Sunday Sermons

When I was in the process of becoming Orthodox, one practice I found difficult to accept was the veneration of icons. Bowing and kissing seemed an awful lot like worship to me, dangerously close, so close that maybe we’d be better off if we just didn’t do it. Well, no, in fact we would be worse off without the veneration of icons. The first thingContinue reading “You Shall See Greater Things Than These*”

Contrary to a popular holiday meme, Mary and Joseph were not indigent, and they were not refugees. They had no expectations of anyone else providing for their needs and went to the inn knowing payment would be expected. Joseph was a tradesman—a carpenter—and they were in Bethlehem to register themselves in a census so that they could pay their taxes. But nowadays there seems aContinue reading “The Scandal of a Vulnerable God”

This week we celebrated the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos in the temple. This is one of the three great feasts—the other two being the Nativity of the Theotokos and the Dormition of the Theotokos—whose stories are not told in any of the four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The story of this feast is told in the Protevangelium of James.Continue reading “What Is Impossible?”

The best thing that could be said about the first battle there was that it had been a stalemate. Though the British Eighth Army had stopped the Axis Powers’ Eastward advance toward Alexandria, some fifty miles away, the month-long battle the previous July had cost them 13000 casualties and the commanding general estimated that they would be out of action until September. Now in October,Continue reading “Thank You for Your Service-AND Your Example”

The empire was collapsing. Over several decades the followers of the new religion of Mohammed pushed their way out of Arabia conquering as they went. First fell the ancient See of Jerusalem, the Holy Land where the Lord was born, lived and conducted His earthly ministry, and then Antioch, whose first bishop was St. Ignatius and which was the birthplace and nurturer of St JohnContinue reading “Icons: Not Just for Clicks”