Today, July 26th, is the feast day of St. Yakov/Jacob Netsvetov, the Enlightener and Baptizer of the Native Peoples of Alaska. His story is inspiring. His Journals are amazing. He is a magnificent example of priestly, missionary zeal, spiritual warfare and love for the lost souls. Holy Father Yakov, … [Read more...]
The Law Of Sacrifice
From one of my favorite websites, The Art of Manliness. Last month, James “Jimmer” Fredette was selected in the NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. It was a moment that capped off a breakout season for Jimmer. In his senior year, Fredette captured national attention with his dazzling three-point … [Read more...]
The Divine Liturgy Sustains The World
From the blog, Opuscula Theologica. "The Divine Liturgy sustains the world! And we are so unworthy of it! There are priests who live this awesome Mystery at every Divine Liturgy. A priest once told me something that a very simple and good priest had once confessed to him, “I have such a hard … [Read more...]
The Prayer Of A Priest
by Fr. Dimitri Gagastathis “Jesus the Good Shepherd, I thank Thee because Thou hast given to me, the small and weak one, the same command that Thou gavest to Thine Apostle, when Thou didst tell him, ‘Feed my lambs, feed my sheep.’ (John 21:17). Never would I dare, O Lord, to accept such a … [Read more...]
Invisibility While Making God Seen
From A Protestant View On Orthodoxy “We could take a cue from Orthodoxy, whose priests stand with their backs to their congregation, leading a liturgy that is neither clever nor impassioned, but simply beautiful, like stone smoothed by centuries of rhythmic tides. It’s an austere ritual, … [Read more...]
Was Adam an Actual or Symbolic Figure, According to the Fathers of the Church?
From the Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries. I've included this article due to a multitude of requests from seminarians about the Church teaching regarding the historical reality of Adam and what the Church, not the seminary Bible Studies professor, actually teaches. This is a great article to … [Read more...]
Basic Pre-requisites For Ordination
by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos It is certain that the apostles transmitted this priesthood of Christ through a definite sacrament called the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Church also fixed the canonical prerequisites for anyone to receive this great grace and to exercise this highest … [Read more...]