Fr. Elijah
Fasting
Fasting is a tool. It is nothing in and of itself. We fast from food and certain pleasures to reveal our need and weakness, and to push ourselves to rely upon God more. Fasting is a test of the strength of our desire for God. Do we want to see Him? We fast from certain foods, because God is our food, and he nourishes our hearts and sustains our lives. If we want to be very strict, we fast also from alcohol, because God is our comfort and we can be ‘drunk’ with his presence in prayer. If a husband and wife can mutually agree to it, they can fast from sexual relations because they want to recognize that it is God that is truly the ‘bond’, ‘unity’, and source of all that is good in the love between them.
Fr. Alexander Schmemann: memory eternal
28th Anniversary of the repose of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann
SYOSSET, NY [OCA]
Tuesday, December 13, 2011, the Feast of Saint Herman of Alaska, marks the 28th anniversary of the repose of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, Dean of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY, and a leading Orthodox theologian.
All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America – this week
Rebecca and I will be from Sunday afternoon to Friday evening at the All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, a triennial hullabaloo. Pray for us and the Church in this land. May the grace of the Holy Spirit make mercy and love to prevail, so that as little as necessary is disturbed by the excessive talking of all of us… We can be reached by phone, and can arrange for Deacon Lawrence or someone else to come and visit in an emergency.
Continue reading
The Holy Prophet Elijah
Feast Day Services of the Holy Prophet Elijah
July 19, 6:30 pm – Vespers at Bond Chapel
July 20, 7:30 am – Liturgy at Bond Chapel
The prophet Elijah is consumed with zeal for the Lord. He is the voice of God’s closure of the heavens and the one who calls down fire and rain in testimony to the truth of the one God. The oath he utters at the beginning of his ministry is interesting: “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.” Elijah’s zeal is to prove that the God of Israel is alive, not just dependent on the constructs of human culture, attention span, or the needs of politics.
Interesting discussion/reflection on the web
Here worthwhile reflections from the blogosphere and elsewhere:
Romans 12: Challenging Christian and Atheist America by Fr. Ted Bobosh
New beginnings in community: Gender issues and the Church by Fr. Alexis Vinogradov
St. Makarios the Great
Our patron saint is Makarios the Great, also known as Makarios the Egyptian. St. Makarios is a great and wise teacher of the spiritual life who lived in the 4th century, and has been considered a powerful heavenly intercessor throughout the ages. He taught by holy example and especially emphasized the transformative power of meditation on the divine name of Jesus Christ, which causes the heart to be enriched and fruitful with divine grace.
Second Half of Great Lent
As we enter the second half of this season of preparation for Pascha—the saving joy of the Resurrection of Christ—let us redouble or prayer, attendance at services, our small ascetic labors, and, most importantly, our faith and hope in God’s help to redeem us from our weakness and insufficiency.
Fasting
Fasting is for the purification of our heart and eyes, so that we may love more purely and see more clearly God and his image in our neighbor. We are to rid ourselves of vanity, despondency, insensitivity, malice and resentment.
God has given us all that we are and that we have to glorify him. So it is, that in giving up a little of the things with which we filled ourselves, we recognize the Creator above the things which he has created.
Christmas Week 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Come join us for the celebration of the two great winter feasts: the Birth of our Lord and the Theophany at his Baptism in Jordan. These feasts are opportunities for us to begin again to understand the incarnation, the birth into our humanity of the Son of God, and the beginning of the revelation of the work of Christ and the Persons of the Trinity. Through the Son of God, the light of the knowledge of God shines on us as we gaze on the accomplishment of the eternal plan of God for our salvation.
How to Prepare for Confession
One should pray and keep regular fasting times before Confession.
While it is normal and healthy to feel shame about one’s sins, one should not feel weighed down by this or fear to confess any particular sin. We can feel shame, but we must also be bold about confronting these sins. The priest is obliged to keep all things confidential, to be even-tempered and unfazed by the sins confessed. Priests have heard many sins, if they have regularly confessed people.