First, they reveal that the man and woman, in their union with Christ, participate in His Kingship. Second, as in the ancient Church, crowns are a symbol of martyrdom. The word "martyr" means witness. The common life of the bride and groom is to bear witness to the Presence of Christ in their lives and in the world.
Apr 28, 2007, 10:29

Our Faith : Sacraments
"I Confess to You All the Secrets of my Heart..."
What we need….is, first of all, the real rediscovery in the Church and by her faithful members of the true meaning of the Eucharist as the Sacrament of the Church, as that essential act in which she always becomes what she is: the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the new life, the manifestation of the Kingdom of God, the knowledge of God and communion with him.
Apr 24, 2007, 09:11

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Matrimony
The Image of the Most-holy Trinity, and, except in certain special cases (such as monasticism, for example), he is not intended by God to live alone, but in a family situation. Just as God blessed the first humans, Adam and Eve, to live as a family, to be fruitful and multiply, so too the Church blesses the union of a man and a woman.
Oct 20, 2005, 23:53

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Eucharist
The central place among the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church is held by the Holy Eucharist - the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oct 20, 2005, 00:16

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Chrismation
The Sacrament of Chrismation awakens in the soul that inner, spiritual thirst which does not let one grow satisfied solely with the earthly and material, but always summons us to the Heavenly, to the eternal and the perfect.
Oct 20, 2005, 00:04

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Baptism
First place among the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church is occupied by Holy Baptism, by which a man, who has come to believe in Christ, by being immersed three times in water in the Name of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), is cleansed through Divine Grace of all sins (Original Sin and personal sins) and is reborn into a new holy, and spiritual life.
Jun 11, 2005, 00:40

Our Faith : Sacraments
A Siberian Grandmother on Confession
My childhood was spent in the Urals, in present-day Ekaterinburg. Like most children during the war years I was in kindergarten much of the time1 and went to school with a muddled heart and a distracted mind. Sometimes, though rarely, Granny came to see us and took me to church, to Holy Communion. There were always a lot of people in church, so many that it was difficult to make the sign of the cross over yourself, nor were the priests able to hear individual confessions from such large crowds of people.
Apr 5, 2005, 01:22