• WINTER BREAK UPDATE 2025/26

    Dear brothers, sisters, family and friends, 2025 has come to a close, and with it the penultimate semester of our time at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. This year was full of blessings, challenges and changes. In April, Fr John was ordained to the priesthood in the Orthodox Church by Bishop Gerasim of Dallas and…

  • FASTING AND FEASTING AND MAKING GOD HUMAN

    Today is the Leavetaking of Nativity and New Year’s Eve, so I thought I’d offer a small Christmastide reflection to transition into 2026. The space between Christmas and the New Year tends to be something of a foggy, and at times, contradictory period. The twelve days of Christmas leading up to the Feast of Theophany…

  • EVAGRIUS AND PALAMAS ON CARE FOR THE POOR

    I acknowledge that I’ve been radio silent for a while. Much has happened in the last year, including my ordination to the priesthood in April, 2025. I hope to post an update soon, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share two papers I wrote for classes I took last semester that are relevant to…

  • BLESSED SILENCE

    In the next few posts, I’ll share some reflections that I wrote during my CPE experience over the summer. Some of them will be adapted from spiritual reflections I had to do as a part of my verbatim assignments (edited to omit any details about patients or clinical experiences) and some will be more general…

  • ONE YEAR DOWN

    We’ve lived in Yonkers, New York for a year. That means that each member of our family has celebrated a birthday in our “new” home. We’ve celebrated the seasons of Christmas and Pascha with our “new” seminary community. Last year, we celebrated our 12th anniversary of marriage a month late because we were busy packing…

  • THOSE WHO BEAR OUR BURDENS

    Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ… So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.Galatians 6:2, 10 “You took away all my support– my people.” Walter had said this to me many…