Orthodox Reflections

Many information cards, election ballots, and other computer read material have these words on the bottom: “Do Not fold, spindle, or mutilate”. The same applies to the “Faith once delivered” (Jude 1:3), particularly in regards to the Divine Liturgy. If we lose our liturgy, we lose everything. If being “Orthodox” means anything, it means hanging on to the way it always has been done. To allow alterations of the liturgy—in any way, shape, or form—is a betrayal of our moniker. We have no right to change any of it—including which gender serves at the altar. It was delivered to our generation that it should be preserved for the next: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”—one spoon. https://orthodoxreflections.com/do-not-fold-spindle-or-mutilate/

I recently read an article posted on Orthodox Reflections by Fr. James Krueger entitled “Why Venerate Saints of the West and Reject the Liturgies They Celebrated?” What was so confusing about this article was that it claimed the broad opposition to the Western Rite was caused by their adherence to the liturgy and patterns of the pre-Schism Orthodox West… But this is patently false. The Western Rite has not resurrected these liturgies but instead adopted a very slightly modified form of liturgics from modern High Anglican/Catholic practices.

While this is not a commentary on the piety or Orthodoxy of those following the Western Rite (many of whom I know to be deeply pious and defenders of the faith) I believe that Fr. James and proponents of the Western Rite have vastly overestimated the cultural value of Western liturgics, the ability to truly resurrect the ancient liturgies and practices of the Orthodox West – much less use them as an effective tool to convert Americans – and have, seemingly, forgotten exactly how Orthodox Tradition is transmitted. https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-question-of-the-western-rite/

For the more visionary members of the scientistic elite, AI isn’t merely another tool for mankind to use but rather a means by which he will be transformed into a superior organism. An interview in the online magazine Noēma between Tobias Rees and Nathan Gardels provides many details of this ‘upgrade’ of humanity.

It begins with a redefinition of what it means to be alive and to have intelligence:

In her essay in Noema, the astrophysicist Sarah Walker said that “we need to get past our binary categorization of all things as either life or not.”

What interests me most is rethinking the concepts we have inherited from the modern period, from the perspective of the in-betweenness made visible to us by AI.

. . . Deep learning, in general, and generative AI in particular, have broken with this human-centric concept of intelligence and replaced it with something else: The idea that intelligence is pretty much two things: learning and reasoning.

. . . I am emphasizing this absence of the symbolic because it is a beautiful way to show that deep learning has led to a pretty powerful philosophical rupture: Implicit in the new concept of intelligence is a radically different ontological understanding of what it is to be human, indeed, of what reality is or of how it is structured and organized.

Understanding this rupture with the older concept of intelligence and ontology of the human/the world is key, I think, to understanding your actual question: Are we entering what you call a new AIxial age, where AI will amount to something similar to what writing amounted to roughly 3,000 to 2,000 years ago? https://orthodoxreflections.com/ai-and-a-new-humanity/

Bad Theology leads to bad actions which often produce horrific tragedies. We could give many examples of this from the horrific slaughter of the wars of the Protestant Reformation, to ‘Christian’ Zionism’s endless cycle of Middle Eastern Wars, to the human carnage caused by Liberation Theology in the Global South. Heresies have consequences. While all heresies are bad, one towers above most others in terms of its broad appeal, history of mass murder, and potential to end all human life as we know it. Let us consider Millennialism, a sort of foundational heresy for many of the others currently causing havoc in our world.

The heresy of Millennialism or Chiliasm (from the Greek) is a belief that a Messianic Age will be established on Earth prior to the Last Judgment and the future permanent state of eternity. A Kingdom of God on Earth. A perfect age. No sorrow. No suffering. No death. Christianity and Judaism have both produced messianic movements with such beliefs (though differing in the details such as the identity of the Messiah).

