In English

(Previous publication:...) "P". At the Religion and Politics Conference in Alba Iulia, in Romania, we saw you were with a group of Orthodox bioethicists from the USA. Just how important is bioethics and are bioethical issues? Is it worthwhile for Orthodox Christians to spend so much time on them? "Cornelia Delkeskamp-Hayes": The conference in Alba Iulia focused on both political theory and theology. It engaged theology as a resource for cultural criticism. Our group of friends and disciples of Engelhardt share his insight about the cardinal role which the bio-medical complex plays in our own secularized Western culture. This culture is defined in terms of the Enlightenment and its moral principles, as brought to political salience in Europe through the French Revolution and ...

Ms. Jessica Precop traveled to the Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Rives Junction, Michigan to interview Father Roman Braga, who grew up and served in Romania under a communist regime. We are very thankful to Ms. Precop, Father Roman, and the Sisterhood at the Monastery for making this interview possible. Father, to start with, what can you tell us about the monastic way of life?  This is a good question. First, however, you have to understand the Romanian cultural environment when I was young – in the 1920’s -1950’s. The Romanian people, I think, were always inclined toward the monastic way of life, because being monastic and leading a monastic type life does not mean only to go and ...

Let us consider the cosmological and ecological functions of liturgy. In the understanding of the early Greek Church, liturgy is not merely the lex orandi of believers, but is cosmology in action. The fullest example in the Christian tradition of the metaphysical, theological and ethical unity of science, religion, contemplation, and asceticism in a cosmic vision that is profoundly unifying, reconciling and ecological is the liturgical cosmology and cosmic liturgy of St. Maximos the Confessor, a great theologian and philosopher who lived in the 7th century.1 Liturgy in the sense that St. Maximos uses it, and in the sense that the Greek Orthodox tradition has embodied, is not to be considered in terms of conventional church ceremonies consisting of outwardly ...

Few lines in the New Testament, I suspect, better anticipated the development of Christian theology than these from the Acts of the Apostles: Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had ...

Being a monastic isn't an easy life, it's hard and, as Saint John of the Ladder says: 'Monasticism is constant violence against nature’. In other words, it's a continuous struggle against nature. People can't easily accept this and 'not everyone can take this in'.

Love for Christ knows no bounds, neither does love for your neighbour. It should extend everywhere, to the ends of the earth. Everywhere, to everyone. Let me give you an example. There was a monk who had two disciples. He tried very hard to bring them up to scratch and make them better. But he was worried about whether they were really making any progress in the spiritual life, if they were making headway, and if they were ready for the kingdom of God. He waited for a sign from God about this, but didn’t get an answer. One day, there was going to be a vigil in another skete that was a good few hours away from theirs. They’d have ...

Philip K. Dick (1928-82) was the kind of science-fiction writer who is read and praised by people who don’t like science fiction. His fame moved beyond the genre’s ghetto after some of his novels and short stories were turned into movies—Blade Runner (1982), Minority Report (2002), and A Scanner Darkly (2006), to name a few. He is sometimes compared to Jorge Luis Borges, one of the finest short-story writers, and his work has influenced many authors (genre-bending Jonathan Lethem, for example) and filmmakers (the Wachowski brothers, directors of The Matrix). Books by Philip K Dick Just as critics dub certain writers’ visions of the world “Orwellian” or “Kafkaesque,” some now use the awkward term “Dickian.” Dick’s paranoid vision is a unique, ...

Ecclesiastical singing is a product of the liturgical practice  of the Church. To meet the requirements of worship it has been established that, throughout the services, there should be an alternating variety of  sung parts, not merely to combat physical tiredness and lack of concentration, but, more importantly, to maintain the spirit of those praying at a sober level. In this way, over the years, a wealth of melodious tunes (or tones in the Greek Church) have been created, which are balm to the soul and spirit. Occasionally, choirs of Church singers have taken part of the enormous riches of Greek music to Russia, where the music in services is often more Western European in character. The Thomades brotherhood recently visited ...

by Nikolaos Koios, Lambrini Veloyanni, Demetrios Alvanos Article published in "ELEFTHERNA" - SCIENTIFIC YEARBOOK - Vol III - 2006, Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Crete Summary Although its authenticity has been questioned, the text that has been known as Hippocrates Oath has played a crucial  role to the evolution of medical ethics in Greek settings. The Oath has influenced greatly Greek ethical thinking not only during antiquity, but also during early Christian times and Byzantine era. During the period of Turkish occupation the Oath recurs in Greece, in the texts of the Greek Enlighters. In modern times we trace it as the Oath taken by graduate students of Medicine, while it still serves as a basis for debates concerning the modern challenges of Bioethics and Medicine. Key-words : Medical ethics, Bioethics, professional ethics, Hippocratic Oath, doctor – ...

