Church Life and Pastoral Care

Publications: 39

Letter to Russia: The Importance of Finding Those Who Are United in Spirit
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Religion and Conflict

Letter to Russia: The Importance of Finding Those Who Are United in Spirit

Editor’s Note: The Orthodox Church in Russia is divided, but this division is not canonical nor administrative. Moreover, it is not always visible from the outside. While the official Church has become an integral part of Putin’s political regime, on a deeper level, there is resistance on behalf of small Orthodox communities and individuals who…

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The Conspiratorial Cleric
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Orthodoxy and Modernity

The Conspiratorial Cleric

Read part one of this two-part essay In 2020, Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Archbishop Alexander (Golitzin) of Dallas and the South warned his flock in a diocesan letter about the teachings of Fr. Peter Heers, which His Grace noted were “sanctioned by no canonical jurisdiction.” While the focus on Heers’s canonical status has demanded…

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Heersay: Fr. Peter Heers and Online Orthodoxy  
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Orthodoxy and Modernity

Heersay: Fr. Peter Heers and Online Orthodoxy  

On Bright Thursday 2023, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States issued a statement about an Orthodox cleric without a canonical home. During the bright joy of Paschaltide, the bishops decided to tackle an issue plaguing Orthodoxy in the United States for the past several years: namely, how to publicly denounce a…

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Economists vs. F.M. Dostoyevsky <br><span style='color:#8D8381;font-size:18px;'>The Role of Christ’s Church in Crime and Punishment</span>
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Public Life

Economists vs. F.M. Dostoyevsky
The Role of Christ’s Church in Crime and Punishment

It was Garry S. Becker who, in his seminal 1968 paper, introduced economics to the area of crime and punishment. Academic economists, who disagree among themselves about so many issues, concur about crime and punishment. Out of four main universally accepted motives of punishment (retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation [i.e., resocialization], and deterrence), economists agree that deterrence…

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An Act of Lighthearted Betrayal <br><span style='color:#8D8381;font-size:18px;'>How Moscow's Official Church Hunts Down Her Anti-War Priests</span>
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Religion and Conflict

An Act of Lighthearted Betrayal
How Moscow's Official Church Hunts Down Her Anti-War Priests

There were relatively few people in Moscow who knew Fr. John Koval before February 2023. Native to Luhansk, Ukraine, he moved to Moscow and graduated from the famous Central Music School of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. He received theological training at St. Thikhon Orthodox University of Humanities before being ordained some twenty years ago…

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From Altar Calls to Theosis <br><span style='color:#8D8381;font-size:18px;'>What Orthodoxy Showed Me about a Life of Transformation</span>
Church Life and Pastoral Care, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Theology

From Altar Calls to Theosis
What Orthodoxy Showed Me about a Life of Transformation

  I did not grow up in a church that observed Lent, but I did grow up around altar calls. For me and my community, these deeply emotional and cathartic encounters at church were often the catalysts for the spiritual transformations I longed for in my youth. And while I’m not entirely against altar calls…

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Disclaimer

Public Orthodoxy seeks to promote conversation by providing a forum for diverse perspectives on contemporary issues related to Orthodox Christianity. The positions expressed in the articles on this website are solely the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Orthodox Christian Studies Center.

Attribution

Public Orthodoxy is a publication of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University