25. My Travels: 2006, Part Two – Exploring Crete

Return to Crete The night after Saint Nektarios did it again, I took the overnight ferry to Crete. In those long ago days of more primitive home computers, I’d had trouble getting my reservation through to the Crete ferry company, so I kept trying and trying. When I got to the ferry office, I discovered […]

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20. 2005: the Big Trip, Part 4- the Falling Away from Christianity in the West, “Family Values” and the Value of Travel

I had been in Europe for four weeks. It was my fourth trip to western Europe and my fifth trip to Greece. As I flew home I pondered what I had seen and heard, and I’ve been speculating about it ever since. The Decline of Christianity in the West I hear there are places in western Europe […]

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15. The Story of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council: Part 2

Let me say again that throughout this four-part series I draw often on the book The Fathers of the Eastern Church by Robert Payne. The Council begins. This First Ecumenical Council, the First Council of Nicaea, was not held in secret. We have five accounts of it. The Council was held in a great marble hall above […]

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13. The Story of Saint Constantine the Great

Let’s take another break from our travels and hear the story of events and people of the fourth century, mostly in Greek-speaking lands, which determined the future of Christianity and the world. All these are commemorations on the Orthodox calendar at this time of year, and all relate directly to the First Ecumenical Council. Today, […]

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6. My Travels: 2002 Part 3 – Mount Athos.

Daily (but it’s mostly nightly) Life on Mount Athos Why was I so impressed by how beautiful things were at night? Because on Athos one spends a lot of the night awake. My most distressing memory is of the Finnish guestmaster knocking on my door every morning at 3 a.m. saying, “Pater, Pater, the services […]

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