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Orthodox Christianity in Columbus, GA

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Get Real: the Shortest Path to Salvation

March 4, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Serbian Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica said, “[Whoever] has the Kingdom of God within himself will imperceptibly pass it on to others. The atmosphere of heaven will radiate from us even when we keep silence or talk about ordinary things.” Of course, the great obstacle preventing me from inheriting the Kingdom of God is me; not the me that is “hid with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: asceticism, discipleship, piety, repentance

Not By Bread Alone

February 27, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

So, the Lenten fast begins. What a relief! When Jesus was confronted by the devil on the Mount of Temptation, during His fasting and ascetical labors, Satan first tried to interest Him the same way he had the first humans in the garden. Through the belly. Why not? In comparison to the bodiless nature of angels, even fallen ones, human beings are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ascetical struggle, fasting, Lent, spiritual thirst, temptations, trials

“Straight Ahead With the Fathers!”

January 20, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Sometimes I find myself hearing that infectious opening song --Tradition!-- in the robust voice of the beloved Tevye from the 1971 play, Fiddler on the Roof.  The plaintive Jewish melody fills my inner ear, punctuated by the thump of Tevye’s boots as he stomps emphatically across the ground accentuating the solidity of his hope in his … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Chrysostomos Stamoulis, Dumitru Staniloae, Orthodox Tradition, Orthodoxy and the arts, the stranger

A New book – Caregivers as Confessors & Healers

January 14, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

 The Orthodox Christian Association of Psychology and Religion (OCAMPR) for the past quarter of a century, has been a professional association and fellowship of theologians, health professionals and psychotherapists who, along with their specialities, share a common Orthodox Christian faith. From its inception, OCAMPR has recognized that clinical … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

Adding an ‘Abba-tizer’ to your day for spiritual health

January 2, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

At the monasteries during meals, a reading from the Holy Fathers is typically offered by one of the monks.  In our workaday world, for those who eat breakfast or take lunch alone, it is easy to bring along some spiritual reading and nibble slowly while eating.  I have found that it is not only spiritually refreshing, encouraging and uplifting to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Abbatizer, anger, blame, irritation, Philokalia, resentment, Spiritual struggle, St. Dorotheos

The Peddler and the Disenchanted Mirror Kindle version

January 1, 2017 By Fr. Stephen Muse

Kindle Version is now available. Click on the link below. https://www.amazon.com/Peddler-Disenchanted-Mirror-Stephen-Muse-ebook/dp/B01N2ZHB4X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483298545&sr=1-1&keywords=Peddler+and+the+disenchanted+mirror … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

New Book by Fr. Stephen

September 19, 2016 By Fr. Stephen Muse

This is a beautifully printed, hardbound, gift edition with drawings rendered by one of Greece's foremost illustrators, Dimitra Psychigiou. It is the story of a woman in search of her perfect image. One day at a dusty flea market she finds an unusual mirror, which she tries to purchase to add to her collection. Her struggle with the mirror, the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog

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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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