American Millennialism is split into two broad traditions. Premillennialism is the belief that Jesus’ Second Coming starts the Millennium. Postmillennialism, by contrast, teaches that Jesus will come after the Millennium has been started by an inspired mankind. https://orthodoxreflections.com/building-the-kingdom-of-god-on-earth/

Incidentally, 2019 is the same year that Zelensky came to power. Just months after his election, a group called the Ukraine Crisis Media Center—which was funded by USAID—“warned” Zelensky that any failure to promote the OCU and to combat the UOC “will inevitably lead to political instability.” The subtext was crystal clear: If Zelensky failed support the schismatic church and suppress the canonical church, he too would fall victim to regime change, just like Yanukovych.

Since 2022, the Ukrainian government has used Russia’s “special military operation” as an excuse to intensify its persecution of the UOC, which it has since rebranded as the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.” Hundreds of church buildings have been seized by police officers acting on the Zelensky Administration’s orders. Bishops have been imprisoned. Priests have been dragged out into the streets and beaten nearly to death. Liturgies and funerals have been disrupted by mobs Monks are being evicted from their monasteries, with these historic properties being handed over to the OCU. https://orthodoxreflections.com/why-the-ukraine-schism-matters/

We believe this is why our descendants will live in the stars.

We believe that there is no material problem – whether created by nature or by technology – that cannot be solved with more technology.

Give us a real world problem, and we can invent technology that will solve it. https://orthodoxreflections.com/saint-brigid-vs-the-tech-bros/

So if the Palestinians, even the Christians, are just “Arabs”, then why not find a new place for them to live among some of the “22 surrounding Arab countries”? For many reasons, of course, but let’s focus in on one of the biggest. A reason so important, that it completely destroys Christian Zionism, particularly in its Dispensationalist form. The Standard Zionist Narrative is completely false. The Palestinians, particularly the Christians, are not Arabs. They are Arabicized descendants of the ancient Israelites. They are, literally, the Children of Abraham. https://orthodoxreflections.com/who-are-the-palestinian-christians/

Orthodox Christians in the Unites States are living in a confusing time. While all the media talk is about politics and the new president, author Ben Dixon reminds us of something critically important that is usually overlooked, “People often say that politics is downstream of culture, but ignore that culture is downstream of the spiritual state of the nation.” You can’t save a culture, or a nation, unless you commit to saving souls – yours first of course. You can’t transform a nation, or a culture, unless you commit to transforming lives – yours first of course.

What matters is the Gospel – living it and sharing it. Though, really, that is the same thing. https://orthodoxreflections.com/webinar-on-diversity-in-orthodox-missions-in-the-united-states-is-now-up-on-youtube/

There is a not insignificant group of people in the Church who, like the Amish and Jehovah’s Witnesses, view American politics in its totality as anathema. This is not the teaching of the Church, but leftovers from our cultural upbringing which has taught us to associate piety with a rejection of the material world – an idea rooted firmly in the Radical Reformation. And to be fair, I struggled with my political involvement as a catechumen and considered, for a time, abandoning politics altogether. It took time to realize that the “world” I was supposed to flee was not the material world, but my own passionate inclinations.

As Orthodox Christians, we have an absolute duty to my neighbor and nation. While that can be daunting in the current political environment, the reality is that it’s never been easy – But Orthodox Christians have always risen to the occasion. What is our duty to the country, how do we avoid false-piety and ideologizing in fulfilling our obligations to our people and homeland, and remain on the royal path? https://orthodoxreflections.com/on-orthodox-christian-citizenship-relations-to-the-state/

President Trump’s 2025 inaugural address gave a clear indication of the direction he wants to take the peoples of the States. Overall, it isn’t a good one.

