Orthodox Christianity

Orthodox Priest Who Converted Muslims Murdered in Russia

Flier

RIA Novosti | Nov. 20, 2009

A Russian Orthodox priest, Fr. Daniel Sysoyev, who carried out missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics, many of them Muslims, received over a dozen death threats before his murder on Thursday, a Russian paper said.

Fr. Daniel of St. Thomas Church in Moscow foresaw his death, writing in his internet diary that he had received telephone threats from Muslims. Fr. Daniel’s evening ‘talks’ for inquirers included several especially designed for Muslims. [Read more…]

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Revisionism from the Religious Left

FrontPageMag | by Mark D. Tooley | Nov. 12, 2009

Leftist church elites are fondly remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall as though they could claim some credit for its fall. Conveniently, they forget their own complicity with the former tyrants of East Europe and the Soviet Union.

“Christian hope and perseverance contributed significantly to the fall of the Berlin Wall”, World Council of Churches (WCC) chief Samuel Kobia recently declared. True enough. Millions of Christians and other people of faith, despite persecution and martyrdom, endured for decades under communist rule. But their perseverance owed little to groups like the WCC and other leftist Western church groups, who cheerfully demanded appeasement of the old Soviet Bloc as the price for peaceful coexistence. These church leftists prioritized world “peace” over solidarity with oppressed fellow religionists behind the Iron Curtain, whose suffering was too inconvenient for ecumenical public attention. [Read more…]

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The Medium is Not the Message

OrthodoxyToday | by Chris Banescu | Nov. 12, 2009

As a fellow Orthodox Christian and an attorney I find Fr. George’s reflection quite eloquent but unfortunately lacking in the depth and moral clarity that our faith and profession both require. Fr. George’s central thesis is that “the nature of the medium, in this case the internet and blogosphere, is itself the message we get here even more than the content that people purport to communicate and consider.” I don’t believe that’s true, especially with regards to OCANews.org. The medium is only a neutral tool to be used or misused as we see fit. The truth of the message and the reliability of the information this medium conveys and the good it has done, in addition to the wisdom, character, and integrity of the messengers, are much more important and relevant. [Read more…]

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Four Characteristics of Good Orthodox Preaching

The Preachers Institute | by Fr. Jonathan Cholcher | May. 29, 2009

Orthodox preaching needs to be good preaching. To be good, Orthodox preaching must not only deliver good content, but it must strive to make the hearers good. Therefore, good Orthodox preaching is the Gospel (lit., good news) proclaimed and lived.

Four characteristics mark good Orthodox preaching:
1. Christ crucified and risen;
2. the language, or rationale, of Scripture;
3. plain discourse; and
4. attention to the experience of salvation through the Gospel. [Read more…]

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Dennis Prager Mentions OrthodoxNet Blog on Air


Dennis Prager Radio Show | Dennis Prager | Oct. 19, 2009

On Monday, October 19, 2009, during the second hour of his nationally syndicated radio show, noted conservative Dennis Prager, mentioned the OrthodoxNet Blog post on Anita Dunn’s praise of demonic communist dictator Mao Tse-Tung as one of her “favorite political philosophers.”

Dennis Prager Mentions OrthodoxNet Blog on Air – 10/19/2009 http://www.orthodoxnet.com/archives/2009/Prager_2009-10-19_OrthodoxNet-Blog_Mao.mp3|titles=Dennis

Mr. Prager (while mistakenly calling our site “orthodoxy.net”) quoted our description of the video clip that Glenn Beck showcased on FoxNews and read on the air the video caption comments:

Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director, admitted that one of favorite political Philosophers, one that she “turns to the most”, is Mao Tse-Tung, the demonic communist dictator responsible for the starvation, torture, and murder of 70 million Chinese.

Here’s an excerpt of Dennis Prager’s comments and his reason for quoting the post from our site:

“… they [OrthodoxNet Blog] give views from an Orthodox perspective, obviously that is from Christian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Judeo/Christian perspective. And the only reason that I am noting this is because I want to read to you their description, as opposed to CNN’s description of Mao Tse-Tung. [Read more…]

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That The Bishops Be Blameless

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy | by Metropolitan Georges Khodr | Oct. 17, 2009

One who sees himself as nothing becomes something when spiritual men say it to him. No one approaches the divine glory by his own power. The divine glory pulls him in and if a person approaches it, he feels that he is nothing and he remains effaced in his own eyes until the Day of Reckoning. Indeed, each one of us needs to know his own talents because in this is a recognition of God’s gift. But one is lost if he thinks that his talents are his own possession. They only exist on account of God’s favor, which He takes back when He so wishes.

Thus in the Church of God we accept each responsibility as a gift. This is the meaning of service and service comes down to you from above. If you are entrusted with it, don’t allow yourself to feel that you deserve it. [Read more…]

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Getting to Know An Unknown God

OrthodoxyToday | by John Kapsalis | Oct. 2009

You could almost imagine Paul, with his battered and bruised legs, jumping with a happy ‘Eureka!’ This, finally, was the answer to everyone’s prayers. The unknown God of the Athenians was the one true God. And Paul preached this unknown God to the Athenians and to people everywhere he went. This same unknown God is the one that Christians believe, worship, proclaim and die for. Whew! That takes care of that. But wait a minute.

Who is this God? Who is this unknown God that has touched all of world history? Who is this being for whom so much ink has been spilled trying to understand? Well, the answer is (and must be) essentially unknown.

Yes I know, Scripture has revealed God to be the Lord of all creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I know that God IS. But there is still so much I don’t know. This unknown God also chose to become a man and live among us, only to be spit upon, punched, ridiculed and violently killed—all because He loves me. [Read more…]

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When Bishops Disappoint


AFR | Fr. Thomas Hopko | Sep. 9, 2009

In this podcast Fr. Thomas Hopko addresses the key issue of “What do we do when those in leadership are not exercising their leadership properly?” Fr. Tom discusses corruption in the Orthodox Church and explains that these types of situations are nothing new. He references scriptures and explains that proper Christian leadership consists of servanthood (not overlordship) and exhorts the faithful to help the priests and bishops to “tend the flock of God that is in (their) charge.”

When Bishops Disappoint – 9/9/09 http://audio.ancientfaith.com/hopko/stt_2009-09-04.mp3|titles=When

[Read more…]

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The Calling of a Bishop is to Preach the Gospel

OrthodoxyToday | Bradley Nassif | Aug. 13, 2009

The apostolic mission of a bishop in the Eastern Orthodox Church can be summarized in five points.

1. Preach the Gospel.
All bishops are to proclaim and interpret the gospel of Christ to the church and to the world. Bishops should be elected largely on the basis of their knowledge and ability to skillfully communicate the Holy Scriptures. St. John Chrysostom is the prime example of such a bishop. All bishops are to faithfully keep the gospel clear and central to their ministries. [Read more…]

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Russian Archbishop Hilarion Calls Stalin “a Monster”

Presbyterian Outlook | Sophia Kishkovsky | Aug. 4, 2009

Comments by a senior official of the Russian Orthodox Church condemning Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, accusing him of genocide, shortly before a European security forum equated the crimes of Stalin and Hitler, have stirred heated debate in the Russian media and blogosphere.

“I think that Stalin was a spiritually-deformed monster, who created a horrific, inhuman system of ruling the country,” Archbishop Hilarion had said in a June interview with the news magazine Ekspert. “He unleashed a genocide against the people of his own country and bears personal responsibility for the death of millions of innocent people. In this respect Stalin is completely comparable to Hitler.” [Read more…]

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