I have decided to pull the AdSense Ads from the main page. I have found that too often they were promoting services and organizations that I simply did not want to be responsible for promoting. AdSense has never made very much money for Orant. Annually we made about enough to cover the expenses of keeping the domain up, and not anymore then that. Instead of posting adsense ads on the main page I have decided to put up a donations... Read more

In the early twentieth century Helen Barrett Montgomery was the face of Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society where she served from 1914–1924 as president. During that time, she became one of the most prominent spokes people for global missions in the Church.  Part of her work to further missions involved a publication of the book in 1920 called The Bible and Missions which was published by  The Central Committee on the United Society of Foreign Mission. This book constitutes one of the best... Read more

Early Church Fathers Poem By: Deacon Nate Harburg Deacon Nate Harburg recently posted this Poem at Harburgian Haikus I thought it was great so I asked him if we could cross-publish it. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (c.50-c.110) Brought to Rome’s arena, he was all bound up in fetters, On the way he zealously preached Christ in seven letters, Known for calling Euch’rist medicine for immortality, He became “pure bread of Christ” for lions, his fatality! * ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (c.100-c.165) His... Read more

Today the Church remembers St. Mathew the Apostle and Evangelist (on my birthday September 21st). You probably know Matthew best for the stories of him in the Gospels. Matthew was a tax collector who was sitting outside the city of Capernaum when Jesus asked him to follow him. Matthew left his life behind and become one of the 12 disciples who lived and moved with Jesus during his earthly ministry. Tradition also tells us that Matthew wrote the first Gospel in the New Testament, although this is something Scholars debate.... Read more

I have recently fallen in love with St. Isaac the Syrian. There are few church fathers who show the love of God and powerfully as he does. Expect to see more from him in the future: Here is a quote from him discussing the paradoxical nature of God’s ‘justice.’ Enjoy! “How can you call God just, when you read the passage on the wage given to the workers? ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong; I will give unto this last... Read more

I am a sinner in need of repentance. The word’s “Lord have mercy” to me, seem sweet… They are my most common prayer or repentance. There are at times moments when I seek to repent with more words, and over more time… It helps me heal. This is something the church has embraced. She has even developed a whole season for repentance called Lent. Within Lent the Orthodox church has a beautiful liturgical setting focused on repentance… It is called The Great Canon of... Read more

Anyone who knows me knows I have a deep love for the Lutheran confessions, and traditions. Don’t get me wrong, I have certain issues with certain things in the Book of Concord. I am not in a strict sense a “confessional Lutheran.” I do, however, appreciate a great deal of what that branch of the Christian Faith has to say. I ran into this video today and I thought it was something worth sharing… Do you agree with what this... Read more

John Chrysostom is known for his speech more then anything else. The title Chrysostom comes from the Greek surname chrysostomos, meaning “golden mouthed.” He wrote some of the greatest sermons in the history of the Church, and is responsible for the creation of the Liturgy that is still in use in the Orthodox church. We remember him this week for it was on September 14th that he died in 407 with these last words, “”δόξα τῷ θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν” which... Read more

As we continue to explore the concept of “Missio Dei” together I would like to turn our attention to another area of the scriptures. This time I would like to took at the last five chapters of 1 Kings. These are chapters 18-22. Last week I brought up how the “Missio Dei” is both personal and difficult for the individual. This week I would like to look at the primacy of God’s own perogitive in the “Missio Dei” There are two... Read more

Today we have a word from John Chrysostom on the sad state Catechesis in the Church in his day (c. 347-407): “If you ask [Christians] who is Amos or Obadiah, how many apostles there were or prophets, they stand mute; but if you ask them about the horses or drivers, they answer with more solemnity than sophists or rhetors” I wonder what he would say to the church today? Read more