November 15th is the beginning of the Nativity Fast for Eastern Orthodox Christians on the new calendar. This is a challenge for many of us as so many friends, relatives, and workplaces will host Christmas parties with plenty of tasty meats and cheeses. According to your priest and bishop, there may be a reprieve for … More Think Before You Fast
It’s sixth century Arabia and a Jewish ruler invaded a Christian village and it’s inhabitants killed because of their faith. Across the Red Sea, the Ethiopian King Elesbaan sought to avenge the lives of his brothers and sisters of the faith by conquering the invaders. He went through a series of initial defeats in battle. … More An Elesbaan Among the Maroons?: A Story of Tom Copper
Before I learned anything about the Desert Fathers or the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, I loved to retreat to my place apart from everything and everyone else. My parents built a home in the early 1980’s near Jack’s Creek in King William. A bend between the “swimming hole” and the “other branch” became my favorite … More A Place Apart
Notice, I call him, “Abba,” parenthetically because “Old Man Fisher” was a well known preacher among the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons. He was a self absconded enslaved man as those he ministered to. I’m not sure and have no record if the old man became one of the deep interior Maroons who had no interactions … More “Abba” Fisher: Determination in the Spiritual Life
I’m a little peeved at myself. There is a great story of St. Moses that I read some time ago that I will use for today’s article. But I don’t have the source for it. I thought I had it in one of my previous articles and couldn’t find it. For a cross reference, read … More Lessons from St. Moses: Benefit of the Right Place
The Black Preacher is someone who is well known in American History. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jessie Jackson, Adam Clayton Powell come to mind for most of us. Scholars will even point to such men as Bishop Richard Allen, Gowan Pamphlet, and others. Let me add one other name to your mind. A … More Old Man Fisher: Abba of the Great Dismal Swamp
“If a monk does not think in his heart he is a sinner, God will not hear him. … When someone is occupied with his own faults, he does not see those of his neighbor.” from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers ‘Ah, this is a lesson for monks and nuns only. I don’t have … More Lessons from St Moses: Attending to Our Own Faults
“But if we exert ourselves, it is within our power to either accept them (wicked thoughts) and give them our attention, or to expel them. Their coming is not within our power to control, but their expulsion is.” On the Holy Fathers of Sketis and On Discrimination, Philokalia Vol. I As I wrote in a … More Lessons From St Moses: Expulsion, not Excuses
The lessons from Moses begins with a particular struggle he had with lustful thoughts. So great were his temptations that he fled his cell and ran to his spiritual father, Abba Isadore. The elder pointed to the west where Moses saw the demonic horde who sought to capture him. But to the east were a … More Lessons from St. Moses: Commit to the Struggle
If a man’s deeds are not in harmony with his prayer, he prays in vain. … We should no longer do those things against which we pray. – from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers This word from Abba Moses seems simple enough. Don’t keep doing the wrong that you want to overcome. Despite the … More Lessons from St. Moses: Prayer and Practice
