Below the reader will find my translation from the Russian of sermon number 15 by St. Seraphim (Zvezdenski), On the Divine Liturgy. The preceding sermons may be found by clicking here. These sermons by St. Seraphim are of the uttermost importance for Orthodox Christians today. He tells us clearly that there is no greater gift …
Tag: Orthodoxy in America
Church, Government, and Sergianism
“Give ear, you that rule over 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 plans. Because as servants of his kingdom you do not rule rightly or keep the law or walk according to the purpose …
The Time of Testing has Come
Below the reader will find a very spiritually edifying letter from St. Nikon of Optina. St. Nikon was one of the last Elders of the Monastery of Optina. He served in Optina until it was totally shut down by the Soviets in the early 1920s. St Nikon, like hundreds of thousands of other Orthodox Christians, …
On Truth and Love
Below the reader will find the work of St. Theophan the Recluse, "On Truth and Love." On some of my social media accounts, I posted the recent statement from the Synod of the OCA, "On Same-Sex Relations and Sexual Identity." In it, Glory to God, the Synod upholds Orthodox teaching. It was striking to me …
The Disease of Secular-Humanism and the Cure
“A man who is blind in relation to one thing (to God) is totally blind in relation to all things; and a man who sees in the one (in God), has vision of all things,” St Symeon the New Theologian.1 Events in the world seem to be transpiring at breakneck speed. This is intentional. Keeping …
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Joyful Light: A Sermon by St. Sebastian Dabovich
Below the reader will find a sermon by one of the few American-born Orthodox saints, Sebastian Dabovich (1863-1940). The sermon was originally printed in the 1966 September – October issue of the Orthodox Word, pp. 129-132. All end notes are from the original article. May we, through the prayers of St. Sebastian, be illumined with …
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A Starless Sky
I started this blog five years ago in June of 2017. I figure that's a five-year anniversary. I simply wrote. I didn't write to try and be known. I was pretty shocked when the readership really started to grow. Really, I'm just a nobody parish priest of a smaller-sized parish in a midsized town in …
Sight: A Cause for Scandal
“One thing I know ... I was blind and now I see” (John 9:25) - O Lord, I am no one. Just a blind beggar in the outer court. I have no eyes to see, I have no wealth by which to live. I am forgotten and despised by men. Have mercy on me. Illumine …
Salvation in No Other Name: Christians! You Must Know Christ!
Here is a spectacle worthy of bitter lamentation: Christians who do not know in what Christianity consists! St. Ignatius Brianchaninov The reader will find below a most pertinent letter by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. In it, he addresses mentalities and ideas that have only become more accentuated in our times. As Orthodox Christians, St. Ignatius calls …
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A Reflection on Ukraine, America, Russia, and War
“The Ukrainian and Russian peoples came out of the Dnieper baptismal font, and the war between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who, out of envy, killed his own brother” His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onuphry of All Ukraine. I have been working on another rather large article, which is close to being …
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The Inkless Pen 