Fr. Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast – Page 27 – Saints, Seasons, Society, Sins, plus Travels mostly to Greece and who knows what next? by Father Bill Olnhausen

362. 1) From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus in five images, 2) Six Surprising Ways Jesus Changed the World, 3) Nativity Poems by Saint Ephrem the Syrian and by G K Chesterton

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Fr. Bill

1. Santa Claus! And now you know why Santa Claus is dressed in red. 2. Six Surprising Ways Jesus Changed the world by John Ortberg, Senior Pastor, Presbyterian Church, Menlo Park, California My notes: This article was written during the 2012 Presidential campaign. I left it unaltered, except for two explanatory footnotes. We hear much […]

361. Orthodox Music for the Nativity of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ

Posted on December 16, 2022December 17, 2022 by Fr. Bill

Here is the entire Christmas story in one icon. Have you heard some of the following music on this Blog before? Probably. No matter. At this time of year, Christians everywhere love the same old songs – sing them and listen to them again an d again. And now we can even see them! Here I’ve […]

360. A Saint too great to be ignored: Ambrose of Milan

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 by Fr. Bill

However, we Orthodox have often ignored Saint Ambrose. Why? First, because he is commemorated on December 7, only a day after the feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra *, who is ultra-popular among us. In the Roman Catholic Church, Nicholas has been reduced to a minor commemoration. And also because he wrote in Latin – […]

359. 1) A little more about Ukraine. 2) Everything Imaginable and more about Saint Nicholas

Posted on November 30, 2022December 7, 2022 by Fr. Bill

Wednesday November 30: My email tells me that this week’s Post has just been published. I do believe I must have pushed the “publish” key two days early. Uh…whoops. However, this Post is almost ready to go. All I need to do is correct a few typos. This will give you more time to real all […]

358. A Strong Intelligent Young Woman: the Virgin Martyr Katherine of Alexandria

Posted on November 21, 2022November 26, 2022 by Fr. Bill

I’ll try to keep this short. This is Thanksgiving week. You probably don’t have much time to read, and I don’t have much time to write, because all our family will soon be here. _______________________________________ Feminine Weakness? Occasionally in our Orthodox hymns for certain female martyrs, we give thanks that they bravely overcame their “feminine […]