This is an fascinating story: a Russian soldier who was killed on his 19th birthday in 1996 is being venerated in his home country as a martyr and an icon of him is giving off aromas of myrrh:

Today according to Inferfax of Russia in  Penza, an Icon of Evgeny Rodinov  gave off aromas of myrrh in the St. Lukas Church at the Penza regional oncologic dispenser. Russian soldier Rodionov was executed in Chechnya in 1996 after refusing to renounce Orthodox faith and take off his cross.

“Myrrh came out in two spots, in a palm of his hand and where one wears the cross,” the church Rector Alexy Burtsev told journalists.

According to the Church Rector, it happened during the All-Night Vigil on February 15.  Those in attendance, at the Church, stood behind praying, and took in the strange pleasant aroma.

The priest noted that on February 15, 1996, Penza-born Evgeny Rodionov was captured in Chechnya, imprisoned for hundred days and when he refused to renounce Christian faith, militants beheaded him.

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Rodionov (Russian: Родионов Евгений Александрович) (May 23, 1977 – May 23, 1996) was a Russian soldier who was kidnapped and later executed in Chechen captivity. The purported manner of his death has garnered him much admiration throughout Russia, and even prompted calls for his elevation to sainthood.

Rodionov was born in the village of Satino-Russkoye, near Podolsk, Moscow Oblast. Though he aspired to be a cook, he was conscripted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1995. Private Rodionov was deployed to Chechnya, he served in border troops and on February 13, 1996 he was captured by Chechen rebels. They held him captive for more than three months.

On his 19th birthday Rodionov was beheaded on the outskirts of the Chechen village Bamut. According to his killers, who later extorted money from his mother in exchange for knowledge of the location of his corpse, they beheaded him after he refused to renounce his Christian faith or remove the silver cross he wore around his neck.

Yevgeny Rodionov was posthumously awarded the Russian Order of Courage. There is a growing movement within the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a Christian saint and martyr for faith. Some Russian soldiers, feeling themselves abandoned by their government, have taken to kneeling in prayer before his image. One such prayer reads:

Thy martyr, Yevgeny, O Lord, in his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from thee, our God, for having thy strength he has brought down his torturers, has defeated the powerless insolence of demons. Through his prayers save our souls.

As of 2003, religious icons depicting Yevgeny were becoming increasingly popular. Yevgeny’s mother has one herself; she has suggested that the icon of her son sometimes emits a perfume which she believes to be holy, to the extent that it actually drips with it.

Evgeny Rodinov, pray for us!

A number of great stories recently:

• Australia to get its first saint.
• Another Anglican bishop converts to Catholicism.
• Pregnant woman who threatened pro-life sidewalk counselor decides not to abort.
• U.S. speedskater enters the religious life.

God is working all around us – we just need to open our eyes to see it!

Lent is a time in which we try to add certain spiritual practices – such as daily Mass, spiritual reading, meditation – to our regular schedules. But one problem that many people today have is finding time for such additional activities in their already-crammed schedules. But what if I told you that I know a way to add an hour to your day? It’s true, and here are the steps to do it:

1) Give up caffeine. I realize I probably just lost the majority of readers on this one, but giving up caffeine will stop the artificial highs that screw up your body’s natural sleep/wake rhythms.

2) Get up at the same time EVERY day. Including Saturday and Sunday. If you get up at a different time on the weekend, it will be much more difficult for your body to get up on Monday and other weekdays. But at this point, don’t get up any earlier than you used to, just be consistent about when you get up.

3) Go to bed at the same time every night. Yes, Friday and Saturday as well.

4) After doing this for three weeks, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. After about three weeks, you will notice that you often wake up on your own before the alarm sounds, so the 15 minutes will not really be that noticable.

5) Repeat step 4 three times. After three months, you will be getting up an hour earlier than you used to. You might end up having to go to bed earlier than before, but honestly, what does anyone productively do the last hour or so before they go to bed? Adding the hour in the morning will be much more beneficial than losing it at night (and you probably won’t lose a whole hour at night anyway, as the regular wake/sleep times will make your sleep more restful than before).

