Loyalty Has Its Limits

When my father was young it was expected that if a person dedicated his life to a company, the company would take care of him in retirement. Workers and companies were loyal to each other. Those days are gone. Workers used to be able to count on ‘moving up’ in the same company after years…

Read More

Peaceful Living

On this blog I write a great deal about being counterculture. I encourage us to be willing to lose everything for Christ. Don’t get me wrong, I think difficult times are coming for us, but we also have to remember, not all saints were martyrs. Not all saints were tortured or exiled. Some, like Saint…

Read More

Predestination

Candles lighting

What if I were to tell you I believed in predestination? Would you call me a heretic? Would you say I have abandoned the ancient faith? Maybe you would say I finally fell over the sola scriptura cliff. Of course, none of these accusations would be true. The truth would be that we are required…

Read More

For the Sake of the Elect

It is a common line of thought on this blog that the world is against the Christ and His Church. We often talk about how we are called to endure to the end. We often talk about persecution being a real thing not only in the lives of the martyrs, but in the lives of…

Read More

Losing the Church

What does it mean to lose the Church? What does it mean to have the Church taken away from you? We live in a society which believes the church belongs to us. Our parents started the church. Our ancestors built the church. Parish councils over the years hire and fire clergy. With such a strong…

Read More

Save our Children

children putting hands on each other shoulder

The other day I went to see the movie Sound of Freedom and was profoundly disturbed. Knowing what happens to children in the wickedness of the slave trade was not the same as watching it. We are supposed to protect children. We are supposed to honor children. We are not supposed to harm them. At…

Read More

The Church is Our Family

When I visit the parish where I grew up, we greet each other with kisses and stories about the past. We introduce each other to new faces. We begin new relationships that last over time. What binds us together is the past we spend together, knowing there will also be a future together. Each trip…

Read More

Why we Need the Church

It is no secret we live in a self-oriented and self-justified society. We are the masters of our own destiny, or so we think. I hear it all the time. “I don’t need anyone to tell me what the Bible means.” This very phrase is totally without meaning. If you are reading the letters of…

Read More

Take a Chance on the Church

I wonder sometimes just how it is possible for people not to want to be Orthodox. That may sound snobbish. It just seems like so many agree with what the Church teaches but refuse to become part of the Church. It is like someone who hears but does not understand. Even that is nothing new.…

Read More

Be Known for Something Good

Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day in America. It is the day we remember the founders and principles of our nation. These great men are remembered for their courage and faithfulness to freedom. They weren’t perfect, but they stood for the ideal of perfect freedom. Brethren, to this end Christ died and lived…

Read More