Category: Ethics
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Constantinople and Byzantine Glories
The idea of Constantinople and the glories of Byzantium still lingers in the minds of some Christians, and today they see, in the attempt to convert the Church of Hagia Sophia into a mosque and to hold prayers in it, an offense to Christianity and to its civilization, as though the face of Christianity were…
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The Tragedy of the Byzantines
The sin of the Orthodox today is that they remain stuck in the dream of restoring the glories of ancient Byzantium, for since the fall of the empire and its glories until today, their mad dream breaks them. Therefore you see the weakness of the ecclesiastical administrations in that they submit to the state and…
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The Scourge of God
Father Lazarus Abboud. The epidemic spread in “all the world” and reached a state of rapid outbreak, so visions (attributed) to the Virgin on Mount Athos came on the tongue of one of the monks, saying: mark your houses with the sign of the cross in holy oil. The simple believer, in his faith, realizes…
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The Sunday of Witness and Revolution (the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the third Sunday of the Fast)
And when we prostrate ourselves in veneration before the Cross, we declare our joining of that revolution, to defend the dignity of His image and to overturn the standards, even if the price is that we be crucified like Christ. Metropolitan Paul Yazigi says: “This is the permanent challenge of Christians: to prove that they…
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The Troublesome Baptist
What John wanted to do was not because he wished to change reality and change society and authority, but because he was a man of God, because God had placed in his mouth a scroll to proclaim His will, to proclaim His word, even if it were not heard. Therefore he was called a voice…
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The End Does Not Justify the Means (People of the Way)
Father Lazarus Abboud. The whole of human life is an end and a meaning, and all human beings share in the fact that their ends are one despite their variety — peace, security, immortality, comfort, wealth, power, glory, and so on — and all institutions, states, and parties have the same aims. But the difference…
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Criticism and Infallibility in the Church
Father Lazarus Abboud. Critical thinking arouses fear and anxiety in some, and some express a desire not to carry out any critical work on any level, because they see criticism as an act of opposition, rejection, or disparagement. But not carrying out any critical work is in itself a matter that arouses great fears, because it…
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Defrocking Outside the Sanctuary
Father Lazarus Abboud The Antiochian Synod took a decision yesterday to defrock a retired metropolitan, justifying the decision: the former metropolitan alleged the establishment of rights in his favor over assets and funds belonging to the diocese without any right, and resorted to the civil judiciary in the United States of America, and the fathers…
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Obedience and Disguised Servitude
Father Lazarus Abboud How do we understand obedience in the Church, how do we obey? Does the ecclesial institution resemble the military institution, so that the one of lower rank becomes subject to the one of higher rank? Is obedience a matter of command (receiving orders, wise leadership)? In that case, what is the difference…
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The Pope and the Orthodox World
The continued division of the Orthodox in this manner threatens the danger of their disappearance from the world stage and from the local arenas after a time.