The following article originally appeared in the French language journal Études: revue de culture contemporaine as the third part of a discussion on tradition and innovation in major Christian communions. The first two parts, a Protestant and a Roman Catholic perspective, are not reproduced here.

The first place, I think, where Fr. Sergius Bulgakov talks about Sophia is in his work, Philosophy of Economy, published in 1912. By this time, Fr. Sergius had already returned to his ancestral faith, though he was still searching, and indeed continued to search.

When I was in elementary school, I had a favorite illustrated book of stories from around the world, which I spent a couple of years of my youth reading the cover off of. Most of the yarns in it were what you would expect from such a children’s collection: various fantastical narratives about quests that pitted the heroes against sorcerers, monsters, great natural challenges, etc., with a few myths of gods, goddesses, and creation stories interspersed with them.

The multiplicity of male – female relationships that make up the fabric of our lives begin out of a desire to be in touch, to have someone close to our heart. Relationships require us to open up to that touch, and in opening ourselves, we become vulnerable.

The idea behind pilgrimages is a simple one: certain places are more spiritually powerful than others, and people benefit from going to them. The power of the place may be centered in a physical structure (such as the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem or Hagia Sophia in Istanbul), or the site may have attracted attention because a miracle happened there (anywhere that has a miracle-working icon qualifies, as the recent occurrence of myrrh-streaming icons in Hawaii demonstrates).

Translated by Patricia Fann Bouteneff

The Beatitudes, as we have already discussed in previous talks, constitute the very core of Christ’s teaching about man and his life, and therefore the core of Christian morality. To understand them means to enter into the inner world of Christian faith, and that is precisely what the official anti-religious propaganda refuses to do, consciously and maliciously.

This conversation started when Fr. Robert asked me for feedback on his essay, “How to Expand the Mission.”1 While he referred specifically to the mission of Orthodox Church in America, I think the questions raised are relevant to Orthodoxy across the globe.

In this article I would like to highlight some questions about Orthodox Liturgy regarding the dissonance experienced between Liturgy as it is fixed in its prayers and rubrics versus its practical celebration.

Recently the Orthodox world has been abuzz with excitement in anticipation of the upcoming Holy and Great Pan-Orthodox Council. While the announcement of such a landmark event may justify some enthusiasm among our faith’s adherents, given Orthodoxy’s characteristic resistance to the idea of change and growth and the Church’s habitual tendency to withdraw from historical affairs, the prospective event also causes concern among the more sober-minded.