Truth About Fasting 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
3h ago
During Great Lent, the Orthodox put a lot of emphasis on food and what are appropriate Lenten vittles. I think that focus on foods is misplaced as Christ spoke more about charity, love, mercy and forgiveness than He did about fasting. Be that as it may, below is a quote which offers us an unusual perspective on food, which is appropriate at his time of year and which might help us rethink what we are “eating” throughout Lent. The text is from the book, THE LITTLE LIAR, by Mitch Albom. The narrator speaking to us is personified “Truth” – the “I” and “me” of the text who is offering us nou ..read more
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My Achilles Heel
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
14h ago
There is a metaphor meaning one’s weakness – “my Achilles heel.” If all goes according to the health plan, and if God wills it, I will be undergoing surgery on my Achilles heel today (it may already be over as you read this). I managed to completely rupture it – one might say the result of a series of missteps if you can excuse the pun. I mention this for two reasons. First, I ask for your prayers so that God might heal the heel and give me the patience and strength to endure the recovery which will be slow and long. There are of course markers along the way which will show how well recovery ..read more
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The Wonder of Creation 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
1d ago
See How great are the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon. But the Lord was not pleased to find his rest in them, but in humanity alone. Man, therefore, is of greater value than all other creatures, and perhaps I will not hesitate to say, not only visible creatures, but also those invisible, namely, ‘the ministering spirits‘ (Hebrews 1:14). For it was not of Michael or Gabriel, the archangels, that God said: ‘let us make men to our image and likeness‘ (Genesis 1:26), but he said it concerning the spiritual makeup of the human, I mean, the immortal soul.  (Pseudo-M ..read more
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Meditation on the Virgin Mary 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
2d ago
Let us praise the Virgin Mary. The Gate of Heaven, the Glory of the World. The Song of the Angels, the Beauty of the Faithful. She was born of man yet gave birth to God. She was revealed as heaven, as the temple of the Godhead. She destroyed the wall of enmity. She commenced the peace, she opened the kingdom. Since she is our confirmation of faith, our defender is the Lord, whom she bore. Courage, courage, O people of God! For Christ will destroy our enemies, since He is all-powerful. (Dogmatikon Tone 1) St Ephrem the Syrian offers these words in praise of the Virgin Mary:  By pow ..read more
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More Joy Than You’d Believe is Possible
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
3d ago
And having come in, the angel said to Mary, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28) The Annunciation is a feast of joy. The Angel Gabriel’s first word to Mary is “Rejoice!” It is a reminder to us that the Gospel is and is supposed to be joyful good news. It is not primarily a warning to sinners threatening them with damnation. Olga Sedakova in her poem, “The Angel of Rheims”, picks up on this theme of rejoicing at the Annunciation:  Ready for plague, famine, earthquake, fire,   foreign invasions, surges of aggression?&nbs ..read more
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Icons: Windows into Heaven 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
4d ago
And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) Icons are sometimes called “windows into heaven.” The sense of this is that they are not photographs capturing what we can see with our eyes, but rather they reveal a spiritual reality, showing us the hidden spiritual side of an event rather than the historical details. Christ tells His disciples that they will “see heaven open,” and there is a fulfillment of this promise in each icon. We create icons of saints to memoriali ..read more
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The Sabbath Rest
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
5d ago
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28) While the Sabbath Day rest became a major focus of legalistic and Pharisaical believers, the Sabbath has a spiritual meaning which goes beyond simply obeying a set of rules on what not to do in order to keep it holy. Origen of Alexandria explored some of the possible spiritual meanings of the Sabbath. Christ’s declaring Himself the Lord of the Sabbath means Christ rules even over all the laws people have declared about the Sabbath, and Christ ..read more
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The Trees of the Wood; The Wood of the Trees 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
6d ago
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil ..read more
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Lord God, Creator and Potter 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
1w ago
… then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)  Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)  Athenagoras writing about 176AD praises God as Creator and Artist in using clay to bring humans into existence:  It is like the potter and the clay. The clay is matter, the potter is an artist. So is God the Creator and artist, while matter is subject to him for the sake of his art. But as clay cannot b ..read more
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Imaging God 
Fr. Ted's Blog
by T Bobosh
1w ago
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27) While Genesis is clear that humans were made in God’s image, what being in the image of God means exactly has been much discussed through history. Generally, the Fathers thought it a reference to something more spiritual (like ..read more
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