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Orthodox Christianity in Columbus, GA

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For the Love of Tuna!

August 5, 2018 By Fr. Stephen Muse

We tempted and led a raccoon into captivity briefly, relocating it this afternoon to a faraway country. The face of this shy little creature sitting in the cage, kept returning to me during the Divine Liturgy, along with the echoing refrain, “for the love of tuna.”   Several varieties of grapes grow in our yard.  Scuppernongs cover the fence along … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Adam & Eve, Esau, Eucharistic reciprocity, mercy, Psalm 63, repentance, salvation, temptation

The Myrrh Bearing of the Holy Theotokos

April 22, 2018 By Fr. Stephen Muse

[1] Not many stories are recounted in all four of the Gospels. Jesus having his feet anointed with a pound of the myrrh of pure nard [2] is one of those stories. [3] Here myrrh refers to a medicinal aromatic essential oil called spikenard or muskroot which is derived from a flowering plant of the valerian family that grows in the Himalayas of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Holy Myrrh bearers; myrrh-gushing icons; Resurrection; anointing Jesus' feet, myrrh-streaming icons

Not By Comparison

January 28, 2018 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Adam and Eve created enmity with each other and the world around them when they started comparing themselves to God and each other. God found out about their dis-ease when He entered the garden looking for communion. Calling out for them, Adam answered, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I am naked so I hid.” [1] “Who told you, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: comparison, humility, Pharisee and publican, pride, repentance, vainglory

Re-member me in love forever Lord!

October 8, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

On an occasion when Jesus was in Capernaum, the city of the Apostle Peter’s family, the leaders of the local synagogue appealed to him on behalf of a certain Roman Centurion, whose servant was ill. They made their case for Jesus to intervene on the basis that the Centurion was worthy because “he loves our nation and built our synagogue.” Nothing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Communion, compassion, vulnerability of love

Treasure in Earthen Vessels: Prayer and the Embodied Life

October 2, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

 Treasure in Earthen Vessels “In the following pages, Fr. Stephen Muse provides us, not with a manual of prayer, but with an opening into the life of prayer by unveiling for us “the mystery of embodied life and the uncreated divine life.” He provides an entryway for us, as human beings with all our brokenness, weakness and fear, to dialogue … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: dia-Logos prayer, embodied life, humility, love, noetic prayer, Philokalia, prayer, prayer of the heart, repentance

Orthodox Women in Healing Ministries – Annual Conference, Dormition Monastery

August 30, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

The Orthodox Women in the Healing Ministries celebrates 25th Years (1992 - 2017)! Orthodox Women in the Healing Ministries was founded in 1992 with the mission of providing support to Orthodox Christian women who work in the medical and healing professions. This includes doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers and the like. From its inception … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Orthodox Women Healers, Vulnerability and the Healing Partnership

Resiliency!

August 23, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Resiliency is the theme of the Annual Conference the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion (OCAMPR). This year we gather at the Ukranian Cultural Center in Somerset, NJ, November 2-4.  If you have never attended an OCAMPR conference you are missing a feast for the heart, mind and soul. Fellowship among Orthodox … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: OCAMPR, Orthodox psychotherapy, Orthodox Tradition, Resiliency

Created for a Communion of Love

June 24, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

It is written, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”[1] What is a “living soul”? Moreover, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? [2] The ancient Hebrew word translated as “living soul” is nephesh. It is the same word used for all “life” brought … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Art, Communion, Elder Sophrony, human potential, Image and likeness, love, meditation, nephesh, prayer

Amim’s Great Discovery… Be Yourself!

April 16, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Amim, what happened to your nose? Where are your mouth and ears? Where did your fingers and hair go? St. Anthony of the desert, in response to a questioner who asked about the purpose of ascetical struggle, once summed it up as an effort "to become yourself." By this he did not mean selfishly living without regard for other people's feelings or at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

St. Nilus Abba-tizer: embracing involuntary suffering

April 5, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Abba Nilus said, “Do not be always wanting everything to turn out as you think it should, but rather as God pleases, then you will be undisturbed and thankful in your prayer.”[1] "Undisturbed and thankful" is something we usually associate with enjoying the blessings of life--good food, good reputation, financial resources, health and the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: faith, involuntary suffering, prayer, repentance, Spiritual struggle

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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


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