I got an email from someone asked me why we Orthodox “pray” to the saints. This is a question I hear a lot, and from a Protestant point of view it’s a reasonable one. Here’s my reply: I think your hesitation is the single biggest concern that Protestants have about…

I ran across something I wrote in an email to a friend years ago, about how we become gradually more self-centered, more blind to the real world (and people) around us, as time goes by: <<I thought of the wife’s line from “The Death of Ivan Ilych” (approximately): “He screamed…

  Somebody asked me about the Jesus Prayer: <<What does it mean to ‘pray without ceasing’? Do you actually say the Jesus Prayer everywhere? On the beach, in a restaurant, when you’re with other people? Really, all the time?>> That’s a great question. Here’s how I replied. <<How it works…

It’s been 15 years since the repose of my spiritual father, Fr George Calciu, a survivor of the communist brain-washing prisons in Romania. Someone recently asked me if he had given any advice about how American Christians might resist, if some kind of persecution arises. He did answer that question,…

[2022-2-13] Someone who was writing an article about the state of the culture asked me to send her by email a couple of quotes about abortion and porn. I thought I’d share my responses here. About abortion: <<Abortion takes a terrible toll on our country. The annual fatality rate from abortion…

[January 14, 2022] Someone once emailed me to ask me about evangelism in Orthodoxy. I wanted to share my reply, because it’s worth discussing. +++ After my husband’s and my chrismation, I was frustrated to see that most Orthodox “evangelism” seemed to be aimed at evangelicals. I asked why that…

On January 7, 2022, my friend Rod Dreher had a post on his American Conservative blog about the direction Pope Francis is trying to take the Catholic Church. Rod went on to say: <<For the time being, American Orthodoxy is not as vulnerable as American Catholicism is to liberalizing, but…

When I was visiting my hometown, Charleston, SC, I saw this story on the front page of the local paper. It’s about two small 19th century cemeteries used by Black churches in Charleston, lots which lie back-to-back within the same block. The overcrowding is horrific. <<Ephrath’s size is about 240…

[12/19/2021] A friend played for me a few minutes of an AFR podcast about “anti-Western” bias among Orthodox. There was a reference to something in one of my books (politely done, without naming me). I messaged the hosts to say that there are two stages, one in which inquirers into…