This week the Western Church remembers Augustine of Hippo. If you are a part of the Orthodox church you may remember his feast a couple months ago on June 15th. Augustine is THE teacher of the West. He was hugely influential on both Catholic theology and the theology of Luther and Calvin. Much of his theological influence came out of his fights against others which led to some strong positions on the nature of Original Sin, and predestination. Augustine was... Read more

This week I would like to highlight two sayings by one of the fathers, St. John Climacus  Both of these quotes are related to the dangers of a conscience that no longer bothers you… “We ought to be on our guard, in case our conscience has stopped troubling us, not so much because of its being clear, but because of its being immersed in sin. St. John Climacus “A ‘good’ conscience is one that stands ready to convict oneself immediately with shame. There... Read more

This week the Western Churches remember Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard worked for peace within the church during a time of division.  Born in 1090 he lived through a time of tumult in the church. The church had just split with the east, and the crusades were about to begin. Bernard played a major role in the history of the church during his life. I have always had a bit of mixed feelings about Bernard. On the one hand he fought against... Read more

Hey everyone! I have decided to incorporate some weekly series into Orant. One of which will be called “Meet the Church Fathers” in this section I will be sharing patristic quotes and sayings that I find to be life giving and shed some wisdom on the Christian life. Today’s quote comes from Saint Anthony, the father of Monasticism. It reflects on the merits of working with our hands in our battle against personal sin. When the holy Abba Anthony lived in... Read more

Hey After a lot of thinking I have come to the conclusion that that facebook “Page” application is actually much better for Orant then the “Group” Application Thus I have decided to create a page…PLEASE go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Orant-Billy-Kangas-Blog/143799592314775?ref=ts and click LIKE Or just do it here: I will make it worth your while… I promise The page aplication allows me to do some great stuff this group does not allow me to do. Also Orant now has a Domain http://www.patheos.com/blogs/billykangas/... Read more

This week New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke in favor of building a Mosque in New York. It’s a powerful and moving speech. It reflected a great deal of insight into the history of the struggles of religious groups in New York. It was also refreshing to see a politician stand up for religious groups, even to the point of showing personal emotion I was bothered after the speech though when Christine Quinn began her speech by calling people who resisted the... Read more

There is probably no book outside of the Bible I quote more then “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton It is truly a spiritual classic that is a must read for anyone who is serious about exploring the Christian faith. Because of this I am so pleased to be able to post this book in it’s entirety for free today! Enjoy! GBS_insertEmbeddedViewer(‘p7UEAQAAIAAJ’,520,500); Read more

Long time readers of this blog will know that I love the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus prayer is inspired by the prayer of the publican in Luke 8. I came to love it after reading The way of the Pilgrim (which is a must read book) Traditionally the prayer goes “Κύριε Ιησού Χριστέ, Υιέ του Θεού, ελέησόν με τον αμαρτωλόν.” Which is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” in english. There are however several variations on... Read more

I ran into this Video today via Doug Pagitt... I thought it was pretty good. This is pretty much what I believe… How about you? How did we get the Bible today? What’s your understanding of it? Read more

This week the New York times reported that creativity in the USA was down. The article essentially said people are learning less about how to be creative and more about how to satisfy testing standards and meet scores. I find this news somewhat troubling. As an American I see our creativity (which up until now has been the best worldwide) as the only bright light up ahead. As jobs move overseas due to out-sourcing and national debt continues to rise... Read more