Ezine Article INDEX

Below is a listing of our wonderful Ezine articles authored by Fr. Apostolos.  Please click on the title links below to read the entire article.

A Distorted View

I saw a couple of really good movies lately with my kids. One was Spider-Man, the epic adventure of young Peter Parker who is transformed into the web-slinging Super-Hero after being bitten by a radioactive spider. The effects were very, very good in that they didn’t appear to be effects at all...

Accomodations

I found myself for some reason thinking a great deal last week about the many accommodations we post-modern Christians make to the un, or rather, anti-Christian society around us. And the more I thought about this the more strange this trend seemed to me. For while it is certainly considered polite to be accommodating to our friends and neighbors and co-workers, there certainly must be boundaries beyond which accommodation becomes compromise...

All the Rage

Someone, I forget who exactly, once sent me an email with a video clip attachment that I found very funny. In the clip, an average-looking guy is sitting at this desk in his cubicle in a large office. He begins to have problems with his computer and before you even see it coming he begins pounding on his keyboard. Then, Babe Ruth-like, he picks up his keyboard like a baseball bat and, with a mighty swing, knocks his monitor off of his desk...

And So It Begins

The Holiday crush is upon us, let the manic shopping frenzy begin!  The days between Thanksgiving and New Years Day are among the busiest and most enjoyable of the entire year.  They also seem to roll by at blinding speed in our haste to get everything done.  Every year the lament is raised after the Holiday revelry has ended that there isn't enough time to enjoy and really savor the joy of the Christmas season... 

A Convert's Tale part 2

From the first time I entered an Orthodox Church and witnessed an Orthodox liturgy, I knew somehow that I was at home, that my odyssey was at an end.  And, by the way, the first liturgy I witnessed was a Pre-Sanctified Lenten liturgy conducted primarily in Arabic; not the most accessible worship experience for a newcomer... 

A Converts Tale part 1

With some reluctance, I recently agreed to share the story of my own journey into the Orthodox Church for our Lenten Lecture series at the Cathedral. (And as a caveat, "my" journey was shared, thank God, equally by my wife as we discovered Orthodoxy together.)  My reluctance, plainly exhibited by my stammering delivery which, God be praised, was unsuccessfully recorded that night, stemmed from a general uneasiness in speaking about myself.or holding out my story as being anything remarkable...

Called to be Saints

It must have been a curious scene if it was even noticed at all.  As the morning breeze pushed the waves onto the beach and the cries of the seagulls were carried on the winds, a solitary figure walks the shore line of the Sea of Galilee.   The local fishermen, a rough and callused bunch, race to get the night's catch to market.  their nets mended and dried, the decks of their fishing vessels washed, and repairs made to the creaky old boats...

Caring for the Soul

Imagine with me, if you will, someone who has been diagnosed with a serious illness.  And for the sake of this exercise, let's imagine it's someone close to you, someone you know very well. What would your response be if this person for whom you cared very deeply refused to accept treatment for this serious illness?  What if the treatment was readily available, free of charge, and highly effective?...

Church or Chapel

I have in my office a wonderful collection of pottery items made for me by my daughter a few years ago.  I display them proudly and enjoy seeing them throughout the day as they remind me of her middle-school artistic abilities and her love for me.  She even made a large coffee mug with my face on one side (truly a "mug" twice over).  And because I've never been any good at pottery crafts, though I can make a mean play-doh snake, I admire these treasures all the more...

Clouds without Water

The massive Hayman fire burning south of the city of Denver is now fully contained and for this residents of the city are extremely thankful.  The last month has been very tense as this monster blazed into the largest recorded wildfire in the history of the state and dumped thick clouds of acrid black smoke into the Denver area.  You can smell the smoke long before you ever see it though it isn't at all difficult to see... 

Coddled Cuture

The Fox Television Network has just launched the new season of the runaway hit series “American Idol.” This program is a competition to find and coronate the next American pop-music “superstar.” Auditions are held in key U.S. cities to ferret out potential candidates and as the show progresses the young singers are subjected to a panel of judges and a television audience...

