Ever since the Neo-patristic revival of the 20th century, pioneered by such greats as Fr George Florovsky and Vladimir Lossky to name but two, we have witnessed a recovery of the Orthodox teaching of salvation, commonly termed deification or theosis. Many people both inside and outside of the Orthodox Church are now aware of this and even Protestants, in some quarters, attempt to seize upon this "Eastern" legacy to talk about salvation in broader and more beautiful ways than

In a 2007 Commencement Address at St Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary, Fr Thomas Hopko said this: I urge you, and, if I could, I would command you, to read St. Anthony’s thirty-eight sayings in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Everything we need to know in order to live is there for us in its simplest and clearest form. As we commemorate St Anthony this Sunday, I thought it worthwhile to look at just one of these sayings. All 38 sayings can easily be found online, however, and

As we continue in the season of the Theophany, the Baptism of our Lord, it might be instructive to give a bit of attention to one of the major themes of the feast: clothing. Yes, you read that right, clothing. Only, we are not talking here about shirts, shoes, and blue jeans. Rather, we hear in the hymns of this feast repeatedly about Christ coming naked to baptism in order to clothe Adam/man. Way back at the beginning of the story, as it is told in the mystical language of t

It is a sort of happy coincidence that on the civil calendar the New Year begins in the midst of the Church season when we are keeping the feasts that celebrate the birth of the Lord, His circumcision, baptism, and finally His meeting in the temple on February 2. This is, as I say, a coincidence because, among other things, the Church New Year falls on September 1. Nevertheless, I would like to exploit this happy coincidence as we enter the New Year of 2016. All four of the G