Byzantine, Texas

Names like Scott Hahn and Robert Fastiggi are going to mean nothing to Orthodox readers, but they will send Steubenville hearts aflutter for those in the know. Still, I think this topic deserves an approachable English-language title for those interested. We tend to know what "we" believe about something, but how many of us know about what the Lutherans or Anglicans formulated? One can easily say "Heretics will be heretics so why should I care," (I write this to forestall such a comment) but it is important to not only know what we believe and why but where others went and how they got there. That's a good way to furrow a path back to orthodoxy. It is certainly superior to a condescending chuckle and a "Tell me how that works out for you." ( NLM ) - We have just received word about a new book which looks very interesting on the history of Transubstantiation as a theological concept, The Secret History of Transubstantiation: Pulling Back The Veil On The...

H/T: Orthochristian Abp. Sotirios (Athanassoulas) of Toronto penned this letter entitled " On the Absence of an Ecclesial Consciousness ." It's a confusing document. I can't tell with whom he is angry. There are no examples of the unchristian behavior he is so upset with seeing. But he is clear that those in opposition are in fact "tearing the robe of Christ," egotistic, and possibly not even really Orthodox. So I can neither judge the merits of his arguments nor the perfidiousness of the behavior he is seeing. What is the merit of this letter then? A warning to people who guess they are the target? A public message of support for Constantinople? Declaration of anger formatted with a grab-bag of complaints? I don't know. Will anyone know what he is talking about in 20 years? 10 years? 2 years? I struggle to know what he is talking about now and am curious if the average parishioner in Toronto who reads these letters does either. ( GOA-CA ) - If you were...

These Jordanville liturgy books are great. Not only are they conveniently sized, they are also sturdy tomes. I look to ROCOR texts for completeness and expect this to be not only useful in services, but a great reference. ( HTP ) - This convenient pocket-sized book contains the necessary texts for the lenten celebration of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts by the priest and deacon, interpolated with comprehensive rubrical directions. The parallel format gives the Church Slavonic text on the left page and the English on the right. The book also includes thanksgiving prayers upon receiving Holy Communion and the priest's prayers at Matins. This smyth sewn and stamped hardback edition is printed in two colors, with rubrics in red. Includes two marking ribbons.

Who doesn't like Potamitis books? Looks like a great new series. ( Potamitis ) - The Saints of the Church are the living seeds of Christ’s teachings that sprout across the ages and grow into mighty, spiritual trees, under which we find shelter from the blizzards  and storms of this world. By reading daily the Life of a Saint, or the Synaxarion, we are inspired to serve the Lord and to live according to His Will.  My Synaxarion “A Saint for Every Day” is a brand new series of books, with each book covering the lives of the Saints commemorated in each month. As of January 20th, 2021 we have published the first volume, for the Saints commemorated on September, the first month of the Ecclesiastical year. We ask that you have us in your prayers, so that we may complete this series in good health! 92 pages, 9.25X7.89 inches, laminated hardcover. Printed by Orthodox families in Thessaloniki, Greece, complying with all relevant ISO norms, on the best European quality paper.

Some people really enjoyed this letter. Others, not so much. Either way, give it a read to see how one hierarch is navigating contentious topics. ( Antiochian ) - Dear Reverend Clergy,  Greetings and blessings to you and your families in the Name of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!  I pray that you and your holy communities have celebrated joyous and grace-filled feasts of our Lord's Nativity in the flesh, Circumcision on the eighth day, and Baptism in the Jordan. In all of these holy feasts, we witness the love, humility, and obedience of our Lord. He was born to the humble Virgin and laid in a manger to unite His divinity to our humanity. He submitted to circumcision in the flesh in accordance to the Mosaic Law to heal the uncircumcision of our hearts. He bowed His head to be baptized by the hand of His creature to heal the stiffness of our necks. What love and condescension we see in the saving dispensation of our God!  The contrast between the example of our Lo...

This book is over a hundred pages. You might think from the cover that this is some booklet or short title, but there is a lot here. Thirteen chapters of material with illustrations throughout. And those illustrations are quite approachable for children. They aren't photos clipped to fit the text, they were made specifically for this book and it shows. The summary below puts this book to use in a number of places, but to me this book is ideal for the person told to run a church school program who has no idea where to start. With minimal preparation a new church school teacher could have a class ready to go. It would be an easy thing to print out some supporting material and look like you know what you are doing. They also mention homeschooling uses. This would certainly work for a parent who needs some prompts or for a child who is reticent or reluctant to listen to mom talk about "Church stuff." Plan out how much you want to do a week, post-it note stopping points, and y...

I needed a new icon, so it was convenient and fortuitous timing that Holy Transfiguration just put out their new two-volume Great Horologion. If you don't know what that is, I'll let Wikipedia come to the rescue: The Horologion is primarily a book for the use of the Reader and Chanters (as distinguished from the Euchologion, which contains the texts used by the Priest and Deacon). Several varieties of Horologia exist, the most complete of which is the Great Horologion (Greek: Ὡρολόγιον τò μέγα, Horologion to mega; Slavonic: Великий Часословъ, Velikij Chasoslov, Romanian: Ceaslovul Mare). It contains the fixed portions of the Daily Office (Vespers, Compline (Great and Small), Midnight Office, Matins, the Little Hours, the Inter-Hours, Typica, Prayers before Meals). The parts for the Reader and Chanters are given in full, the Priest's and Deacon's parts are abbreviated. The Great Horologion will also contain a list of Saints commemorated throughout the year (with their Tr...