Of course, I’m not a doctor, I just play one on my blog. But I have found these steps to work, and if you are looking for a way to find more time for prayer and spiritual reading in your life, perhaps you could try it as well!

Australian Anglo-Catholic group votes to explore conversion to Catholicism

but it’s officially Spring in my book.

Last night I attended a talk by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware entitled “An Insider’s View: Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue Today”. Metropolitan Kallistos is a member of the Joint Coordinating Committee for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which is the official committee charged with ecumenical talks between the Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches at the highest levels.

Kallistos gave a very informative and engaging talk. After reviewing a brief history of the Joint Committee, he then focused on its work over the past few years. He noted that the last official dialogue about reunion – the Council of Florence in the 15th century – spent months discussing the filioque and purgatory, but only 10 days on the role of the pope in the Church. Now there is a recognition by all parties that the papacy is in fact the most significant obstacle to unity, so the Committee has decided to focus on that.

Me with Metropolitan Kallistos

The most significant document that the Committee has produced is the Ravenna Document (2007), in which the Orthodox participants, for the first time, acknowledge the universal primacy of the bishop of Rome. As the Metropolitan emphasized last night, this was incredibly significant. Of course, what “universal primacy” means is still hotly debated.

(In fact, one of the most telling moments of the night was the final question. Someone ask Kallistos what the Orthodox mean, in practical terms, by “universal primacy”. How would it actually be practiced in the real world? The Metropolitan responded by noting that the Orthodox are very clear on what universal primacy is NOT, but have not really decided on what it IS.)

Another topic the Metropolitan discussed was the three levels of authority in the Church, as emphasized by the Ravenna Document: local, regional, and universal. He lamented the fact that the Western Church has practically ignored the regional level, and stated that a reclamation of that understanding in the West was necessary for a true understanding of universal authority within the Church. As a Western Christian, I admit that I have never had much appreciation for regional authority within the Church, so I’ll have to consider that more in-depth myself.

An important aspect of how authority is practiced in the Church, both in the East and the West,  is the concept of “protos”, which means “first”. The Church is hierarchical, and therefore in every grouping in the Church, there must be a “protos”. For example, the bishop is the “protos” of his diocese. The Patriarch is “protos” among the bishops in his patriarchy. The pope is “protos” among all the bishops in the universal Church. Both Catholics and Orthodox accept this structure. But what does it mean to be “protos”? How is that role exercised? Metropolitan Kallistos pointed out Apostolic Canon 34 as a model for the role of “protos” in the Church. Apostolic Canon 34 states,

The bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first among them and account him as their head, and do nothing of consequence without his consent…but neither let him (who is head) do anything without the consent of all.

It should be obvious that the problem arises from the second part of that Canon. In fact, this appears to be in direct conflict with Vatican I, which states that “definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable”. But Metropolitan Kallistos is hopeful that this Canon will be a way in which the Church can find a mutually agreeable means for the pope to practice universal primacy.

Metropolitan Kallistos also mentioned the recently leaked draft from the Committee about the papacy in the first millennium, which I analyzed here. He was very disappointed that the draft was leaked and felt strongly that the person who leaked it, thus breaking an agreement of confidentiality, should be removed from the Committee, if discovered. While respecting the need to honor a confidentiality agreement, I asked him if the very practice of confidentiality in this situation is healthy. After all, the reason the Council of Florence failed to bring about union was because the common people in the East rejected what was presented to them as a done deal. They had no involvement in the process. Would it not be better to make the Joint Committee more open to the public, thus allowing more people to be invested in it, and therefore making it more acceptable to the members of the various churches?

Kallistos agreed that it is vitally important that the leaders of the churches make these discussions a reality in the pews, and admitted that they had not done a good job of that. He asked how many people in the audience had actually read the Ravenna Document, and only about 10-15% of the audience had (and this was an audience deeply engaged in this issue). He did think it important to keep the discussions confidential during the process of creating a document, for many things in the draft might be eventually rejected and he saw no point in people getting upset about something that might eventually getting discarded. A valid point, but personally I think in today’s interconnected world more openness would be beneficial.

