Humble Prayer
This fascinating conversation about prayer begins with these words: “Snow can never emit flame. Water can never issue fire. A thorn bush can never produce a fig.” Find out what saint said these words about prayer and what they have to do with your heart and how you speak to...
I Have a Boo-Boo
On our way to the coffee shop, Zoe kept slipping into random stores and announcing to the strangers she met that she had a “boo-boo.” Either that or that her name was “Yo-ee”. Since she was facing away from me, and since she has the pronunciation acuity of a 2-year-old,...
Minding Our Language
We’re an ethnic parish, jurisdictionally. But we’re not even close to monolithic culturally. This is the San Francisco Bay Area, after all. We’ve got a little bit of everybody all up in here. Now Greek is Greek to me. But since I’ve studied a little bit of Greek, at least...
Have Today’s Kids Forgotten How to Play?
“I miss my TV,” my daughter’s classmate lamented to me. We were on our third day of an elementary school camp. Though we had luxuries like heated cabins, running water, and our days were occupied with endless outdoor activities, there were no TVs in sight. “Do you have a TV...
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Joins Pope Francis at a Vatican Invocation for Peace
From left, Israel’s President Shimon Peres, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope Francis, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pose for photographers at the end of an evening of peace prayers in the Vatican gardens, Sunday, June 8, 2014. Pope Francis waded head-first into Mideast peace-making Sunday, welcoming the Israeli and Palestinian...
The Filioque Clause
One of the things which has historically been a point of polemic and conflict between the Orthodox East and the Roman Catholic West is the use of the Filioque clause in the Creed. The word “filioque” is Latin for “from the Son”, and it is used in the classically western...
Different Paths, Same Destination
The Orthodox blogging community, at large, is both a blessed gift and a stumbling block for so many of us. It’s a two-sided coin. On the one hand, we can find inspiration through the words of a myriad of Orthodox writers with a few, simple clicks of our mouse. This...
Phronema and Canons
If you are Orthodox long enough, you will hear the term “phronema.” Phronema can have both a positive and a negative meaning. Many sources say that the word is used in Greek in two senses. One definition says: Phronema is a transliteration of Greek word, . . . which...
