Fr. Steve Zorzos, Author at Saint Sophia

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part X

07/13/2015

By Harry Boosalis Before concluding, there is one final, yet very important point which makes St. Silouan’s teaching so relevant for today. And this is the special emphasis he places on the theme of depression and despair within the spiritual struggle. Interestingly enough, this warning against the danger of depression and despair was written probably around the early 1930s. As Orthodox believers, we must be fully aware of the many dangers that await us as

When All Becomes Too Easy

07/10/2015

By Father Vasile Tudora There are many places in the world where the fear of not being able to make ends meet, leaving your family without food, shelter, and other means of subsistence, or the fear of a ravaging war, is intensely present. With the golden era of prosperity, in the Western world at least, these great survival fears have almost disappeared, morphing into new and shallow anxieties: not being able to land the most

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part V): The Cosmos Secretly Transfigured in Christ

07/09/2015

When the Son of God, the fullness of personal existence, becomes the Son of the Earth, he allows himself to be contained by the universe at one point in space and time; but in reality the universe is contained in him. He will not use his body to possess and exploit the world, but by his constantly Eucharistic attitude, he makes it a body of unity, flesh which is both cosmic and sacrificial. In him

Five Words I Wish Everyone Knew

07/08/2015

By Grace Brooks I don’t know many languages, but in each one, there are words that I wish we had in English. The same is true in different dialects (for instance, I’m sorry that the word “y’all” isn’t commonly used by non-Southerners). But that desire to co-opt vocabulary is never more pronounced than when I consider some of the Orthodox words that I have read or heard. There are words from the Orthodox lexicon that

Dealing with Our Passions (Part III)

07/07/2015

To remedy the thirst for glory Evagrius advises the use of memory. We should remind ourselves where we come from, what passions we had to struggle with, and how it wasn’t thanks to our own merit that we conquered, but to Christ who protected us. Memory will show us that we have no guarantee for success in life, only God’s grace. Evagrius says that the demon of pride and vaingloriousness will continually arise in us

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part IX

07/06/2015

By Harry Boosalis The passion of pride seduced even Lucifer, who was created as the greatest and most glorious angel. Pride is thus the primordial cause of the fall of creation. Infiltrating even unto the heights of the angelic hosts, pride remains the main cause of man’s sin and his separation from God. It is pride and pride alone that transformed Lucifer into Satan. St. John Climacus mentions that a proud man needs no demon;

A July Fourth, 2015, Meditation

07/04/2015

James Madison 4th U.S. President “A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.” –Written to William Bradford on November 9, 1772, Faith of Our Founding Fathers by Tim LaHaye, pp. 130-131; Christianity and the Constitution — The Faith of Our Founding Fathers by John Eidsmoe, p. 98. “Cursed be all that

A Holy Nation (Part II)

07/03/2015

By Father Brendan Pelphrey This raises the question how we understand ourselves as American Orthodox. Many Orthodox Christians in America today want to see a self-ruling, or autonomous, American Orthodox Church. Others, however have consistently referred to Orthodox churches in America as “diaspora”—not an American Church, but a collection of missions sent out from “mother” churches overseas. When American converts to Orthodoxy hear the language of “diaspora,” it can seem very strange. Those of us

A Holy Nation (Part I)

07/02/2015

By Father Brendan Pelphrey “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 Every year on July 4, our nation celebrates its independence from

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part VIII

07/01/2015

By Harry Boosalis Be assured that troubling and sinful thoughts will assail everyone making any sort of spiritual progress—especially if there is any progress in prayer—and this is even more true the further one advances. The important point is not to become dejected, and not to allow these troubling thoughts to destroy our inner peace, and thus hinder our pursuit of prayer. St. Silouan teaches, “Should an intrusive thought approach, there is no cause to

Archive

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part X

When All Becomes Too Easy

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part V): The Cosmos Secretly Transfigured in Christ

Five Words I Wish Everyone Knew

Dealing with Our Passions (Part III)

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part IX

A July Fourth, 2015, Meditation

A Holy Nation (Part II)

A Holy Nation (Part I)

Saint Silouan the Athonite and His Relevance Today, Part VIII

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