The long-prophesied global government is now. Do you actually think voting will slow down the impending end-times events? The entire world is a technocratic, debt-laden, interlocking collection of Potemkin villages masquerading as sovereign governments. Are you naïve enough to believe that good guys behind the scenes will save the system and make everything okeydoke? Sorry to burst your bubble: Evil is baked in, no matter where you live, and most political endeavors result in unintended consequences and moral blindness.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/not-through-me-nonparticipation-in-a-mad-mad-world/

The main purpose of the economy is not the present improvement of the “well-being” of individuals at the cost of ignoring the future. Nor is it to make a few overlords fabulously wealthy while everyone else begs for scraps. It is also not “Maximizing Shareholder Value” in an ever rising stock market casino.

According to the Orthodox Christian perspective of the Russian Church, the primary purpose of the economy is provide the means for citizens to form and support large, healthy families living in comfortable suburban settlements. Those of us who are both Christian, and conversant in economics, have been talking about the need for “family friendly” economic policies for years. Those policies were normally advocated for in the same kind of “shopping lists” quoted earlier – higher child tax credits, school choice, reduced inflation, lower property taxes. Some good ideas were put forward, but the “pro-family” faction was just one more interest group competing with immigrants, childless cat ladies, and the National Security State to get regulatory and legislative attention. Our disjointed wish lists, put together with no underlying theme really, almost always got pared down, ignored, or so reduced in scope as to be meaningless.

American families always end up as the last priority. There is always another war to fight. Another expensive fighter jet to acquire. Foreign aid to dole out. Corporate donors to pay off with public funds. Always something more important that leaves American families increasingly worse off than before. https://orthodoxreflections.com/economic-focus-on-the-family/

I therefore ask: Can I blame “the atrophy of the chest” in men — and the resultant disregard for truth — for most of the world’s problems?

What hath an entire century of rampant secularism, relativism, and other “isms” wrought in men? Whatever it is, it ain’t pretty.

Along with scores of other powerful men, are the pope and the EP clever but hobbled? Have they traversed their entire lives with core character deficits nurtured and rewarded instead of corrected and healed? I’m sure they think they have everything figured out. I’m sure they believe they are making the world better. But with “atrophy of the chest,” aren’t they fundamentally flawed? Basically untrustworthy? Chronically out of whack? If they are missing the stable sentiments of love, humility, and compunction, what honor, truth, or godliness should I expect from them?

Lewis notes deftly that “no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about ethics, but bred to believe that ‘a gentleman does not cheat,’ than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.” https://orthodoxreflections.com/men-without-chests-the-metaphor-for-our-times/

According to most proponents of the Roman Catholic concepts of Papal Supremacy and infallibility, both doctrines were known and followed in the Church of the 1st Millennium. One thing is certainly clear, many Roman Popes in the 1st Millennium did have a high opinion of the inherent authority of their office. The question is, however, did the rest of the Church in the 1st Millennium share that opinion?

Why does it matter how the Church outside Rome viewed the Papacy? Because to be part of the Catholic Faith, as articulated by St. Vincent of Lérins in the 5th Century, “Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all.”

Was the unchallenged authority and infallibility of the Roman Papacy “believed everywhere, always, by all” in the 1st Millennium? Let’s look at that question across several different areas: the relationship of the Papacy to Ecumenical Councils, the historical excommunication / deposition of Popes, and a brief examination of the record of the Papacy in maintaining Church unity. https://orthodoxreflections.com/were-the-roman-popes-supreme-in-the-first-millennium/

We Christians have to defend Matthean priority because, to our great surprise two thousand years later, the credibility of the entire religion depends on it. If Matthean priority is false, then Jesus did not rise from the dead, and what John and Luke promised that these things are written for you to know the certainty of them is a lie. This is not the obvious conclusion of Markan priority, and it sounds absurd on its face, but scholars have rightly drawn that line of conclusions. They reject Matthean priority because Matthean priority, and only Matthean priority, means that Jesus is who the gospels say he is. https://orthodoxreflections.com/why-matthean-priority-matters/