Cry Havoc

"Forward he cried from the rear and the front ranks died.  The General sat and the lines on the map moved from side to side."   (Pink Floyd, "Us and Them")

Establishing a Daily Rule of Prayer

There is a story that is told about a young businessman who is commuting home on the subway one evening.  And as he rides he is attempting to complete a very important report on his laptop.  The car is very full and just across the aisle from him is another young man with two very noisy and rambunctious children.  Their chatter and activity makes it very difficult for the businessman to concentrate on his report until finally, exasperated, he addresses himself to the young father and asks him to try and control his children... 

Extasy Intimacy and Viagra

So, have you glanced at the magazine selection at your local supermarket checkout line lately? It used to be the provocative cover models of Elle, Cosmo, and Redbook that raised an eyebrow or heart-rate. Now it's the story tag-lines about how to "Rev up your sex life." Or, perhaps like me, you've heard one of the growing number of radio and television ads for the latest and greatest "performance-enhancing" potions guaranteed (or your money back!) to deliver amazing results in the bedroom... 

For Healing of Soul and Body

I was born a chronic asthmatic. This first came to light, my Mother tells me, on Christmas Day when I was two years old and stopped breathing. According to Mom I was blue and cold by the time the paramedics arrived to rush me to the hospital. Poor Mom and Dad. Raising me couldn’t have been an easy task. While in the hospital that Christmas, I was tested for reactivity to 50+ known allergens and I reacted to each of them...

Funding the Vision

In this season of stewardship renewal when parishes are working to encourage their respective members to re-sign the parish pledge cards it is instructive for us to take a step or two back and look at the spiritual principles which guide our parish finances. And in the often-confusing amalgam of religio-political views that is modern American life, conflicting messages are frequently heard regarding precisely how parishes should be funded...

Holiday Crush
 
The Holiday crush is upon us, let the manic shopping frenzy begin! The days between Thanksgiving and New Years Day are among the busiest and most enjoyable of the entire year. They also seem to roll by at blinding speed in our haste to get everything done. Every year the lament is raised after the Holiday revelry has ended that there isn't enough time to enjoy and really savor the joy of the Christmas season...

Holy Tradition

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, the 2nd Century Archbishop and Hieromartyr, was fond of telling the following story to illustrate the role and importance of Holy Tradition in the life of the Church...

There once was a beautiful mosaic portrait of a king.  And this particular mosaic was made not from mere tiles but from precious gems of various colors; diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, onyxes, pearls, etc.  Over time, the mosaic fell into disrepair through neglect and abuse until the figure of the king is obliterated and the gems are scattered on the floor.  It is found in this sorry condition by artisans who are unfamiliar with the original image...

Intercession

I got my heart broken again this week while reading the morning newspaper.  It seems to be happening with alarming regularity these days.  The story that caught my eye on this particular morning was about a local 16-year old high school student who was sent home from his school for violating the district's alcohol policy.  Despondent over the infraction, the young boy takes an extension cord out to the garage and hangs himself from the rafters...

In Defense of Joy

A friend of mine once made a comment to me that stopped me in my tracks. She said; "One of the most damning comments that could be made about Christians today is that we have no joy."  When I pressed her for an explanation of her comment she rightly pointed out that we, as believers, have everything in (and out of) the world to be joyful about... 

Is your God Too Small

Hollywood has long had a penchant for producing cinematic representations of God and the angelic hosts. I remember one of the very first movies I saw as a child was “The Ten Commandments” starring Charlton Heston as Moses to whom “God” spoke out of the burning bush with a classic Cecile B. De Mille voice. Later movies depicted God in a far less flattering way such as George Burns’ role in “Oh, God.”...

Left Behind: An Orthodox Response

In the flea market of popular opinion that is the Information Age, one must choose carefully between the competing and often conflicting notions which vie for our attention. For the most part, this blur of data is harmless by virtue of its very trivial character and the chronically short attention span of the modern information consumer... 