Yes, there were positive things in it, such as promises to end some of the transgender and DEI nonsense in the federal government, to better manage immigration, etc. But they cannot blot out the danger that is also present within it. That danger being the establishment of a deeper and more pervasive idolatry in the States. And the idol is us, the people themselves. https://orthodoxreflections.com/donald-trumps-mission-to-establish-idolatry-in-the-u-s/

In America, it is said that when your President calls on you with a request, you just do it. Now just imagine if God and His Mother tell you to do something. In this context, please take a silent minute and contemplate this: the God-Man Himself and his Holy Mother … together … appeared to the Bishops at this first Ecumenical Council and gave them their marching orders.[ii] What an awesome message, which is, by the way, the word we use to describe Christ in every Divine Liturgy; we also revere and venerate the motherly love, kindness and holy protection (αγια σκέπη) that the Theotokos, the ever-Virgin Mary, imparts on us – and especially monastics – when we (and they) need it most. https://orthodoxreflections.com/who-will-be-our-st-nicholas-vis-a-vis-archbishop-elpidophoros/

In Ukraine, the Zelensky regime has coordinated the intelligence services, police, militant thugs, and the courts to try and completely eradicate the existence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian authorities are responsible for raiding and seizing churches and monasteries, launching twenty-three baseless criminal cases against UOC clergy, and imposing sanctions on several members of the clergy in Crimea and the Donbas. Clergy and laity alike have been beaten, arrested, shot, and locked out of their own houses of worship. The Ukrainian Government even took control of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine’s holiest site and the seat of the UOC. In August of 2024, Zelensky went so far as to sign into law Bill 8371 “On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organizations” (better known as the “Law Banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”) which, supporters and critics alike, acknowledge could be used to completely shut down the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. https://orthodoxreflections.com/will-president-trump-save-the-persecuted-christians/

Evangelicalism is completely rootless. For anyone paying attention, it was clear that holiday activities were just being made up, or picked from acceptable focus-grouped options, by pastors and staff trying desperately to market their churches to a fickle American public. There are even guides recommending how to put on Christmas “programs” for those churches who need helpful suggestions https://orthodoxreflections.com/looking-for-christ-at-christmas/

Zelensky was a bait and switch. Zelensky ran as a peace candidate who was in favor of religious freedom. That is why he won so handily against Poroshenko. The Ukrainian people voted for peace and for the protection of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. What they got was a devastating war and persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by a Zelensky who now governs as a dictator. The average Ukrainian can’t even punish Zelensky at the ballot box for his actions as he cancelled the presidential election. No election, no accountability to the people he lied to. If you want to “defend Democracy” in Ukraine, then Step 1 is to provide an opportunity for the Ukrainian people to dump a dictatorial serial liar, persecutor of Christians, and incompetent war criminal.

Ukraine is not unique in the “bait and switch” department. In the U.S., George W Bush was elected in 2000 after having campaigned against the interventionist policies of the Clinton Era. Americans thought they were voting for peace and for focusing on domestic issues. Whoops. Obama was elected in 2008 as a peace candidate. He went on to become a world class mass murderer, even setting Syria ablaze after wrecking Libya. In 2016, and again in 2024, Americans have elected Donald Trump on an “America First” platform that promises to keep us out of any more forever wars. Are we getting fooled again, just like the poor Ukrainians were with Zelensky, and just as we were with so many former presidents? That is a question we must all keep at the forefront of our minds. https://orthodoxreflections.com/electoral-bait-and-switch-the-cautionary-tale-of-ukraine/

To grow the number of missions in the U.S., Orthodox Christians have to figure out how to fund them. To our knowledge, the only organization really working to solve that issue on a pan-Orthodox basis is Share the Faith – Orthodox Christian Mission to America. Share the Faith does two really important things. First, STF funds mission priests in the U.S. to help them open, keep open, and grow Orthodox missions. It is the only organization providing that kind of assistance in the United States. Second, STF sponsors webinars and other opportunities for Orthodox Christians to learn about, discuss, and critique Orthodox missionary efforts in America.