During COVID, Orthodox Reflections focused on the already known side effects of the mRNA, but we also focused strongly on the potential spiritual effects of taking shots whose production and testing were dependent on aborted fetal cells. In one of the articles from November 2022, we featured a video of a Greek Orthodox priest who felt demonic possession after taking the vaccine. We are republishing a link to that video below, as contributor Augustine Martin found a transcript of it which saves you spending 30 minutes reading subtitles to understand the story. A link to the video, the transcript, and some comments from Augustine are below. Given the uncertain times we live in, we Orthodox need to remember the importance of spiritual warfare. https://orthodoxreflections.com/greek-priest-reports-demonic-possession-after-mrna-shot/

You can’t wait on the federal government to help you in a crisis.

FEMA has a grand total of about 20,000 employees distributed among ten regional offices and its HQ throughout the United States. Far fewer are temporary and non-career staff, who are generally activated only to respond to emergencies.1 I know because I applied to several FEMA jobs and was contacted to fill a temporary position that the HR rep informed me meant no pay if I wasn’t actually engaged in a disaster. Also, while they do conduct regularly scheduled exercises, reality on the ground during a real world crisis can be a lot more challenging than any simulation.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/after-hurricane-helene-what-have-we-learned/

Fr. Saša Petrović of St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Omaha, Neb., delivered his speech, “Eastern Rite Protestantism: Archbishop Elpidophoros’ Destructive Influence on Orthodoxy in America,” in late August. That title is a mouthful, and so is the speech, which covers the unsavory details of Archbishop Elpidophoros’ reign as the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOARCH) since 2019.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/fr-sasas-warning-elpidophoros-leads-his-entire-archdiocese-to-spiritual-destruction/

Therefore, the Perennialists hold that God has assigned each of the “great world religions” to a specific sector or race of humanity, and “each is fully true in the sense that it provides its adherents with everything they need for reaching the highest or most complete human state.”4 Islam for the Arabs; Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism for the peoples of the Far East, Christianity for the peoples of the West; Judaism for a selection of the Semitic peoples, and so on.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/perennialism-in-religion-and-science/

The current hysteria over Christian Nationalism seems to stem from author Stephen Wolfe’s 2022 book, The Case For Christian Nationalism. From an Orthodox Christian perspective, Wolfe’s ideology is a complete mess. It is a mishmash of postmillennial Reformed eschatology (perfect society so Christ can return), Calvinistic examples of governance in Massachusetts and Geneva, combined with his own meandering thoughts that are often dark and totalitarian. Bafflingly, Wolfe manages to write 488 pages, dedicated to the intersection of Christian Faith and governance, without using any Orthodox or Roman Catholic historical examples or social teaching.

1,600+ years of Christian governance, for Wolfe, simply does not exist.

Had Fr John chosen to go after real “Christian Nationalism”, as espoused by Wolfe, he would not have had to rely only on American Founding Fathers for philosophical support. Fr John could have used actual Orthodox sources. For example, while the Orthodox Church does want civil government to maintain decency and good order, Orthodox Christians recognize the severe limits of civil law. Civil law can’t save souls, perfect humanity, or “redeem nations”. Our beliefs in the limits of civil law are explained in the Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church https://orthodoxreflections.com/is-there-a-christian-nationalist-threat-to-america-and-orthodoxy/

While there have been irregularities in voting across many areas, it appears that the presidential race was largely untampered with. Too big to rig? Not really. The phantom Biden voters from 2020 would have done the trick, if properly placed. Instead, they failed to materialize. Even more interesting, after Trump’s victory there were no riots. No marches of thousands of angry women in “pussy hats”. No shouts of “Russian collusion” or any other kind of collusion. Unlike 2016, Trump looks set for a relatively peaceful start to his term as the 47th President of the United States.

It is almost as if the so-called “Deep State” (really the U.S. National Security State) wanted Trump to win. Or, more precisely, perhaps the Deep State needed Trump to win.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/is-trump-the-designated-salesman-for-more-war-and-christian-persecution/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/