“To the angel of the Church in Ephesus write: 'These things says the One Who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One Who walks about in the midst of the seven golden lampstands” (Rev. 2:1). According to the Patristic understanding, the seven stars represent bishops and the lampstands the churches. Christ the …
Category: Living the Faith
The Seven Churches of Revelation: A Message to the Church For All Time.
Introduction. “Write these things which you saw, and the things which are, and the things which are about to take place after these things” (Rev. 1:19). In the opening pages of the most cryptic book of the New Testament, the book of the Apocalypse, or Revelation, Our Lord Jesus, the First and the Last, addresses …
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Stricken with Death
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” John 14:15. A true Christian is one who is striving to abide in the commandments of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. For the one tasting of the goodness of God, even just a little bit, the commandments become “good and light” (cf. Matt. 11:30). …
Go to Sleep, Everything is Just Fine
"Until the last decade or so the development of what it is perhaps still too early to call 'American Orthodoxy' had been largely unconscious, as it indeed remains in the majority of those who call themselves "Orthodox" today. But, as the history of Orthodoxy in America has made abundantly clear, "unconscious" Orthodoxy is but a …
Of This Unity, They Speak
“Like the Archangel Michael, O glorious one, thou didst vie with an earthly Lucifer who, grievously puffed up with pride, set his throne higher than the stars, and thou didst say, Let us stand aright! Let us stand in the precious traditions of the Fathers!” (Matins for St. Photios the Great. A verse from the …
Reality’s Exile under Relativity’s Rule
The Christian life must be one that is lived in Truth. By dwelling in Truth we are set free, as Christ said, “if you abide in my words you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:31). This experience of truth is not simply that …
Black Crows and White Doves: the Deception of False Orthodoxy
Below is a translation I made from Russian of one of Met. Luke of Zaporozhye's most timely writings - Christ is in our midst, my dear readers. Black crows and white doves. “I would have you know, brothers, that the Gospel that was preached by me is not according to man. For I did not …
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When Men Take God’s Job.
The Lord Christ is the Head of the Church, and “He is also the Savior o the Body” of the Church (Eph. 5:23). As the Head of the Church, the Lord Christ unceasingly gives the Body of the Church all it requires for its life in Him and the salvation of its members from sin, …
An Epiphany of Dark Intentions
“False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you … And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation is not idle, and their destruction is not …
The Geopolitics of a Fading Kingdom
"The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together, against the Lord, and against His Christ" (Ps. 2:2). The whole of earthly history is in the hands of God. Even those who strove to wrest history from God's governance, such as the Communists in Russia as a radical example, have ultimately only …