Maybe it’s just me and my upbringing, but I have never ever understood stuff like this:“I can’t speak for the religious, but I cannot imagine anyone feeling a greater sense of the spiritual than I do when I look up at a starry sky on a cloudless night. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue saying it: There is more awe and wonder in one chapter of an introductory astronomy book than in any ten Bibles. During the 2000 presidential... Read more

More on Mary, Mother of God. Jack Black is Herod in JC Superstar revisited.HT Thunderstruck The church of the Life-Giving Trinity consecrated in Pyongyang. Read more

When Pope Benedict XVI revealed his appreciation for the “Funny Side of Life” (scroll to end of article), I believe it’s safe to say he was NOT talking about this — a sad and pathetic story of two men, Episcopal priests, wanting to get “married” to each other. Now that’s just not funny! What would be funny about gay marriage? But, there’s a lot of laughs allotted the married state and I believe the Pope probably had something more like... Read more

HYMN OF PRAISEThe Most-holy Theotokos Thus spoke the Lord Most-high:“From thy heart, pure Virgin,Living water will flow,That those who thirst will drink Christ.”— Life bearing source,— We all boast of thee! Those who thirst will drink Christ.By Him, the bitter is sweetened;By Him, the scales are washed from blind eyes;And by Him, the grief of those in sorrow is healed.— Life bearing source,— We all boast of thee! Sweet drink sprung from eternity,The brook filling our arid age:Once more raised... Read more

Pic SOURCE … HT: Serge. The following is from DYNAMIS, August 10, 2006 … Speaking In Tongues:1 Corinthians 14:6-19, especially vs. 19: “yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” The spiritual gift of speaking in tongues appeared among Christians in the earliest days of the Church, as both the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:46; 19:6) and St. Paul report (1... Read more

Direct the course of our lives, Lord, straight towards you, so that in you we may reach you, and so that in you we may find you. Make us worthy to attain to you, in you; and let us behold nothing beside you. Hide everything from our mind’s vision by means of the manifestation of your glorious Light. For whoever gazes upon you does not need to look upon anything else; but whoever does not gaze upon you is in... Read more

My ol’ pal, Roxanne, found my Monster Magnet. (Well, sorta.) Add the word “monster” to just about anything, and it suddenly becomes cool—“No, it’s MONSTER broccoli,” “But these are your MONSTER church slacks,” “Are you ready for MONSTER long division?”—but it helps if the thing is already pretty cool to begin with. Such was the case with Wham-O’s 1964 monsterpiece, the Monster Magnet, which fused the power of the monster with the power of magnetic energy … Read more

My interview with Come Receive the Light is available today and, I believe, this whole week by clicking their site (in the margin). I bumped into a couple comments about my book, One Flew Over the Onion Dome (also available in the margin), recently on the Net: I‘ve just finished reading “One Flew Over the Onion Dome- American Orthodox Converts, Retreads & Reverts” by Fr. Joseph David Huneycutt. I found it hilarious, but that’s not the only reason why I... Read more

To the tune of “Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius” … Um diddle diddle um diddle ayUm diddle diddle um diddle ay Superchristological and HomoousiosisEven though the sound of them is something quite atrociousYou can always count on them to anathemize your GnosisSuperchristological and Homoousiosis Um diddle diddle um diddle ayUm diddle diddle um diddle ay Now Origen and Arius were quite a clever pair.Immutable divinity make Logos out of air.But then one day Saint Nicholas gave Arius a slap–and told them if they can’t... Read more

Though Orthodox and Catholic Christians may disagree on Tradition, at least they appreciate and, to the best of their ability, understand and adhere to it. Our Protestant brethren? Not so much. The following passage, from Umberto Eco’s “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana,” is from the main character who is suffering amnesia. I think it also speaks, in a way, to Tradition: “Yesterday evening … in the hospital, I was bored, and I started humming a tune to myself. It... Read more