Contemporary Issues
Pearls to the Pigs and Communion to Dogs
There seems to be however a lot of confusion nowadays about animals and their role in our lives. People treat their animals as family, take them to beauty salons and spas, leave them fortunes in their wills and expect to be joined by them in heaven.

Aug 23, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Has Our Pursuit of the "American Dream" Become a Ball and Chain?
Has our pursuit of this dream gotten out of hand today? From a Christian perspective has the pursuit of the good life here in America supplanted or replaced our pursuit of the Kingdom of Heaven? Are we really living better today because of the “American Dream?” I ask these questions based on the following observations.

Aug 18, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
The Orthodox "I really like their hats!"
His father gets apoplectic and screams at him, in a line that was objectively funny and incredibly sad, "Isn't that the group that mutilates squirrels?" That's what the world, at least in America, knows about the Orthodox. Old men in strange garb doing strange things in front of a few old people (probably immigrants) in a strange language at a strange place possibly including squirrels.

Aug 11, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Russian Orthodox Church - helping the fire victims day and night
“We send a car to each location reported to be in need of help, collect information and then organize help” – explains a coordinator in the Russian Orthodox Church Department for Charity. For a week already it has been the most actively functioning place – volunteers are collecting clothes, raising money, gathering information, and sending fire fighting equipment to the areas with forest fires.


Aug 9, 2010, 10:00

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

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

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

Contemporary Issues
Medicine and Ethics
At its core, Christian ethics is a theological discipline. This means that the work of doing ethics is a communal, ecclesial work for which each of us is responsible. Just as each Christian is called to be a theologian by offering self and the world to God in prayer, each is called to be an ethicist, a "moral theologian" in the proper sense.
Jun 21, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
«Stop!» Address by Metropolitan Vladimir of Bishkek and Central Asia to the people of Kyrgyzstan
The Orthodox Church in Kirghizia does not remain neutral to what is happening in the country. As early as in April, 2010 Metropolitan Vladimir made an appeal to people, in which he reminded that “the one pressing for justice or simply his own power, having obtained or asserted it by any unconstitutional and unlawful way, outside the legal environment, assumes a sin by no means justified on his conscience and heart. Evil brings about evil”. Metropolitan’s word was not listened to, ad now His Eminence addresses to people with a word full of sorrow again.
Jun 18, 2010, 01:44

Contemporary Issues
Archpriest Igor Dronov: Orthodox priests of Kirghizia sheltered people in the church
Priest Sergy Khorishko, who serves in Jalal-Abad, sheltered during the riots the Uzbek families and his parishioners right in the church. He prevented arson of two adjoining Uzbek houses.

Jun 18, 2010, 01:44

Contemporary Issues
What's in a Name?
Personal Christian Names
This contemporary reality should be an encouragement to Orthodox Christians on two levels. Firstly, while most Canadians are choosing Christian names for their children, many have no idea about the origins of their name, the story of their saint, and the identity which comes with the chosen name. This presents an opportunity - a missionary opportunity.
Jun 11, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Corporatism or Commonweal?
When we speak of true morality, we are not referring to simple obedience to a system of law but a free accord with a system of spiritual healing. The authentic Christian spiritual life really does provide us with the means for moral healing, but even among our own people, we see so many who never experience such healing. This is because they encounter only moralism: “Obey this law or God will do something bad to you.”
May 17, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Why Adopt A Seminarian?
I had my life all planned out. I secured my job, married my wife, became Orthodox (in that order), began a family and became a deacon. I had dreams of seminary that came and went and thought that God would be happy with me as a deacon until I was near retirement, and then I would do what was necessary to become a priest and serve some needy, small parish. That was it, plain, simple, concise.
May 12, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Hieromonk Vadim (Smirnov) Killed in His Flat
Hieromok Vadim (Smirnov's) body was found Wed, 5 in his flat in Cheboksary (Chuvashia, Russia).
May 5, 2010, 22:41

Contemporary Issues
Some “Not-So-Obvious” Facts about American Orthodox Christianity
The “Orthodox Church Today” study released by the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute (Graduate Theological Union) disproves many stereotypes and provides groundbreaking insights into the life of one of the least known American faith traditions – Orthodox Christianity.


