(Feast Day ~ May 19) So often we find, in the Orthodox approach to life, that issues are “both/and” instead of “either/or”. We learn from Holy Scripture that Christians are to be both in the world and in heaven; in the Liturgy, we express both sorrow for our sins (“Lord, have mercy upon us”) and […]

(Feast Day ~ May 18) Most of the earliest saints of the Church were martyrs, and for many of those saints, we have few historical details other than their names and the fact that they faced death rather than deny their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But a detailed report was written and preserved […]

(Feast Day ~ May 16)  St. Brendan epitomizes the Irish monastic: he was born into a devout family, his brother becoming a bishop and his sister an abbess; he was destined for the monastic life from an early age; he was keenly aware of the supernatural; and he carried the Irish desire for peregrinatio to […]

(Feast Day ~ May 14) The goal of the Christian life is sanctification, union with God. We are to follow holy Scripture and the traditions of the Fathers, we are to pray fervently and partake of the Sacraments in striving for holy living. In our quest for “deification” we are to abstain from all that […]

(Feast Day ~ May 14)    Time and time again we are reminded that God, in his infinite mercy, will receive even the most dissolute sinners if they repent of their sins and turn to him. The story of the Passion, which we hear many times in Holy Week, gives us the penitent thief as an […]

(Feast Day ~ May 12) For those of us who are converts to the Orthodox faith, it is sometimes tempting to go to extremes in our zeal for this new way of life. We often become rigorous in our discipline and critical of “cradle” Orthodox Christians for what appears to us as laxity. It should not […]

Feast Day ~ May 9 In the readings which we hear at the Paschal Vigil, we are reminded that the Christian faith did not begin with the birth of Our Lord or His Resurrection, nor with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Christ – and therefore, Christianity – is from before time; He […]

(Feast Day ~ May 7)   Elements of our Lord’s story of the Prodigal Son can apply to most of us at some time or other in our lives. We have all abandoned our father’s “house” for what appears to be a more advantageous life of our own choosing. When we come to our senses, […]

Feast Day ~ May 7 Today, we would not look to an academic institution to produce saints of the Church. But in 7th and 8th century Britain, a school founded by St. Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, provided the spiritual atmosphere for learning to live a holy life. The school was directed by the monk, […]