I am not alone.

I am not Alone
Welcome to memory lane Let us take a little walk.

I have this weird habit of walking around my apartment and monologuing, practicing one side of conversations that will likely never take place. On one hand, it is a good way for me to work through things that have been on the back of my mind for a time. In other ways it is a way to practice my dialogue, for I still have issues speaking, forming sentences on the fly (off script if you will, which is one reason I much prefer writing to speaking). My monologue turned into a diatribe of sorts, and I found this to be unexpected. I came to some self realizations, realized some offenses that maybe I had not forgiven, and found solace in these self revelations, albeit minor in the grand scope of things.

The last 20 years have been no easy road for me. Every real or meaningful thing I had wanted to do in this life was derailed by one thing or another, and at each failure along that journey, most of them were endured alone. I couldn’t join the military because I suddenly became diabetic. I lost my first good job to 9/11. I worked hard for over a year saving for a car, having walked everywhere for a year before that, only to have the money stolen by the man I was buying the car from. I lost my home after helping a friend get back on his feet, he neglecting to tell me he was a registered sex offender. I was homeless for 48 hours. I was denied a government job that would have opened all other doors to me, all because of a bankruptcy caused by hurricanes that took my job and everything else from me. The first time I followed my heart, I ended up in Baltimore and was punished for it.

I remember after losing my job to the hurricanes, and being evicted after helping my friend, I took a test at the workforce center in south Florida. I was referred there by a friend of the man that had taken me in. After taking the aptitude test, we were walking down the hall and talking. I hadn’t noticed she stopped until I was a few paces ahead. I looked back and she was staring at the page with my test results. She simply looked up at me:

“Why are you here?”

“I need a job?”

“Yes, but why are YOU here? We don’t get test scores like this here?”

I had a job within a week. It was not long after this I followed my girlfriend at the time to Baltimore, and found myself floundering in another hopeless situation with no job, and no way out. In the end I went home.

There is a lot more to that story, but that is for another time. I did not know where I was going. I did not know what I was doing. All I knew is I was searching FOR something that had meaning, and that was bigger than myself. I wanted something that gave my life meaning, because few others in my life have ever seen any meaning in it.

Then I found the Church.

Looking back over the last 7 years, while that journey has only gotten tougher, I have never been more determined. While others may not see value in what I do, I could care less.

Before I even began my educational journey, I had a stroke. I lost the ability to talk clearly, write anything legible at all, and typing was a near impossibility. I sounded like I had downs syndrome for months, and it took many months after that to regain some degree of muscle memory. After much hard work I regained about 80% functionality, without which online schooling would have been an impossibility.

The following year, at the end of my very first semester of what would be 5 years of school, I went into full respiratory failure from my 7th bout with pneumonia. It was right in the middle of finals, and it was a miracle there alone that I passed. I was Chrismated onto what was supposed to be my death bed. Looking back years after the fact, I see the lineup of dates involved and realize that I was not alone. January 7th is Christmas on the Old Calendar for the Orthodox Church; January 9th was my Birthday; January 11th was the day I almost died; January 14th is Saint Basil’s feast day, for whom I was Chrismated and later named at my ordination.

In my room, I was given a a framed paper icon of Saint Luke of Crimea. I could have sworn I saw a single tear run down the glass, but I dismissed it at the time. A couple days later I was able to get out of bed and I inspected the framed icon, and on the glass there is a single streak that was not there before, from his right eye half way down the glass. I still have that icon. That streak is still there. At that moment, I knew I was not alone.

For the next three years I was expected to read stacks of books for my theological education, and then my vision started to fail. Multiple eye surgeries, and countless migraines from reading so many books on one functioning eye took its toll over time, but I finished.

In the months leading up to finals, and eventually Ordination, the home life fell apart. Amanda’s car broke. Amanda broke her foot shortly after having major surgery. For two and a half months I worked overtime, sold things of sentimental value to me in order to keep the house afloat on my paycheck alone. Yet, I finished up my last semester while doing all this and working more than full time hours.

