That pole is in the way

Last Sunday during Orthros, I looked across the nave of our small mission from the chanter’s stand while someone else was chanting for a moment.  My gaze rested on an icon of Christ, which was annoyingly partially obstructed by one of two metal poles in the middle of our mission which holds up the building.
I [...]

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Three Giants

In Writings from the Philokalia: on Prayer of the Heart, a story is recounted of Abba Mark in which he instructed his spiritual son, Nicholas, on how to overcome the passions.    There are “three giants” in the heart, according to Abba Mark, which must be conquered:

forgetfulness
laziness
ignorance

On first glance, they appear somewhat wooden, obvious..   After just [...]

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Christos se rodi!

Christos se rodi!  Vaistinu se rodi!
A merry Christmas to all our Serbian brethren, many of whom we have had the pleasure of meeting and communing with here in southern Kentucky!

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Picture of our iconostasis at Holy Nativity

We acquired an old space of 2800 square feet at the beginning of November.  It had been used by a religious group before, but was not designed with an Orthodox Church in mind at all.  Here is a picture of the old “sanctuary” used by the previous group before we did anything with it:

We tore [...]

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My absence

Dear friends,
I’ve given up blogging before, only to return later.  My recent decline in postings, however, has been due to the formation of our new Orthodox Mission in Bowling Green, KY.   Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission was begun by His Grace, Bishop MARK of Toledo (Antiochian North American Archdiocese) a few months ago, and we have [...]

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Of debates and knights errant

I watched a bit of the first debate held tonight in Oxford, MS.  Honestly, I struggled between granting my limited attention span after a long day at work alternatingly to Miguel de Cervantes and Jim Lehrer.  Granted, both senators addressed by said narrator themelves addressed matters of uncontrovertibly momentous importance, but, hey, our knight errant [...]

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Two beds, two people, two risings: today’s Gospel

Today’s Gospel, Mark 1:29-35:
At that time, Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. [...]

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In the beginning: the “house church”

I came across an interesting article by a minister in the Disciples of Christ. In it he points out that the ancient “house church” was nothing like the typical “house church” one thinks of today, the latter being a very informal affair in someone’s living room, while the former was a rather formal affair [...]

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Our fight

Christ said, ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword’ and ‘division’. Christ summoned us to war on the plane of the spirit, and our weapon is ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are tied hand and foot. We dare [...]

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varied thoughts… liturgy, rituals, church, grace

Various musings that have crossed my mind in the last few weeks:
1. Liturgy. Paralleling the liturgical development of the early Church is the liturgical development of the Hebrew people. Beginning with Abraham, a “relationship with God” was itself somewhat “nomadic,” being detached as it was from permanent sacred places, etc. (though even the [...]

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