It's not often—in the life of a small parish–that the mortgage goes away and a new priest is on the way. Fr Joseph offers that news in St Silouan/College Station. Glory to God for all things!

Can you imagine for a moment that all this revealed religion stuff is really, really real? Fr Joseph speaking at Christ the Savior/Chicago, 2010.

Fr. Tom has come to the point in the Liturgy where we sing the first of two Thrice-Holy hymns. This one is in the Liturgy of the Word: "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us."

Fr. Tom continues to talk about the Trisagion Prayers - "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us" - and talks specifically about the recipient of this prayer. Is it Christ or is it the Holy Trinity?

Fr. Thomas continues to describe the "Little Entrance" in the Divine Liturgy when the Trisagion hymn is sung. In this episode he talks about the hymn and prayer when a priest is presiding.

Fr. Tom continues to talk about the Little Entrance and how it is done when a priest is presiding as opposed to a bishop.

Fr. Tom continues to talk about the "Little Entrance" but now how it is done when a bishop is present.

Fr. Tom concludes his comments on the Little Entrance and the singing of the Trisagion Hymn when a bishop is present.

Fr. John shares his homily from the Sunday of All Saints.

Fr. John shares his homily on Haggai, chapters 1 and 2.

Fr. John shares from Romans 3:1-8.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches about the healing of the blind man from John 9:1-7.

Fr. John Whiteford reads from Haggai 1:1-15.

Fr. John Whiteford discusses John 3:1-5 and the importance of baptism.

Fr. John Whiteford talks about the struggles of Great Lent and Holy Week and exhorts us to continue in the fast with strength.

Fr. John shares from Revelation 2:18-29.

Fr. John Whiteford uses the life of St. Athanasius, to discuss the importance of standing firm in our faith.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches on the Sunday of St. John Climacus.

Archpriest Geoffrey Korz explains the historical practice of paganism and its resurgence today. (John 9:1-38)

Fr. John Whiteford preaches on the importance of edifying influences, such as Scripture and the saints.

Fr. John Whiteford's sermon for August 4, 2024.

Fr. John Whiteford's sermon from September 15, 2024.

The message of the Cross is God's invitation to you and me to break the destructive patterns of our lives and embrace the wise pattern of Purgation, Illumination, and Union in a perpetual growth and maturity pattern of becoming like Christ! It is a pattern that gives life instead of the slavery of the destructive patterns of selfish living!

The Sunday of the Myrrhbearers shows us some courageous women who, even when faced with an impossible task (who will roll the stone away) nevertheless kept on going to minister to the Lord. But even when they were confronted with the empty tomb and the news of the Lord's resurrection, they left the place afraid! Our world is facing some impossible tasks as well and we traditional believers are confronted with the societal earthquake of a changin moral climate. When faced with these realities, what kind of example will we leave our children? Will we allow society to silence us? Or will e face a scary time with determination and faith?

In his third episode, Michael reflects on a topic in the news a lot lately. How do we as Orthodox Christians view marriage and what is significant about our ceremony?

Racism is a serious wrong that no one should argue. However, from an Orthodox Christian point of view, it is a far deeper wrong than is ever portrayed in the public debate. Join Michael as he explains why racism goes against the core of Christianity, and through story and anecdote describes why it seems is so hard for us to celebrate and embrace differences.

Bondage to sin and wrong behavior and struggling with things we can’t seem to overcome plague us all to lesser or greater degrees. Join Michael as he talks about three typical forms of bondage that grip us and what we need to do to overcome them.

Join Michael as he talks about how to capture and protect our mind from the world of false images we live in, and how doing so also supports our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Inspired by the conditions of the coronavirus, but not about the virus itself, Michael reflects on why either our transcendent or immanent mindset makes a huge difference on how we cope with such trying circumstances.

Join Michael as he discusses what a darnel is and what it means to us, how easy it is to be deceived by the spirit of the age, and what we need to do to ensure we gain and apply Christ-like discernment in all matters.

Join Michael as he discusses what eros and agape really mean and why they cannot be separated, how growth in love is deeply linked to suffering, how disordered desire can grip us, how we never truly sin alone, and how it always affects both us and others when we act on our disordered desires.

Join Michael as he discusses questions about why good people suffer, bad people thrive, and reconciling this with the goodness of God.

Is one better than the other? Fr. Seraphim begins tackling some listener questions.

If you go into a pilgrimage with humility and the belief that you understand very little—if anything—then by the end of it, something may be revealed to you beyond your own limitations.

The Feast of Theophany, when God the Trinity reveals Himself to us.

After we sin, our hearts freeze. For a while, we stay away from God on purpose. We need time to heal, we need some sort of ritual of cleansing, some manner in which to make ourselves (in our own eyes) acceptable again to God. But the way back to prayer must begin as soon as possible, if possible even during the act of sin itself. The sooner we turn ourselves back to face Christ's Light, the sooner we shall drag ourselves out of the depth of our fall. Remind yourself of those who were waiting in the darkness of hell for Christ's Descent - ask for their desperate desire to be forgiven, pray for their unceasing hope that Light WILL one day find them and bring them back to Life out of the death of their hell. For those who put their trust in Christ, there is always Hope, there is always Love, there is always a way back to repentance and Life.

Why can't we just focus on the spiritual side of life and live as spiritual beings? Why is the Church so keen that we should learn to control our bodies and their passions? Does God even care what we do with our bodies?

No good can come from constantly re-assessing our decision to enter a marriage or monastic life. The time for assessing is before we enter the Sacrament; after that, we should allow Christ to freely use the 'tool' of the Sacrament to shape us into the Saints He created us to be.

As a freelance writer, you’re going to run into a lot of clients that are petrified by the idea of plagiarized or stolen content. That fear is not without reason. Search engines are capable of sniffing out plagiarism or duplicate content and they penalize the blogs and websites that engage in it. That fear of […]

The post Why You Shouldn’t Use a Plagiarism Checker as a Freelance Writer appeared first on Leaving Work Behind.

Fr. Steven takes a break from his commentary on Orthodox unity to speak about the recent Supreme Court decision related to Same Sex Marriage.

We profess a faith grounded in the truth and testimony of icons. But has the barrage of secular imagery diluted our witness? Fr. Steven explores the issue of discernment in an age that thrives on images

Does the degradation of language reflect a degradation of the human being? Yes, it does.