For Orthodox Christian Men Discerning A Vocation
By St. Ambrose of Milan Book I: Chapter I Elected to the episcopacy while still a layman, by the common acclaim of the citizens of Milan, St. Ambrose took his duties and those of his clergy with great seriousness and exacting. We'll be publishing a section of his work "On The Duties Of Clergy" Read more…
HOMILY GIVEN BY ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ON THE DAY HE WAS ORDAINED PRIEST St. John Chrysostom was called to the priesthood and ordained by Flavian, bishop of Antioch, early in the year 386. This is the date of his first sermon: he had not yet descended into the lists, as he himself puts it. What Read more…
by St. Nikolai Velimirovich "And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them" - Acts of the Apostles 6:6 By laying their hands on the chosen faithful, the apostles consecrated bishops, priests and deacons. It is apparent from this that the Christian Faith is not only a teaching, Read more…
by Dimitrios N. Kagaris We clergy are often reminded how few 'parish priests' inhabit our Church calendar. It almost seems as if martyrdom is our only chance. Men like Papa Dimitri show us clearly that this is not the case. He lived in Greece during the time when Communists were everywhere and Read more…
by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos 3. Remission of Sins The subject of the remission of sins needs to be examined here because, under the influence of Western ideas, we have a legalistic view of it. We look upon sins as moral transgressions that arouse God’s anger, and so we see the Read more…
by Ruth Siemens How Well Did Paul’s Strategy Work? Many of his lay evangelists were from unsavory, uneducated, pagan backgrounds. Most were slaves. None had anthropological or missiological training. It cost Paul dearly to bring them the gospel, and they risked their lives without pay to take it Read more…
by Ruth Siemens Why Did Paul Work When He Did Not Have To? We will consider only three of the several reasons he gives. The first two are part of his formal defense in 1 Cor. 9 and the third is in 2 Thess. 3. 1. Credibility Paul says twice that he works in order not to put an “obstacle” in Read more…
By St. Ambrose of Milan Book I: Chapter I Elected to the episcopacy while still a layman, by the common acclaim of the citizens of Milan, St. Ambrose took his duties and those of his clergy with great seriousness and exacting. We'll be publishing a section of his work "On The Duties Of Clergy" every Monday for awhile. Read and enjoy. 1. I think I shall not seem to be taking too much on myself, if, in the midst of my children, I yield Read more…
HOMILY GIVEN BY ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ON THE DAY HE WAS ORDAINED PRIEST St. John Chrysostom was called to the priesthood and ordained by Flavian, bishop of Antioch, early in the year 386. This is the date of his first sermon: he had not yet descended into the lists, as he himself puts it. What will you preach at your ordination? Think about it! St. John Chrysostom speaks of himself, the bishop and the people. 1. Is what has Read more…
From Byzantine, TX I have written (and subsequently deleted unpublished) posts on this topic numerous times. Usually I write while aggrieved by some clergyman in particular, but, as I find myself with only a few unrequited missives in clergy email boxes, I have the necessary apathy to put pen to paper. It is a surprise to few that priests don't answer emails. They also don't answer the phone. If you go to a church during the week Read more…
by Bishop Benjamin (Milov) of Saratov and Balashov Is there such a thing as an attachment to a pastor? Is it admissible, does it not get in our way on the path to salvation? An event from the life of St John Chrysostom provides an answer to these questions. As is well-known, the saintly bishop used to suffer greatly from his ailments and once, in his weakness, he entrusted two bishops to give the sermon. But the people were so annoyed Read more…
by Dcn. Michael Hyatt From November 2008! Thankfully, the election is over. We now have clarity about who is going to lead our country for the next four years. I have never personally witnessed such excitement and hopefulness following an election (though I acknowledge that not everyone shared that sentiment). However, the problems still remain. The stock market fell precipitously yesterday. In fact, it was the biggest post-election Read more…
by George Benjamin Gapen The current shortage of priests has resulted in the recruiting of candidates. Since the parish priest has a unique role in such efforts, this seems an appropriate time and place to remind you of a few things. First, a vocation to the Holy Priesthood is something you cannot produce. Despite intuitions and wishes you cannot impose a vocation where God has not seen fit to grant it. It degrades Divine Providence Read more…
by Professor Contantine Scouteris Some Theological and Canonical Considerations 1. The records of the early Christian tradition leave no doubt that Christian priesthood is not a "function" necessary for the institutional being of the Church. Nor is it an autonomous, isolated and self sufficient office belonging to the ordained individual. It is rather a ministry related and belonging to the entire ecclesial body. We can think of it Read more…
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