By Fr. Andrew Chizhenko I remember the words of Alexander Griboyedov from his play “Woe from Wit”: “Read it not like an altar server, but with passion”. For centuries, that aphorism was the reason of sarcastic mockeries about church readings in intellectual circles. In fact, they do not correlate with the truth and ancient thousand […]
Prayers for the Dead in the Bible and in Tradition
August 20, 2017 By
From Fr. John Whiteford’s blog, originally titled ‘Stump the Priest: Prayers for the Dead in the Bible and in Tradition’ by Fr. John Whiteford Question: “Where do we find any evidence that praying for the dead is a biblical? From what I have read it appears that the Bible almost says the opposite of this […]
St. Gregory the Theologian and the Literal Interpretation of Scripture
August 11, 2017 By
by Fr. John Whiteford On interpreting Scripture, one must be intellectually honest about quotations. George Demacopoulos gave another lecture at the Eagle River Institute which was recently posted on Ancient Faith Radio, and in the course of that lecture he made the following statement: “St. Gregory the Theologian actually wrote, in one of his most […]
The Cross: A Sign for All Christians
August 1, 2017 By
Originally titled: Should Protestants Make the Sign of the Cross? A Response to Pastor Doug Wilson by Robert Arakaki In a 30 December 2012 canonwired podcast, Pastor Doug Wilson was asked what he thought about Protestants crossing themselves. Apparently, this question was asked because growing numbers of Protestants have started crossing themselves. In short, Pastor Wilson’s answer […]
To Whom Was the Blood of Christ Offered according to St. Gregory the Theologian
June 28, 2017 By
By St. Gregory the Theologian More on Atonement – an Excerpt from “On Holy Pascha”, Homily 45 Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth inquiring into. To whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was it shed? I […]
Eucharistic Bread: Leavened or Unleavened?
June 5, 2017 By
In the ninth century the use of unleavened bread had become obligatory in the West, while the Orthodox continued the exclusive offering of leavened bread. The issue became divisive when the provinces of Byzantine Italy which were under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople were forcibly incorporated into the Church of Rome following their […]
Did St. Mark of Ephesus Consider the Latins to be a Church?
May 13, 2017 By
by Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) The following is an excerpt from the Metroplitan’s very important “Intervention and Text to the Meeting of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece (November, 2016),” which can be found here in Greek and here in English. Unfortunately, during the “Council of Crete” some supported the idea that St. Mark of […]
Orthodox Marriage & Its Misunderstanding
April 27, 2017 By
There are two misunderstandings about marriage which should be rejected in Orthodox dogmatic theology. by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) The love that exists between a man and a woman is an important theme in many books of Scripture. The Book of Genesis, in particular, tells us of holy and pious couples, such as Abraham and Sarah, […]
