Orthodoxy

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. The other day I came across one of those memes (you know the ones) — an icon or photo of a beloved saint or ascetic with a quote beneath it. We’ll ignore for now how often those quotes are misattributed (and how much that grates on me like fingernails on a chalkboard). In this case, however, the words were correctly attributed to Nun Gavrilia (I know because I pored over her writings to check for it before I started writing this). ...

This piece of writing is likely going to be something half-baked for quite some time. That being said, if the only person I’m really writing for is myself, it shouldn’t matter. A few weeks ago (probably a phrase I’ll use often — and whether it was actually a few weeks ago or a few years ago, who can tell? Time is fickle…) I arrived at church early one morning to serve behind the altar with my priest. I was wearing a T-shirt with a 1980s G1 Optimus Prime on it, and chiding me with a big smile and a loving voice, my priest said, “You’re nothing but a big kid!” ...

On October 7th in the Prologue from Ochrid (sometimes Ohrid) written by Saint Nikolai Velimirovic, the “For Consideration” section has a story about St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ. In the story, St. Andrew is having a vision of a demon who says to the saint: “You’re the greatest enemy I have in the whole of Constantinople!”. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around. — St. Seraphim of Sarov The story continues: instead of driving the demon away, St. Andrew let him speak for a while. This is what the devil said: ...

One day recently, after a particularly challenging argument with my 12-year-old son about attending church, I reached out to several friends to ask them about their experiences with their own children (of varying ages) around church attendance. I wanted to know if they had faced similar struggles, and more importantly, what kinds of conversations they’d had around when their kids could make their own decisions about whether or not to attend church. ...