She was but a young maiden of Nazareth when she was visited by an angel. Unlike our first mother, who spoke with an angel in the guise of a serpent, this angel appeared as a man, Gabriel. He said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” One would assume that such a visit from such a being would be quite unsettling. Realizing her fear, the heavenly visitor says, “Do not be... Read more

The visiting priest had been brought in to give a Lenten Retreat. His talk had centered on compassion and how God is merciful, understanding, loving, and desirous of our communion with Him. He spoke of how nothing – NOTHING – can separate us from the love of God other than our own cold-hearted rejection. Somewhere in his talk he mentioned that we should even offer God our junk, our anger, our disappointments. After the presentation had ended and the Q&A;... Read more

ENCOUNTERING THE MYSTERY – Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW(Doubleday, March 18, 2008; 304 pages) The world is in a mess and is headed for impending gloom, doom, and disaster. At least that’s one way to look at it. Another way is: The world is in a mess and is headed for an imminent, ecumenical, even interreligious, encounter. So seems the belief of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW according to his new book, Encountering... Read more

Thanks to FWD from Jean-Michel. Read more

“Easter is a special time in churches,” the letter from the publisher says. “It’s a time of celebration and thankfulness. But because of the graphic nature of the Easter story and the crucifixion specifically, we need to be careful as we choose what we tell preschoolers about Easter.” The letter continues: “In order to be sensitive to the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of preschoolers, First Look has chosen not to include the Easter story in our curriculum. Instead, we... Read more

Metropolitan LAURUS, first Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, has fallen asleep in the Lord.May his memory be eternal! I understand that His Eminence served the Presanctified Liturgy in Jordanville on Friday, and fell asleep in the Lord (in his sleep) this morning, the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. More details forthcoming … HERE and elsewhere. UPDATE: Video news … Read more

The First Week of Lent … I ended up attending my first meeting of Fasters Anonymous. It’s a 12-step group that meets in the basement of a local Catholic church. This year, since Orthodox Easter is way later than the Catholics – and everybody else, for that matter – the group had already been meeting for 5 weeks. But, given my circumstances, I had to go … My sponsor told me, on the way there, that some of the folks... Read more

What is the Sunday of Orthodoxy?A yearly thanksgiving is due to God on account of that day when we recovered the Church of God, with the demonstration of the dogmas of true religion and the overthrowing of the blasphemies of wickedness …SourceImage SourceMetropolitan PHILIP, 1984: Once every year, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Orthodox people in America emerge from their ethnic islands to celebrate the triumph of the Orthodox Faith over the iconoclastic heresy. This victory happened in the... Read more

This coming Sunday morning, March 16th, His Grace, Bishop BASIL of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (AOA) will join Their Eminences Archbishop DMITRI of the Diocese of Dallas and the South (OCA) and Metropolitan ISAIAH of the Metropolis of Denver (GOA) for a concelebrated Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at St Seraphim Cathedral (OCA) in Dallas, TX which will begin a joint celebration of the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Not sure about the “dinner on the grounds” part, but... Read more

Signed copies available through the PayPal button in the side margin of this blog (at left), or multiple copies through Regina Orthodox Press. And now … on AMAZON. Read more