Church History Summarized: The First Five Hundred Years
Throughout 2020, I had the blessing of collaborating with Theology Academy’s team to produce this series on Church History covering the first five hundred years.
A Letter to a Family Member
A dear family member asked me to compile an ordered list of books one should read in order to become theologically informed and patristically rooted. By the time I was done, I realized that what I wrote resembled a letter more so than a list. I thought it would be worth sharing with my larger […]
Drunkenness of Noah
If you have ever visited the Sistine chapel, you will be impressed by the elaborate paintings by Michael Angelo. Amidst these paintings of creation and the flood, we find a marginal event depicted, namely that of the drunkenness of Noah. Us finding the event to be marginal is deeply rooted in our inclination […]
Becoming Human and Spiritual Care
Becoming human has been part of Christian theology for centuries. Orthodox Christians uphold that both God and man have roles in human salvation. God, through the incarnation of Christ, death on the cross, and rising, brought union between the divine and human. Athanasius, a 4th-century Alexandrian bishop, said Christ became human so humanity can become […]
The Way of a Pilgrim
Author: The name of the author is unknown. As the novel is an autobiography, you only get to know about the author as much as he decides to reveal about himself. Context: The events take place in the monasteries and forests of Russia. More context would be spoiling a masterpiece for you. Content: The book […]
Violence and Possession
A Tale of Shepherds and Farmers Shortly after the fall, Cain and Abel, the first brothers in history, interact and one of them kills the other. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. Each of them offered God from their goods: Cain offered fruits of the land while Abel offered lambs from […]
From Paradise to Land
Psychological Background There is a common phenomenon known by psychologists as external and internal attribution. I will give an example to illustrate what this phenomenon entails: Mark and John write a test and get 90%. Mark attributes his own success to his hard work (internal) while he attributes John’s success to how easy the test […]
Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom
Author: Andrei Bloom was born in 1914 in Switzerland. He spent his early childhood in Russia and Iran. During the Russian Revolution, the family left for Iran, and settled in Paris by 1923. He came to know Christ as a teenager. In 1939, before leaving for the front as a surgeon in the French Army, […]
The Trinity and Us
“True friends face the same direction, toward common projects, interests and goals” –C S Lewis Humanity Divided As time passed by, the world was divided by languages, tribes, occupations, etc. These divisions could not heal unless everyone desired unity. For many generations, humans failed to find a uniting factor. Centuries later, the Logos (the […]
Confession and the Recent Scandal in the Coptic Orthodox Church
The recent abhorrent incident with an ex-presbyter molesting numerous children has shaken many within the Coptic Orthodox Church. The case was condemned by numerous dioceses throughout Egypt and the West with some diocese taking practical steps to prevent this from reoccurring (although sadly some diocese were quite late despite their direct involvement in the matter). […]