Spirituality

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Wow. What a tempest in a teapot this whole Elon-Musk-buying-Twitter thing has stirred up. For some it seemed as joy-filled as the Second Coming, and to others like the end of the world.

Hyperbole and overreaction seem to be the order of the day these days, or at least what’s reported in the media. Of course, most people fall between the extremes—of left and right, of “liberal” and “conservative”, etc.—somewhere along “the average” in ways of looking at things—having a more reasoned and open-minded view. Most people realize that any good idea or theory must not be protected from Read More

The Six Psalms being read at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery. Courtesy/Fr. Theophan

By Father Theophan
Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church
Los Alamos

Someone once asked me, “Did you wear all black before you became a priest?” 

Yes. Yes, I did. 

I grew up in the late eighties and early nineties. Some who know me better, might say that I never grew up at all. Elementary school, for me, took place in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama in a small, private, Christian school (evangelical). My father was the headmaster; my mother, the librarian; and my grandmother was the lunch lady. My two brothers and I couldn’t Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Phones, phones. Everywhere phones. And the ubiquitous selfies—social media awash in selfies, videos of self, comments from self, etc. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc., etc. Pride, or bids for attention? Not all, of course, but likely some of both.

Pride is highlighted in a parable of Jesus, in which an arrogant religious leader takes “… up HIS position [in the Jerusalem Temple] and spoke this prayer to himself (!)” …O God… I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity …” How Jesus phrases the parable is interesting, framing the man as worshiping the self.  “Aren’t Read More