The Great Reversal

The Syrian army flees in the middle of the night from the besieged Samaria and its starving inhabitants. Job’s life, family and fortunes are restored. Lazarus is loosed from the tomb. On Holy Saturday, hell is plundered by our Lord. We are never so blind as when we lose hope in the great reversal. There [...]

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Christian Philosophy? II

If one is going to talk of a “Christian philosophy” and if one is going to define such along the lines of which B N Tatakis has done, then one is going to have to offer definitions, or to at least delimit, one’s terms: Christian, philosophy, truth, faith, even, perhaps, reason. One is also going [...]

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Faith and Fear

As near as I can tell, tharseo (take courage) is, in its occurrences in the New Testament, always a dominical imperative. When his disciples are frightened, Jesus exhorts them to courage. When a woman is healed, Christ bids her to courage. When an apostle might be tempted to discouragement, our Lord exhorts him to courage. [...]

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Christian Philosophy? I

I’m going to conduct an experiment of sorts here: I’m going to think out loud on my blog. I have recently begun reading a book by B. N. Tatakis entitled Christian Philosophy in the Patristic and Byzantine Tradition (tr George Dragas, Orthodox Research Institute 2007), in which, in the first chapter, Tatakis asks the question, [...]

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St Demetrius of Thessalonica

Troparion Tone 3 The world has found you to be a great defense against tribulation and a vanquisher of heathens, O Passion-bearer. As you bolstered the courage of Nestor, who then humbled the arrogance of Lyaios in battle, Holy Demetrius, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy. Kontakion Tone 2 God, who has given [...]

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“I’m Okay, You’re Okay–In Small Doses”

Every Myers-Briggs I take there’s one unvarying result: I score strong in introvert. So when @celticwanderer and @anglobaptist both posted the link to this somewhat tongue-in-cheek article I felt validated after all these years. Introverts of the world, stay home! From here: Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often [...]

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Almost There (And None Too Soon)

Well, I continue work on the presentation about the Orthodox Church that I’ll be giving in just a little over a week. I have greatly scaled back on the talk (trying to exercise rhetorical sensitivities to my audience as mostly first-timers in their exposure to Orthodoxy). So I pushed a lot into a “supplemental resources” [...]

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St. John of Kronstadt

Troparion of St John of Kronstadt Tone 4 With the Apostles thy message has gone out to the ends of the world,/ and with the Confessors thou didst suffer for Christ;/ thou art like the Hierarchs through thy preaching of the Word;/ with the Righteous thou art radiant with God’s grace./ The Lord has exalted [...]

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The Holy Apostle and Evangelist, Luke the Physician

Troparion of St Luke Tone 3 Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke,/ intercede with our merciful God,/ that He may grant to our souls/ the forgiveness of our sins. Kontakion of St Luke Tone 2 Let us praise holy Luke, the star of the Church,/ herald of piety and proclaimer of mysteries;/ for the Word Who [...]

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The Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council

Troparion Tone 8 Glorious art Thou, O Christ our God/ Who hast established our holy fathers as stars on earth./ Through them Thou dost guide us to the True Faith./ O Most Merciful One, glory to Thee. Kontakion Tone 8 The preaching of the Apostles and the doctrine of the Fathers confirmed the one faith [...]

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