In the Middle East, the Arab Spring has given way to a Christian Winter
The line about the American general meeting the Arab Christian isn’t as familiar as it should be. “When did your family convert?” the general asked. “About 2,000 years ago,” the Arab answered wryly. The general’s ignorance is widely shared. Take but one example from closer to home. Over-zealous teachers in London have recently been pulling […]
Friendship in Late Antiquity: the Case of Gregory Nazianzen and Basil the Great
I.Introduction: Classical and Christian Friendship One thing we should expect to find unchanged when we look at the new world that emerges during the Christianization of the Greco-Roman Empire is the fact that people continue to form friendships and, as friendship often leads to, continue to consider and reflect on the nature of friendship as […]
The Genocidal God of the Old Testament? Simple Thoughts on Some Difficult Passages
Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and […]
Why Orthodox Christians Prefer the Septuagint: The Case of the Missing Prophecy
In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we read the following prophetic passage: “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, and take the […]
Why Orthodox Christians Prefer the Septuagint: The Case of the Missing Feast!
The Jewish people love the feast of Hanukkah. It is their answer to Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. But there is a little problem here. The Feast of Hanukkah is nowhere to be found in the present-day Hebrew Scriptures. Oy! Well, where can we find it? You guessed it: It is based on an oral […]
Patriarchal Encyclical for Christmas in English and Chinese
+ BARTHOLOMEW By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome And Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, Mercy and Peace From the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem * * * “Christ is born, glorify Him; Christ is on earth, exalt Him.” Let us rejoice in gladness for the ineffable condescension of […]
Blessed Symeon, the simple Porter of Piraeus
In 1922 there came from Asia Minor with the refugees a Greek orphan named Symeon. He settled in Piraeus in a small shack and there grew up by himself. He had a carriage by which he did the work of a porter, carrying things to the port of Piraeus. He was illiterate and did not […]
An Orthodox Response to the Death of the Innocent
There is a small treatise by St. Gregory of Nyssa titled “Concerning Infants Snatched Away Prematurely”, that is to say, taken from life before they had tasted the life for which they were born. The treatise was written for Governor Hierios of Cappadocia, who had asked St. Gregory of Nyssa what we ought to know […]
When, exactly, was Jesus Christ born?
The logic behind the argument The method pursued by the opponents of the established date of Christmas – in their desire to disprove that the 25th of December was the date on which Christ was born – is an indirect one. In view of the fact that there is no specific data on this event, they rely […]
Remembering Saint Nicholas, Recovering a Christian Heritage
One of the unexpected blessings of becoming Orthodox is discovering a Christian heritage forgotten in the West. One example of this is St. Nicholas of Myra, the original Santa Claus. He is well known in the Orthodox Church. Every December 6 the Orthodox celebrates the life of St. Nicholas of Myra. When I was a […]