The Moral Life – Fr. Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast

371. Last Minute Instructions before we go into Lent

Posted on February 25, 2023March 1, 2023 by Fr. Bill

If you think this Post reads suspiciously like the text for a homily or sermon… you are a very perceptive person. For reasons I won’t go into, I have suddenly become “un-retired” and am serving as interim priest at my old parish, Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. “But, Lord, I was already over-busy in retirement!” It […]

364. Here’s what we’re going to miss again: Christ’s Temptations

Posted on January 5, 2023January 6, 2023 by Fr. Bill

Today Friday January 6 is the Epiphany, when we celebrate Christ’s Baptism. In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Christ begins His public ministry. Between those events something extremely significant happened, which most Orthodox never hear about. In fact I could find very few Orthodox icons about it. Christ’s Temptations in the Desert Last summer I wrote that […]

357. Hierarchs who have challenged Christian Civil Authorities

Posted on November 18, 2022November 21, 2022 by Fr. Bill

If you don’t know where this Post is headed, you haven’t been following the news. 1. Saint Athanasios the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria (AD 298- 373) “Athanasios against the world”, people said. Athanasios was Patriarch for 45 years – 25 of which were spent in exile – in Rome and with the monks in the […]

126. War and Peace: Part One – Christ, the Early Church, the Just War Theory

Posted on May 17, 2019November 23, 2022 by Fr. Bill

Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! “Wars and Rumors of Wars” The time to think about war rationally is before we get into one. Once war begins it’s too late. Then all sorts of emotions and reactions, pride and propaganda take over. And after people are killed in war, there is a fervent and very […]