Theology

Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs, 1848

A Reply to the Epistle of Pope Pius IX, "to the Easterns"

For thus St. Peter the Apostle exhorts us (1 Pet.): Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist, steadfast in the faith.

Unity of the Church, an Image of the Holy Trinity: Orthodox Triadology as a Principle of Ecclesiology

By St. Sophrony (Sakharov)

St. Sophrony (Sakharov)

In striking contrast with ideas later put forward by Metropolitan John (Zizioulas), Elder Sophrony understands the Orthodox dogma of the Trinity to reject any form of subordinationism whatsoever, as subordinationism corresponds to papism.

The Mystery of Integrity: An Overview

Archpriest Nectarios Trevino

Truth in today’s society means little. And when it creeps into Orthodox Christianity, irrespective of the level, its corroding effect is eternal lest it is expelled.

The Ecumenical Monarch

Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis

Patriarch Bartholomew speaks and acts as if he were the absolute monarch of world Orthodoxy - and beyond. Let’s see what basis the Bishop of Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, justifies his inherited privileges.

Christ and the Church: Responding to Contemporary Currents in ‘Trinitarian Ecclesiology”

Bishop Irenei (Steenberg)

I wish to confine myself here to one specific manner in which a wrong application of Trinitarian articulations to ecclesiological matters has deeply distorted the latter; namely, the application of Trinitarian relations to the hierarchy of ecclesial primacy amongst the churches.

What is the “Apocrypha”?

Archpriest John Whiteford

What do the terms “apocrypha” and “deuterocanonical” mean, and how does the Orthodox Church view them?

Our World At War:

Part 1. A Warfare Theodicy

Archpriest Nectarios Trevino

Why did the September 2001 and subsequent atrocities occur? To answer this question, we must understand the world and its reality.

God’s Justice and the “Problem of Evil”

Alban Illingworth

This “problem of evil” has swollen into a beast that afflicts believers in the modern world in a way that never seemed to trouble the people of previous ages.

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 71

The Catholic Reform of the Lord’s Prayer is Irreverent to Christ Himself

Professor Alexei Osipov, Mikhail Tiurenkov

Make a comment if you want, but to say that the Lord’s Prayer should be read “like this”, and you, Lord Jesus, didn’t express yourself “fortunately”, is something I consider to be an expression of utter irreverence towards Christ Himself.

Rating: 5,5|Votes: 57

The Boundaries of Salvation: The ‘Two Natures’ of Communion in Christ

Lecture by Archpriest Peter Heers

Fr. Peter Alban Heers

Fr. Peter is the author of The Missionary Origins of Modern Ecumenism: Milestones Leading up to 1920, as well as The Ecclesiological Renovation of the Second Vatican Council: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church.

Rating: 7,4|Votes: 35

Will the Georgian Orthodox Church Recognize Patriarch Bartholomew’s Primacy in the Orthodox World?

Tamara Lomidze

If we recognize the OCU, we will let Constantinople into the canonical territory of the Georgian Church.

Rating: 8,7|Votes: 49

“Each One of Us Is Eternal” A Monastery in Finland

A talk with the Finnish Doctor of Theology Hannu P?yh?nen

Hannu Pöyhönen, Stepan Ignashev

The Church should remain the salt of the earth, even if it has to pay dearly for this.

Rating: 4,5|Votes: 55

More on the Question of the Toll Houses

Archpriest John Whiteford

When it comes to those who wish to either dismiss the idea of the toll houses, or to label them as heretical, I have often been amazed, both at the evidence that they are willing to ignore, and what they seem to think proves their case.

Rating: 6,2|Votes: 85

David Bentley Hart and the Toll Houses

Archpriest John Whiteford

The toll house tradition is an image that is intended to teach us something about things that are beyond our normal experience.

Rating: 7,4|Votes: 28

Papalism and Populism: Two Sides of the Same Bad Penny

Anna Stickles

There has been a lot of attention lately on the neo-papism of Constantinople, but in the midst of this it behooves us to beware of falling prey to its partner: populism.

Rating: 8,6|Votes: 19

Canon 28 and Eastern Papalism: Cause or Effect?

George C. Michalopulos

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the primatial claims of the Church of Constantinople and specifically, Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon, which has become the proof-text as it were of recent Constantinopolitan claims which have startled many in the Orthodox world.

Rating: 8,8|Votes: 33

Facing Up to God

Fr. Stephen Freeman

How is it that merely gazing at something, we are changed into its very image? This question takes us into the heart of Biblical and Orthodox understanding.

Rating: 2,7|Votes: 7

VIDEOS: Understanding Sin and Forgiveness

Fr. Peter Alban Heers

Protopresbyter Peter Heers offers an enlightening talk that helps us understand sin and forgiveness.

Rating: 10|Votes: 3

VIDEO: On Baptism According to the Teachings of St. Kosmas Aitolos

Fr. John Palmer

Fr. John Palmer discusses the Patristic understanding of the holy Sacrament of Baptism.

Rating: 7,5|Votes: 12

Is There Cause To Interrupt Eucharistic Communion?

Part 3: A Look At Russia’s Reasons for Breaking Communion

Anna Stickles

For Russia, the situation involves both a dispute over canonical territory and a protest against the claims of Constantinople to be “first among equals” and have universal authority. The first is jurisdictional, the second a matter of the rule of faith.