by Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) 1. Having accepted the grace of ordination, bear in mind of what a gift and of what mercy the Lord has found you worthy – and what responsibility you now bear. A priest is an apostle to his flock. "I do not belong to myself, but to others," said the great … [Read more...]
Royal Inadequacies of the Royal Priesthood
by Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov One of my favorite writers, Fr. Sergei is the author of Imagine That: Mental Imagery in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Private Devotion, and I recommend it to everyone, especially those discerning a priestly vocation. You can get it on Amazon HERE. “Behold, how good … [Read more...]
Survey Results: Observations and Advice for New Priests
We are coming up on graduation day for our seminaries, so I fielded a survey to gather the collective wisdom of priests to share with our new graduates and ordinands. These sets of “five things” are offered with thanks to the priests who answered the survey and prayers for all our clergy. It's a … [Read more...]
The Meekness of a Spiritual Father
By Fr. Joseph Gleason From The Orthodox Life (21 March 2015) St. Gregory the Great says that a spiritual father should be gentle and meek. If he reproves a person who unintentionally sinned, this is especially true. If a person has malice, and has sinned willfully, that is a different story. But … [Read more...]
Reality Check: Your parish has a sinful leader
A pastor friend forwarded this to me at an opportune time: the day after I had responded to someone's challenge with acerbic sarcasm. It happened at a board meeting, and I knew I had gone too far the moment I loosed my tongue. It became more obvious when that board member left the meeting in … [Read more...]
People Want Loving, Active, Joyful, and Evangelical Leadership
A couple of months ago, Pew Research announced a finding that surprised me: 49% of Americans want preachers to speak about "political issues." This was roughly the same percentage that do NOT want them to do so. I have not looked closely at the data, but I am willing to bet that people who go to … [Read more...]
When Fire Strikes: some lessons learned
Two years ago, during the pre-dawn hours of the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the parish of St. Michael in Woonsocket (UOC-USA) suffered from a terrible fire. It got up into the rafters and destroyed the roof. It was only due to the bravery and proficiency of the firefighters that it was kept … [Read more...]
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