Abbot’s Study
A Light From The East by Fr. James
As the long night of official atheism wanes in the former Soviet Union, we who live in the West cannot help but wonder what will stand revealed in the new dawn of freedom for the Orthodox Faith. Our hopes, great as they may be, will surely pale before the gracious reality God will work out, if the phoenix of the persecuted Church rises, renewed by grace and repentance.
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An Orthodox Monastic Response To Islam by Fr. James
Several generations ago, in what seemed then to be an unlikely possibility, the writer Hilaire Belloc predicted that the greatest challenge to Christianity in the coming decades would be the rise of Islam in the west. What then was oddly insightful is today the stuff of our daily news.
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Reading With The Heart: on the art of Lectio Divina, Part I by Fr. James
One of the most important spiritual disciplines set forth by St. Benedict in his Holy Rule for monks is that of lectio divina - so vital a part of the daily discipline that he sets aside at least four hours of the daily schedule for it. As the monastic life sets a pattern for all Orthodox Christians to emulate and follow (in so far as they can), it can be helpful to look at this particular spiritual discipline and see how one might incorporate it into one's daily round.
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On Missing Church by Fr. James
The fecundity of the Orthodox mind is nowhere more evident than in the rich variety of excuses and reasons it can invent for not attending Sunday Liturgy. After two decades of being Orthodox, I am still taken aback by those who find it seemingly easy to excuse their absence from Mass on Sundays or feasts, or from Saturday or feast-day Vespers.
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OM Schooling by Fr. James
The article in the Providence Journal, "No Place Like Om" (13 Sept. 2003), advocating the adoption of Transcendental Meditation in public schools, is an egregiously uninformed one. With the threat of schools adopting this practice, parents need to be informed and need to address the issue with their school committees. This article is a brief attempt to provide some helpful information.
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On Genetic research by Fr. James
Linda Borg's Journal article (Oct. 16,2002) on the moral dilemmas arising out of genetic research raises at the very start the crucial point: "The real question is not what science can do but whether we ought to do it."
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Turning to Rome? by Fr. James
Letter to Virtuosity Digest on Anglicans Turning to Rome Thursday, November 06, 2003
Dear David:
Jake Dell's "Anglican Manifesto" only confirms my belief, expressed in my last email to you, that exhausted Anglicans, when tried and buffeted by ecclesiastical nonsense, look to Rome for a haven and for some measure of peace.
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Godspeed the good Canterbury Pilgrim by Fr. James
The Providence Journal published an article on the conversion of a local Episcopal priest to the Roman Catholic Church. The following letter sought to put this in a different perspective.
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Patriarch or Pope: Not the Same. by Fr. James
The Editor Providence Journal 29 January 2002
Sir:
The recent Journal article (1/25/02) on the ecumenical meeting in Assisi of world religious leaders with Pope John Paul serves, regrettably, to perpetuate the widespread but erroneous notion that Patriarch Bartholomew is to the world of Orthodox Christianity what the pope of Rome is to Roman Catholicism. To call the patriarch the spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians is about as accurate - and as meaningful - as calling the American president the moral leader of the free world. The label has a symbolic meaning, and the position has even some influence. But in neither case does the man have any legal power or authority outside his own jurisdiction. Another nation may freely affirm support for some policy of the American president. But the American president is not otherwise entitled to speak for other nations or to determine their policies apart from their conceding to him their agreement, which they are always and rightly free to withhold.
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