Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church

Orthodox Christianity in Columbus, GA

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Clergy
    • Ministries
  • About Orthodoxy
    • Orthodox Prayers
  • Schedule
    • Weekly Bulletin
  • Directions
  • Fr. Stephen’s Muse
  • Donate Now
  • Contact Us
  • Watch Live Stream

Destroy This Temple…

August 2, 2020 By Fr. Stephen Muse

It has been some five months since we have willingly removed ourselves from worshipping in the temple of Holy Transfiguration Church at the request of our Bishops as part of the precautions taken in response to the COVID pandemic to limit the spread of the virus. I miss the worship life and fellowship we had before all this began. In addition, in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Eucharist, Gamaliel, Hagia Sohia, St. Stephen, worship

The Most Important Question

May 16, 2020 By Fr. Stephen Muse

What is the most important question of human existence?  If we have not yet discovered this, then we can be assured that we are not very far along toward answering the question. My six-year-old grandson Collin suffers from severe asthma. When he heard that asthma was a condition that made people more vulnerable to the COVID virus he was worried. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: dialogical reciprocity, Emmaus, Eucharist, Garden of Gethsemane arrest, love, Mary Magdalene, personal encounter, resurrection

Mt Athos Needs Our Help

April 14, 2020 By Fr. Stephen Muse

This is a letter I recently received from the Friends of Mt Athos regarding recent events that have left the small monastic republic vulnerable in a new way. They need our help and here is a way we can offer it.  Letter From the Membership Chairman of the Friends of Mount Athos in the Americas Dear Friends, I hope you all had a chance to see the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

No Humpty Dumpty Theology

April 10, 2020 By Fr. Stephen Muse

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty famously said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” [1] In some ways our post-modern, fake news-attributing culture is very familiar with this perspective. It seems natural and even desirable to “create your own reality” and then disparage anyone who objects … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: abandonment, crucifixion, dialogical reciprocity, St Sophrony

My God, My God, Why have we abandoned Thee?

April 4, 2020 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Today I sat in one of my favorite spots in the middle of my walk around Cooper Creek. It's a stone picnic table sheltered under some tall pine trees overlooking the lake. Carolina Tarheel sky blue above with a whisp of clouds over the green earth and the undulating brown waters of the lake. Light infuses everything and as I collect my attention … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: absence of God, atonement, cross, hesychia, prayer, St. Mark the Ascetic, watchfulness; St. Isaac the Syrian; mind-body unity

Rocks, Bread and Philotimo

December 1, 2019 By Fr. Stephen Muse

The  "Sermon on the Mount," including the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer and a host of other collected sayings of Jesus are found in the Gospel According to St. Matthew chapters 5-7. This teaching Jesus gave to people who sought him out because they wanted to hear him speak things that moved their hearts; things that were true; healing words; words … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

Pastoral Challenges in Marriage

November 1, 2019 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Description This conference is for clergy, seminarians, pastoral care workers, mental health professionals, ministry leaders, and all others who minister to Orthodox Christian couples. Although this conference is geared toward a specific audience, any interested lay people are welcome to attend. Sponsored by the Center for Family Care of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

Words Into Spirit: Pastoral Perspectives on Confession

September 12, 2019 By Fr. Stephen Muse

New Title From St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press – Words into Spirit    Vasileios Thermos & Stephen Muse, (Eds) St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press is pleased to introduce its most recent title, Words into Spirit: Pastoral Perspectives on Confession. “The life of the father-confessor who perseveres in contrite mourning will be rich in experiences of both … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

Ancient Faith Specials Page

August 27, 2019 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Ancient Faith Radio has begun a new page which will contain occasional lectures by Fr. Dn. Stephen Muse.  You can subscribe to the podcast and be notified of new additions to the specials at the hyperlink below.   https://www.ancientfaith.com/specials/fr_dn_stephen_muse       … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

The Church is Not Organized Religion But Communion to be Constantly Pursued

August 25, 2019 By Fr. Stephen Muse

How often have I heard variations on the theme of 'I’m spiritual, but not religious? You can be spiritual without going to Church. I don’t like organized religion because the church is full of a bunch of hypocrites.' It sure is. Got that right. There is no one alive on the earth who is not hypocritical. We say one thing while thinking something … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Communion, cross, organized religion, repentance, spiritual but not religious

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Sign up for the RSS feed for this blog

Your email address:

Behold the faith the Lord gave, the Apostles preached and the Fathers preserved

"I remember events of that time more clearly than those of recent years. I can describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat as he discoursed and the accounts which he gave of his intercourse with [the Apostle] John and others who had seen the Lord. He remembered their words, and what he heard from them concerning the Lord, his miracles and his teaching, having received them from eyewitnesses of the 'Word of life,' Polycarp related all these things in harmony with the Scriptures. These things being told me by the mercy of God, I listened attentively, noting them down, not on paper, but in my heart. And continually, through God's grace, I recall them faithfully." -- St Irenaeus of Lyons, 130-202 AD, in a letter to Florinus

‘Abba-tizer’ = a morsel of spiritual nourishment from an Abba or saint

"Patristic texts reveal the inner spiritual condition of the soul, much as axial tomography (imaging by sections) reveals the inner structures of the body.  Each sentence of the patristic text contains a multitude of meanings, and each person interprets them according to his own spiritual state of being.... In order to understand the writings of the Fathers, one must constrain oneself...focus and live spiritually; for the spirit of the Fathers is perceived through. and by, the Spirit only." --St. Paisios of Mt Athos

dia-Logos Prayer

Lord, love the world through me.
Let me love the world through You
and be loved by You through the world.

Ancient Faith Radio


Copyright © 2023 Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church
4612 Gilbert Avenue, Columbus, GA 31904 · Phone: 706.660.1777

Website Designed by Fr. John A. Peck · Log in