May 1, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Blind Leading the Blind
Social networking sites like facebook and twitter perpetuate the typically adolescent social phenomenon known as an “invisible audience” whereby we believe that everyone notices every tiny thing about us individually (hence why teenagers are so overly concerned with their appearance). Instead of participating in real life, we spend hours pouring over digital images of “friends” and wondering who’s been checking our current status.
Apr 30, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Russian Orthodox priest shot in Chuvashia
A Russian Orthodox priest shot in Chuvashia before the evening service.
Apr 24, 2010, 22:52

Contemporary Issues
Time Management: an Orthodox Perspective
Those who are trying to use their time to do the Lord's will must begin every day, and every moment, with Jesus Christ. One question might be, "Lord, what do you want me to do, now?" But an even better question is, "Lord, what do you want to do through me now?" This takes the emphasis from the ego and places it on the Lord.


Apr 16, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Morality or Moralism?
Today a great many people are entering the Orthodox Church from other, generally Western confessions. Their tendency, quite understandably, is to bring with them notions of sin and guilt, obedience and virtue (merits) that figure strongly in the way those confessions construe the means by which we attain salvation. Whether they remain in a lay state or become ordained, they often allow their "former delusion" to influence the way they conduct themselves and the way they expect others to behave within an Orthodox setting.
Mar 23, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
When We are no Longer Ethnic
What will happen to our churches when a majority of the membership does not have an ethnic lineage similar to the ethnic jurisdiction to which the church belongs?
This phenomenon in the Orthodox Church in the USA and other non-traditionally Orthodox countries, may not be new, but it is certainly a issue that will become far more wide spread.
Feb 11, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
New Year Resolutions: Bah Humbug!
Probably one of the most useless wastes of mental and spiritual energy engaged in by some individuals is the making of New Year Resolutions. One reason for the futility of New Year Resolutions is that they are usually couched in such general terms that they invite procrastination, hesitation, ensuing failure and either anxiety or depression.
Jan 1, 2010, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
On the Murder of Father Daniil Sysoev
And if we are to learn a lesson from Father Daniil’s death, it must be that not all religions are created equal. Enough self-deception and false tolerance! May those who continue to repeat that all faiths believe in the same God be ashamed and may their mouths be silenced before the casket of a 35-year-old priest who was killed by someone who believed in a very different god from that preached by Father Daniil.

Nov 24, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Question on Problems Which New People Face (Part II)
Things just take time. That’s perhaps something that people don’t always understand. It takes a long time even to begin to become Orthodox, especially if you’re coming from a spiritual and cultural background which is not traditionally Orthodox. This is because there are things that are passed down organically from generation to generation. But of course that’s not the case when people come from a Western background, or for that matter from the countries of the former Soviet bloc, where the transmission of Orthodox culture was seriously impaired by decades of persecution.

Nov 18, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Question on Problems Which New People Face (Part I)
At first, Orthodox liturgy appears to western senses to be very oriental, something quite foreign - that is part of its attraction for some. But many forget that Christianity is an oriental religion. The Bible is profoundly Middle-Eastern book. In time, though, one feels very at home in Orthodox Christianity. The point that needs to be grasped, especially by those who think they have rejected Christianity, that is, those who have only come across its western forms, is that Orthodoxy is very different.
Nov 17, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Stolen Souls
I remember as a kid often saying to my parents, "Hey! I didn’t choose to be here, you know." It was my cute teenage way of putting the blame for my questionable behavior on the ones who did make that choice: my long-suffering mom and dad. Gee, if I could make them see that this was all their doing, maybe I could circumvent whatever restriction was about to befall me. After all, I had a righteous argument: they chose to bring me into this world; I was just an innocent victim.


Nov 7, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
It is Vital for the Orthodox Church to Preach in Social Networks
I find it difficult to imagine an Orthodox believer who writes directly to a mufti, disputes with him, and criticizes Islam the way Muslims are writing me to say that Orthodoxy is "a false religion." They cite Koran as saying that all unfaithful should be killed. I find it interesting because it is live contact. Such polemics can help us give a fresh critical look at some questions of Christian-Islamic dialogue in order to form more reasoned and clear position in the future.

Nov 6, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Halloween: A Solemn Farewell
Let's set aside murky questions about where Halloween comes from. There is the question of what Halloween is now, which is far less murky on several counts. Whatever the good, bad, known, or unknown roots of Halloween may be, in its present form it is associated with magic or ghoulishness you're not barred from dressing up as something that is neither associated with the occult or ghoulishness, but you're stretching things a little.
Oct 31, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
The Loneliness of Modern Man
The internet has probably made us more connected, in a virtual sense, than we have been in a generation. But, of course, their is an extreme level of volunteerism in this virtual community. If I don’t want to post today there is nothing you can do about it. We are not a natural community. I cannot touch you or hear you laugh. I share a photo so you know something of what I look like. But how do I sound? How much of my native Appalachian dialect still clings to my tongue (not much, but some).


