“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) …
Category: Orthodoxy
Schismatics, Whitewashed Tombs, and Ukraine
“He ... that hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now” 1 John 2:9. Clearly, True Christianity has doctrine, it has canons, it has good order, and so forth as the Scripture and Tradition instruct. Canons and doctrines are in place to protect and make evident the true revelation and encounter with Christ God. …
Continue reading Schismatics, Whitewashed Tombs, and Ukraine
You’re a Fundamentalist!
One of my favorite responses of those who are attempting to deconstruct the Orthodox Faith from within (lovingly called “liberal” or “progressive” Orthodox) when they are confronted with indisputable Scriptural and Patristic realities that clearly refute their secular “opinions” is – “your a fundamentalist!” Or, “That's a fundamentalist stance/argument!” Clearly, there is nothing more horrible …
The Cosmic Significance of Tsar Nicholas II
“Give ear, you that rule over the multitudes and boast of many nations. For your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High, Who will search out your works and inquire into your plans” Wisdom 6:2-3. The Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II is, I would contend, one of the most significant …
Continue reading The Cosmic Significance of Tsar Nicholas II
The Religious Phenomenon of LGBTQ-ism
Every person has a worldview - principles, beliefs, and a school of thought - by which one encounters and experiences the surrounding world and its events, together with how one governs his person. Most of the time, at least in “Western” societies, a worldview is self-chosen, and thus for most adults becomes an act …
Theology, Gender, and Dysphoria
“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female ...” (Mat 19:4). True Christianity has always confessed that mankind is the creation of God, the work of His hands. To be truly human means to live according to the mode of being, the revelation, the way of …
The Rebellion of Korah: Without Priesthood There is no Christianity
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 …
Continue reading The Rebellion of Korah: Without Priesthood There is no Christianity
You Shall be My Martyr
“All alike displayed faith in Christ to their persecutors, they proclaimed the Name and were willing to die.” St. Nicholas Cabasilas Such was the disposition of the Christian martyrs. Martyrs are those who have shed their blood to hold fast the Faith. Yet martyr simply means witness. Christ the Lord tells His disciples, “You shall …
Antichrist is a Nice Guy
In the person of the Antichrist resides the culmination of a whole spiritual trajectory of fallen humanity and its rebellion against God. He is the ultimate manifestation of mankind's desire to live without God. This desire is not strictly atheistic, that is, a complete and total rejection of the idea of God. The spirit of …