All in all, it was a wonderful talk, and I hope and pray that Metropolitan Kallistos is blessed with many more years of service to the Church.

As we begin Lent, ponder these words:

If you wish to save your soul and win eternal life, arise from your lethargy, make the sign of the Cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Faith comes not through pondering but through action. Not words and speculation but experience teaches us what God is. To let in fresh air we have to open a window; to get tanned we must go out into the sunshine. Achieving faith is no different; we never reach a goal by just sitting in comfort and waiting, say the holy Fathers. Let the Prodigal Son be our example. He arose and came (Luke 15:20).

However weighed down and entangled in earthly fetters you may be, it can never be too late. Not without reason is it written that Abraham was seventy-five when he set forth, and the labourer who comes in the eleventh hour gets the same wages as the one who comes in the first.

Nor can it be too early. A forest fire cannot be put out too soon; would you see your soul ravaged and charred?

In baptism you received the command to wage the invisible warfare against the enemies of your soul; take it up now. Long enough have you dallied; sunk in indifference and laziness you have let much valuable time go to waste. Therefore you must begin again from the beginning: for you have let the purity you received in baptism be sulled in dire fashion.

Arise, then; but do so at once, without delay. Do not defer your purpose til “tonight” or “tomorrow” or “later, when I have finished what I have to do just now.” The interval may be fatal.

No, this moment, the instant you make your resolution, you will show by your action that you have taken leave of your old self and have now begun a new life, with the new destination and a new way of living. Arise, therefore, without fear and say: Lord, let me begin now. Help me! For what you need above all is God’s help.

Hold fast to your purpose and do not look back. We have been given a warning example in Lot’s wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back (Genesis 19:26). You have cast off your old humanity; let the rags lie. Like Abraham, you have heard the voice of the Lord: Get thee out of thy country, and from they kindred, and from thy father’s house, into a land that I will show thee (Genesis 12:1). Towards that land hereafter you must direct all your attention.

- Way of the Ascetics (pp. 1-3) by Tito Colliander (which is my favorite book to read during Lent)

Update: The Cellarer informs me that Way of the Ascetics is available online. I recommend it highly!

Today is the feast of St. Onesimus, the slave of Philemon and the subject of Paul’s letter which is found in the New Testament. According to tradition, Onesimus was set free by Philemon, became the bishop of Ephesus and eventually was martyred. But he quite possibly also had a major role in the development of our New Testament canon. Here is how it happened.

We know that eventually thirteen of Paul’s letters were included in the New Testament canon. The question is: why those letters? Paul most definitely wrote other letters (he even mentions one of them in his correspondence with the Corinthians), so why were they not included? And why did a letter like Philemon get included?

In the late 1st century and early 2nd century, many of Paul’s letters were being circulated throughout Asia Minor, the main area of his preaching and the location of most of his letters. It was the bishops of that area who were primarily responsible for copying and circulating his letters (as they were the only ones with the reason and resources to do so), and three of the most prominent bishops of this era were Onesimus, Polycarp of Smyrna and Ignatius of Antioch.

In the early 2nd century, St. Ignatius of Antioch was on his way to Rome to be martyred. Along the way, many bishops met him along his journey to encourage him and pray with him. One of these meetings involved Onesimus and Polycarp, along with other bishops, in Smyrna. It was at this meeting that Onesimus presented his collection of Pauline letters, which had the Letter to the Ephesians as the first in the collection and included an odd little personal letter concerning a runaway slave. After this meeting, this collection of Paul’s letters was always included in any Scriptural canon.

Admittedly, we do not have clear-cut proof for the above scenario, but we do have strong evidence in its favor:

1) Ignatius in his letter to the Ephesians, written after this meeting, alludes to Paul’s letter to Philemon and compares his situation with that of Onesimus.

2) A slave who was brought to Christ and then freed would have understood the power of Paul’s letters and would have promoted them heavily.

3) A bishop of Ephesus would have had the resources to compile such a collection.