The day I was ordained, my retina detached. I had yet another eye surgery the following week. Not long after this, though I was not looking, a door opened and I could not pass by and started my Bachelors in History. Sometime after all this, Amanda started having her own issues. I won’t go into details, but a year later it ended in my being served divorce papers, and right in the middle of finals. Yet, on the day I was served, I was called and approved for an apartment, something I was told never happens that quickly, like ever. Also that day, I received in the mail a vial of myrrh from the Holy Myrrh streaming Iveron icon in Hawaii. At that moment, I knew I was not alone.

Now that I have finished school, I am awaiting my next step. What is the road I will take next? In the meantime, my life may or may not have meaning, but it is doing something meaningful. I serve the Church every week as much as I am able. I perform those duties that are given to me that are of import to others. I have continued my writing, of which others have found useful, and many more are encouraging me to publish. I get messaged daily by people daily on Twitter, Discord, sometimes Facebook, and even email, all asking me for advice. I don’t have a beacon lit, and I am a sinner just like the rest of them, so I have no idea why they come, but I make myself available to all those who seek it. I myself am unimportant, and someday I will pass on, but my work will live on after me and hopefully be of benefit to others for years to follow.

I could die in my apartment right now, and it would likely be a week or more before anyone realized I was missing (except maybe my boss, or Peter, because no one wants my job), but even in realizing this, I will always remember that I am not alone. Yes, I am eccentric, sometimes temperamental, maybe even a little OCD, and for this reason there are many people that don’t want to be around me; yet, even in my isolation, I am not alone. I ride a motorcycle, for why drive a 4 door car when you have no one to ride with you; yet, despite the number of wheels beneath me, I am not alone. I wanted a wife and family more than words can express, and for a time I had a wife I loved, and a daughter that I always wanted. Even though others have sought to take this away from me, and even though I can never have this again, it is at least comforting to know that I am not alone. Friends have turned their back on me; awards, events, graduations and all things of import to me have been walked alone, but regardless if my side is empty, I will always know that I am not alone.

Loneliness is born of blindness. Open your eyes and see that you are not alone.

I am still here

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Finding stillness amidst the chaos of this world.

It has been quite a few months since my last blog entry. I will try t fill you in, and then share a meditation that I wrote many years ago and is relevant to today’s chaotic world.

Maybe a week after my last blog entry, my wife handed me divorce papers. My world was turned upside down, and right in the middle of college exams. I was forced to move and essentially start a new life. Since then the pandemic has gripped the nation in a number of different ways. Society, in some ways, has fundamentally changed. The political dichotomy has only seem to grow, and the world is full of unknowns. Personally, I have graduated college with a Bachelors degree in history, I have started painting once again, I have learned to ride a motorcycle, and my life personal life has gotten smaller as I learn to find stillness in a world that never stops moving or making noise.

With that said, I found an old meditation of mine that I will be reflecting upon this weekend. We should all learn to seek peace and stillness within ourselves.

Water of Life

There are few persistent elements that form a thread through the entirety of scripture: bread, water, wine, etc. Water, perhaps, is most significant.

It was by water that God cleansed the world. God parted the waters of the Red Sea to save his people. It was by Moses’ anger that water flowed from a rock. It is by water we are baptized, and thus cleansed of stains of our fallen nature. It was water, that Christ turned into wine. It is by water we are grafted into His Holy Church, the body of Christ.

Water is an example to the Christian life…

Water rests in the lowliest of places. It is unassuming and takes the shape of the world in which it rests. It provides life and refreshment to everyone around it. Water in its stillness reflects the true face of the world that would choose to gaze into its depths. In its purity, one can see through to the deepest parts of its being, and therefore the truth therein.

Water is patient. It does not fight, but takes the path of least resistance. Yet, it is persistent, and in time can change the face of the world

Water is life, quenching our thirst, and renewing us amidst the deserts of this life. It is a renewal of life, washing away the collected impurities of the world. Without water to keep us refreshed, to keep us clean, we would surely die.

So it is like us with Christ.

Christ in us is our living water. He is our wellspring, without whom our spirit would surely die of thirst amidst the arid spiritual deserts of this world. Christ is our redeemer, washing our souls clean with the blood of his sacrifice, without which our souls would be forever marred by the stain of our iniquities. He is our peace, the stillness in whom we may see the face of our true self.

To be like Christ is to be like water, that we may fall down like rain upon the rest of the world, like God’s Love has fallen upon us, and to be a refreshment to those trapped in the arid spiritual desert of this world, until they find the oasis on their own, the oasis that is Christ. We must flow forth like a river, and follow the hills and valleys of His will, wherever it may lead us.

