I have two great spiritual loves that, on the surface, may not seem compatible: Byzantine liturgy and Benedictine monasticism. When you look deeply, however, surprising connections emerge between them. Here are some major ones. St. Benedict is revered as a saint by the Orthodox who celebrate his feast on March Read more…
I have already remarked on the fact that Pope Francis made a non-Catholic a Doctor of the Catholic Church. St. Gregory Narek was a monk in the Armenian Apostolic Church, who died in the early 11th century. Figures like St. Gregory, provide examples of how Eastern Churches have brought saints Read more…
Much commentary has focused on Vladimir’s Putin’s sponsorship of the Russian Orthodox Church, which extends even to the point of making the Church an arm of the State (a constant temptation in Russian history). It is true that a massive building project throughout Russia has constructed thousands of Orthodox churches, Read more…
I’m continuing with a series of posts that reflect on the relations of East and West in the Church (see the last two on Orthodox saints in the Catholic Church and a fuller timeline of the relations between Latins and Greeks). This one discusses how Catholics should speak of themselves Read more…
This is my second post exploring the connection of East and West in the Church (with the first focused on Orthodox saints brought into the Catholic Church through the Eastern rites). When looking at the relationship of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches (as distinct from the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which Read more…
I just finished reading John Anthony McGuckin’s The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History. Rather than a traditional chronological history, McGuckin offers reflections on the nature of the Orthodox Church through particular figures and events of history. As a professor at Oxford and publishing the volume with Yale University Press, Read more…