December 15, 2014

Today on Godparents and Grandparents Sunday, I want each of us to reflect upon the legacy or inheritance we are leaving our children, grandchildren and godchildren. Don't think only how you will divide up your financial portfolio, but how will you pass on our Orthodox Christian faith! Read more »

December 07, 2014

Last Sunday, we witnessed a beautiful expression of this desire for unity when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis came together to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople/Istanbul. Read more »

November 30, 2014

Do we have modern day apostles? Who are those who leave their homelands to live in foreign cultures around the world, offering a witness of love and hope to those in need? Read more »

November 23, 2014

Being “Rich Towards God.” What does that mean? Are you, or am I, “Rich Towards God?” Read more »

November 16, 2014

Do you know that of all the themes that Jesus preached and taught about, he talked more about riches and treasures and money than he did about other such themes as prayer and fasting? You see, the topic of money, and specifically good stewardship of all we have, is a spiritual topic, because Christ understood well that where our treasure is, our heart will be also! Read more »

November 09, 2014

What does your Christian Faith, and the Orthodox Church herself, mean to you? Think about that for a moment? How would you value your faith and the Church? In other words, where do you place your relationship with Jesus Christ in your life? What have you received from Christ Himself, and how have you been blessed by His Church? Read more »

November 02, 2014

Do we notice the “Other,” those who are different than ourselves? Or when we notice that they are different than us, how do we look upon them? How do we treat them? Read more »

October 19, 2014

Twenty years ago yesterday, on the feast of my patron Saint Luke the Evangelist, I was ordained to the priesthood in Tirana, Albania by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios. Faith and I began our ministry in Albania, and served there for 10 and a half years. We are now approaching 10 years of service here in Webster. Read more »

October 13, 2014

Lent is a season when the Church challenges us to live up to our Christian faith. That which we profess with our mouths on Sunday, we are asked to live out in our lives throughout the week – within our families, among our friends and even strangers, in the workplace, during our hobbies and entertainment, everywhere. Of course, we’re supposed to live out our faith each and every day throughout our lives, but we all realize how hard that is to do. And sometimes we need a special reason, a little “push,” an added incentive, to get us back on track in our spiritual journey. Read more »

October 06, 2014

Our God is a God of wonders and miracles. He is not bound by the very laws of nature which He Himself has established. Sometimes in our contemporary, secular and materialistic world we try to insist that science and reason are the only source of truth. Yet we know that the Creator of all stands above all. The miracle of the Kardiotisa icon is just one small example of the unfathomable mysteries of life and of the Creator of Life, God Himself! Read more »

September 29, 2014

JUST LIVE IT! Just WALK It. Just TALK It. Just TEACH It. Just PRAY it. Just GIVE It. Just SHARE It. Just LOVE It. “Be Doers of the Word, and not just Hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Read more »

September 22, 2014

When we ask God for something, how do we do it? Do we demand? Do we plead? Do we try to bargain? Or compromise? With what attitude do we typically approach God? Read more »

September 15, 2014

How strong is your faith? Have you thought about how your faith has changed over the years? Have you nourished it and has it grown over, say, the last 10 years, or has it weakened and withered and become more uncertain? Read more »

September 08, 2014

One day 50 years ago, after suffering many years in the work camps of Siberia, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian intellectual and dissident, had fallen into despair. Like other prisoners, he had worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His days were filled with backbreaking labor and slow starvation. On this particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much. Read more »

August 31, 2014

“What does it profit a person if he gains the entire world, and loses his own soul?” May we pause and reflect for a moment upon our own lives, and the direction and spirit in which we live our lives. We live in such a “here and now” society, one which too often focuses on our own egocentric desires and pleasures and one which tempts us to try and fulfill these passions immediately. So easily we can lose sight of life’s essential purpose. Read more »

August 25, 2014

“To give thanks in all circumstances, you need to remember all the things in life for which we can be grateful, and then continuously thank God for them. I never focus on what I don’t have, or on how unfair life is, but I thank God for what I do have, and for the blessings He gives me each and every day. Such an attitude of gratitude radically changed my perspective on life.” Read more »

August 18, 2014

"Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute or the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty." Read more »

August 11, 2014

Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings… Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Here is the “good news of great joy” which Christmas proclaims! Read more »

August 04, 2014

Why do we come to Church each week? What are we seeking from our Christian faith? Or maybe we need to ask, are we consciously and seriously seeking anything from our faith? Ultimately, what is our goal as Orthodox Christians in this brief life here on planet earth? Read more »

July 27, 2014

One friend asked me WHY I would go to Mexico to build a home for some poor family I don’t even know. He obviously didn’t understand our call as Christians to reach out to those in need, to help others less fortunate than ourselves, and to share God’s love in concrete ways, even with those who live in other countries far away. Read more »