A Desire for tears.

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A Desire for tears – January 15th, 2019.

It is said, the Devil is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Does he not hunt? Does he not prowl nor prey upon? He roars because he is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He devours those who have given themselves over to him, caught in the subtle snares of temptation. For he has no power over us except that which we give him. Yet, we can avoid such traps, but often our curiosity gets the best of us. What is behind that door? What if? What will happen? What does this feel like, taste like, or look like? We already know the answers to these questions, but we open the door, or pursue the answer in hoping that it will be different this time. We continue to do the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result; a different answer. This is a basis for insanity. The world is insanity.

I pray for the fortitude to avoid these temptations, but from time to time my imagination gets the best of me, haunting me from the edges of my own volition. I try to look back upon my sins with contrition, and sometimes I may get a tear or two to shed from my wearied eyes in the midst of prayer. Though, I am not an emotional person, and lament my own lack of tears. I do find music to be a key to the heart, and so there is a song I play when I feel the need to cry, because for the lyrics alone, I cannot but help cry. It is not even a Christian song, but the words reverberate in my very soul.

?Shine, shine your light on me
Illuminate me, make me complete
Lay me down, and wash this world from me
Open the skies, and burn it all away
‘Cause I’ve been waiting, all my life just waiting
For you to shine, shine your light on me?

O Lord, that I would be purified from the stains of this world; that your all consuming love would burn away the superfluities of the flesh, and my soul would be free of the passions that plague me May your light illumine me, that I may shine your light into every dark corner of this world you lead me into.

No photo description available. — Sketchbook entry from 8-10 years ago.

Sickness and Death

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Sickness and death

In order for us to approach and understand the Church’s view towards sickness and death, I think it is important to first examine and understand how Christ approached and treated sickness and death. Christ spent a good majority of his time ministering to the people by healing, raising people from the dead, forgiving sins, and the performing of miracles all towards that end. For Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the healing of the body, the destruction of the devil, and also the raising of the dead are all one and the same act of salvation. Jesus’ ministry of healing was a healing of the whole person, body and spirit. He showed us that death could be defeated. Jesus showed us that He is Christ the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophets who brings the Kingdom of God into the world.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
James 5:14-16

Death grows within us by means of physical illness and decay. Our sufferings of sickness and illness are not normal, but are direct consequences of the ancestral sin, when Adam first rebelled against God, and thus rebelled against life, because God is life. Adam’s rebellion against Life brought suffering, sickness, decay, and death upon himself and Eve, as well as all their progeny. As such, human nature is fallen and is subject to death, and “Death is the enemy to be destroyed.” The one inescapable and unavoidable reality is that each and every human being born into this world, death is now before each and every person.

Death is not a natural part of this life, but something abnormal and truly horrible, and it is something that humanity, the world, strives daily to overcome. The world attempts to avoid death, to avoid the concept of death, even at funerals. Others choose to embrace death, developing a preoccupation with death in all its forms, some believing and treating death as the one true freedom; the one thing they can know with certainty. This latter stance may be one reason that suicide has become so prevalent today. Yet, if death is the enemy, then each person must find a way to combat that enemy. Despite the fact that it is now an inevitable part of life, death is not natural, and is what humanity strives to overcome. It is a endemic condition on humanity, one that is ever present and taking humanity in a way that was never intended.

“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:56-57

Understanding that death is not a natural part of life, and is a plague upon this world, upon humanity, God offers us an answer to this plague of death through Christ. Christ came to earth to redeem man, and to fully restore within us the image of God that we were fully intended to grow into, as witnessed in the Transfiguration of Christ upon Mount Tabor, which was to us a prefiguration of His resurrection. The incarnation of Christ redeemed all of creation, for all of creation fell into disarray when man fell from grace. Christ took on death and overcame it victoriously. He gave himself up to death so that he could take death captive and free all of humanity from the grip death had upon it, and therefore removed the separation of humanity and God in our death. It is for this reason that the Church proclaims in faith “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life,” all through the Paschal season.

