Fasting, praying, Church more than once a week, “take up your cross,” SACRIFICE…Do I have to be a monk?? I have been asked that question on a number of different occasions. With...

The extraordinary thing about the image of Saint Nicholas in the Church is that he is not known for anything extraordinary. He was not a theologian and never wrote a word, yet he...

At various times and circumstances in my life I’ve struggled with a sense of accomplishment and a sense of order. I’m a pretty well-ordered person, outwardly, but inside I often...

I was raised in a parish in the Romanian Episcopate (OCA) , a child of first generation Americans of Romanian parentage. I sang in the choir from early on (my father was the choir...

While the canon of the feast of the Nativity begins to be sung on the festival of the entrance of the Virgin Mary into the temple, the first prefeast hymns of Christmas are sung on...

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann was the Dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary from 1962 until his death in 1983. Hundreds of SVOTS alumni were trained under his keen mind, warm humor...

During the first days of the Christmas fast the Church celebrates the feast of the entrance of the child Mary into the Jerusalem temple… The spiritual story tells how, coming into...

St. Paul encourages us in Eph. 4 to not behave like the rest of the world! As Christians we follow a higher standard. He tells us not to get lost in useless thoughts; futile...

"Orthodoxy does not need more professors, but confessors.” -Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos St. John the Compassionate Mission was founded in 1986 among the poor and the...