“To get ahead one must have a crazy streak, in the good sense of the term. Depending on how you use this crazy streak, you can become either a saint or a hero. But if you are not helped and are led astray, you can also become a criminal. One who doesn't have a crazy …
Category: Apologetics
A New Announcement from the Council for Religious Unity, Fraternity, and Serenity in Social Affairs: Concerning Old and New Imagery of Jesus
An update from the Council for Religious Unity, Fraternity, and Serenity in Social Affairs. Regarding religious imagery. The Coronavirus crisis presents a unique opportunity to evolve in our understanding of God. Our former ignorance maybe shed as we progress to a more humane understanding of God. We are confronted with a chance to reshape and …
Christianity and Socialism
A very pertinent teaching by St. Hilarion (Troitsky). He lived in the days of the rise of socialism and its taking of power in Russia under the form of Soviet Socialism. St. Hilarion ended his life as a martyr, tasting first hand the ruthless fruit of socialism against which he warned. The discerning reader will …
Christians in Times of Epidemic, Then and Now
Addendum, 3/19/20 - Since I penned this article the synod of the OCA issued a statement effectively closing all the churches under their jurisdiction [4/13/20, since that time, limited services have been restored in some places]. I penned this reflection before that action was taken. In the article, I have strived to offer a reflection …
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A Last Days Great Revival …?
This is the last segment in a series in which I examine certain aspects of the modern Evangelical Charismatic/Pentecostal movement. A movement I was once a part of. This movement, as noted in earlier articles, has permeated and influenced most of modern Protestantism and also portions of Roman Catholicism. (Links to the preceding articles are …
Is Christ Faithless? Examining Protestant Ecclesiology
Is Christ Jesus faithless? Or is He eternally faithful? How does one's view of the Church reflect on the faithfulness of Christ? Proper Ecclesiology (theology of the Church) has always been vital to true Christianity. A staple doctrine of Protestantism teaches that the Church (again using this word loosely) fell into relative darkness just after …
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A New Charisma in the Early Church
In the town of Phrygia, central Asia Minor, about the year 160AD, a man named Montanus claimed to be “seized” by the Holy Spirit. He began to receive “special” messages, “speak in tongues,” “prophecy,” and so forth. Two women “prophetesses” soon join him: Priscilla and Maximillia. According to a Charismatic/Emerging Church history scheme, about 300AD …
The Charisma of the Age: An Orthodox critique of the Charismatic Movement
The modern world is not just secular. It is also the result of a great religious formation. Although I have argued elsewhere that even the secular world is “religious” in a broad sense, and I hold to it, at current I am using “secular” and “religious” in their classical juxtaposition. One of the most prominent …
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Cruising on Broad Way
“Have I surrendered to the will of God, or am I still acting like the boss? Bob Dylan, Are you Ready. An epidemic of the modern disposition is the search for spirituality without sacrifice. This is reflected in modernity's disdain for absolutes (even though secularism, a fundamental of modernity, is ultimately absolutist in its expression) …
The Rebellion of Korah
True Christianity is priestly by nature; even more so, it has always had a defined and visible priesthood. To deny priesthood is to deny an elemental component of Christianity. “Wait,” the reply comes from certain groups, “we are all priests unto God, have you not read in the Scriptures, 'You yourselves are being built up …
