By Father Brendan Pelphrey, PhD The Orthodox Church is the original Christian church on Earth. It has existed since the Day of Pentecost, described in Acts Ch. 2 in the Bible. Through the centuries the Orthodox way of worship, and the Orthodox faith, have not changed. The Orthodox Christian faith is Biblical faith. The New Testament was written by the …
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Bishop Danilo of blessed memory was born on May 13, 1927 in Novi Sad. He studied law in Belgrade, and graduated from Sorbonne in literature in 1952. From 1954 to 1958 he studied theology at the Saint Sergius’ Academy in Paris, whereas he gained doctoral degree at Harvard, USA in 1968. He took monastic vows in 1960, and in 1969 …
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Why do we bless houses (and almost anything else that we can sprinkle) with water? Many years ago, when I was yet a deacon, I was visiting with some non-Orthodox friends who were inquirers into Orthodoxy (they sadly, never followed through with their interest – or even their promise to become Orthodox) and we were discussing this topic in the …
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By Jodie Anna When I became a born-again Christian in the mid 1990s I knew nothing about Church history. It was at this time and in this context that I started reading the Bible with intense interest and studying it with others. In my Lutheran upbringing, I had been taught the importance of communion, but my beliefs had never before …
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Author: Fr James Bernstein Published by Conciliar Press, 2009 (Source: http://thechristianactivist.com) Light and fire are interconnected. Light radiates heat, and when focused produces fire; fire emanates light. Both also have a wide spectrum of electromagnetic rays and energy, such as radiate from stars. Light illumines, is life-giving, but also burns. Orthodoxy teaches that on a supernatural level, uncreated light, …
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By Fr. John Whiteford Note: Father John Whiteford is a former Nazarene Associate Pastor who converted to the Orthodox Faith soon after completing his B.A. in Religion at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. He first encountered Orthodoxy as a result of his involvement in the local Pro-Life (Rescue) movement, which also included Father Anthony Nelson and several of his …
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Author: Metropolitan Kallistos Ware Published by Conciliar Press, 1988 (Source: http://thechristianactivist.com) Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, writing in eighteenth-century Russia, has this to say about our Orthodox attitude towards the Holy Scriptures: “If an earthly king, our emperor, wrote you a letter,would you not read it with joy? Certainly, with great rejoicing and careful attention. You have been sent a letter, …
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By Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver Strictly speaking, there never was a ‘Bible’ in the Orthodox Church, at least not as we commonly think of the Bible as a single volume book we can hold in our hand. Since the beginning of the Church, from the start of our liturgical tradition, there has never been a single book in an Orthodox …
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The Greatest Commandment Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second …
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pJE2neHk1I] What is Prayer? Prayer, by reason of its nature, is the conversation and union of man with God, and by reason of its action, upholds the world and brings about reconciliation with God; it is a bridge over temptations, a wall against afflictions, a crushing of conflicts, food of the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an axe against despair, …
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ModeOfLife Become love as God exhorts us, for this is the true starting point for changing your life and the world. For it is love that will bring respect, justice and equity into the world, not our personal opinion of what justice or equity is.