Essays from In Communion
What's in a name?
For many people peace is chiefly the absence of war: "it was a time of peace" is another way of saying it was a time between wars. The phrase "in communion" reveals the deeper meaning of the word "peace." To be "in communion" is to be linked ith others at the deepest level of existence. For the Orthodox Christian, communion means intimate participation in the life of Christ: receiving the awesome and life-creating Mysteries that heal body and soul, repel adversity, illumine the mind and heart, sustain love and faith, nourish wisdom and banish fear. This is the peace of Christ.
The idea for the journal's name was suggested by Father Thomas Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary: "The Orthodox approach," Father Hopko said, "is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that God is a Trinity of persons in absolute identity of being and of life in perfect communion. Therefore, communion is the given. Anything that breaks that communion destroys the very roots of our existence. Seventy times seven times a day we must re-establish communion -- and want to do so. My task is not to decide whether or not I will be in relationship with you but to realize that I am in communion with you: my life is yours, and your life is mine."
-- from the first issue of In Communion
"Two Types of Love" by Mother Maria Skobtsova
"Towards a New Ecumenism" by Christos Yannaras
"On Abortion and Over-Population" by Nancy Forest-Flier
"Project Mexico: To Love is to Serve" by Renée Zitzloff
"John of Kronstadt: Saint of Communion, Saint of Confession" by Bishop Kallistos
"A First Visit to Albania" by Sophia Jilderda
"Moscow's Island of Hope": a letter from Alexander Ogorodnikov in Moscow
"Conversations to E-mail" (exchanges from the "OPF List" on various topics)
"Dostoevsky's View of Evil" by Richard Pevear
"Death with Dignity?" by Frederica Mathewes-Green
"Blessed" by Jim Forest
"Family-Centered Education" by Renée Zitzloff
"The Passion of Anger" by Mark Pearson
essays featured in earler issues of In Communion . . .
"Prayers by the Lake" by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic
"Living in Communion" -- an interview with Father Thomas Hopko
"The Exaltation of the Cross" by Metropolitan George Khodr
"The Ladder of the Beatitudes" by Jim Forest
"Communion and Otherness" by Metropolitan John of Pergamon
"Who Is My Neighbor?" by Sister Magdalen
"Prayer for Peace in the Liturgy" -- writings of Fr. Lev Gillet
"The Beatitude of Tears" by Glinda Johnson-Medland
"Let Us Consider Quarreling" by Hilary Carby-Hall
"Spiritual Combat Against War" by Fr. Georgi Chistyakov
"The Sign of the Cross" by Fr. Luke Veronis
"New Martyr St. Elizabeth: from Riches to Martyrdom" by Lily Emilia Clerkx
"Mother Maria Skobtsova: Nun and Martyr" by Jim Forest
"On the Love of Enemies: The Teaching of St. Silouan" by Jean-Claude Larchet
"But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies" -- a second essay by Jean-Claude Larchet on the teaching of the Fathers and St. Silouan
"Two Soldiers of Christ: Boris and Gleb" by Father Sergei Hackel
"St. Alban and the Cost of Discipleship" by Archimandrite Lev Gillet
"Mary's Silence" by Mariquita Platov
"Holy Fools" by Jim Forest
"Peace and Conflict in Scripture and History" by Father Sergei Ovsiannikov
"Exorcising War" by Metropolitan George of Mount Lebanon
"No Just War in the Fathers" by Father Stanley Harakas
"Orthodoxy and Peace" by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel
"On the Love of Enemies" by Father John Garvey
"Following Christ in a Violent World" by Jim Forest
"Blessed are the Meek: Capital Punishment and the Gospel" by Fr. Thomas Mueller
"Capital Punishment: Points to Consider" by Jim Forest
"An Orthodox View of Child Abuse" by Fr. Stanley Harakas
"But Many Offering Death: Dehumanizing Words & Abortion" by Jim Forest
"Pro-Life Orthodoxy" by Deacon Philip Jenson
"The Mother of God of the Sign" by Frederica Mathewes-Green
"Helping a Mother, Saving a Child" by Frederica Mathewes-Green
"Commemorating Victims of Abortion " by Renée Zitzloff
"Talking, Not Shouting" by Renée Zitzloff
"Liturgical Responsibility for the Environment" by nuns of the Annunciation Monastery in Ormelya, Greece
"How Do We Come to Love the Earth?" by Bob Flanagan
"Letters from Belgrade" by Bojan Aleksov
"Statement of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church"
"Serbian Diary" -- Jim Forest's journal of a visit to Serbia in March, 1994
"Belgrade Dialogue on Reconciliation" by Jim Forest (report of an ecumenical conference hosterd by the Serbian Orthodox Church in February 1996)
"A Kid Named Elvis" by Peter Mikuliak (a story of savig one life in Bosnia)
"Albanian Diary" by Fr. Martin Ritsi
on Orthodox participartion in ecumenical groups:
"Orthodox Ecumenism: a Contradiction in Terms?" by Peter Bouteneff (with links to letters in response and a reply to the letters by Peter Bouteneff)
"Orthodox Tribalism" by Fr. Stephen Headley
"Peace Be With Us" by Deacon Jacques-Jude Lepine
"Has God Rejected His People? Reflections of the People of Israel" by Bishop Kallistos
"Understanding Islam" by Fr. Theodore Pulcini
"Fr. Sergei Zhigulin's Testimony" (testimony of a priest who was held hostage)
"Beauty Will Save the World" by Nancy Forest
"Seeking Community" by Deacon Mark Kroban
"The Fire of the Resurrection" by Sue Talley
"One Day of Hospitality" by J. Nektarios deBrouwer
"The Mission of the Church in the World" by Father Lambert van Dinteren
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Updated September 9, 1998