My reserve on Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt came through surprisingly fast and I have just finished the book. It’s really not bad, not bad at all. She has researched with care – I did think “bound books” (codexes) came in a bit later, but maybe not. Her afterword describes her studies, and how she has indignantly discounted all the modernist bibcrit (my preferred ugly word for an ugly thing). I enjoyed that part! The picture of Christ and... Read more

Hindus are shocked and outraged to read the views of the Russian Orthodox Church on Lord Krishna, who is revered by over one billion Hindus worldwide as the Supreme Lord, said an ISCKON press statement. According to it, in a letter to the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, dated November 29, 2005, the Archbishop Nikon of Ufa and Sterlitamak from the Russian Orthodox Church called Lord Krishna “an evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God”, and “a livid... Read more

My Santa revelation experience occurred later in life when I found out he was real — and important. The Dutch called him Sinterklass, which we Americans morphed into Santa Claus. But the man behind the legend is St. Nicholas, fourth century Bishop of Myra. Born into great wealth, he served God by giving away his inherited fortune and became renowned for his generosity to the poor and needy. The most famous of many stories told about him is … H... Read more

I’m not sure why I blog. I’ve always enjoyed writing. But that doesn’t really answer the question: “Why do you blog?” Raphael Richardson encouraged me, Mission Priest, to start blogging back when we worked together in Western North Carolina. Back then, working third shift, it made sense and provided a productive way to pass the “down time.” Believe me, working in a large parish situation, there ain’t much down time. And yet, I blog more. (But more on that later.)... Read more

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Responding to criticisms of the National Council of Churches’ (NCC) liberal political activism, NCC General Secretary Robert Edgar has defiantly announced that the council’s leadership is committed to “standing up and speaking out when others have told us to sit down and be silent.” As negative responses from the delegates mounted, Father Demetri Kantzavelos, a Greek Orthodox delegate, announced that he “want[ed] it entered in the record” that he was quite “dismayed” at the absence of Edgar and other NCC... Read more

Icons stretch back 2,000 years, yet they are an art form that remains neglected by Western art historians. Hard to classify, they are, as British icon-lover Sister Wendy Beckett puts it, “too prayerful to fit into any art categories, yet too artistic to loom large in books of spirituality”. Very often, the development of such tiny, specialist fields is dependent on one or two figures. Richard Temple, a scholarly Englishman in his late sixties, is one example. Temple first set... Read more

Sharpton, in an interview with Reuters on Friday, confirmed a report in Daily Variety that he would soon be filming a pilot for a family show called “Al in the Family” that would revolve around his larger-than-life personality. “I don’t know if I am a good actor or not but I will be playing myself and I have been practicing that for 51 years,” the New York Democrat and civil rights leader said. The STORY. H/T Jan Bear Read more

Teophilos III promotes two Arabs to the Fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem proclaims a new bishop and appoints a new member of the Synod, both of them Arab. “It is a significant step, but we must still see whether the Patriarchate wants to become a truly local Church.” More. Read more

‘In Left Behind 2: Tribulation Force, for example, Kirk Cameron has to take Ben Judah, a respected rabbi, to the Wailing Wall so that he can tell Jews everywhere that Jesus Christ is Lord. Israel is represented by a few stone walls obviously made of plywood, some Christmas-tree lights, and 500 volunteer extras wearing leftover costumes from a Nativity pageant. The Wailing Wall is patrolled by soldiers dressed in World War II army uniforms. The producers have also dubbed in... Read more