The next learning / discussion opportunity offered by STF is a Webinar coming up on 1/25. See details below. More information and a link to registration can be found here. https://orthodoxreflections.com/webinar-diversity-in-orthodox-missions-in-the-united-states/

In Orwell’s novel, as in America’s post-WWII experience, war is not really fought to achieve battlefield objectives. War is not a way to gain territory or capture resources or protect citizens or overthrow the opposing government (though any and all of those things may be the stated objectives for the conflict, and may occur as a by-product of the fighting). For the ruling elite, war is a means of preserving the Status Quo of its own hierarchical power. War is meant to be forever. It is a permanent state of affairs. The enemy is merely a pretext, as the government is actually fighting a war of control against its own people. The external threat only exists as a justification for government policies that would otherwise be intolerable to the average citizen.

Daily, from government and the media, we are fed the following exhortations (just not in such plain terms so as not to scare average people into thinking for themselves): “We must stand united against or enemies, so dissent must be crushed. We can’t have nice things, because we must sacrifice our own wellbeing for the war effort. We must curtail civil liberties to ensure our national security. You can’t be too careful rooting out traitors. We must fund our allies instead of domestic priorities, because of the danger posed by our enemies. We must spend unlimited amounts of borrowed and printed money on ‘Defense’, because our enemies will crush us if we don’t.” https://orthodoxreflections.com/for-america-war-is-peace/

As a convert to Orthodoxy and a canonical Orthodox priest with a blessing to celebrate the ancient Roman Liturgy, I am often struck by the sheer lack of regard that some Orthodox folks show toward these cultural roots. If Orthodox bishops and priests wish merely to be chaplains to immigrant communities from Eastern Europe or the Middle East, this is fine. Immigrant communities need to keep a strong remembrance of their ethnic and cultural identity so long as the living Christ remains its center.

But so do Western converts to Orthodoxy.

These converts often come into the fullness of the Christian life with coffers of gold gathered from their own rich heritages, heritages that reach back into a time when the West was fully Orthodox (and, on many accounts, Orthodox when the East was not). Even if entirely forgotten, vestiges of Orthodox Christian culture still rumble around the depths of the Western heart. https://orthodoxreflections.com/why-venerate-saints-of-the-west-and-reject-the-liturgies-they-celebrated/

On November 17, 2024, the documentary film People of Christ—Our Time was officially premiered at the National Theatre of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka. The film explores the current circumstances surrounding Ukrainian Orthodoxy, focusing on the suffering of the Orthodox Church, its clergy, and the faithful in Ukraine.

Professor Emir Kusturica, one of the heroes and co-authors of the film, stated that this film marks the beginning of a long battle for the survival of Orthodoxy as a culture. He emphasized the ongoing persecution of the faithful and clergy, as well as the destruction of churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the current government. https://orthodoxreflections.com/ukrainian-christians-struggle-for-faith-insights-from-the-people-of-christ-our-time-movie/

It’s the holidays again. Time for family, friends, parties, eating too much, presents, decorations, sappy TV specials, and much, much more! But most of all, it is time for many Orthodox Christians in America to indulge in one of our favorite past times – complaining about “American” culture. Or, to be honest, the lack thereof.

Here are just a few of the favorite complaints, though this list is by no means exhaustive:

Thanksgiving is not a real holiday.
Thanksgiving interrupts the Nativity Fast.
Americans are too materialistic and don’t focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
Americans are post-Christian!
Most Americans don’t even attend Church on Christmas!
Christmas has been hijacked by commercialism.
Many important days such as the Feast of St. Nicholas and the Feast of St. Basil are totally forgotten. https://orthodoxreflections.com/rethinking-american-holidays-and-orthodox-evangelism/

We often romanticize pilgrimage as the path to the secret true Orthodoxy. We think that we must find the mythical “old country elders” and climb up a mountain to find the hidden answers. Or we pursue an advanced theology degree, thinking it will uncover some kind of forgotten knowledge. Or we rally around the internet celebrity priest who promotes himself as the renegade telling you the ancient doctrines that everyone else hid from you. But actually for most of us, everything we need for our salvation is in the local parish, either on the altar or on the bookshelf.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/five-good-reasons-not-to-visit-a-monastery-the-temptations-of-monastic-maximalism/