Christ has triumphed over death, but death still exists in this world. Man is still subject to physical death. Christ “does not ‘abolish’ or ‘destroy’ the physical death because He does not ‘abolish’ the physical world…by abolishing death as a spiritual reality, by filling it with Himself…He makes death…into a shining and joyful passage” So, Christ has destroyed the spiritual aspects of death, but we are not free from the bonds of a physical death. “We all share the same fate, saint and sinner, young and old.”

Recognizing Christ’s role in overcoming death, we can better understand the role the Church, the body of Christ, plays in dealing with sickness and death. The Church must be properly seen as being a part of medicine, and her minsters and clergy its healers. The Church, in all reality, is a spiritual hospital. For Jesus said, ““Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Human beings, as sinners, are considered to be sick; as such, the Church is concerned with the ultimate fate of all human beings, which is their salvation through the forgiveness of sins, which can only be found within the Church, and sin being the root cause of all illness and suffering in the world. Whereas Christ defeated death, the Church is here to reveal it, not reconcile it like so many religious and religions of this world. No, the Church reveals death because it is the revelation of Life.

The Church understand and approaches sickness and death in a holistic manner, healing the root of all illness, and not merely the symptoms. While modern medicine has made many advances in technology and practice, it does not fill the need which are part of the whole of healing and health. The human person requires a healing which does not merely address the physical needs and condition, but healing that deals with the whole human being, both body and spirit. The Church realizes this need, and focuses on the entire person: mind, body, soul, and spirit. Disease may be temporarily addressed the modern medicines of this world, but it is only a temporary fix until the root cause of the problems are cured. So, the Church approaches sickness, death, and healing within the context of sin and redemption.

When one falls ill, they must recognize that whatever illness they may have, it is caused by sin, their own sin or the sins of the whole world. There is no blame for God for their ailment. God does not wish for his children to be sick. If God so wills it, one can be healed of his infirmities, allowing him more time to live in service to both God and man here on earth, fulfilling whatever He has planned. The sickness as well can serve as a means towards serving God, and it should be accepted in this way, offering ones faith and love unconditionally, for there is no greater witness to one’s faith than enduring sickness in love and faith, courage and patience, hope, happiness, and joy. Such a life lived, even to one’s death by such illness, is incomparable to any offering man can provide.

I myself have been witness to the healing mercies of our Father. January 11^th of 2016 would see me in the hospital, and slipping into full respiratory failure through pneumonia, and a culmination of other issues. After I was put on life support, Holy Unction was administered. The only thing I can remember from that day was waking briefly two times throughout that day, and hearing the psalms being read to me. The woman from the Church took turns, and sat in my room, reading the entirety of the Psalter to me. I eventually regained consciousness, and at the end of the week was the first person Chrismated into the Orthodox Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas, at my home parish. I have witnessed, believe, and understand the healing power and need of the Church in its role as a spiritual hospital of sorts for the whole and holistic healing of man.

The sacrament of healing is performed for the healing of body and soul, and for the forgiveness of sins, though it is not performed for the sake of the sick alone, but also for the physically healthy. While it may not have the focus importance equal to the rite of Baptism or the ongoing celebration of the Holy Eucharist within the life of the Church, it still addresses a fundamental need in human life. “Healing is a sacrament, not healing as such, the restoration of health, but the entrance of man into the life of the kingdom, into the joy and peach of the Holy Spirit.” As such, the prayers of the Sacrament of Healing are penitential in nature, asking for the forgiveness of one’s sins. The body is anointed, invoking the grace of God upon the ill and infirmed, because it is the grace of God that heals all illnesses, both body and soul.

Despite the importance of the Sacrament of Healing, this emphasis on spiritual healing and wellbeing does not mean that one should forgo any attempt at physical healing. All things can be used to the glory of God. All healing, both spiritual and physical should be brought to God with prayer. Faith does not stand in opposition to science, nor science to faith, but science confirms what faith has already revealed. God is the source of both, and all things, and as such the two are not in opposition to one another. Just as theosis is achieved through cooperation with God, so is healing a cooperation of human effort, and prayer, with God and His will.

