Beginning today, my real life studies and podcasts, and my Orthodox Life Tips podcast, will all be on an indefinite hiatus. My family’s current circumstances necessitate my using the 30-plus hours per week I’ve spent on these projects to bring in more money (as well as engage in further training and work to increase my [...]

We know that we are supposed to be transformed by God’s grace, but it may seem to you like this transformation hasn’t started yet. How does grace become active in your life? St. Mark the Ascetic gives us the key: Grace has been given mystically to those who have been baptized into Christ; and it [...]

St. Gregory the Theologian, in describing the miraculous events that occurred around the Crucifixion, says there’s an even greater miracle: The sun made dark, and again flaming out…the Temple veil rent, blood and water flowing from His side…the earth was shaken, the rocks shattered because of the Rock; the dead risen to bear witness of [...]

If you visit different Orthodox parishes you can be amazed by all the different languages, practices, customs, and even food you’ll encounter. This diversity is not simply interesting—it’s evidence of the truth of Orthodoxy. As St. Maximos the Confessor says, The holy Church of God is an image of God because it realizes the same [...]

Our Lord tells us, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). But for what things should we ask? St. Nilus of Mt. Sinai tells us, “Pray firstly to be purified of passions, secondly to be freed from ignorance and forgetfulness, and thirdly to be delivered from all temptation and forsaking.” [...]

Orthodox Christians have many rules and responsibilities in our spiritual lives. St. Dimitry of Rostov goes on to tell us that Christians have one supreme duty: …to strive always and in every way to be united with God, their creator, lover, benefactor, and their supreme good, by Whom and for Whom they were created. This [...]

Many of us, when we become Orthodox Christians—or are returning to the Church after a time away from it—want to dive headlong into the ascetic life, fasting and praying like the most experienced monks. But Lorenzo Scupoli tells us to go slowly: Be wise and sensible in undertaking tasks for the body: fasts, vigils, physical [...]

Those of us who are parents know how much time we dedicate to our children’s education, giving great thought and planning to what they should learn and how best to learn it. So here’s a question for you parents: what is the most important thing children should learn? Elder Macarius of Optina answers: Have great [...]

One of the great calls of the Christian life is to make our heart a dwelling for God. St. Seraphim of Sarov tells us how to do this: One must by every means strive to preserve peace of soul and not be disturbed by offenses from others; for this one must in every way strive [...]

It’s difficult to be chaste when so many things around us are permeated with sex and temptation. Christ warns us that it’s sinful to even look lustfully at someone (Matthew 5:27-28), and yet the world around us works overtime to provoke such a response. For those who struggle with such desires, you might benefit from [...]