In my Prayers

Person with outstretched arms in sunlight.

I blog about prayer often. It is, after all, a central part of our Orthodox life. It is also one of the most underutilized spiritual tools in our Orthodox tool kit. Even when we pray, we rarely give our prayers the attention they deserve. Worse, we rarely give others the attention of our prayers. One…

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All Authority is from God

Man placing a crown on his head.

In our human understanding, authority is equal to power. Whoever has authority has power. Since we like power, we love when we have authority over others. The sad truth is that we have no authority that was not given to us by God. Let’s face it. We barely have authority over ourselves. At that time,…

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Truth in Love

Speaking the truth can sometimes be awkward or even dangerous. Saints were martyred because they spoke truth. Holy men and women lost their fortunes because they lived the truth. Even we are forced to discern, daily, whether it would be good to speak the truth or not. In today’s reading from Saint Paul’s First Letter…

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Do You Pray for Your Church?

People gathered in ornate church interior.

One of the basic “to do items” on our list as Orthodox Christians is to say our daily prayers. Depending upon the prayer rule given to us by our Spiritual Father, we all spend time in prayer, no matter how long. The question I have for you today is, “Do you pray for your Church?”…

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Blessing Others

Blessed written on wooden blocks

Hard work pays off in ways we can never fully appreciate. We work hard and are rewarded by others. Being rewarded by other people is only part of our blessing. All good things come from God and He is always blessing us, but the blessings are never just for us. Brethren, he who sows sparingly…

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Temporary Holders of Tradition

We all have traditions we hold important. Some traditions are from our families, some from our society, and some from our faith. Not all traditions are equal, but all traditions come from before us and are handed down after us. We are just temporary holders of tradition. Timothy, my son, be strong in the grace…

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All About Jesus

Religious iconography on a church ceiling.

There are more than eight billion people alive today, and one-third are Christian. With nearly three billion Christians and more than 45,000 denominations, it can be difficult filtering through the noise and finding the true Church. We can’t all be right. Of course, I believe Orthodox Christianity is the true Church proclaiming Christ since the…

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Bearing Fruit

I enjoy gardening as a hobby. I admit I am not the greatest gardener, but I love spending time in my garden. I love watching things grow. I love eating the fruit of my garden. The only problem is, I don’t get much fruit because I am not a good gardener. I have a few…

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