Ultimately not all people are physically healed, some slipping from this life into the next through whatever illness was plaguing them. It is here we transition from the rite of healing, into the funeral rites of the Orthodox Church. The service helps those in attendance develop a greater understanding of the meaning and purpose of life. It assists us with the emotional response we develop at the time of death, as well as the time that passes after. It also places an emphasis on the fact that death is not the end, and helps to affirm our hope in salvation and life eternal. The funeral rite, by the prayers, hymns, and readings that take place, is a dialogue between God and the people, as well as God and the dearly departed. The service also recognizes the realities of our human existence, our frailty and finite time in this world, and the vanity of this world and all the things in it. We bless the departed and say goodbye with a final kiss of peace, with our pain of separation and the tragedy of death being acknowledged in the hymns that are sung. We pass from this life with both prayers and tears, but are soon welcomed into the joy and gladness of the Lord.

Our sins, our illnesses, and our eventual death are all related one to another. By Adam’s sin both sickness and death were ushered into this world, and it is through Christ and his resurrection that humanity is redeemed and released from the grip of death. The nature of sin and death are recognized within both the rites of healing and the funeral service, yet so is the fact that Christ has conquered all of these things for the redemption for the whole of mankind. He is an offering of truth and life for those within the body of Christ, which is the Church, forgiving all of our sins to the betterment of all mankind. Christ, truly, is the life of the world.

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Tribute: We all have our heroes.

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Tribute: We all have our heroes – June 29th, 2019

Heroes can be warriors and visionaries, statesmen and soldiers, artists and authors, the men and women of our age, or some soul from the distant past. Our heroes can be men of vision, men of courage, men and women of relentless resolve, and also of endless faith. These are those to whom we look up to, look after, and hope to emulate in some way in our own lives, whether by word or deed, accomplishment, virtue, or any number of qualities we admire about our hero. So it is with my hero. My hero wears a cape, but he was not Superman, but he was a great man.

Father Thomas Hopko of blessed memory had this to say about my hero, that he “was a man of numerous gifts and talents. He is remembered as a great theologian, a bulwark against heresies, a pastor, a teacher, a philanthropist, a rhetorician, an ascetic, and generally one of the greatest saints to ever grace the Body of Christ.” Father Thomas is speaking of none other than Saint Basil the Great; the ArchBishop of Caesarea; one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers; one of the three great hierarchs of the Christian faith standing alongside Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Gregory the Theologian. Saint Basil is the man for whom I was named in honor of upon my own ordination, and is a name I carry with great humility and honor.

He was an academic of the first order.

Saint Basil Received his higher education in Athens, the center of classical enlightenment. After five years or so, he had mastered every available discipline within his grasp. “He studied everything thoroughly, more than others are wont to study a single subject. He studied each science in its very totality, as though he would study nothing else.” Philosophy, philology, oration and rhetoric, law, nature, astronomy, mathematics, as well as medicine. As one man said, “he was a ship fully laden with learning, to the extent permitted by human nature.”

His contributions to the theological thought and mind of the Church are tremendous. His book “On the Holy Spirit” formed the very foundation of our trinitarian Theology in the east, which Saint Ambrose later used to form the same in the West. He wrote another famous work called the Hexameron on the six days of creation. Nearly 400 letters are attributed to him, from which many elements of Canon law were developed. He also composed a liturgy, still in use to this day, and now named after him: The Liturgy of Saint Basil.

He was a matchless philanthropist.

Almost immediately after being enthroned as the Bishop of Caesarea, he commissioned a colossal hospital, which was once considered a wonder of the world. He also started hospice care for the sick, a homeless shelter, and began to run what was effectively a hunger and relief center, often working at feeding the poor himself. He put into action words he often preached from the ambo of the Church:

The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belongs to the man who has no shoes; the money which you put into the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help. (Saint Basil)

“How can I make you realize the misery of the poor? How can I make you understand that your wealth comes from their weeping?” (Saint Basil)

He was, most of all, a staunch teacher and defender of the Christian faith.

He lived in between the period of the first Ecumenical Council of 325 and the second in 381. He fought voraciously against the Arian heresy that was condemned in both councils. It was a dogmatic dispute that inspired much of his writing, but it was a heresy that had seeped into government circles. Thus, he was threatened with exile by the Emperor, and Saint Basil’s response has survived the ages:

“If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books, of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me, since I am bound to no particular place. This place in which I now dwell is not mine, and any place you send me shall be mine. Better to say: every place is God’s. Where would I be neither a stranger and sojourner (Ps. 38/39:13)? Who can torture me? I am so weak, that the very first blow would render me insensible. Death would be a kindness to me, for it will bring me all the sooner to God, for Whom I live and labor, and to Whom I hasten.”

