Modesty Revisited
Wendy Shalit’s essays have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, City Journal and other publications. Her book, A Return to Modesty, was published by Free Press in 1999, and last year was reissued in paperback by Simon & Schuster. This article was excerpted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College. (www.hillsdale.edu) It is my hope that both men and women, and particularly parents, will take note of this important issue, and provide appropriate direction for their children. There is [Read more...]
How A Southern Baptist Minister Found His Way To Eastern Orthodoxy
The Story of Pastor Robert Frisby How does a former Southern Baptist minister find his way into the Eastern Orthodox Church? It was a long and winding road for Bob and Laurel Frisby and two of their grandchildren. Bob spent his childhood and early teens without a church to call home. He was what he calls, “a lay me down to sleep Christian.” Bedtime prayers and an occasional foray to church were the extent of his religious upbringing. Bob grew up fairly oblivious [Read more...]
Reliability of the Acts of the Apostles
August 25, 2010 by frjohn
Filed under Biblical Studies, General
If Acts was written by Luke, the companion of the apostle Paul, it brings us right to the apostolic circle of those who participated in the events reported. If Acts was written by A.D. 62 (the traditional date), then it was written by a contemporary of Jesus who died in 33 A.D. If Acts is shown to be accurate history, then it brings credibility to its reports about the most basic Christian beliefs of miracles (Acts 2:22), the death (Acts 2:23), resurrection (Acts [Read more...]
Coming To Trust The Liturgy
From the author of the First Lights Blog A couple of weeks ago I was having a conversation with an old friend about my spiritual journey. We had attended church together at a contemporary evangelical charismatic Protestant church as college students. At the time, I ardently defended contemporary worship. The songs stayed in my head for a great length of time, generally they reinforced the themes of what was being talked about in church, they were fun to listen to, and I could [Read more...]
In The Spirit of St. George: The Vocation of the Christian Warrior
The vocation of the Christian warrior is a dangerous and demanding one requiring as it does that the solider stand physically between the aggressor and his intended target and that he respond with force—even deadly force if needed—and yet do so without malice. This requires to be sure not only intense self-discipline and physical courage equal to any monastic asceticism, it also demands that the warrior bear the physical, psychological and spiritual scars of his service. This burden is made all the more difficult I think when military personnel (to say nothing of law enforcement professionals) are greeted with a lack of appreciation for the positive good of their service to say nothing of open hostility and moral censure what their service.
Liturgical Dysfunction?
by Fr. John Breck People will persist in dysfunctional patterns of behavior simply because they’re familiar. A woman who divorces an abusive alcoholic husband will be very likely later on to marry someone with a similar addiction. The “good ol’ boys” will continue to tie one on Saturday nights, even though the Sunday morning hangover is inevitably excruciating. A parishioner (only the Orthodox are guilty of this, it seems) who habitually arrives at the Sunday Liturgy after the Lesser Entrance and still wants [Read more...]
Miracles of St. George…to Muslims!
This great little article shows that the saints love everyone, and help all. Even among Muslims, who don’t even have saints, the knowledge that the Christian saint, the Greatmartyr George of Lydda, helps those who ask him, brings thousands to ask his aid and intercession. And he responds swiftly to help them. How much more will he aid and protect those fellow disciples of Jesus Christ who call upon him in faith, asking for his powerful intercession before God, and granting the gifts [Read more...]
Tithes and Firstfruits
by Fr. Dimitry Cozby “Honor the Lord with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your produce” (Proverbs 3:9). In ancient Israel, the Church of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses instituted the “tithe”, also called the offering of the firstfruits. “Tithe” is merely the Old English word for “tenth”. Israel’s tithe was an assessment of one-tenth of all produce for the maintenance of the Temple, the support of the priesthood, and the sustenance of the poor (Num. 18:24; Deut. 12:11 [Read more...]
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!
Just as a glorious reminder of the meaning of the Resurrection for us, I’m republishing one of the greatest sermons ever preached – the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom. This is what is preached at the Paschal Vigil in every Orthodox Church in the world at Pascha! Enjoy! This is perhaps the greatest sermon ever written. It is read in every Orthodox Church in the world, every year at the Paschal Vigil, during the Matins of Pascha. St. John was the Archbishop [Read more...]
Safely Home To Heaven
The following letter from an Orthodox nun to a troubled layman is a warm, sane and usable remedy for anyone troubled with doubts about the mercy and compassion of God. Dear P., Christ is Risen! I was glad you called this weekend and let me know how you are doing. It sounds like you have a pretty good case of Calvinist-Jansenist indigestion [1]: uncomfortable and debilitating, but not inevitably fatal. A lot of western converts to Orthodoxy—Americans, Germans, etc., suffer from this to [Read more...]
