God prefers to reveal His ways through paradox. Because mystery is paradoxical. But people don't like paradox; people want clearcut answers, clearcut methodologies. And so people get confused. Why did God choose this way? Wouldn't it have been easier and less messy if God did it otherwise, maybe by just waving his hand and telling …
It’s His Nature
In the middle of Lent we pause to reflect on the Cross of Jesus Christ. And we hear again Jesus calling us to take up our cross and follow him. Take up the cross that represents the weight of my ungodly thoughts and actions, the weight of my neglect of the least of his brothers and …
The φρόνημα of the Cross
The cross is the stumbling block for most people who turn away from Christianity or refuse to accept its vision of God. How could God be so cruel as to demand such a thing? How could God allow his son to die such a horrible death? Of course to even ask a question such …
Cruciform Love
A few weeks ago I had told of a woman we met in October at the island of Hydra in Greece. She had just returned from Latin America and vowed never to return. She was turned off by the proliferation of crucifixes. Everywhere she went in Latin America there were crucifixes, and she wanted no …
The Cross of Holy Friday
Giles Fraser is a brilliant religion commentator for the Guardian newspaper of London, and I've referred to him in a previous post. He is Anglican, but seems to have an immense understanding of all Christian traditions, including our own Eastern tradition. He is also able to communicate the deepest truths of Christianity in our contemporary historical …
Theology of the Cross, Part 1
The third in a short series of Bible Study classes exploring the themes of the Sundays of Lent focused on the Cross of Jesus Christ, which is venerated on the Third Sunday of Lent in the Orthodox Church (last Sunday, March 15th). An audio file of the class is attached, together with the PowerPoint presentation and a PDF version of the …
Ancient Answers 