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No one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described.

(Kontakion for the Sunday of Orthodoxy)

Today the Orthodox throughout the world celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy over the last of the great heresies.

A heresy is a deviation from the truth of the faith. Orthodoxy does not have an official compendium of doctrines apart from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed proclaimed by the first two Ecumenical Councils of 325 and 381. However, this Creed lays the groundwork for a consistent and excellent perspective on who God is and what He does for His creation. God is proclaimed to be perfectly One. He is the Father. Also He eternally begets the Son, who is true God of true God, the divine Person concretely incarnate within space and time as Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ.

Jesus is one divine Person in whom the divine and human natures are in perfect union, yet unmixed but distinct. It is this, Orthodoxy joyfully proclaims, which saves us. The Son of God has lovingly accepted to be fully incarnate as human, thereby linking with divinity the humanity we share with Him as a result of this Incarnation, for He always remains true God of true God. It is this which opens the way to Paradise for us. It is this which makes it possible for us to grow towards the potential with which God created us, to become like our Creator, gods by grace as He is God by nature. Read More

Stefan Kleinhenz

In the wake of yet another school shooting, seventeen families are left without their loved ones, a school is left with a broken heart, and an entire nation is left without peace.

The unfortunate reality is that school shootings have become a recurring predicament in this country, and the time has come where we can no longer ignore it. We as a people must search for real solutions; this has to begin with ourselves. We are not only witnessing, but allowing, the fundamental breakdown of our community to occur right before our eyes—and as a nation we can’t allow this matter to become subject to partisan politics, because the right to life comes not from government, but from God. The desire to protect it is something we can all agree upon. We cannot be Republican or Democrat when discussing this matter, because we are not talking about a political issue but a human crisis. We have forgotten that we are all on the same team. To allow our political differences to not only divide us, but to turn us against each other, is to allow darkness to succeed in terrorizing our community. From the foundation of our nation, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, to the core of our faith, Love one another, we must go forward and be strengthened in the fundamental principles we all agree upon.  

Unfortunately, tragedies seem to be the only thing in our modern world that don’t have a political agenda. And like a phoenix rising from the ashes, great beauty can come from the horrific acts of evil. In the horrendous moments of a school shooting, people are not concerned with political differences or disagreements: they are solely determined to survive. They are all united in their human nature, in which their greatest effort is to protect one another and to defend human life. Moments of great calamity breed our necessity for one another in ways that other situations don’t. Read More

The following represents a departure from the safe space that our readers have come to expect from us on questions of sexuality and gender.

Dr. Ford of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary submitted the following open letter for publication on November 7, 2017 in reply to Giacomo Sanfilippo’s “A Response to Ross Douthat’s Orthodox Admirer.” In his article Sanfilippo did not name the admirer or the seminary where he teaches.

In close consultation with an Orthodox licensed therapist the editors proposed to Dr. Ford a dialogical format for presenting his thoughts. This would have entailed an abridgement of his letter—which, at 5000 words, runs a full five times over our usual limit—and the interpolation of a paragraph or two of commentary from us at various intervals. 

Two main considerations guided our proposal: first and foremost, the therapist’s concern for the potential harm to emotionally vulnerable LGBTQ readers of Dr. Ford’s unedited letter; and second, the fact that Dr. Ford does not actually engage with anything that we have published on the question of same-sex love. 

Dr. Ford declined to proceed under the terms that we requested.

After sitting on his letter for nearly four months we have decided for a number of reasons to publish it exactly as written. 

Our hope is that some benefit may accrue from adding this document to the conversation on sexual diversity in human nature and how it might reflect the image and likeness of God.

Addendum on 2/28/18: See Gregory Tucker’s response to Dr. Ford here.

My Response to a Response to a Facebook Post: An Open Letter of Brotherly Love to Giacomo Sanfilippo 

by Dr. David C. Ford

November 8, 2017
Holy Archangel Michael and all the Angels

Dear Giacomo, fellow-struggler in Christ,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I feel your pain, and I greatly appreciate your strong desire to help alleviate the pain that others are experiencing, as they try to find their way to inner peace in this era of much confusion  concerning sexual issues.  Read More