4) The fact that Philemon is included is the strongest evidence: why would this little letter dealing with one specific situation be included in the collection being distributed? Perhaps it was because the subject of that letter was the one doing the distribution.

(Note: these arguments can be found in “The Formation of the New Testament Canon” by William Farmer and Denis Farkasfalvy, pp. 77-79).

I always find it quite fascinating to consider the human factor in the working of God’s will in this world. The role of St. Onesimus in the formation of the NT canon is an especially interesting story of that “human” element in the plan of salvation.

St. Onesimus, pray for us!

Over at the Classical Liberal Arts Academy website there is a great article by Biblical Theologian Dr. Nathan Schmiedicke (who is the brother of some friends of mine) entitled Why Study the Bible?,  which looks at the reasons to study the Scriptures in the context of a classical liberal arts education. An excerpt:

“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ!”

These bold words of St. Jerome contain a deep truth. The God-given goal of our existence is nothing less than God Himself. And yet, as the catechism has it: in order to be with God forever in Heaven, we must first love him and serve him in this life. But to love him and serve Him in this life we must first know him.

Well, how can we know God in this life? The classical answer to this question is that we can know God in two ways: through reason and through revelation.

REASON: MAN REACHING OUT TO GOD

We can know many things about God simply through the use of our reason exercised on ourselves and the world around us. However, because of our fallen human nature, these truths about God (which are the most important of all truths!) can only be arrived at by a few really wise people, after a really long time and a whole lot of effort. Plus, it is inevitably the case that there is a lot of confusion and error mixed in with these.

REVELATION: GOD REACHING OUT TO MAN

The wonderful thing about revelation is that it is a superior way of knowing God that comes to us from God Himself. It is available to everyone who has faith, right now, and without the error mixed in. Plus there is the added benefit that God can reveal more about himself to us than we would ever be able to figure out about Him from reason alone.

WRITTEN REVELATION: THE BIBLE

A primary way God reveals Himself and His will to mankind is through the Scriptures. Before (and after) the Word of God became a man (John 1:14), the word of God became a book. Unlike all other books, however, the Bible is not simply human words, but is really the word of God, “living and active” (Heb 4:12). Because of this, the Bible has always been at the heart of the Church’s liturgical, devotional, intellectual, and practical life. This word, since it is God’s word, is simply better and more important than any other words that are out there.

Go read the entire article here.

The great thing about the truth is that those with open hearts will always recognize it, no matter their state of life:

Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable

Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away every penny of his £3 million fortune after realising his riches were making him unhappy.

Mr Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million….

“My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come.”

Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.

His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.

“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,” he said. “I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years,” said Mr Rabeder.

But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.

“More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’,” he said. “I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.

God bless Mr. Rabeder. Those of us who are rich – and by any historical standard that includes the vast majority of Americans – need to always remind ourselves about the power of money to make us slaves. The more we have, the more we want. Mr. Rabeder has realized that the truth that money will never make one happy.

By a happy coincidence, Catholics and Orthodox are celebrating Easter on the same day this year. However, Eastern Christians (both Orthodox and Eastern Catholics) observe Lent differently than Western Christians. First of all, they don’t have Ash Wednesday. In fact, their Lent began at sundown last night. Secondly, they don’t refrain from singing Alleluia during Lent liturgies.

And finally, they take the Lenten fast seriously. Very seriously.

There is a good interview with Mark Shea over at Ministry Values on the topic of torture. Mark has become the preeminent spokesperson in the Catholic blogosphere for defending the Church’s condemnation of torture. An excerpt:

We asked Mr. Shea, how the policy of torture or enhanced interrogation found its way into official government policy. The obvious answer was of course everything changed after 9/11. Protecting our citizens at all cost became paramount but what we found interesting was his identification of the philosophical under pinnings of the moral justification for torture.

Mr.Shea gave an impassioned discourse on the ideal of “consequentialism” a philosophy that is the intellectual foundation for those whosupport “enhanced interrogation methods” . Simply put”Consequentialism” is “let us do evil as long as it results in good” or better known as “the end justifies the means”.

