Daily Meditations Archives - Page 258 of 351

Reflection on September 11

09/11/2015

By Father James Kordaris This month we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross. Every September for the rest of our lives, we will remember the horrible events of September 11. And yet, as Orthodox Christians, we will also remember that three days later, the Church raises up before us the Cross of Christ. How provident that the commemoration of this horrible tragedy will always be followed by the commemoration

The Person of Satan according to the Orthodox Church (Part II)

09/10/2015

By Alexander Schmemann In the baptismal rite, which is an act of liberation and victory, the exorcisms come first because on our path to the baptismal font we unavoidably “hit” the dark and powerful figure that obstructs this path. It must be removed, chased away, if we are to proceed. The moment that the celebrant’s hand has touched the head of a child of God and marked it with the sign of Christ, the Devil

The Person of Satan according to the Orthodox Church (Part I)

09/09/2015

By Alexander Schmemann The “modern man,” even an Orthodox, is usually quite surprised when he learns that the baptismal liturgy begins with words addressed to the Devil. The Devil indeed has no place in his religious outlook; he belongs to the panoply of medieval superstition and to a grossly primitive mentality. Many people, including priests, suggest therefore that exorcisms simply be dropped as “irrelevant” and unbecoming to our enlightened and “modern” religion. As for the

Feast of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

09/08/2015

INTRODUCTION The Feast of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated on September 8 each year. The Feast commemorates the birth of the Mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord. BACKGROUND The birth and early life of the Virgin Mary is not recorded inthe Gospels or other books of the New Testament, however this information can be found in a work dating from the second century known as the Book of James or Protevangelion. According to the story found in this book, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, were childless for many years. They remained faithful

Practical Prayer

09/07/2015

In the same way as the early Church, the desert Christians were deeply committed to Jesus’ teachings and lived practice. Their chosen solitude and silence was not anti-social but a way to become better at seeing clearly and at loving deeply. Withdrawal was only for the sake of deeper encounter and presence. Diana Butler Bass describes the natural flow from solitude to prayer to active love: “[Jesus’ invitation to] ‘Come follow me’ was intimately bound

Dealing with Our Passions (Part VI)

09/04/2015

Another method of dealing with our thoughts and feelings, our passions and needs, consists in thinking them all the way through to the end, in picturing to ourselves all the consequences of admitting the passions into the imagination. In this way we can also discover which way the passions actually want to lead us. Sexual fantasies, for example, stand for something quite different, for the longing to be free, to let oneself fall, to be

Voices of Wisdom (III)

09/03/2015

In all forms of ego-defense, from the generation of bodily aches and pains and itches to distract one from quiet to the beginning stages of spiritual narcissism as manifested in expectations and false dark nights, the ego is reacting against an intentional attempt to enter into willingness and surrender. It is defending itself against an outright, self -imposed attack. People whom William James considered to be a “once-born” or “healthy” mentality may be spared all

STEWARDSHIP AS CREATION CARE (Part II)

09/02/2015

By Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis What Can I Do? There are numerous practical ideas available and readily accessible today for parishes and families that would like to become aware of their ecological impact on the planet and on people. Indeed, some of our Orthodox parishes – and even more of our sister Christian congregations – have already undertaken initial steps or else made considerable progress toward this goal. Seeking their counsel, or offering our advice

STEWARDSHIP AS CREATION CARE (Part I)

09/01/2015

By Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis Scripture and the Fathers When we think of the term stewardship, we frequently consider only matters of financial support. The prevalent rendering of the term oikonomia as “stewardship” or “economy” is not very illuminating as it provides both a linguistic as well as conceptual reduction of this critical and originally Biblical word. In so doing, however, we have narrowed the scope of the Bible’s teaching and neglected the depth of

The Early Eastern Church

08/31/2015

In addition to the Desert Fathers and Mothers, I particularly value the wisdom of the Greek-speaking theologians in early Christianity, the “Fathers” of the Eastern Church. These names would be known in a Western seminary and some church calendars, but they would not be familiar names for most lay Catholics or Protestants: Origen, Athanasius, Basil, the two Gregorys (of Nazianzen and Nyssa), Evagrius Ponticus, John Chrysostom, Pseudo-Dionysius, the two Cyrils (of Alexandria and Jerusalem), and