The official was stunned by his answer. “No one has ever spoken so audaciously to me,” he said.

“Perhaps,” the saint Basil remarked, “ that is because you’ve never spoken to a bishop before. In all else we are meek, the most humble of all. But when it concerns God, and people rise up against Him, then we, counting everything else as naught, look to Him alone. Then fire, sword, wild beasts and iron rods that rend the body, serve to fill us with joy, rather than fear.”

Basil the Great again showed firmness before the emperor and his retinue and made such a strong impression on Valens that the emperor dared not give in to the Arians demanding Basil’s exile.

Saint Basil was a bulwark of the Christian faith. He existed as a very pillar of the Church. He spoke truth to power. He uplifted the poor, meeting their many needs. He healed the sick, both of body and soul. He edified and educated many on the Christian faith. He is a man of great legacy. Much of his work still exists today, and still echoes through the very sacramental life of the Christian faith.

He is my hero. He is my inspiration. He was truly one of the greatest living icons of Jesus Christ our Lord, and I follow in his footsteps, marching ever Godward, hoping that I should bring honor to his name. I look forward to the day I should hear those beautiful words, well done my good and faithful servant, that Saint Basil will be nearby, and that I might embrace the man whose name I now bear.

Pondering on truth and grace in light of imperfect man.

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Pondering on truth and grace in light of imperfect man. – June 14, 2019

To think an impurity of mind, or even a lingering stain of sin upon one’s very soul, somehow renders one unsuited to speaking against moral fallacies and failures is a false idea. Such a belief is kin to the Donatist ideal that the same makes one unsuitable for the administration of the sacraments. The failures of man do not diminish the grace of God, nor do they diminish a truth spoken. Any darkness in man does not in any way diminish the light he carries. A man standing in the way of the light does not cause the essence of that light to decrease, the brightness of its rays to cease, but simply stands in its way from reaching its full potential and exposure. Likewise, we are not diminished or exhorted to retreat from speaking truth because of our own moral failures, but indeed we should be more imbued with the necessity of fervor to speak it with greater exuberance. Then perhaps by our own words, when speaking truth to power, when speaking truth to an enemy adored, we may not only save them from the condemnation of their lie, but also save ourselves from our own lie in the process.

May we never water down our words, turning our faith into a sales pitch. May we never be afraid to speak truth to power, and into the face of the enemy. May we never be afraid to shine the light because of our own darkness, but continue to do so in spite of it. May we always bring light to the darkness, so that darkness may not reign. If the darkness overcomes our bodies, may the light we left behind continue to shine.

As Lent comes to a close…

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As Lent comes to a close… – April 24th, 2019

It has been some time since my last blog post, and I must apologize for that. I have been busy as of late. I have returned to school to finish the next step in my education, and also in working towards my goal of publication. I have started online classes with Sterling College in Kansas. I hope that in roughly two years time I can get my Bachelors in History to get to a point to where I will be allowed to write a thesis for my Th.M. I am trying to see what classes from my seminary education I can get applied towards that end. They are eight week courses, so are super condensed, and now being in the middle of Holy Week, I don’t know how will manage, but I have faith things will work out.

Once I do finally get my Masters, I can set school aside and continue my work on writing, and reading a list of books towards that end. I want to get my second draft of “A Simple Catechism of the Orthodox Church” into a final draft, and then seek approval from his Eminence for publication and use within the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, especially since we are seeking to begin online catechism classes to help the newcomers coming into the Church.

As Great and Holy Lent comes to a close, I do find it odd that there seems to have been an increase in hostile dialogue between Catholics and Protestants, and even a few Orthodox and Protestants as well. While I understand their position, they nor I have the right or ability to determine who does or does not possess a divine calling. We can say with absolute certainty where the Church is, but by no means can we say where it is not. Now, certainly, those with heresy and error in their mouths are anathema, and not considered by any means a part of the body, but I know with certainty that there are many God loving people in the scattered and distorted protestant milieu that will be welcomed.

Jesus Christ the Son of God, have mercy upon us.

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