I have recently returned from a pilgrimage to Alaska, travelling aboard a (very non-ascetic) cruise ship, in the company of a number of other pilgrims led by Fr. Michael Oleksa and Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck, both of whom gave some talks to...
In my last post I pointed out several things which were problematic about the current Western Rite used in the Orthodox Church, including its artificiality and lack of organic growth within the flow of history. Today I would like to...
A minor debate within Orthodoxy has concerned what has been called “the Western Rite”. By this term is meant an (often doctored) version of the text of the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion Service. Is the substitution of...
Believe it or not, I am sometimes asked the question “Can a Christian be demon-possessed?” Not often, admittedly, since our culture declares that demons do not exist, and that anyone who imagines that demons do in fact exist should...
The concept of loving the sinner while hating the sin has fallen upon hard times. Fallen man finds it very difficult to hold in tension the notion that one must love the sinner along with the notion that one must hate the sin which the...
Just a few comments about comments: I have changed internet mail servers and now sometimes comments take several days to reach my inbox. Sometimes the WordPress programme that Ancient Faith has set up for my blog sends a legitimate...
I have just finished reading a slim volume by Fr. Vasileios Thermos, an Orthodox priest in Greece, entitled, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Answers and…People. It is more a booklet than a book, consisting of less than eighty...
What do bread and peanut butter have to do with the forgiveness of sins? More than one might think at first glance.Recently a friend told me of how he met a pan-handler in the parking lot of a grocery store, asking for spare change. He...
In these days of darkness, moral disintegration, and confusion, we need more than ever to remember who and what we are—that is, we need to remember what it means to be authentically human. We in the West are surrounded by voices shouting...
No one interested in the history of Biblical interpretation can ignore the role of the Fathers of the Church. It seems clear that many (though not all) of the Fathers of the Church interpreted the narrative of Genesis literally, as...
When was the last time you heard a sermon or read an article or blog post on Romans chapter 16? Apart from Rom. 16:1, which describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church which is at Cenchrea” (the darling verse of those advocating the...
Many people today feel that the notion of a wrathful God is unworthy and should be scrapped. In particular, they feel that the notion that God could be wrathful means that God is somehow touchy, irritable, easy to alienate, and...
It is fascinating how the ever-changing needs of the times often call us to tread again the same ground once covered by the Fathers. In their day the need was to show how the Scriptural account of God’s self-revelation was consistent...
I have just finished watching a brief ten minute video on Youtube from 2008 entitled, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Nazi”, originally entitled “Happy Nazis”. It is a chilling documentary which compares two photo albums received by...
As a rule I do not share personal things on my blog. I consider that my office as a presbyter/ teacher obliges me to transmit the teaching of the Church and deal with challenges to it when they arise. My personal feelings, life, and...