Had He prevented it, He would have interfered and would have abolished man’s freedom, which He bestowed him as a gift. Had He removed man’s freedom, then man’s conduct as well as his salvation would have been compulsory. Man would have lost his personality and would have been a creature without will. God preferred to change His designs on man, rather than take away the most significant element of his personality, his freedom. God has added a second element which is beneficial to man: His justice against demonic malevolence and hate. The devil believed that by misleading man, he would have prevented God’s designs and would have shattered man’s likeness to God. Thus he believed he would have managed to both ...

Let's keep a rein on ourselves while we're working at the Lord's commandments, so that we're not bound by the chains of wicked thoughts and soul-destroying pleasures. These are difficult to break and then we'll be faced with the verdict against the barren fig tree: 'Cut it down, root and branch; it's a waste of space’. If you don't bear fruit, you're cut down and cast into the fire.

Vegas Wedding No apology is needed for the theme of the seminary’s 2004 Summer Institute: “Does Christian Marriage Have a Future?” Practically daily we hear in the media how “traditional” concepts and definitions of marriage are being challenged. In recent years the focus has been on same-sex marriage - legalized in Massachusetts in 2004 and thereafter in six other states and gaining vocal support in many quarters, Christian churches included. But the challenge to “traditional” concepts and definitions of marriage is not limited to this latest headline getter. A few decades ago the term “open marriage” entered our vocabulary. We also learned about “prenups,” i.e., marriage qualified in various ways by formal prenuptial agreements. These days we barely blink when ...

Writing about the Biblical texts, Elder Sophrony Sakharov, one of our leading modern theologians, says that even if they were to be lost in some way, we would be able to re-write them, not in precisely the same words, but certainly in the same spirit. It is quite clear from this that there is no question of making the actual letter and text of the Scriptures into objects of worship in themselves. It is obvious and well enough known, in any case, that the Church preceded the Scriptures, since it already existed, living in its own Tradition, when it established the canonical books, with all that involves. What, then, are the Scriptures? To put it simply, a written part of ...

Monastery of Varnakova as seen from a nearby road The Byzantine monastery of Varnakova lies some 45 minutes to the East of Nafpaktos, on the old road to Lidorikos, beyond Efpalio. It was built in 1077 by Saint Arsenios Varnakovitis, on a small hill which lies within a vast forest of oaks and wild chestnuts. The katholikon of Monastery Varnakova, foto: Mixalis Ninoglou, Panoramio The katholiko (main church) is in the style of a basilica with a cupola, while the floor is made of wonderful opus sectile marble, dating from the 11th century. The Comneni emperors of Byzantium assisted the monastery financially and granted it extensive holdings in the Mornos valley, stretching as far as the sea and islands in the Gulf of ...

Dr. Constantine Cavarnos An interview conducted by Dive Ascent (DA), Vol. 3/4, with Dr. Constantine Cavarnos (DC) about his life’s work, and in particular his focus on Photios Kontoglou, the Greek iconographer, painter, and writer of the last century. *** DA: Over the years, Orthodox Christians of North America and Greece have come to know you through your many books and articles. When you began writing, did you set out to become a prolific writer? DC: While I was still an undergraduate at Harvard, I developed a strong aspiration to become an educator and a prolific writer. This aspiration was occasioned by my growing awareness of the great ignorance, the false teachings, the wickedness, violence, and suffering throughout the world. I saw ...

Make your heart a monastery. Ring the bell there, for the call to Vigil, cense and whisper prayers the whole time. God’s with you.

(Previous publication:...) But of course it also took some scholarly side work in order to facilitate such forced entry. When the journal started in 1995, the only ever available and reliable Orthodox contributor the journal could count on was - Engelhardt himself.  There was, of course,  Father John Breck, from St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary. Beyond that, Herman  worked with priests who had experience in hospital-based ethics committees, such as Fathers George Eber, Dimitrij Cozby, Paul D. O’Callaghan, Alexy Young, Thomas Joseph, and Edward Hughes. These priests understood the need for a specifically Orthodox account. Only in 1998, the Engelhardts’ efforts of love (and a miracle of God) had brought me around, as his first Orthodox author from philosophy. A crucial turning ...

“Grand opening.” When we see such an advertisement for a store, we think low prices—bargains. More likely than not, we don’t think about the flip-side. When retailers advertise for these and other special events, their eye is almost solely on the bottom line. Let’s get the most people we can in here in order to maximize sales. Every person through the door represents a certain percent chance of a sale, and therefore a certain percentage of today’s income. The math is fairly simple: a product people want plus the people who want it equals growth (profit, then ordering more, then selling more). This plan works great for capitalism, but it is a disastrous scheme and a horrible ‘model’ for Christianity. The ...