Bridging the Ecclesial, the Academic, and the Political
Since the recent article by my deeply respected friend and teacher Fr. John Chryssavgis caused heated arguments, I, as a Ukrainian, would like to respond by clarifying certain issues, expressing my appreciation, and presenting criticism. The most important points that Fr. John makes are the following: (1) that church and world are not two separate…
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As ever-blooming fruits, you offer the teachings of your God-given book,O wise John, most blessed, while sweetening the hearts of all them that heed it with vigilance;for it is a ladder from the earth unto Heaven that confers glory on the souls that ascend itand honor you faithfully. (Kontakion—Tone 1) Have you ever found yourself…
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We’ve written down the story given to us by Mary (the name has been changed) who was at the “Quench My Sorrows” Church in Mar’yino on the day of Alexei Navalny’s obsequies. It’s a survey of all that took place, through the eyes of a witness.
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The first time I saw an altar girl was in a Roman Catholic Church that I had walked into. During this time, I was going through a crisis as a woman in the church, struggling with the pain coming from experiences of being dismissed, devalued, and pushed out. I remember crying as I was kneeling…
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We are honored to present the first-place junior and senior division speeches from the 2023 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival held at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton, NJ. The oratorical festival is an annual nationwide youth ministry of the Department of Religious Education of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America that gives students…
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On February 7th, 2023, still a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, I boarded a plane and left the Holy Land, where I was serving as a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (REM). Only after landing in Antalya (Turkey) did I publish a post on social media in which I announced my…
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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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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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On February 8, the students who gathered for a regular worship service at a chapel of Asbury University, a small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky, found themselves unable to leave at the service’s end. They continued to pray with their hands extended, making public confessions of repentance and praise, for hours. The nonstop service…
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Russian Sophiology has returned. For decades, speaking of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov or any of the Russian Sophiologists was usually to invoke a niche interest. Yet today, judging by translations and secondary literature, Fr. Bulgakov in particular has emerged as a force in systematic theology that far exceeds mere historical or confessional interest. His contemporary relevance…
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“We have heard as they were read aloud those words,so shining and luminescent, we have taken in by ear,we have considered in our mindsand honored in our belief.” It is wonderful to be able to share with you how grateful I am for all the encouragement and support from the team at the Institute for…
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On January 17, 2022, a deaconess of the Orthodox Church was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Church Triumphant. Maria Spyropoulou, deaconess of the missionary Church of Korea, fell asleep after an 89-year journey to earth. Born February 6, 1933 in Greece, she studied Pedagogics in Athens (1952-54) and worked as a teacher. She studied…
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The quiet cadence of prayer and fasting as Lent began was shattered with the invasion of Ukraine. Forgiveness Vespers was ridden with sorrow and disbelief. There was no escaping the sadness and helplessness as we prayed. As I quietly mouthed the words to “Open to Me the Gates of Repentance,” the full meaning of the…
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The image of God was truly preserved in you, O mother,For you took up the Cross and followed Christ.By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away;But to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal.Therefore your spirit, O holy Mother Mary, rejoices with the Angels. Troparion, Tone…
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Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is still uncoiling, but the destruction he is inflicting on the people of Ukraine has already succeeded in uniting the fractious Orthodox churches in Ukraine around defense of their homeland. He has also ensured that the Patriarchate of Moscow—so closely aligned with Vladimir Putin—has no future in Ukraine, whatever…
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I first encountered the writings of Jim Forest in the summer of 1969. It was during the height of the Vietnam War. I was 19 years old. The previous December I had dropped out of Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington, and sent my draft card back to the Selective Service System with a lengthy note…
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Commanders of the heavenly hosts,we who are unworthy beseech you,by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory,and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you:Deliver us from all harm, for you are the commanders of the powers on high!(Troparion for the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other…
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You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God,revealing Your glory to Your disciples as far as they could bear it. Let Your everlasting Light also shine upon us sinners.Through the prayers of the Theotokos,O Giver of Light, glory to You! (Troparion for Transfiguration—Tone 7) During my Seminary days, walking into Chapel meant walking by,…
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“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind. . .”* The Pentecost feast-day reading from Acts (2:1-21) is absolutely galvanized with spiritual energy, isn’t it? It radiates with the brightness of faith coming into being…
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A few days ago, I called up a Jesuit priest in Bihar (an eastern state of India) to know his thoughts on the conditions of Christians during the ongoing pandemic. He was bemused by the question and emphatically stated—the rich survive and the poor die, that’s the story of the pandemic. Christians, like all others…
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Like all Byzantine art historians, I am concerned about the conversion this year of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Not being able to travel because of the pandemic, I only know about the current state of the building from images on the internet and from friends in Istanbul, especially David Hendrix, who has supplied the…
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Born and raised in the United States, it was a blessing never to have experienced war firsthand. War was something that happened “over there”—not at home. Certain liturgical prayers were thankfully not immediately relevant, such as, “For the freeing of our captive brothers,” following the diptychs in the Armenian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. From the perspective of…
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“In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Jesus may have prayed about several of the things that worry us today: the feeling that the world has been overrun by elements of evil can be overwhelming. So, it…
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I discovered Andrei Rublev’s The Trinity icon ten years ago and have been using this icon for prayer ever since. I especially turn to the Trinity (both the icon and the Father, Son and Spirit) during times of crisis. Given the COVID-19 Pandemic, coupled with the racial violence that seems to have been magnified in 2020,…
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Orthodox pride themselves on belonging to the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church” founded by Jesus Christ—and with good reason. Orthodox point to the loftiness of Orthodox theology, the beauty and solemnity of its liturgy, its mystical spirituality, the holiness of its saints, and the transcendentalism of its icons, liturgical music, and religious architecture. For…
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I categorically refuse to pay an entrance fee for a church, out of principle. When I was in Bratislava, and the Catholic cathedral charged a very small fee, I did not enter. When I returned to the wonderful Cathedral Church in Trogir, Croatia, two years ago, it was selling entrance tickets—so I relied on my…
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When I first read paragraph 56 of For the Life of the World: Toward A Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, I immediately had the sense that it represented a major step forward in Muslim-Orthodox relations. I think it is important to call special attention to this part of the text, because this paragraph is…
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During the last few days, the Bible has been disrespected not only by President Trump but also by many people who sought to defend it. The Bible is being used as an instrument of political rhetoric in a divided country. It has been subjected to ridicule in a time when we should be reading it,…
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“Heartful thanksgiving should have first place in our book of prayer. Next should be confession and genuine contrition of soul. After that should come our request to the universal King.” So writes St John Climacus, seventh-century abbot of Mount Sinai, in his classic work The Ladder of Divine Ascent. I do not think that he intended…
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Many Christians around the world have come to realise over the last few weeks that this year’s Holy Week and Pascha will be somewhat unlike any that they have previously experienced, on account of the current viral pandemic. Very many churches are now closed, with services cancelled or in-person participation restricted to a select “skeleton…
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