John A. Jillions

As a priest for over forty years, I have had the privilege of hearing probably several thousand confessions. Having been raised in the Orthodox Church, confession has also been part of my own life from the time I was a child…

Much of the language one hears online from Orthodox Christians in reaction to our present age conveys danger, threat, fear, and enemies, and a need to be watchful, on guard, militant, and even aggressive in defense of the faith. In this view of the Church, our mission is to defend the truth of Orthodoxy (apologetics),[…..]

This article considers academic freedom—understood as a scholar’s freedom of conscience to pursue research without interference or retribution— and its application within the Church as a freedom to think, ask questions, speak, do research, and propose new ideas that address contemporary culture. After cataloging some of the challenges to academic freedom, the article looks at[…..]

On June 26, 2015, the nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States issued a slim-majority decision that is profoundly reshaping American law and society. In a vote of 5 to 4, the court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage is a legally protected right throughout the United States. This brief[…..]

Father Alexander Schmemann died in 1983, long before the resurgence of the Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe could be realistically imagined, with what this might mean for the emergence of a powerful Orthodox voice worldwide. Today, global Orthodoxy is more free than it has been in centuries and—despite continuing divisions—has the ability to start coming[…..]