No Other Foundation
Kanalaren Xehetasunak
No Other Foundation
Reflections on Orthodox Theology and Biblical Studies
Atal Berriak
610 atal
The Parish Priest as Spiritual Father
There have been a number of times throughout my ministry that I have been asked by inquirers or parishioners if I would be their spiritual father. My...
“The Superstition of Divorce”: a New Review of an Old Book
In 1918 G. K. Chesterton wrote a series of five articles for the New Witness condemning the (then current) move in England to enact more liberal divor...
The Union of our Spirits: Ekklesia as Epiclesis
One might imagine that the very first words of the Orthodox Liturgy consisted of a blessing pronounced by the priest saying, “Blessed is the Kingdom o...
Remembering Who You Are
In 2010 country singer Miranda Lambert recorded and released a song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin entitled “The House that Built Me”. It w...
At the Center of your Body
I have just finished reading the excellent and admirably honest autobiography of Anthony Hopkins entitled We Did OK, Kid. Hopkins seems to have been...
The Camel Caper
When I was a young man and a new teenage convert to the Christian Faith through the Jesus People movement I believed whatever I read in a book as long...
“He’s Alive”
Eva Mozes Kor was a Jewish girl, born in Romania to Alexander and Jaffa Mozes, the only Jewish residents in the area. She had three siblings, one of...
Music Really Doth Hath Charms
Not too long ago I wrote a blog piece entitled “Music Hath Charms” in which I argued for the softening and transformational nature of music (adding a...
Christ Said What?
Recently I was scrolling through the website of a famously-liberal denomination which quickly became excruciatingly boring because it was so predictab...
Pharisaical Eyes
In the narrative in John 5 we find a story which our Lord heals a paralytic who had been lying by the pool of Bethesda, and there is a detail there th...
The Fate of Fairholme
Way, way back in time in the years 1979-1981 I lived in the village of Turtleford, Saskatchewan, having moved there from suburban Toronto. Turtleford...
An Ascension Reflection: Where Does the Eucharist Take Place?
Those familiar with liturgical worship will be familiar with the pre-anaphoral dialogue— the dialogue between celebrant and people that takes place ju...
Music Hath Charms
In his 1697 play The Mourning Bride, playwright William Congreve wrote that “Musick hath charms to sooth a savage breast [i.e. a savage heart], to sof...
An Embroidered Text?
Recently I watched the very interesting 2016 documentary entitled “Rome: Empire Without Limit with Mary Beard”. Ms. Beard, a very readable British sc...
The Authority of the Priest
In the Protestant Evangelical world the priest (sorry: “the pastor”) is not a figure of authority within the local church community but is primarily a...
In Praise of Geegaws
In a wonderful old book by Leslie Farmer published in 1944 entitled We Saw the Holy City (mentioned briefly in last week’s blog), Farmer tells a story...
The Road to Kiriath-jearim
Time to climb aboard our time machine and leave the year 2026 for a time over a thousand years before Christ, the time when Eli was high priest in Isr...
A Church on its Deathbed
Recently I read a copy of the alumni magazine from a mainline Protestant seminary. It was very well done and showcased a number of people, both facul...
Of Wormholes and Memorials
In a post-Liturgy Q & A held by a wonderful and learned priest, Fr. Justin Hewlett, someone present (a Baptist, if memory serves) asked a question abo...
How to Preach
With the expected influx of ordinations to the priesthood hoping to keep up with the recent surge of new converts coming into Orthodox parishes, many...
The Donation of Constantine
The term “the donation of Constantine” refers to a medieval forgery, long used to support the claims and authority of the medieval papacy. According...
“He Doesn’t Know, Does He?”
Lately, through the kindness of a friend, I watched recently an old 1961 British film starring a very young Hayley Mills entitled Whistle Down the Win...
“A Personal and Private Search for God”
One doesn’t think of stars immersed in Hollywood or British theatre and who attend All The Best Parties sitting in an arena and listening to an addres...
The Veneration of Relics
In my experience it’s a safe bet that most Protestants are not enthused about the veneration of relics— i.e. bits of a saint’s bone or bits of things...
Papa John Scratch and Company
It was during the 1988 All-American Council of the OCA that I overheard Fr. Daniel Donlick (then Dean of St. Tikhon’s Seminary) comment to a group of...
Christ in our Midst: Present and Future
During the exchange of the Peace in the Orthodox Divine Liturgy it had been my custom to greet those around me by saying, “Christ is in our midst!”, e...
“Command!”: a Reflection on the Contemporary Ordination Practice
At the ordination of a priest or deacon the following ritual is observed: some of the serving clergy take the candidate to be ordained into the nave...
The Accomplishments of the Reformation
On October 31 parts of the western world celebrated Reformation Day, giving thanks for the Protestant Reformation. (I am tempted to observe that on t...
The Accomplishments of the Reformation
On October 31 parts of the western world celebrated Reformation Day, giving thanks for the Protestant Reformation. (I am tempted to observe that on t...
The King of Israel
Tucked well away in the Divine Liturgy in a prayer that the priest says silently for himself we find a significant title of Christ. The priest offers...
The King of Israel
Tucked well away in the Divine Liturgy in a prayer that the priest says silently for himself we find a significant title of Christ. The priest offers...
A Christian Response to War
As a baby boomer child of the 1950s, I was taught to hate war. For my generation, war was an unmitigated evil (though, happily, this notion did not s...
A Christian Response to War
As a baby boomer child of the 1950s, I was taught to hate war. For my generation, war was an unmitigated evil (though, happily, this notion did not s...
The Dying of the Light
When I was young, I read a famous poem that I now regard as one of the strangest poems ever written. It is the one entitled “Do not go gentle into th...
The Dying of the Light
When I was young, I read a famous poem that I now regard as one of the strangest poems ever written. It is the one entitled “Do not go gentle into th...
Surveying the Old Testament
When I was a child in grade five, I was given a New Testament by the Gideon Society, like everyone else in my grade. Note: the New Testament, not th...
Surveying the Old Testament
When I was a child in grade five, I was given a New Testament by the Gideon Society, like everyone else in my grade. Note: the New Testament, not th...
Tithing Mint
I am often asked by catechumens questions of basic liturgical etiquette, such as how to enter the church, how to venerate an icon, and when to make th...
Tithing Mint
I am often asked by catechumens questions of basic liturgical etiquette, such as how to enter the church, how to venerate an icon, and when to make th...
All Kinds of Everything
There are, I suggest, two ways to experience the world. The first is that of the materialist: the world is all that exists. The physical world that...