8 Mar 2026 at 5:50am
Though St. Gregory is best known as a teacher and practitioner of hesychasm, the cultivation of holy silence, his life was in…
Though St. Gregory is best known as a teacher and practitioner of hesychasm, the cultivation of holy silence, his life was in fact colorful and tumultuous: he was driven from his monastic home on the Holy Mountain because of the Turkish threat, imprisoned on multiple occasions, captured by pirates, and initially rejected by the people when he tried to take up his episcopal see at Thessalonica.
All of this reminds us that hesychasm, properly understood, is not a rejection of life with all its texture, troubles, and demands: after all, in the Incarnation, God himself entered into this messy world and its multitudinous trials. Rather, hesychasm entails our striving to open ourselves up to encounter God’s grace in the midst of these very tumults. “Be still, and I will fight for you,” God says to Moses (Exod. 14:14). Moses was not fleeing the battle; rather, in ...
6 Mar 2026 at 5:40pm
To the clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, beloved children in the Lord: Glory to Jesus…
To the clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, beloved children in the Lord:
Glory to Jesus Christ!
During the sacred season of Great Lent, the Church calls us to sobriety and renewed stewardship. Through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, we learn again that every aspect of our life—spiritual and material alike—is entrusted to us by God and must be ordered toward his service. Among those entrusted with a particular stewardship are our clergy and their families.
The priest, called to celebrate the Divine Services and care for souls, carries sacred responsibilities week by week in the life of the parish. His household shares in the demands and sacrifices of that calling.
In recent years, it has become clear that many clergy households experience financial strain—not as a dramatic crisis, but as a steady pressure. Some priests have reflec...
1 Mar 2026 at 5:50am
One of the unique liturgical features of this first Sunday of Lent, the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, is the…
One of the unique liturgical features of this first Sunday of Lent, the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, is the proclamation of the anathemas. This rite is generally performed only with the bishop presiding and entails a solemn condemnation of various heretics and their errors.
What is the purpose of these anathemas? The anathemas are not proclaimed “from the housetops” (Matt. 10:27), but inside the temple. Their pronouncement is not a condemnation of those outside, whose judgement we leave up to God’s righteousness and mercy (1 Cor. 5:13). The purpose of the anathemas, rather, is to instruct us, those present in the temple, concerning the sacred doctrines of the Orthodox faith and to guide us along the true path taught in Christ’s holy Gospel.
Hence, we affirm that on this Sunday, as during the remainder of the Great Fast, our spiritual focus is on our ...