He Didn’t Say It Would Be Easy
I yelled ahead, asking for the time. Four-fifteen. We had been walking for two hours nonstop since the last break. Roughly six miles since we started today. The hip straps on my thirty-five-pound pack were sinking into my already bruised and tender flesh, causing me to all but scream into...
Η μεγάλη ψαριά
“Ο Θεός δεν ανταμείβει ποτέ τους κόπους των ανθρώπων τόσο πολύ, όσο ανταμείβει μια υπάκουη καρδιά…Ο πράος Κύριος στέκεται δίπλα στο πλοίο του καθενός μας και μας καλεί. Εκείνος, ο παντογνώστης Δημιουργός, ζητάει από τον καθένα μας να τον αφήσουμε να μπει στο πλοίο και να ταξιδέψουμε μαζί Του μακριά...
Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today: Part 3
The broad appeal of the writings of Saint Silouan is based on a combination of other factors as well. The fact that he was uneducated and ‘almost illiterate,’ having attended the village school for ‘just two winters,’ attracts many readers because it reinforces the idea that the heights of Orthodox...
Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today: Part 2
The Saints challenge us to reach beyond the common conception of salvation that predominates in the West. For the Orthodox Church, salvation is more than the pardon of sins and transgressions. Salvation is more than being justified or acquitted for offenses committed against God. According to Orthodox teaching, salvation certainly...
Cowboy Religion and Orthodoxy
My cousin Patrick was a cowboy. Actually, he wasn’t a real cowboy, because we grew up in town, and when he worked he was a truck-driver and repaired outboard boat motors. But he dressed like a cowboy, talked like a cowboy, and spent too much time in cowboy bars. Some...
Desire, Struggle, and the Cross
The Christian path to salvation is freely given and must be freely embraced. Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” (Mark 8.34) In this invitation, Jesus grants us the ability to choose to follow Him. For two thousand...
Ο Σταυρός του Κυρίου και ο δικός μας σταυρός
Μόνο εαν ο δικός μας σταυρός, εκείνος που προτρέπει ο Κύριος να σηκώσουμε και να τον ακολουθήσουμε, γίνει σταυρός του Κυρίου τότε θα έχει αξία, θα είναι ελαφρύς και θα συμπορευτεί με τον δικό Του. Αλλιώς θα είναι ένας δυσβάσταχτος σταυρός που θα τον περιφέρουμε δίχως νόημα και σκοπό και...
In Success – Thanking God
The earthly mind is confined to itself. When it accomplishes something, it takes full credit for the accomplishment, and self-centeredly assumes that what is accomplished is the result only of the efforts, talents and abilities that it enjoys. The reverent mind transcends itself, and understands that whatever accomplishments we achieve...
On Following Christ
In mid-September, the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Elevation of the Cross. This feast commemorates the re-discovery of the True Cross by St. Helen in Jerusalem in AD 325. In the Gospel reading for the Sunday after the feast, Jesus Christ tells a group of people: “Whoever desires...