Mr. Shea assured us that this “ideal” of “consequentialism” has been fully condemned by Pope John Paul II and others. Mark Shea’s view on this issue he admits is not popular these days with many of his conservative friends.

Check out the whole interview here.

A group of Orthodox monks in Ohio are trying to convert a hotel frequently used by a prostitutes into a retreat center:

Monks from the Syro-Russian Orthodox Catholic Church have opened the Monastery Inn, offering low-cost housing and outreach services in what had been the Canfield Colonial Motel. The monks’ leader, Bishop Timothy, says the group eventually hopes to turn the inn and surrounding acreage into a religious retreat.

Police say the motel and a sister property were used for a prostitution ring. The former owner pleaded guilty last month to promoting prostitution and will be sentenced early next month.

The monks gathered with business leaders Thursday for an official ribbon cutting in Canfield, 60 miles southeast of Cleveland.

I can’t help but think how biblical this is: God so often turned our sins and rejections of Him into avenues of grace (just look at the crucifixion). These monks are in good company.

Update: reading the article more carefully, I notice that these monks are members of the Syro-Russian Orthodox Catholic Church, which is NOT a canonical Eastern Orthodox Church. I still think what these monks are doing in this case is great, but I don’t want to appear to endorse all they hold and profess.

One of the favorite punching bags of orthodox Catholics is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). And often, for good reason. It seems that frequently we hear reports of people deeply involved with the USCCB also being involved with organizations which promote activities in conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The latest brouhaha erupted when it was discovered that John Carr, the Executive Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development for the USCCB, was formally a member of the pro-abortion Center for Community Change (note: Carr insists strongly that he is pro-life and his work with the CCC never involved in any way defending abortion). The litany of scandals that have erupted surrounding the USCCB over the years have led some Catholics even to call for the abolishment of the institution.

One of the most common refrains you hear from critics of the USCCB is that it has “no theological basis”. That it is, in other words, just a bureaucratic institution which has no true authority within the Church. Is this the case? Is it true that national ecclesial conferences,  of which USCCB is just one, are not theologically justified and have no authority in the Church? Well, yes and no.

The foundations of authority within the Church comes from the actions of Christ himself. He appointed twelve men with a special authority within the Church, and he placed one of those men – Peter – with a unique role among the Twelve. So we can clearly see that each successor to the apostles – the bishops – and the successor to Peter – the pope – have authority within the Church.

However, very quickly the Church recognized that groups of bishops also had a special authority in the Church. Throughout the early Church, we see regional synods of bishops gathering to make decisions, and these decisions had binding authority. Of course, the greatest grouping of bishops is an ecumenical council, in which all the bishops of the world gather together and have authority to define dogma definitively. But even after the first ecumenical council at Nicea, we continue to see regional synods of bishops which exercise a key role in administering the Church.

So the Church came to recognize three levels of authority within the Church: local, regional, and universal. (You can see an ecumenical discussion of these three levels in the Ravenna Document, which is at the Vatican website). Over the years, the East came to emphasize the authority of the local and regional church (i.e. bishops, metropolitans and patriarchs), whereas the West came to emphasize the authority of the universal Church (i.e the pope). But each level has true authority within the Church.

One thing it is important to note at this point is that these levels are not equivalent to a corporate organizational chart. It is not the case that the local bishop works for the regional synod of bishops, and they then in turn work for the universal head. Authority in the Church is based on service, not power. Each authority figure and grouping works for the service of the people of God under their care. In practice, moreover, a local bishop has almost unlimited authority in his diocese – he is the head of the local church and has the power to establish discipline within its boundaries. But he also is a member of a region, and he works with other bishops in his region as the need arises. This regional application of authority reflects the incarnational nature of the Church: it exists within cultures and specific geographies, and so it works within those human constructs to preach the Gospel.

So we come to the institution of national ecclesial conferences. These are new entities, established by Vatican II, which are (very) loosely similar the Eastern national churches. But they were established as a new way of implementing the ancient practice of regional synods, and as such, they have a legitimate place within the Church. They are a way in which the Church can implement its teachings along the lines of cultural and national boundaries.