Liberty and Independence

I recently found myself waiting on the corner of a busy downtown Denver intersection while fireworks burst overhead. Not that I make a habit of hanging out by the Greyhound Bus terminal at night, mind you, but I had just returned from the 2^nd of two weeks at summer youth camp in Albuquerque and I and my two oldest sons were waiting for our ride to take us home. It was the evening of the 3^rd of July and the fireworks were being launched from nearby Coors Field...

Love and Liturgy

When I was a much younger man and had first met my wife I was oftentimes quite ridiculous. I admit this freely! For I would frequently get off of work late in an evening, hop in my little yellow Chevette, and drive 35 miles to her parents’ home in the country just to see her for a half-hour or so before driving another 35 miles back home. I easily spent 3 times as much time in my car than I did with her but I didn’t care... 

Managing Set-backs

King David must have been down-hearted, ckimbing the Mount of Olives with his small band of followers, having narrowly escaped the treachery of Absolom, his son.  He is recorded as having wept with torn robes and dust on his head in a sign of mourning as he sought refuge from his son's armies.  About Abolom, it is written that "in all Israel there was none so much to be praised for his beauty, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him." (II Sam.14:25)... 

Mile Markers

I spent a lot of time looking out the windows of my family’s station wagon when I was a boy. Summer vacations for us meant long hours on the interstate highways traveling to see grandparents, the Smoky Mountains, the Gulf Coast, and a host of other vacation hot-spots. And as the miles slipped away behind us my brother and sister and I had to find various means to entertain ourselves so as not to drive our parents crazy.''...

October

A brisk October wind drove the chilling rain slantwise through the seams of the bleacher roof as we proud parents huddled together for warmth.  And as we shivered there in cold and anticipation, row upon row of young Airmen passed proudly in review with their squadron-mates at the Lackland Air Force Base basic military training (or BMT) graduation exercise.  Somewhere out there in one of those rows of ram-rod straight young men and women stood our oldest son... 

On Sowing Sparingly

My father has always kept a garden.  I can still see him now as I did when I was a boy, his tall figure stooped over a row of beans or tomatoes, carefully pulling out the weeds or planting a row of seeds.  Quite often, I was "enlisted" in this great enterprise of home gardening and though I may not have liked the work I sure didn't mind the fresh produce.   It always seemed like far too much effort to my young mind... 

Our Rule of Faith

One of the more persistent questions posed to the Orthodox these days concerns our practice of what has become commonly referred to as "closed communion."  Generally, these questions take one of the following forms; "Why can't my non-Orthodox friends or relatives receive holy communion when they visit my parish church?"  or  "Why can't I receive holy communion when I visit my non-Orthodox friends or relatives at their church?"  and sometimes even  "What gives you the right to judge anyone's fitness to receive holy communion?"...

Reflections on Life and Death

The funeral procession wound its way slowly out of the city of Nain, the bier leading the sad little group of mourners.  The deceased was a young man and the only son of his widowed mother.  Her grief was excruciating as she followed the body of her little boy, now lifeless and soon to be placed in an early grave.  This is the scene described in Luke's gospel as Christ approached the city... 

Repentance and Humility

Those of you who are old enough to remember the 1970's sit-com "Happy Days" will probably remember the character of "Fonzie," played by Henry Winkler.  This "cool" guy had an interesting personality quirk, well, actually he had several but one in particular stands out.  He was unable to bring himself to say the words "I was wrong."  Oh, he tried!  There was one episode where he had terribly wronged Richie, the main character played by Ron Howard... 

Roadside Crosses

Over the course of our recent vacation my family traveled more than 2000 miles on the interstate highway system.  Far longer than we would have liked but given our itinerary, unavoidable.  And during the drive we saw a number of interesting and unexpected sights, like the "herd" or whatever you call a bunch of camel in the middle of Kansas.  But we were astonished to see the number of roadside monuments marking the locations of fatal automobile accidents... 

Sacred Space

While my wife and I lived in West Jordan, UT with our young family in the early 1990’s, I became a rather avid bicyclist. In fact, I even used my bicycle for a time as my primary mode of transportation, riding it to and from my office which was just 5 miles away from our home. And as the traffic in our end of the valley continued to grow I often found myself passing lines of cars waiting at stop lights while I zoomed home much faster than they were traveling on such days! ...

