SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Michael delivers a lecture at St. Nicholas and Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Roseland, New Jersey about how we understand the Gospel of Christ as good news and a way of life versus a religion and how to live and witness it. Sharing stories he explained that: 1) you cannot experience the Church apart from Christ as the Church is all about Christ; and 2) Orthodoxy is the experience of giving language and expression to what we already know is true. He also commu

"Too often we recall that Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise for disobedience and sin. In one sense this is true, but there is a subtle layer of meaning that we may miss. When God called out to Adam his response was to hide himself in the trees. The story would have been different if instead he had run to God crying out what he had done and asking for forgiveness. In his hiding Adam demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s love. His own sin had coloured even the perception o

“The more a person truly desires the fullness of a life in Christ, the easier it becomes to renounce those things that are contrary to Godliness.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Jude 1:16) “If we begin to love God with all our heart, then this grace transmits to us in an incomprehensible way the wealth of its benefits. Whoever wishes to retain this experience of grace should strive with great joy to renounce from the soul the benefits of the present age in order to acquire the hidde

“The most portentous fact about any person is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like...” (A.W. Tozer) “The nous is the deep part of our spiritual being, where we know and meet God...the dividing line between those who are truly righteous and on the path to life and those who are nowhere near that path lies within each human heart…God’s principle work is always within the human heart” (Dynamis 7/18/2015, Father Barnaba

“There is no doubt that people will act in their own self-interest. It is inherent in sin.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “Power and self-interest may appear successful in the short run, but they do not ultimately “work” in a world created by a good and just God. Therefore cruel, selfish power is not only sinful, but stupid. It brings about loneliness, emptiness, and destruction. Faithfulness, integrity, unselfish service, and love are not only right but wise, because they fit the

“Sometimes man is subjected to a very long period of this abandonment, when the sky is seemingly shut for him and the soul becomes completely unreceptive to any spiritual sensation....At this time the enemy usually confuses a Christian with thoughts of grief and desperation, making him think that those gratifying feelings and the experiences that occurred before will never return, and life will become increasingly worse and worse. But this is a lie. If the person survives thi

"This is the spirit of our age: the reliance on our own sense of right as an arbiter of all things. It is the refusal to humble ourselves before revealed truth." (Father Spyridon Baily) “The sad reality of our churches and lives, marriages and friendships, is that we are fallen, broken, and passionate. We justify ourselves in arrogant conceit, and refuse to forgive or to see our own faults. So our communities shatter, marriages break up, and friendships end. Ultimately, this

“The Greek word for joy is chairo. This word is related to charis, which means “grace.” Joy, therefore, is literally rooted in grace. Every time we experience a revelation of grace, joy is the natural consequence.” (Jonathan Jackson) “The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning ‘grace’. Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks…eucharisteo, thanksgiving…also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning ‘joy’.” (Anna Voskamp) “Blessed are you. Blessed