Sword in the Fire

Years ago, early in my Orthodox journey, I purchased Nicholas Cabasilas’  The Life in Christ .  I remember enjoying it and being helped by it, but the details escape me.  Recently, upon recommendation by a friend, I decided to pick it back up. Cabasilas spends the bulk of his work discussing the sacraments and how they allow us to unite with Christ, and toward the end, he talks about how we live in between those sacramental acts.  How do we retain and cultivate this life of Christ, this union we experience through the mysteries of the church, as we walk through our families, and jobs, and hobbies, and chores?  One answer he gives is contemplation, which for Cabasilas is a mirror of the Jesus Prayer, something slightly more active, whereby we consider and fill our minds with Christ so the image begins to radiate from our hearts toward our lips, our hands, and our feet. .... - See more at: http://www.soundingblog.com/index.php/orthodoxy-basics/expos...

An Orthodox Approach to Youth Ministry Earlier this summer, I was asked to speak to a group of youth workers in our diocese.  It’s been years since I have done any full-time paid youth work.  I turned 40 this year, and past the point where my kids think I am cool, so speaking about youth ministry is not a topic I am tagged with very often.  Yet, my wife and I direct our Church School program, and as my own boys enter the teen years, I have been especially burdened about the necessity for such a ministry in our churches at large.  ....read the rest here Theron Mathis

This Paschal season, there has been a calendar controversy that has been missed by most of the Orthodox world.  This is shocking because controversy loves to rear its head during Great Lent.  If you don’t know about it, you are forgiven.  It’s a local problem only affecting approximately 2000 Orthodox Christians, but it’s a problem nonetheless...  read the rest here photo credit: Eduardo Amorim via photopin cc Theron Mathis