The diaconate has been a little understood ministry, in fact, often a misunderstood ministry. Although it is one of three ordained orders, most lay people have little or no contact with a deacon, no idea of the history of the diaconate or what it entails today. We hope to clarify some of the … [Read more...]
13 Obstacles on the Way to Becoming a Priest
Ecclesiastical hierarchy plays a very important role in the life of the Church. The Church cannot exist or perform Her salvific ministry in the world without the hierarchy that traces its origins to the holy apostles and was laid out by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That is why it is vital that … [Read more...]
Q&A with a Priest: What Does It Mean to Be a Priest’s Wife?
Question: Your blessing, Father. What should I do: my husband has become a priest but I’m not the right kind of a person to be a matushka (a priest’s wife — translator’s note), unfortunately. I’m really bothered about that because I’m not a quiet, meek, and God-fearing girl. I’m a regular kind of wom … [Read more...]
Church Reading: What Makes This Ministry So Important?
Sometimes people say, "I am just a reader," as though this were a petty or insignificant ministry. However, when the reader (whether tonsured or not) begins chanting the selection from the Acts or the Epistles, he or she is performing an evangelical ministry that is absolutely essential to the … [Read more...]
Why Should Reading in the Orthodox Church be Unemotional?
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 correla … [Read more...]
Two Scripture Verses You Should Memorize Today
Are you discerning a vocation? Do you think about serving Christ as a priest or deacon? Wondering why things seem to slam up against you? Do you feel like you are charging upstream, against the current, sinking in quicksand half the time? You're not just being tested - you're being trained! … [Read more...]
How to Become a Reader
Question: "How does one become a Reader, and what does a Reader do?" We learn a great deal about what it means to be a Reader from the admonition that the bishop gives to a Reader after he is tonsured (i.e., made a Reader): "My son, the first degree in the Priesthood is that of Reader. It beh … [Read more...]
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