John 9:1-38 Jesus gives sight to the man born blind “St. Irenaeus (second century) interprets “that the works of God may be manifest in him” (John 9:3) as a direct reference to the continuing work of God as Creator of the human person: ‘Now the work of God is the fashioning of man. For, as the
Continue Reading »
St Ephrem of Syria – On Paradise
A person who has acquired good health in himself and is aware in his mind of what sickness is, has gained something beneficial, and he knows something profitable; but the person who lies in sickness; and knows in his mind what good health is like, is vexed by his sickness and tormented in his mind.
Continue Reading »
Christianity is Materialist!
“My faith, finally, is that if I am canceled by the power death has in our world, then God’s greater power can overcome it.” (John Garvey, Death and the Rest of Our Life, p. 78) On my first visit to Armenia in 1990, I visited the home of Anahid and Kevork Oynoyan. They had lost their twelve-year-old
Continue Reading »
THE GOD-SEER MOSES – A PROPHET OF THE PAST
In the Nicene Creed, our Symbol of Faith, we confess that the Holy Spirit “spake by the prophets.” Usually the idea of a “prophet” is associated with foretelling the future—it is for prophets to speak of coming times, and especially the eschaton, or to proclaim the coming wrath of the Lord should the people not
Continue Reading »
The Blessing of the Bees
“The bee is small among flying creatures, but what it produces is the best of sweet things.” (Wisdom of Sirach 11:3) There has been in the news the alarming stories of the decline of the bee population throughout the world. Many causes have been postulated to explain this decline. Whatever the cause, the loss of
Continue Reading »
THE BIBLE ON THE AERIAL TOLLHOUSES
Where in the Bible do they talk about aerial tollhouses—those obstacles that the forces of darkness put in the way of souls rising after death to heaven through the space under heaven? Why do the demons wait for a soul in the under-heavens? What and who can help a soul pass through the tollhouses? How
Continue Reading »
The Sacramentality of Matter: Artists, Wood, Paint and God Enfleshed
Orthodox Christians celebrate the memory of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Sound boring? Better hold onto your seat, because this is a wild ride! Nearly four hundred years after the establishment of the Christian Byzantine Empire, a movement of rigorist puritanism began to develop in the Church that viewed icons with
Continue Reading »
32 SIGNS AND SYMBOLS IN CHRISTIANITY
The Ass The ass is frequently portrayed in Renaissance painting, particularly in pictures of the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, and the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The most familiar portrayal is in the Nativity scenes, where the ass regularly appears. The ass and the ox symbolize that the humblest and
Continue Reading »
PARADISE – SPIRITUAL AND EMPIRICAL
“And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the
Continue Reading »