Class: An Introduction to the Mysteries

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity at St. Michael’sWoonsocket, Rhode Island The Mysteries Questions for consideration: does God just work through ideas and the heart, or does He work in the physical world, too?  How about mankind?  Is there such a thing as a blessing?  A curse?  How do they work? Background. God is un-created.  He made […]

From our Parish Service Book: Twelve Things

Twelve Things I Wish I’d Known:Learning how to Live and Love Orthodox Worship Welcome to the God-protected, God-loving parish of St. Michael’s! Here are some things that we hope will increase the profundity of your worship experience here, whether you are an experienced member of this parish, a visitor from another Orthodox parish, or this […]

Akathist to the Prokova of the Birthgiver of God

There is a link to this from Fr. John Whiteford’s excellent Liturgical Texts site, but it is to an archive.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to have it duplicated.  We’ll be praying this service this Sunday evening (the eve of the Pokrova Feast).  ============================================ The Veil of Our LadyAkathist Hymn Translation from the original Slavonic […]

RIOCF: Statement on Same-Sex Marriage

Rhode Island Orthodox Clergy FellowshipStatement on Same-Sex Marriage  We, the clergy of the Orthodox Churches of Rhode Island, express our disappointment over recent developments concerning the status of marriage in our country and in our state.  Specifically, we disapprove our state legislature’s vote in favor of and signing into law the practice of same-sex marriage. […]

Class. The ABC’s of Salvation through Christ and His Orthodox Church (why do we have all this stuff?)

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity at St. Michael’sWoonsocket, Rhode Island Opening Prayer: O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who is everywhere present and fills all things; come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.. Opening Scripture: Psalm 8; Ephesians 2: 1-10 Summary of Scripture: The Glory, […]

20130910 Fr. John Peck on Vocations and Preparedness

In this episode, Fr. John and Fr. Anthony share their friendship and love of Christ and His Church with you.  They talk about vocations (Fr. John is the manager of the popular “Good Guys Wear Black” website and Fr. Anthony is the Director of Vocations for the UOC-USA), self-care and parish-care for priests and their […]

Some thoughts on the priestly vocation (impediments and advice)

The following represents my own personal reflections and are not necessarily representative of anyone else’s opinions.  I focus on the UOC-USA because it is the Church I serve and the example I know best.  With some minor modifications, these probably work for other Churches and dioceses, as well.  I look forward to your comments. Requirements […]

My notes for the talk on Moral Psychology

I had hoped to find time to write these up properly – but two moths later I haven’t!  So here it is, mis-spellings, poor grammar, and all! Notes for a talk on Orthodoxy, Ritual and Moral Psychology Warning: I use the words “conservative” and “liberal” throughout this talk. I am not talking about Republicans and […]

Podcast: 20130807 Being a Hero and Moral Psychology

This podcasts begins with advice for young people to become heroes.  The rest is devoted to introducing listeners to some findings in moral psychology and their relevance to Orthodoxy (hint- it’s about ritual/Orthopraxis).  Lord willing, I’ll be devoting more podcasts to devloping these themes.  Here are the notes for the moral psychology talk (alas it […]

Moral Psychology, Orthodoxy, and Ritual (video)

Here is a link to the YouTube Video of the talk. YouTube Blurb:  Sometimes it seems like religious conservatives and liberals are speaking a different language when it comes to morality. Framing plays an issue as both groups try to establish which moral category best fits the given issue, but this doesn’t really explain the […]