But does that mean that everything that comes out of the USCCB is to be obeyed blindly? Does it mean that individual bishops must follow exactly everything that the USCCB proclaims? And what about the role of those who work for the USCCB – such as laypeople and even priests – what authority do they have?

Let me take the last question first: only bishops (and priests representing them) have binding authority in the Church, so employees who work for the USCCB do not have any theological basis for authority in the Church. But that does not mean that they should be disrespected or ignored. They do work for the bishops and ostensibly have their blessing. So their work should be listened to with respect.

Now the second question: do individual bishops have to follow the USCCB directives blindly? The Church has always respected the true authority a local bishop has, and that authority comes from Christ, not from being a member of a bishops’ conference. So they do not have to follow the directives of the USCCB if they feel it is in the best interests of the people of their diocese. But I don’t think there is any bishop who would not treat directives of a gathering of all the bishops in his country with respect.

Finally, what is the lay Catholic to do? Do we have to obey the USCCB? I think my previous comments show that I do think we must give them respect. The gathering of bishops is a powerful exercise of episcopal authority within the Church, and we are bound to treat it deferentially. Ultimately, we must be obedient sons and daughters of our local bishop, but if he does not explicitly reject a proclamation of the USCCB, then we should not either (note that I am assuming the normal rights of the laity in regard to prudential matters that are outside the purview of the bishops).

Nothing I said above should be taken as a defense of mistakes made by members of the USCCB. If a local bishop does something erroneous, we are allowed to criticize him in good faith (always respecting his office, of course). Likewise, if the USCCB makes a mistake, it is not above criticism either. But I think it does no good to try to dismiss it as having “no theological basis” or calling for its abolishment. What is needed is respect and reform, not dismissal and destruction.

In the 1980′s a large number of Campus Crusade for Christ members ended up converting to Orthodoxy. Fr. Peter Gillquist (one of the leaders of this group) told their story in Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith. This week, another one of their leaders, Fr. Jack Sparks, passed away:

Fr. Jack Norman Sparks–Author, Project Director for the Orthodox Study Bible, mentor to many, Founder and Dean of St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, father, grandfather and great grandfather–fell asleep in the Lord in Eagle River, Alaska, on February 8, at 7:30 a.m. Fr. Jack reposed on the twenty third anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.

Fr. Marc Dunaway, Pastor of St. John Cathedral in Eagle River, Alaska, writes:

“It is with sadness and prayers for his family that I relay to you the news that the servant of God, the Archpriest Jack Sparks, fell asleep in the Lord early this morning. He was 81 years old. Fr. Jack did much research in the 1970′s and 80′s that helped the journey of the Evangelical Orthodox into the Antiochian Archdiocese. After this he was the principle overseer for the Orthodox Study Bible, which was just recently published with the Old Testament. Fr. Jack has lived in Alaska for the last five years and has several of his children here. Fr. John Downing, Kh. Betsy and I joined Kh. Esther Sparks and her family and prayed the Trisagion Prayers of Mercy for the Departed around him. We have truly lost a good soldier in the Church today.”

In an Ancient Faith Radio reflection, Fr. Peter Gillquist remembers Fr. Jack as one who lived a full, rich life of service to the Church and to his family. “He was a scholar and incredibly intelligent,” says Fr. Peter, “but he played football for Purdue as well, so he was really all kinds of people. Most importantly, if he knew something was true, he would commit to it, no matter what the cost.”

Fr. Jack was born on December 3, 1928 to Oakley and Geraldine Sparks in Lebanon, Indiana. After he received his PhD in 1960 he taught at the University of Northern Colorado and Penn State University. In 1968, Fr. Jack began his ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ, and after years of serving college students and studying church history, was received with the other Evangelical Orthodox, into the Antiochian Archdiocese. “He asked the question, ‘How did the early church worship?’” remembers Fr. Peter Gillquist. “And he came back and told us, the worship was liturgical and sacramental. It was pivotal.”

Pray for the soul of Fr. Sparks and for his whole family.