June 21, 2023 668 3 The Life and Exploits of Monk Barnabas (Belyaev), Bishop and a Fool for Christ Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev) was a monk, bishop, hermit, ascetic writer, candidate of theology, and a fool for Christ. It was as though his life had…
March 17, 2023 1152 5 The Concept of the Heavenly Liturgy in Scripture, the Apocrypha and Ancient Frescoes After years of regularly attending Divine Liturgy and having experienced the Communion of the Blessed Sacrament many times, many of us are well familiar…
January 27, 2023 392 1 Prayer in Our Own Words: What the Christian Shepherds Say Question: If a believer finds that prayer in his own words allows him to achieve greater humility and repentance than a prayer from the…
October 25, 2022 772 2 The Locus of the Image of God in Man: the Body, the Soul, or Both? The Scripture teaches us that God created man in His image: “in the image of God He created him” (Genesis 1:27). But what constitutes…
October 14, 2022 105 0 Why Do Some of Christ’s Parables Involve Business? Several parables of Christ use examples from trade and commerce We heard one of them recently in our gospel reading on 2 October, the…
August 17, 2022 767 8 Which New Testament Books Could Have Been Left Out of the Canon and Why? The ancient Church used apostolic writings and the Apocrypha, which have also co-existed with bogus texts claiming to be authentic. The Church had to…
July 24, 2022 376 0 What is Holy Water and How to Use It? What is holy water symbolism in the Bible? Where does holy water come from? How to use it correctly and for what purpose? Find…
February 28, 2022 642 0 A Sin That Will Never Be Forgiven Is there a sin that the all-merciful God will never forgive? The answer is yes. However, not everything is as simple as it looks….
February 22, 2022 1438 2 How Our Prayers Can Help the Departed: Some Practical Examples Saint Theophan the Recluse once remarked, “We pray for the departed like for the living, whether or not they had been following the way…
February 21, 2022 163 0 “I Have the Right to Do Anything — but not Everything Is Beneficial” A Homily on the Parable of the Lost Son Verses from the Four Gospels and Apostolic letters are read at every liturgy. Do they always bring an identical message? Yes and no. But…