Articles

It is my honor to present thoughts for your consideration on the subject of "The Role of Laity in our Church". This is a serious subject and one that you hear about every Sunday, every church meeting, fellowship gathering as well as in discussion groups led by the clergy, parish leaders and each other in your homes or in the local coffee shops.

A brother in Christ once asked what could be done to ensure that his children would stay with the Orthodox Church once they leave home. As a mother of three grown children, I shared things that worked for our family to help our children to keep attending the Orthodox Church once they left home.

Among the BISHOPS, The Ecumenical Patriarch (Patriarch of Constantinople -- the First Among Equals) is addressed as "His All-Holiness (name)" in writing or reference, and as "Your All-Holiness" in direct address.

Ask an Orthodox Christian what the difference is between Orthodoxy and other Christian Churches and you will probably hear as many answers as people you approach.

When one hears the word "family" the first thing to come to mind, probably, are those people to whom one is related by blood or marriage. The Church, though, presents us with a wider understanding of family. A family is any group of people who embrace and pass on the same story of their identity, their beginnings and their ultimate goal or destination.

Nobody would dispute that the most important day in a person's life, after his birth and baptism, is that of his marriage. It is no surprise, then, that the aim of contemporary worldly and institutional upheavals is precisely to crush the most honorable and sacred mystery of marriage.

Have you ever heard one of these conversations? "So, what are you going to give up for Lent this year?"

For a tragically long time, men have neglected, exploited and abused women using the excuse that it was Eve who caused the Fall, and therefore, the "daughters of Eve" "have it coming to them". Such a line of reasoning is not only abominable but also runs contrary to some of the fundamental tenets of our Holy Orthodox Faith.

"Summer time and the living is easy," as the old Sam Cooke song goes. As soon as the weather gets warmer, our thoughts turn to relaxing, lightening up on the responsibilities of life. School lets out. We take vacations from work. And some put their Church attendance on hiatus until the fall.

In our modern world, one of the most debated topics is the state of the family. Generally, if we listen to the radio or watch television, we find two opposing groups represented with their respective views on family.