Archive for December, 2009

On Standing in Church (2009-12-25)

By the Very Rev. John Ealy
It is always difficult in these relativistic times, when the only heresy is to speak of heresy, to present the Orthodox teaching about the completeness of our faith. It comes across often as arrogance when in fact we do not mean that we are anything special at all, we readily [...]

Christmas Tree.. Pagan??? (2009-12-25)

In Defence of the Christmas Tree
By Father Daniel Daly
Several years ago during the Christmas season, a religious program on television caught my attention. The program featured a discussion on the dangers of cults, especially to young people. I found myself agreeing with the panelists as they warned young people about the hazards of involvement in [...]

“What an Altar denotes? (2009-12-25)

What is performed in the Altar?
How do we relate the present day Altar to the Old times? ”
1. The altar was a place of sacrifice
2. The cross is a place of sacrifice
3. A blood sacrifice was required, the New Testament, our blood atonement is Jesus instead of animals

A.. The altar was a place of sacrifice
Lev [...]

Eastern rite lures Western seekers (2009-12-25)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) — If you stand on the shores of Lake Michigan and watch a man with a long gray mane and beard labor on sailing boats, don’t automatically assume that he’s an aging flower child. He may just be Father Luke, an orthodox cleric, trying to make ends meet.
Luke, 58, could not [...]

I’ve discovered that there is more to my faith than just me and Jesus (2009-12-25)

My name is Simon Scionka and my wife Ira and I have been at Holy Theophany Orthodox Church since December of 2003…
My wife Ira is from Russia and due to her god-fearing babushka, she was baptized in secret as a baby during the communist regime. Ira grew up in the Orthodox faith. My coming to [...]

The Tregarthen Family (2009-12-25)

Our conversion to Orthodoxy began in about 1997, when my wife met Tristram Englehardt, Jr. at a conference…
He was there because of his position in the Department of Philosophy at Baylor. Tris is also a surgeon and a member of the medical school faculty at Baylor. In addition to all that, he is a tonsured [...]

Seminarian Kerry (Kirill) Williams (2009-12-25)

My name is Kerry Williams and I am 32 years old. On the day of the Ss. Peter and Paul Feast (Old Calendar), I was Baptized and Chrismated into the Orthodox Church on Spruce Island in Alaska…
Because this took place at the home of St. Herman, it brought with it a perspective of what it [...]

Becoming Orthodox—A Journey From Good to Better (2009-12-25)

The church has always been the center of the life that Carolyn and I have lived. We were both raised in nominally Christian homes but rejected the church in our teen years…
After flirting with godlessness, we both became Christian in our 20’s at one of Seattle’s growing mega-churches. We met at a single’s bible study, [...]

The Kemper Family (2009-12-25)

Don, Jacque and Ron’s beginnings into Orthodox Christianity started 38 years ago when we first discovered Christ…
Don & Jacque Kemper
We were living in Reno, Nevada and through our neighbors we began going to an Evangelical Free Church. It was a great Bible teaching church, very small but with 5 gifted Bible teachers, one had worked [...]

Protestant Church Worker goes “East” (2009-12-25)

I never would have imagined that I would be Eastern Orthodox. Like many Christians in America, I didn’t know much about Eastern Orthodoxy for most of my life…
Jeff & Patti Morrison
Even as a history major, Orthodoxy was taught in a very limited fashion. I knew there were Catholics—I was baptized in that church, and grew [...]