SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…let’s take a look into the mysterious depths of human existence. The whole tragedy of our fallen world is rooted in one source—our “I,” in which we have since childhood habitually locked up everything, turning our soul into an impenetrable fortress. But authentic Christianity begins at the place where a person makes a great existential breakthrough; where he overcomes the pull of his egocentrism and turns to meet God. At this crosspoint of the vertical of the soul reaching

“In our lives we grow thirsty and tired. We thirst for so many things and then when we receive them we are still surprisingly unhappy. Think for a moment of the multitude of pop stars and actors who had everything, fame, fortune, influence and yet they were not happy and kept running to try to satisfy the thirst even more and typically because they ran towards the wrong things they found this thirst was never satiated. They grew even more thirsty and they would follow these u

“Christ is the New Adam. He comes to repair the damage inflicted on life by Adam, to restore man to true life, and thus he also begins with fasting. ‘When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he became hungry’ (Matthew 4:2). Hunger is that state in which we realize our dependence on something else – when we urgently and essentially need food – showing thus that we have no life in ourselves.” (Fr. Alexander Schmemann) “To understand fasting as simply abstaining from meat and d

“Sin is not ultimately about breaking rules; rather, it is about erecting false notions of what it means to flourish as a human...

“…the devil fashions his lies to resemble the truth…heresy and lies creep in when people are apathetic.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Matthew...

“The Greek word for joy is chairo. This word is related to charis, which means “grace.” Joy, therefore, is literally rooted in grace....

"…I can approach the Lord, and He will enlighten me, rather than make me “ashamed.” Does this really need to be said? Well, yes. I think...