It’s time we put some more practical articles up for parish priests, so we have a new category: Growing Your Parish. We’ll be offering more articles, and seeking more (!), of a useful nature to Orthodox parish clergy on removing growth barriers to making small missions and parishes larger, and sustaining growth past certain barriers. […]
Church and State Are Not Separate – They Are at War
February 3, 2017 By
by Fr. Stephen Freeman From the Glory to God for All Things blog. There are ideas that are so common, so oft-repeated, that they are critically examined only with great difficulty. Among the most powerful such ideas is the concept described as the “separation of Church and State.” The history of the phrase is its […]
Ecumenism and the Agony of the Church
December 19, 2016 By
by St. Nikolai Velimirovich St. Nikolai’s attitude toward ecumenism is shown by his participation, as an Orthodox bishop and theologian, in the ecumenical meetings and dialogues between the two World Wars, and later he was present, as the accredited visitor, at the meeting of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954. Bishop […]
There Is Only One Church
December 9, 2016 By
by Elder Sophrony of Essex Forgive me; perhaps all this is superfluous. At this point, though, I would like to say a little about the fact that at the present time a significant part of the Christian world tends to accept one of the most dangerous heresies. What it consists of is people saying that […]
Reverence in Church
September 23, 2016 By
by Abbot Tryphon God’s house is entered with awe and fear. We must practice reverence in the temple, whether during services or when we step into the church to light a candle and venerate the holy icons. The temple is the place set apart for the worship of the Holy Trinity and is the place […]
The Self-Liquidation of Christianity
September 22, 2016 By
by Fr. Seraphim Rose The striking phrase, “God is dead,” is the poetical expression of modern unbelief. Much is expressed in this phrase that is not to be found in the more prosaic expressions of modern atheism and agnosticism. A vivid contrast is established between a previous age when men believed in God and based […]
Why Must an Orthodox Church have an Iconostasis and a Curtain over the Royal Doors?
August 30, 2016 By
by Fr. Andrei Chizhenko In an Orthodox church there is no thing or action which does not carry meaning of spiritual weight. Even the iconostasis and curtain over the Royal Doors are full-fledged “participants” in the Divine services. What is the significance of the iconostasis and curtain in the microcosm of an Orthodox church? The architecture […]
Does the Devil Attack Us When We are in Church?
August 13, 2016 By
by St. Barsanuphius of Optina “Prayer in church is important. The best thoughts and feelings come in church, yes, and the enemy attacks more violently in church, but with the sign of the Cross and the Jesus Prayer, you drive him away. It is good to stand in some dark corner in church and to pray […]