One thing that perplexes people is the vast compensation differences between jurisdictions. You have often had the GOA and Antiochians on one side, Serbs and OCA somewhere in the middle, and ROCOR at the other end. So it's interesting to see the OCA apply a Median Family Income-based approach to clergy compensation. But what I found really admirable was this line: "Whether a parish priest is or is not married, does or does not have children at home, and whether or not the parish priest has a spouse that does or does not work is immaterial in setting the salary for the job of the pastor." Some parishes try their darnedest to take care of their priest and his family. They take it as a point of personal pride that their priest is able to feed his family, send them to school, pay medical bills, and not worry about things unduly so that he can be freed to be on-call 24 hours a day to shepherd his flock. But many more parishes are looking for a "deal." So it becomes a...

( Orthodox Times ) - The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarch, met for the three days, from the 12th to the 14th of January 2021, at the Holy Monastery of Zoodochos Pigi in Valoukli, where they ratified the minutes of previous sessions and addressed the issues on the agenda. On the 14th of January, the Holy Synod, following the suggestion of the Ecumenical Patriarch, proceeded to fulfil the demand of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy, after having previously removed from its jurisdiction Malta, which will henceforth be an Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Metropolitan Polykarpos of Spain and Portugal, who had served for some years as Protosyggellos, was elected the new Shepherd of Italy. Archimandrite Bissarion Komzias was elected Metropolitan of Spain and Portugal. He will be ordained a bishop at the Phanar on the 25th of January, on the Feast of St. Gregory the Theologian. Finally, following a proposal made by Archbishop Nikitas of Th...

 

( Antiochian ) - Calling all homeschool moms! The Department of Homeschooling​ invites you​​ to a monthly online "Homeschool Tea," hosted by Kh. Kristina Gillquist for encouragement, conversation, and support.  Topics to be discussed in these one hour sessions will include: Motherly Boldness and Confidence in a World of Heretical Noise Out-of-Eden Syndrome: What happens when we fall short? It's True, We Actually Have Nothing Better to Do And much more! Register today for these free sessions!  (Donations appreciated)

( OYDNA ) - You can join virtually Thursday, January 28th and Friday, January 29th for our Annual Youth & Camp Workers Conference! Click here to register. 2021 Conference Speakers Creation of Beauty: Using Our Talents to Create God-Pleasing Art Dr. Peter Bouteneff teaches courses in ancient and modern theology and spirituality at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary (SVOTS), where he is professor of Systematic Theology. After taking a degree in music in 1983, he lived and worked in Japan and traveled widely in Asia and Greece. He has an M.Div. from St Vladimir’s Seminary and a doctorate from Oxford University, where he studied under Bishop Kallistos Ware​. He has broad interests in theology and is committed to exploring the connections between theology and culture. He is director of the Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir's Seminary, an in-depth endeavor involving concerts, lectures, and publications. As of 2016 he also directs the Seminary's Sacred Arts Initiative. His most re...

From the blog of Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov. a post entitled " The Danger of Academic Christianity ." It is not uncommon to hear the comment from those outside the Church that Christians seem to be no different from most secular people or from non-believers. Christians recognize this problem as well and often retort that while the Church is indeed “spotless and without blemish” (Eph 5:27), the people who make up the Church “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). It is often said that the Church is like a hospital that is naturally full of sick people. Indeed, even such holy men as Saint Macarius the Great prayed: “O God, cleanse me a sinner, for I have never done anything good in Thy sight.” (Yet this should hardly be an occasion to propose that since such great saints never did anything good in the sight of God [and they would not fib or lie about that, would they?], then we are also justified in not doing anything good.) To be sure, Christianity is not about...

The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (Archdiocese for the Eastern United States) is selling a new Peshitta English New Testament. It can be purchased for $35 plus shipping. More on it available here  Have no idea what that is? NT Canon provides some insight (direct link here  and Wikipedia here ). At Edessa, capital of the principality of Osrhoëne (in eastern Syria), and western Mesopotamia neither Latin nor Greek was understood. Therefore, the native language Syriac (a Semitic language related to Aramaic) was used in Christian writings. The political fortunes of Edessa present a remarkable contrast to those of other centers of Christianity. Until 216 CE in the reign of the Emperor Caracalla, Edessa lay outside the Roman Empire. Christianity seems to have reached the Euphrates valley about the middle of the 2nd century, that is, while the country was still an independent state. Since its people did not speak Greek, like their neighboring Syrians in Antioch, it is not surprisi...

( Orthodox Times ) - Archimandrite Nikodemos Angnostopoulos, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain and Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame in England, contributed with a book chapter entitled “Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Nostra Aetate and Muslim–Christian Relations” to the volume Nostra Aetate, Non-Christian Religions, and Interfaith Relations published by Villanova University. In the light of the ongoing development of the relations and the cooperation between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches through the initiatives of the primates of the two Churches Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archimandrite Nikodemos Angnostopoulos analyzes the Ecumenical significance of the Second Vatican Council under an Orthodox perspective. It should be noted that the convocation of Vatican II was not only a significant religious internal event for the Catholic Church. The Council and especially the “Decree on Ecum...

( orthochristian.com ) - Every Church service and every time we go to church during the pandemic is a confession of faith, according to His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. During a service in the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Skouriotis, Cyprus, on his feast day on January 2, Met. Neophytos preached that “every service that takes place now, whether it be festive, as today, or a simple service with just a singer, the priest, and two believers, is very important,” reports Romfea. According to him, “every service and every time you go to church, whether inside or outside the church, is a confession of faith.” “Every time you commune in the traditional way, established by the Mother Church throughout the ages, it is a confession of faith. Please to continue so in our humble diocese. Let the law do what it’s supposed to do, and people of faith do what they are supposed to do,” His Eminence called. “ We live not only for the earth, but also f...