Orthodox Christian Clergy Against Racism: Some Additional Thoughts
Orthodoxy, Sissies, and the Performance of Masculinity: Part One
Another Western Captivity Already? Call for Articles
The Three-Barred Orthodox Cross in the News (And It’s Not Good)
Review: Pavel Florensky: Early Religious Writings 1903-1909
It’s Orthodox to Hate Jews (and Other Gems)
Sunday of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
A Response to the Orthodox Clergy Condemnation of Nationalism Read More
Throughout history, people have journeyed to physical spots or destinations of spiritual significance to them. In pre-Christian times, pagan believers traveled to various cultic sites—for instance, the oracle at Delphi. Similarly, the Jewish people traveled to Jerusalem. This was the site of their temple, the privileged locus of the presence of their God. In establishing a covenant with the ancient Israelites, God commanded that they should come to Jerusalem three times a year to keep feast to Him. Every able-bodied Jew was to travel to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the First Fruits of the Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering, or what is now known as the Feast of Tabernacles (Ex 23:14). In the Gospel narrative from today, Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Unleavened bread is the bread of the desert. By the time of Jesus, this feast was associated with the journey of the ancient Israelites through the desert—the Passover event. Read More
HE SHARES OUR SORROWSI’ve never lost a close friend to death. My parents and several aunts, uncles, and cousins have passed on, but no one who I would say was an especially close friend. I can only surmise that the death of a family member affects the heart differently from the death of a close friend. Family relationships can be complicated and “messy,” so to speak. We don’t choose our family; we’re sort of “stuck” with them. Some of us may be fortunate to really enjoy the company of our families, but for others it’s painful.
Relationships with our friends are quite different. Typically, we choose our friends. Usually they share our interests, we are comfortable with them, and we may even feel free to share things with them we wouldn’t share with our immediate family, or even with our priest, for that matter. We meet them at school, in our neighborhoods, at Scout meetings, or on a baseball team. Others don’t make close friends until they get into college. Many times, we just gravitate towards each other. The greatest friends are those who, even though we may be separated from them by hundreds and even thousands of miles, and not see them for years, are still as close to us as if we lived next door and talked every day, and when we do get together we take up right where we left off.
Jesus had a close friend, Lazarus. We’re not given the details surrounding their friendship. We know that Jesus dined in his home in Bethany, which was a “Sabbath day’s journey” from Jerusalem. We have more specific details about Jesus’ interaction with Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, than the content of any conversations between Jesus and Lazarus. The Apostle John in his Gospel, chapter 11, alludes to their friendship. Lazarus fell sick and word is sent to Jesus from Mary and Martha: “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” When Jesus receives the news from Lazarus’ sisters, He is “on the road” with His disciples. John writes that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Read More
In a letter to the Deputy Secretary of State on March 27th, 2018, the three Serbian Orthodox hierarchs in the United States called upon American officials to condemn the brutal police assault on Marko Djuric, the Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo & Metohija, which also targeted journalists and unarmed citizens. Over 34 people were seriously injured during the attack on March 26th, with many requiring hospitalization.
Noting that the brutality “seems to be an integral part of an orchestrated campaign against Kosovo’s Serbian population coming in the wake of the assassination of Oliver Ivanovic,” the hierarchs stated that the Kosovo Albanian authorities have once again demonstrated their lack of willingness to assure the most basic human rights and civil liberties for Serbians who were living in their own land.
The bishops also called on the State Department to make clear that “the United States will never condone beatings of peaceful citizens, journalists, and public officials” in Kosovo & Metohija.