Oct 26, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Loving the Storm-Drenched
More serious, however, is a tone of voice we adopt from the culture: sarcastic, smart-alecky, jabbing, and self-righteous. We feel the sting of such treatment, and give it right back; we feel anger or even wounded hatred toward those on the “other side.” But God does not hate them; he loves them so much he sent his Son to die for them. We are told to pray for those who persecute us, and to love our enemies. The weight of antagonistic and mocking big-media machinery is the closest thing we’ve got for practicing that difficult spiritual discipline. If we really love these enemies, we will want the best for them, the very best thing we have, which is the knowledge and love of God.


Oct 6, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Our "Rule Of Faith"
One of the more persistent questions posed to the Orthodox these days concerns our practice of what has become commonly referred to as "closed communion." Generally, these questions take one of the following forms; "Why can't my non-Orthodox friends or relatives receive holy communion when they visit my parish church?" (or) ”Why can't I receive holy communion when I visit my non-Orthodox friends or relatives at their church?" and sometimes even "What gives you the right to judge anyone's fitness to receive holy communion?"
Oct 1, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Orthodoxy and Same Sex Attraction
These are a few stories from homosexuals I have counseled over the past 35 years, first as a Protestant Christian and now as an Orthodox Christian. The Orthodox Church’s spirituality both affirmed and challenged my thinking about homosexuality over the years. This article is based on these experiences. As part of my exploration of how Orthodoxy has actually affected the lives of people living with same-sex attraction issues, several converts to Orthodoxy agreed to participate anonymously in interviews about their struggles with same-sex attraction (SSA) for this article.


Sep 17, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Setting the Prisoners Free:
The Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry
After having a wonderful and very spiritual, filled visit with my wife, she was in a tragic auto accident and was killed. I was called to the chapel and was told of my beloved wife’s death. I hit the floor with despair. My wife and I were one. She was in this life "perfect." But even though my physical man grieves, my spiritual side rejoices. For the Lord gave me His little lamb, then He took her. I trust His judgment. He is and always will be my Lord no matter what! Thank you for praying for me your son . . . your letters mean so much. May God Bless You!
Aug 31, 2009, 10:59

Contemporary Issues
A Theological Crisis
Secularism, therefore, is not so much the absence of religion as it is the transformation of religion into something un-theological; it is the stripping of religions of their theology and thus of their identity. And this is because, despite popular opinion, secular society wants religion and needs religion. But it wants religion on its own terms. Many secularists are happy to entertain a belief in a ‘higher power’, and they may be impressed and even moved by religious rites and rituals, but only for as long as this ‘higher power’, these rites and rituals, do not challenge their secular sensibilities, their own internet-assembled philosophy.
Aug 24, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
On the Need for the Church in the Lives of Our Young People
The majority has departed from the Orthodox Christian gospel, world view and approach to life to such a degree that our children have no more purpose, direction and protection in life than do children of completely unbelieving or indifferent families. We have come to despise the very things God has given us which give purpose and eternal hope to life, which instil self control, self understanding and positive, compassionate ideals in our youth. We have robbed our own youth of the weapons and tools which the Holy Spirit gave them to defend themselves from the corruption and decay of the world around them and work out their salvation.

Aug 4, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Modest ≠ frumpy!
Attractive Clothing for Christians on the Make
The question of how to dress is an important one for Christian singles because we're called to be humble people, both in our behavior and our appearance. But, we are not required to put up a wall of total exclusion with our clothes. Humility doesn't mean that we have to dress like frumps or nerds. I don't know a whole lot about fashionable clothing, but with this chapter, I'd like to offer some suggestions for things that we can wear to be inviting and engaging in our appearance, which we need to be when we're looking for someone special.
Jul 29, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
The phoenix is reborn. It's time to fly
Growing up in 1970s Moscow, I had a nanny who had lived in our family for 45 years. She died in 1981, when she was 93 and I was 13. Like most Soviet people, my family was not religious. My grandfather prided himself in becoming an atheist in prerevolutionary Russia and refusing to attend the Orthodox doctrine class at school. It scandalised his father, a priest's son turned high-ranking civil engineer. In Soviet Russia, it was a norm enforced by persecution, education and all-encopassing atheistic propaganda.
Jun 30, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Literature, Culture and the Western Soul
Instead of running away from our culture, or trying to deny its power in us, we must face it squarely and understand its essence and origin. This is the first step in forming an Orthodox world view, and this is the first task facing us today. If we are able to do this, we will be able to discern what in our culture is worth utilizing, and what is harmful. Perhaps more importantly, we will gain a knowledge of ourselves, an increased depth of soul, that will permit us to understand how we may become fruitful Christians.


