“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things..” (Phillipians 4.8)
“Outer stillness, with discerning asceticism (discipline), very quickly brings also interior stillness (the peace of the soul), which is an essential preparation for delicate spiritual activity. For as much as one distances oneself from the world so much more is the world distanced from within you and worldly thoughts leave and the mind of a … [Read more…]
January is such a wonderful month; the great feast of Theophany following the joyous celebration of the Nativity of our Lord; new beginnings with the new calendar year; the full force and beauty of winter (despite the threats of El Nino!); the anticipation of Great and Holy Lent in the distant shadows of our liturgical … [Read more…]
“Today religion, or at any rate doctrine, is not with the majority of people a dominant issue and does not arouse major passions… Modern historians are, I think, retrojecting into the past {Church history} the sentiments of the present age when they argue that mere religious and doctrinal discussion cannot have generated such violent and … [Read more…]
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 Prior to my trip to the 1998 Midwest Parish Life Conference I had been working on another meditation for this month's Newsletter, but being so moved by the talks and sermons given … [Read more…]
“…you should be living a good Orthodox Christian life, one with a level of asceticism proper to your station as lay persons. Asceticism comes from the Greek (ahs-kee-tees-mos) meaning ‘a whole system of personal discipline for the purpose of combating vice and developing personal virtues.’ In the Orthodox Tradition, such a system includes a personal … [Read more…]