A brother asked Abba Sisoes, ‘What shall I do, abba, for I have fallen?’ The old man said to him, ‘Get up again.’ The brother said, ‘I have got up again, but I have fallen again.’ The old man said, ‘Get up again and again.’ So then the brother said, ‘How many times?’ The old […]

There is an old saying: “Excesses meet.” Too much fasting and too much eating come to the same end. Keeping too long a vigil brings the same disastrous cost as … sluggishness… Too much self-denial brings weakness and induces the same condition as carelessness. Often I have seen men who would not be snared by […]

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? During […]

As with many people in the USA, I like to think of myself as a person who responds graciously to others. My self-image of a priest may be based more on old Bing Crosby movies in which he played a priest than in the reality I experience. My behavior is certainly not as based on […]

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know […]

Over the last few years, I have seen increasing reactions to Saint Nicholas of Myra being reduced to some type of fat super-elf who goes around giving gifts. Even since I was a child, the idea of Santa bringing you a lump of coal if you were not a well-behaved child has been quietly removed. […]