So What Are You Worth

The fundamental question of self-worth has for too long in this country been conditioned by financial considerations, so much so that it is nearly inconceivable to cobble together an answer to the question of self-worth without including one's "net worth."  (Remaining value of cash, real estate, property, etc. after all remaining debts have been discharged.)  This being the case, it is easy to see why financial matters eclipse pretty much all other considerations in society...

Standing at the gate

I was fortunate to have grown up in the era when summer family vacations mostly took the form of long road trips in the family Buick or Olds station wagon. At least once a year during my childhood we would settle into the car for the 18 hours of driving it took to reach my grandparent’s farm in Mississippi. I can remember sleeping on, beneath or over the back seat of Dad’s old Pontiac...

Stewardship or Ownership

There is a very clever joke I remember hearing recently that illustrates the important difference between stewardship and ownership.  A young scientist once became convinced that he had unlocked the secret of how God formed man from the dust of the earth.  Genesis chapter 2, verse 7 records that “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  So the scientist walks out of his lab one morning and looks up at the sky and shouts his challenge to God to a "man-making" contest... 

Strange Fire

There are a couple of stories recorded in the books of Genesis and Leviticus that. though they might seem obscure and unrelated, serve as a type of warning for us today. The first occurs in Genesis, chapter 4, when Cain and Abel both offer sacrifices to God of the fruit of their labors. Cain offered a sacrifice of the fruit and produce he had grown from the earth while Abel offered a sacrifice of the lambs of his flock...

Symbology

One afternoon a few years ago while making sales calls in Des Moines, Iowa, I found myself with some unexpected free time after an appointment cancellation and, being near the recently renovated Iowa State House, I decided to take a quick tour.  While strolling through this beautiful old building filled with historical displays and works of art, I came upon a glass display case filled with a collection of very old Iowa State flags...  

Synergia

Have you ever found yourself faced with a task that seems insurmountable?  You look at the size of the problem and then look at yourself and the rather meager resources you possess and you want to give up before you get started.  Sound familiar?  This can occur in our offices and places of business, in our studies at college, or in our homes.  We never quite know where to expect the next big challenge to come from and when it arrives we find, too often, we're not prepared to meet it...

Taking Stock

For a brief time shortly after my wife and I were first married I worked at a huge capacitor warehouse in Indianapolis.  (A capacitor is essentially a discharged battery used in a variety of industrial applications.)  This warehouse was big enough to conduct (totally unsanctioned) forklift races in it and one needed golf carts to move from one section to another.  The shelving racks reached up five levels or more, I can't really remember which is odd considering that the Clark Lift forks lifted the driver up with the forks to dizzying heights... 

The Clearance Aisle

I had a rather bittersweet moment this week. It happens every year. As I looked around at the house and all the Christmas decorations we (or rather, my wife) would be putting back in storage, I was stricken with a feeling of melancholy. The boys had already gone back to school on this morning and our time together playing with their new toys over Christmas vacation was at an end...

Whatever Happened to Sin

(The following is an adaptation of a lecture given at the Clean Monday Retreat at St. Catherine's Greek Orthodox Church in Denver.)

When St. John the Baptist burst on the scene in the Judean desert to proclaim to coming of the Son of God, his message was a very clear one; "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  (Matt. 3:2)  Likewise, when the Lord began His public ministry his message was the same; "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  (Matt. 4:17)   Repentance lies at the heart of the Christian gospel and is that "single step" that begins "a journey of a thousand miles" mentioned in the Chinese proverb...

What is your Sign

Stepped into a retail book store lately?  As a terminal bibliophile, I rarely walk by a mall bookstore without stopping in to see what's new in the world of literature.  And so it was a few days ago when my family was busily scouring the aisles for new reading material that I chanced upon the "Religious" section of this particular store.  "When what to my wandering eyes should appear" but a whole slew of books dedicated to paganism and the occult...