Jun 4, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Secular Religion
For many people, perhaps for the majority, religion is seen as beneficial; that it ‘does you good’. From within the small confines of subjective experience, religion makes you a better person, brings people together, has social and health benefits and gives meaning to our existence. True enough and none of these things can be anything but blessings – but is that all?
May 26, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Memorial Day Reflection
Specifically with respect to Memorial Day, as an Orthodox Christian, we naturally raise the question: “Why would Americans set aside only one day a year to celebrate our departed loved ones?” Now, this question compels us to understand the history of memorial Day, which was originally set aside to remember the sacrifices of those who died in the armed conflict in the service of our country.
May 25, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
On Priestly Formation:
Small is Beautiful
The seeds planted through an Orthodox seminary must be the seeds which will blossom into the fruit of holiness. Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos speaks to this when he reminds us that the goal of the Christian life is to produce saints. How much more the formation of the priests of the Church must be founded upon listening to, learning, and emulating the lives of the saints. Orthodoxy does not have celebrities, only saints.
May 16, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Catechesis and Evangelism are not Enough
The survey data gives us an overview of religious life in American and the place of the Orthodox Church in this broader context. Filled with charts, graphs, and statistics the report is not something that most of us are likely just to pick and read. In what follows, rather than a rigorous statistical analysis of the Church's life, I offer some points for reflection based on the survey. My goal is to help laity and clergy understand that catechesis and evangelism must be combined with a pastoral commitment to the personal discipleship of all members of the Church.


Apr 30, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Why the Cults?
The Waco horrors [a fatal assault by U. S. Agents on the Branch Davidians, a heavily-armed apocalyptic cult, in February, 1993] remind us that millions of Americans of Christian background have left mainstream Christian Churches for non-Christian or pseudo-Christian religious movements. Some have gone to other world religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, or American imitations of these. Others have embraced one of several large religious movements founded here in America, such as the Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses.
Mar 25, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
What Do the Converts Want?
If they stopped and thought about it, most Orthodox converts would call themselves premodern, since the modern world has not served up a wide array of dependable answers. They are looking for beauty. They are looking for a life that can give them some degree of stability and peace, while helping them face the realities of the world around them. They want Orthodoxy. And it is crucial to know that the converts want more Orthodoxy, not less.
Mar 12, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Do Unborn Humans Have Human Rights?
I have been interested in the issue of whether unborn children should have human rights for quite some time. For me personally, this issue was settled before it ever arose: the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on abortion, which is fundamentally similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church, is based on the premise that human life is inherently valuable, and that unborn human children are no different in their possession of human life than their born counterparts.
Feb 24, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Religious Life and Economic Crisis
It is a basic spiritual law that if you have one can of beans and you want some more, then give it that one can of beans away. This the Gospel message for 2009 in the midst of layoffs and financial crises. I can say from personal experience that “I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread.” (Ps 36: 25).
Feb 20, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Canon 28 of the 4th Ecumenical Council – Relevant or Irrelevant Today?
We learn from the Apostles and the Fathers that the church is one church, one and the same church, the body of Christ, found in Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople, Greece, Rome, Russia, and so forth. Based on all of this, it is simply wrong to call the church Russian or Greek or American, because the church, in essence, transcends nationalism, race and culture. Here in North America we distort Orthodox ecclesiology by our ethnic jurisdictions.

Jan 24, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Embraced by Lucifer
It is disturbing to realize how many Christians -- even Orthodox Christians -- are reading the stacks of books about prayer, angels, miracles, and such being sold today which have nothing whatever to do with Christianity. Instead these books are filled with pagan, gnostic, and demonic teaching which could lead a person away from Christ and towards the powers of darkness.
Jan 22, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
Me, You and the Other Guy
America has the strange phenomenon of increased Church attendance usually accompanying times of prosperity. Many other nations, particularly several I can think of in Europe (modern Ireland stands out) have seen Church attendance plummet when prosperity comes.
I suspect that this all has something to do with America’s strange marriage of prosperity and piety.

Jan 5, 2009, 10:00

Contemporary Issues
How We Worship: the Struggle of the American Experience
We live in the United States of America at the beginning of the 21st century. We are a product of a modern secularized society that prides itself on individual rights. There are many wonderful things about being raised in America, but also many problems. As Orthodox Christians living in the West, we are faced with many complex ethical and moral dilemmas.
Dec 31, 2008, 10:00