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…
This post is actually some further thoughts on “My Experience of the Jesus Prayer.” I have also added it to the end of the original post, so you can read it all in one place. The words of the Jesus Prayer are “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” But…
I was emailing with someone who wants to take up the Jesus Prayer, and I thought it might help to picture how the Prayer has gone, for me. Here is what I said: +++ I can tell you more about what the aim of the Prayer is, what condition…
It’s the very last day of Christmas today, and I wanted to observe it by looking at the mystery and marvel of Christ’s Incarnation just one more time. As I continue to read The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Holy Apostles Convent, 1989), I get to read so…
January 2, 2026 This life of the saint comes from St. Juliana of Lazarevo Orthodox Church, in Santa Fe, NM. It was translated from the Russian by Isaac Lambertsen, and I have corrected some formatting errors. -FMG THE LIFE OF THE HOLY & RIGHTEOUS JULIANA OF LAZAREVO Whose Memory the…
(2025-7-11 – Substack) A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at an evangelical church, on the topic of the Atonement. If you don’t know the term, it refers to the theological explanation of how Jesus’ death on the Cross saves us. It’s a how-does-it-work question. We Orthodox have…
