Listen to reflections written by Fr. Nicolaie for the Fifth Sunday of Luke.

Members of the community interact with the story of the Canaanite woman's faith, sharing their crumbs of wisdom.

Fr. Nicolaie tells how the faith of people who saw (and see) evil in the face of war is a faith that can guide those of us who live in a society tempted by the illusion of death.

Martha offers a suggestions for planning Lenten menus and then compares a favorite, reliable cooking spoon to the saints from who she seeks intercessory prayers.

the appeals court ruled that, despite being a nonprofit and no evidence of market harm, its implementation of Controlled Digital Lending isn't fair use #

like curling meets shuffleboard on a tabletop board #

in some cases, Meta is automatically creating the pages #

the BBS goes read-only on Friday, replaced by Substack comments, and the community is not happy #

anything out of frame is immediately forgotten, making it very dream-like and surreal to explore #

As as we journey through Great Lent, Fr. Lawrence Farley looks at the Prayer of St. Ephraim.

Some heresies never seem to die, but have a disconcerting tendency to pop up in every generation, rather like the emerging heads of the whack-a-mole in the children’s game one sees in Chuck E. Cheese: whack them down as hard and often as you like, but they will pop up again someplace else.

The story of Cain and Abel is the story of the human race. It is tragically timeless, for it is tirelessly enacted over and over again in every generation. As Larry Norman once queried (as aged historians may remember from his song “Nothing Really Changes”), “Will Cain kill Abel—with a bayonet?” Regardless of the choice of weapon, somewhere and some place that murder is happening even now as you are reading this.

Today we begin a series on the use of the Old Testament in the early chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew. We will examine his citations in his narrative of Christ’s birth, childhood and adulthood up to the time He settled in Capernaum, bringing a great light to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali and to all the world. St. Matthew (either the actual author of the Gospel or the one under whose blessing and authority it was first disseminated) took care to present Jesus as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, and by examining the use of the Old Testament in this Gospel we can see how deeply and creatively the Church used those Scriptures.

We continue our series examining St. Matthew’s citations of the Old Testament. Today we look at his citation of Jeremiah 31:15. It reads, “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.” The LXX renders it more or less the same way, though the order of the chapters is different. In the LXX the text is found in Jeremiah chapter 38, not chapter 31. But the meaning of the text is the same.

We conclude our series examining St. Matthew’s citations of the Old Testament. Today we look at his citation of Isaiah 40:3, which reads, “A voice cries, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God!”

Over two millenia there have, of course, been many papal claims, many of which Orthodoxy has always accepted. The claim to be the Patriarch of the West has proved unobjectionable to the East. The claim to be the primate of the Church is also unobjectionable, though this one requires some historical context. It is the claims explicated in detail at the First Vatican Council of 1870 that have proved the sticking point. But let us proceed slowly and carefully.

Today we begin a series on Old Testament saints in their context: surveying major figures of the Old Testament to better understand their lives, their words, and the lessons they can teach us - for, though dead, they still speak. We begin with Abraham: the father of the faithful, and the friend of God.

The work of the prophet Haggai is short and easy to miss; it is a mere two chapters in our Bibles sandwiched in between the books of Zephaniah and Zechariah. If you are flipping quickly through the final pages of the Old Testament he easy to miss. After ploughing through longer works such as those of Isaiah (66 chapters), Jeremiah (52 chapters, plus 5 more chapters of Lamentations), and Ezekiel (48 chapters), Haggai looks positively puny in comparison

Thousands of years ago when I was an Evangelical Protestant in the Anglican Church, I never prayed to the saints or asked for their intercession. It was made quite clear to me by those around me that obedient Christians never did that and that prayer to the saints (especially to Mary) was idolatry of the worst sort and consequently provoked the ire of the Most High. Catholics, of course, prayed to Mary and the saints, but real Christians didn’t. Even when I got out more and grew a bit and realized Catholics were real Christians, I still was convinced that they shouldn’t pray to saints, and that prayer to the saints ran the risk of traffic with demons. So much for ecumenism!

Recently a minor fracas in the narthex of our church was caused by (I kid you not) my long hair (see inset for a rear view of said hair). Since my hair steadfastly refuses to grow on the top of my head, you would think I could be cut a little slack for the bit that grows at the back, but apparently not.

Fr. Apostolos shares about St. Mary of Egypt and other "rascal" saints.

Fr. Apostolos speaks from the Gospel of St. John, chapter 3, "For God so loved the world...," exhorting us that "love alone is the surety of our doctrinal purity."

Fr. Apostolos shares about the life of Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis and encourages us to follow his example of humility, gentleness, perseverance, and devotion.

Fr. Apostolos talks about the privilege and responsibility we have of knowing Christ personally.

Fr. Apostolos shares about the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes with the five loaves and two fish, and encourages us to offer our best unto the Lord.

Fr. Apostolos talks about the importance of the Cross.

In this homily, Fr. Apostolos deals with focusing on the positive goal of our faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to getting bogged down in a negative view of merely keeping the "rules."

Fr. Apostolos continues the series on Divine Worship, discussing the beginning of the Synaxis of the Faithful and of the prayers leading up to the Great Entrance.

Fr. Apostolos Hill reviews the life of St. Haralambos and the threat his faith, as a 113 year-old man, represented to an Empire.

Fr. Apostolos Hill talks about the parable of the sower and how we must grow in our faith.

Fr. Apostolos Hill discusses how we should anoint the Body of Jesus through repentance and confession and how we mustn't put "hair in the censer" by substituting our own views for the Gospel.

Fr. Apostolos Hill gives a "book report" on the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St. John Climacus and the expectation of progress in our Life in Christ.

Fr. Apostolos Hill delivers an offering on All Saints Sunday, a reflection on the gritty reality of the saints in all three dimensions of life and not the two-dimensional caricatures to which we often reduce them.

"I'm no longer content for our faith to be stuck in a mason jar. Our faith is food, and hungry, starving people need to eat what we uniquely can give them."

Fr. Apostolos Hill shares a homily about the Apostles' Fast and the command to share the Gospel.

Fr. Apostolos Hill challenges us with reflections on the Gospel reading of St. Peter's impetuous faith on the Sea of Galilee.