Frank Schaefer is a noted Orthodox writer, speaker and blogger. He recently received a request from a friend in the Chicago area: “Please let me know if your contacts know of any truly loving Orthodox (Greek, Russian or other) churches or missions in Chicago or within an hour’s drive of Chicago.” Frank wrote on …
Operatic Beauty for Earth Day
Wie dünkt mich doch die Aue heut so schön!... "How fair seem the meadows today!... never did I see so fresh and charming the grass, the blossoms and flowers, nor did they smell so sweet of youth or speak with such tender love to me." With these words spoken by Parsifal begins the "Good Friday …
A Holy Earth for Earth Day
Δόστου, Χριστέ μου, τη στερνή χαρά να ιδή και πάλι τη γνώριμή του τη ζωή κοντά στο ακροθαλάσσι Άχ! έτσι αθώα κι έτσι απλά κι αγνά την είχε ψάλει που της αξίζει εκεί ψηλά μαζί μ΄αυτόν ν΄αγιάσει. This little verse was composed by a poet, Λάμπρος Πορφύρας, in memory of one of the most important writers …
Deep theology = Deep ecology
In Norman MacLean’s A River Runs Through It we read this fascinating bit of dialogue between a father and a son: Then [my father] told me, “In the part I was reading it says the Word was in the beginning, and that’s right. I used to think water was first, but if you listen carefully …
Solidarity and love
Excellent commentary in the Guardian newspaper in the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist attacks. The key paragraph is near the end: The biggest nightmare for Isis was how some European countries, such as Germany, welcomed Syrian refugees with open arms. The solidarity shown by thousands of citizens from Greece to Sweden harmed Isis. It cannot …
#JeSuisBruxelles
This is the most used hashtag today in Twitter space, and it's the title of this short blog post. The Guardian newspaper published a selection of artistic responses to today's terrorist attack in Brussels. They all have one thing in common: lamentation. It is indeed a day to lament the divisive and destructive urge in …
The evils of rigidity
As the world is once again shocked by another brutal terrorist attack - this time in Brussels - I want to quote some words written by the late, great French theologian and philosopher, Jacques Ellul (1912-94), in his book Living Faith. He wrote of the connection between rigidity and violence, and thus the two faces of violence …
Blessed are the persecuted
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness/justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10) Blessed are YOU, when when people revile you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. (Matthew 5:11) Eight Beatitudes were spoken in the third person plural …
After a Billion Years…
The anticipation has been building the last few days that a big announcement would be made today, and sure enough it came this morning. Gravitational waves have been detected for the first time, the result of two black holes colliding and merging a billion years ago. Einstein predicted their existence a hundred years ago when …
Life is the Politics of Jesus
It's now a week since the Paris attacks and it has been a tense week, with hateful rhetoric flaring up in France and Europe, and the US. I continue to have reservations about Islam and its compatibility with our western values, but I am dismayed by the level of hate speech that has contaminated our ability to look at the world …
Ancient Answers 