When a saint speaks, it's usually worth listening, especially when he is speaking to future clergy! The following is taken from an address given by St. Nektarios when he was first assigned dean of Rizarios Ecclesiastical School. “My children, in each of you there exists a future priest, an … [Read more...]
Conformed to Christ: Spiritual Formation
by Fr. Gregory Jensen I'm very happy to see more attention being paid to pastoral spiritual formation of clergy. Hopefully, seminaries will, too. For many Orthodox Christians spiritual formation is defined practically, if not intentionally, in functional terms: a daily rule of prayer, keeping … [Read more...]
Priestly Formation
This is the first of what I hope to be a series of essays on the topic of priestly formation. This is a topic that I believe needs some serious study in the Orthodox Church in the 21st century. Recently, a priest in the Antiochian Archdiocese, was convicted of one count of assault and battery on a … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 2
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Part Two of Four. If the Orthodox Church receives heterodox clerics in their order because it recognizes their priesthood, how can we reconcile the accepted historical fact of changes in treating these groups by the Church, for example Roman Catholics? It … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 1
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Yeah, it really is that important. The prestige of our contemporary Church hierarchy, its Divinely established rights and authority, rests on the historical fact of its Apostolic succession. This is the present teaching of the Orthodox Church, and such was its … [Read more...]
Silent Clergy Killers: ‘Toxic’ Congregations
Source: Huffington Post, with a hat tip to the American Orthodox Institute. They are called “clergy killers” — congregations where a small group of members are so disruptive that no pastor is able to maintain spiritual leadership for long. And yet ministers often endure the stresses of these … [Read more...]
Finding Your Calling In Life
by Fr. Thomas Hopko When we consider the Orthodox Christian understanding of vocation, several points can be made. The most obvious are the following: Everyone Has A Calling God creates every human being in His image and likeness for everlasting life. There are no mistakes and no accidents. As … [Read more...]
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