SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Why does adherence to traditions—even the most ancient and beautiful ones—not automatically make a person a believer? And where is the very line that marks the point at which a ritual ceases to be a bridge to God and turns into a façade concealing emptiness, or, even worse, a complete mismatch between life and the ideals that are professed? To begin with, any religion—and Christianity is no exception—has two components: form and content. The form consists precisely of tradit

“In my view, the category of happiness is hardly ever discussed in the Church, and for me it is a puzzle. We have nine Beatitudes: blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers... If we translate the word “blessed”, it means “happy”. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, happy are the meek, happy are the merciful, and so forth. These are the commandments of happiness. But, unfortunately, in Orthodoxy happiness is not s

“All of life is a search for God and an encounter with Him: in prayer, in repentance, in love, in others.” (Br. Andrei) “Almost everyone has doubts about the faith at one time or another. It’s possible to dispel them, however, with opposing arguments which confirm the truth of the divine revelation regarding the world and humankind: the order and harmony of the universe; the miracle of life; all the other supernatural and magnificent wonders of God and His saints; and, above

“ On the day of Christ’s birth, the regular events of human history began to be penetrated by eternal events: the Incarnation, the redemption on the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the sitting at the Father’s right hand…the Nativity was not properly the beginning of the Life of Christ, but rather a bodily extension of His eternal spiritual presence. His Incarnation was only the means for His entry into the world in order to carry out the strategy designed by God f

“I believe that legends and myths are largely made of “truth,” and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear…story of Christ is simply a true myth, a myth that works on us in the same way as the others, but a myth that really happened?...The Father and the Spirit are involved in history, but only the Son becomes history.” (J. R. R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Humphr

“The Lord knows that we can only make sense of the world through rational engagement with it, and so we are given patterns and symbols to...

“From a lack of contentment comes death…What we see in the Garden is paradise. A place of intimate and immediate communion with God,...

“…Church is a hospital. The model of a courtroom or a business or even a social club is misguided and lacks the heart and the purpose of...

“People can memorize huge portions of Scripture, read the Bible from cover to cover a dozen times, learn all of the intricacies of...

“After we have repented of our sins, renounced our wickedness, and have been purified by baptism, we turn back to the eternal light, as...