On Sunday Egyptian Christians enthroned their new patriarch, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II. The service was several hours in length, and the daring are encouraged to view the video of the event below. The enthroning happened at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Al Abbasiya, Cairo. The Egyptian church was first established by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark, after he sojourned in Rome and then traveled south to Alexandria. Tawadros is now the 118th pope of Alexandria. “He is to heal souls... Read more
1 Don’t do it this way. Frank Viola has a worthwhile post on avoiding certain pitfalls in your Christian walk. But — and this is fun — he presents it all in the negative, offering 10 things you can do to ensure you blow it. “Rarely (or never) read books with spiritual depth or listen to Christ-centered messages by other servants of God,” he says for one. “Forget the contribution of the body of Christ, past and present. Throw out... Read more
Today marks the start of the Nativity Fast in the Orthodox Church. Like Western Advent, it is a time leading up to Christmas for the faithful prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. The period of fasting and preparation mirrors the fast before Easter, or Pascha as we usually call it. Also forty days, from the November 15 to December 25, it is like a little Lent. And not without reason. Christmas and Easter are intertwined. The feasts show... Read more
Since I originally posted this piece, Esquire has published an exposé of Eben Alexander, very much worth reading. However close his vision is at places with a traditional Christian vision, there are significant problems with his testimony. When the neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander slipped into a seven-day coma, he could scarcely imagine the visions that awaited him. Bacterial meningitis had attacked his brain and shut down his neocortex, the part of the brain that enables consciousness. As he explains in... Read more
Groan. So here we have an unfolding scandal involving infidelity in the highest reaches of the U.S. military and intelligence community, and what does Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson say about it? Commenting on the affair of General David Petraeus and biographer Paula Broadwell, Robertson said it was “[a]mazing . . . that the affairs of the heart seem to catch these guys.” But then he set up a string of mitigators: Petraeus was away, Broadwell was hot, so what can... Read more
There’s a battle for your heart. The only question is whether you’re going to join the fight. To understand the battleground and the nature of the fight, I think it’s useful to take two things Jesus said about the kingdom and place them side by side. The first is from the seventeenth chapter of Luke’s gospel. “[T]he kingdom of God is within you,” said Jesus (v. 21). And the second is from the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s. “[T]he kingdom of... Read more
“[D]o nothing apart from the bishop. . . .” — Ignatius of Antioch, Magnesians 7 One of the more intriguing narratives flowing out of the election concerns Roman Catholics bucking their bishops’ entreaties — some would say threats — to abstain from voting for candidates who support abortion and the HHS contraception mandate. Regardless of the directive, a majority of Catholics punched the Obama/Biden ticket on November 6, acting as if the episcopal counsel counted for squat. This strikes me... Read more
During the Last Supper the disciple Philip asked Jesus show him God. “Lord,” he said, as recorded by John’s gospel, “show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied” (14.8). Did Philip know what he was asking? Surely he was aware that Moses asked a similar question, to see God’s glory. “[Y]ou cannot see my face,” answered the Lord, “for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33.20). God allowed Moses a glimpse nonetheless, but not directly. Instead of... Read more
On November 8 the Orthodox church celebrates Michael and the archangels. The full title for the feast is “Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers: Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, and Barachiel.” Feel free to shorten it if you like. Here’s a helpful entry on the day from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. I’ve included here two “songs” that might prove edifying. The first is from Nikolai Velimirovich’s Prologue from Ohrid. The second is from Uinseann... Read more
Modern Christians have a tendency to view their prayer life as a private matter. But as I discovered while researching my book Lifted by Angels, our counterparts in the early church assumed the active participation of angels in believers’ prayer lives. “[T]he angel of each of us prays alongside us,” wrote the third-century theologian Origen in his primer on prayer. How do we know when angels are present? Feelings of comfort, humility, and joy indicate their presence. When those feelings... Read more
Joel J. Miller
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In