“The anger of a friend toward a friend, and the anger of parents toward their children – and of God toward men – is not a storm that uproots the tree, but a wind that strengthens the tree, and rids it of rotten fruit, so that the healthy fruit will increase in number and beauty.” — St. Nicholai of ZicaThanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham Read more

A well-known writer got collared by a university student who asked, “Do you think I could be a writer? “Well,” the writer said, “I don’t know … Do you like sentences?” — Annie Dillard in The Writing Life. Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong sermon on the devil. One said to the other, “What do you think about all this Satan stuff?” The other boy replied, “Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out.... Read more

As the Huneycutts shall be moving over the next two weeks, blogging will be sporadic (at best). So, hold the fort down and … of course … if you haven’t already … hit the PayPal button in the side margin and … buy my book! 😉 Read more

One of these days, it is said, at least eight of the diverse American churches with ties to the ancient patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem – but do not accept the authority of the Pope – will form one single Orthodox Christian church. The biggest obstacles are resistance to the idea by “old land” patriarchs who fear a loss of prestige, income and turf – and fears by some Orthodox bishops, and laity, that a merger might weaken... Read more

Just last week, following our Greater Houston Clergy Association meeting, I offered Fr John Whiteford, a ROCOR priest, one of my white clergy tabs saying, “Hey, Fr John … Here, welcome to SCOBA.” He, and other clergy, laughed. We’d just finished our quarterly lunch meeting at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral (festival this weekend!) — where the clergy attire was about 50/50: Greeks & Antiochians in suits and collars; OCA, ROCOR and Serbs in cassocks. We usually have around 15 clergy... Read more

The Pope may be about to abolish the notion of limbo, the halfway house between heaven and hell, inhabited by unbaptised infants. According to the BBC’s Religion and Ethics site, the church held that before the 13th Century, all unbaptised people, including new born babies who died, would go to hell. This was because original sin – the punishment that God inflicted on humanity because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience – had not been cleansed by baptism. Then came LIMBO.... Read more

“This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of... Read more

“When you are not married, you have rights and obligations. When you get married, you have fewer rights and more obligations. When you have children, you have no rights, but only obligations.” — Elder Epiphanos of Athens (1989+) Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham (father of eight). Read more

It does not bother me that the Bishop arrives in Turkish robes and changes to Byzantine. That is quaint. It shows we have history. It unites us to believers in past ages. But it does bother me that one aspect of the dynamism of the early Church is suppressed, that is the Spirit led witness and ministry of every layman, the Photinis and Mary Magdalenes, by a centralizing legalism that is papal, and western and imported into the Church. That... Read more

“Many of us have never even seen a Russian,” says Gary Kompkoff, the elected village chief in Tatitlek, letting out a small laugh. “Most of us are full-blooded Aleut. It was very long ago that the Russians were here, of course.” The diocese’s modest growth is almost all in the Anchorage area, where it has opened five new churches in the last decade as well as a museum that tells the tale of the faith in Alaska. The church’s leader... Read more