The Parish Life category explores the joys, challenges, and practical realities of Orthodox Christian life within the local parish. From worship, stewardship, and fellowship to leadership, evangelism, and community building, these articles offer insights to help clergy and laity cultivate healthy, Christ-centered parish communities.
The Divine Liturgy is essential to Orthodox Christianity. When the enemy seeks to delude faithful Orthodox Christians, he always starts with attacking the liturgy. What we have received, we are obligated to preserve and pass on.
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A critical response to Fr. James Krueger’s article on Orthodox Reflections concerning the validity of Western Rite Orthodoxy.
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A lively panel discussion on successfully leading Orthodox missionary efforts in an America dealing with diversity in class, religious background, political ideology, race, language, ethnicity and more.
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The religious roots of the West are Orthodox Catholicism, as shown by the many pre-Schism saints the Orthodox commemorate. Are we truly honoring these saints if we reject the rites which inspired them to such holiness?
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How did a day dedicated, in theory, to giving thanks to God for His many blessings go so horribly wrong in our modern culture? How should the Orthodox Church approach this American holiday?
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Americans are bad at holidays. The Orthodox need to teach them, and reach our neighbors with the fullness of the Christian Faith.
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Going on pilgrimage to monasteries is a treasured Orthodox Tradition for the lay faithful. However, for the spiritually immature, pilgrimages can do great harm. Here are reasons to avoid them, if you are not fully prepared to undertake them in the correct spiritual mindset.
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Strange question right? But, interestingly, Russian choral music in use today is not the ancient Russian tradition. It came out of the 1600s renovations, albeit with some precedent, and accelerated under Tsar Peter the Great. Should we even keep singing it?
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Disaster Response Best Practices and Lessons Learned for Orthodox Christians are not optional. They are necessities, because you can’t wait for the government to help you.
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If the supremacy and infallibility of the Roman Popes were of Apostolic origin, then we would expect to have seen these dogmas “believed everywhere, always, and by all”. Were the Popes really supreme in the 1st Millennium?
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