Another gem from the Ministry Best Practices webblog. It's not easy being a pastor. Here are some stats why: 50% of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce 80% of seminary graduates will leave ministry in the first 5 years 70% of pastors are grossly underpaid (compared to the amount of work … [Read more...]
Heeding the Call
How do I know when I am called? All the baptized are incorporated into the Church and so called to be holy. The struggle is to determine which call is truly ours amid the many vocations God has for his people. One way to think more carefully about whether or not you are called to the priesthood is … [Read more...]
The Paradigm Shift In The Orthodox Priesthood
by Fr. Aris Metrakos In this article, originally entitled "Brother, Can You Spare A Paradigm?", Fr. Aris makes clear that misconceptions about what the priest is, and isn't, are failing, and that there is one legitimate alternative, and it is catching fire across America, and beyond! This essay was … [Read more...]
Tentmaking Today: The Bi-Vocational Priest
by Fr. Anastasios Hudson When people meet me, they are usually surprised to learn that not only am I an Orthodox Christian priest, but that I also work as a Computer Network Consulting Engineer. The term for what I am is “bi-vocational.” It is not a term that I invented, or which was even created … [Read more...]
Am I Called To Be A Priest?
And how can I tell? These are the questions every future priest must ask. The first and most important thing is - you don't do it alone. You aren't sending yourself into the work of the Church. Your call must be tested. Confirmed. Validated. If a man believes that Christ is calling him, he owes … [Read more...]
An Archbishop Speaks With Seminarians
Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Great Britain Speaks With the Students of Sretensky Theological Seminary On Thursday, March 24, 2011, His Eminence Archbishop Mark (Arndt) of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain met with the students of Moscow' Sretensky Theological Seminary and answered questions. … [Read more...]
Man As Priest Of Creation
by Fr. Christopher Foley I came to discover Orthodoxy during a time in my life where I was very heavily involved in performing and writing music. Growing up as an Evangelical Christian and attending a small liberal arts Evangelical College in Northeast Georgia, I struggled for a number of years … [Read more...]
