Father Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast
A Variety of Topics: Saints, Seasons, Society, the Moral Life, plus Travels mostly to Greece, and more, by Father Bill Olnhausen
This story has always captivated me, for reasons I can’t explain. The Monastery of Saint Savas (Mar Sabas) in the Palestinian West Bank down below Jerusalem is one of the oldest continually functioning monasteries in the world. In the late Fourth Century monks from Mar Sabas spent much of Lent alone in the desert. A […]
Read More »The theme for this Fourth Sunday of Lent is Saint John Climacos (of “the Ladder”) so called because of his book The Ladder of Divine Ascent, one of the most popular books in the ancient world. More about him in a bit. A Wandering Introduction to the Ladder of Saint John Climacos Two stories: 1 […]
Read More »Lest we forget: The Third Sunday of Great Lent It’s Mid-Lent. A good time to review your Lenten Rule. Is it too easy to be challenging? Too difficult to be kept? Say a prayer and adjust it, if need be. Great Lent Does the Holy Orthodox Church ever change? Actually, yes. But not […]
Read More »A blessed and refreshing and challenging Lent to you! This year during Lent (and perhaps through Paschal season as well) we’ll concentrate on the Sunday Scripture readings and themes of the season. We haven’t done this for a while. The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy After all these years, I still feel slightly […]
Read More »Last week we talked about how to be saved. This week we’ll talk about a sure way not to be saved. But first: Please pray for the brave people of Ukraine (which is about 75% Orthodox, 35 million people), still being bombarded day after day by Russia in this unjust unholy war, now entering its […]
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