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by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org. One of the stories that have proved troubling to students of Holy Scripture over the years is the account of Uzzah, who stretched … [Read more...]
by Fr. George Morelli What to Do When One's "Truth" Does Not Match the "Others'" Truth ““Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."” (Jn 18: 37) “If silence is more necessary even during conversation about good matters, how much more so in … [Read more...]
By St. John Chrysostom Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! St. John was the Archbishop of Constantinople during the fourth century. He was fearless when denouncing sin in high places, and was a prolific writer, and bold preacher, unafraid to hit the topical issues of the day squarely between the eyes with all the subtlety of a ball peen hammer. His last words were “Glory to God for all things!” How does one prove that … [Read more...]
by Fr. John Romanides As a little change up from the normal Lenten fare, we thought was time for something completely different! It was reported in November 2009 that the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church. The Director of the Vatican Observatory commented that the discovery of possible alien life would have "many philosophical and theological … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org. Among the biblical concepts supporting St. Paul's theology of atonement, one of the most important, surely, is that of expiation. What does … [Read more...]
by Kevin Allen As the award winning host of the radio program "The Illumined Heart," Kevin Allen is also convert to the Orthodox Christian faith from Hinduism, and an eloquent speaker and apologist for his Christian faith. His podcast can be heard on Ancient Faith Radio. This first article appeared on Orthodoxytoday.org, and carefully explains the importance not only of reaching those in Eastern religions for Christ, but also how not to do … [Read more...]
by Dave Brown This post was today's offering on Orthocath's Blog. I confess that I am a regular reader of this blog, and this post should demonstrate why. Regarding the last statements about Lutherans looking at Orthodoxy, I can confirm this as two of my godsons, former Lutheran pastors/now Orthodox priests, converted over this very issue, as they were asked by their superiors to do a presentation on the historicity of paedo-communion, or … [Read more...]
Implications for Orthodox Psycho-Theology by Fr. George Morelli In this essay, Fr. Morelli masterfully expresses the depth of Incarnational theology - the teaching of Orthodox Christianity about God, man, and spiritual reality - and the dangers of departing, even apparently, from its foundational truth. We are approaching the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the feast of the Incarnation, making this essay essential reading, in my opinion, … [Read more...]
The Orthodox Church suffers from an abysmal lack of cogent apologetic material. Interestingly, thanks to blogging, I believe this will change soon. Someone like you or me will get so tired of not having the kind of printed material we need, that we'll just make it ourselves, and in the day of print-on-demand publishers (see here for examples of my own books, published at Lulu.com), well - it won't be long. In the meantime, we stand at a wonderful … [Read more...]
A continuation of last week's Pastoral Pondering on Apologetics, for Sunday, June 21 2009. I have suggested that the discipline of apologetics, the reasoned defense of the Christian faith, is sometimes troublesome to the pursuit of theology. It seems to me that the history of soteriology, the theology of salvation, manifests a singular case in point. When it starts from apologetics, soteriology is somewhat compelled to commence outside itself, … [Read more...]
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