A few days ago, journalist Terry Mattingly posted on his Substack page a column about the beginning of Lent. No, Orthodox Christians don’t have ashes on our forehead (though we may well think, “Dang, that’s cool, why didn’t we think of that?”). We begin with the Rite of Forgiveness, in…
What does “Commitment to Reality” mean to you? You can hear my thoughts in the first episode of this podcast, where the host is Dave Hanegraaff. I met Dave when I went to his father’s chrismation, in April 2017. That day his dad, Hank Hanegraaff, was chrismated along with his…
Well, here we are! On the evening of the first day of Great Lent, we went to Compline. In the churches I’ve been familiar with, Compline is offered every Monday night in Lent. I recommend it to anyone who’d like to just spy out a little Orthodox worship. First, because…
This Sunday is the last day before the beginning of Great Lent, our 7-week journey to Pascha on April 12. (The Pascha service actually begins just before midnight on Saturday, April 11, and is followed by feasting till dawn. All Christians should experience this at least once in their lives.)…
Here’s how this movie was described in the evening’s Program: El Tonto por Cristo is a visually striking, black-and-white cinematic meditation from award-winning filmmaker Josh David Jordan. Set within the quiet, rhythmic mundanity of a remote Texas monastery, the film explores a diverse brotherhood of misfits who have abandoned the…
Here’s my response to a lively comments thread on the Substack of my good friend Rod Dreher. Thanks for mentioning me, Rod. Let me link to a piece I wrote recently about this topic. Even back in the 90s I heard parish priests talking about this pattern (men “get…
Here’s a link to a song by the Stylites, David Mathewes and Cece Yentzen (written by David Mathewes). Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, when Mary and Joseph brought the baby to present him on the 40th day. The aged Simeon took him in…
This Sunday, in addition to being the feast of my patron, St. Felicity of Carthage, is also the beginning of the 70-day journey to Pascha. All the liturgical texts for those 70 days are contained in a big book called the Triodion, so this period of time is sometimes called…
This coming Sunday, February 1, is my “name day,” the feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. Though this group of martyrs also includes four men, it is for the two women that the day is named, with St. Perpetua in the lead. This awarding of honor is with good reason;…
Niko Chocheli is a Georgian-born artist with an atelier north of Philadelphia. I have twice brought artistic granddaughters up for a week of in-person guidance, then followed through the year with his assignments and phone critique. His work is amazing to me, and his style unmistakable. Here’s a letter he…
