by Lidia Wasylyn Who could have guessed that a child born February 17, 1892, into a humble, deeply religious family in Western Ukraine would become a prince of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, leading his flock into the 20th century? Such was God’s plan for this child and from an early age, his faith pulled him […]
Today is the anniversary of the massacre of thirteen peasant men and boys who died defending a little Greek Catholic church in what is now Poland. They gathered, with their families and neighbors, to prevent the Russian Imperial government from imposing an Orthodox priest into their parish. This took place when the Tsar destroyed the […]
THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES commemorate liturgically each of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the first millennium. Both Catholic and Orthodox Churches have held important councils since then, but none of those councils are celebrated with liturgical feasts in either the East or the West. Why are only the seven Councils which we commemorate so set apart? […]
Since the second century Christians have been accustomed to identify the second of our four Gospels by the name of its author, Mark the Evangelist. The Gospel itself, however, never identifies its author by name or gives us any clue to the author’s identity. What, then, is the source of this identification with Mark and […]
A sore point in the relationship between the Churches concerns the date on which we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Often one group of Christians is observing Pascha while their neighbors may have up to a month to go before they do the same. While some people may enjoy having two festive meals as a […]
21st Kelly Lecture, University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Canada 1 December 2000 The Very Rev. Archimandrite Robert F. Taft, S.J., Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome No one who keeps abreast of the religious news can be unaware that ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches are in a period […]
Few Christians have not heard of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. After living in India for twenty years, teaching in a (middle class) girls high school, she received what she termed “a call within a call” to devote the rest of her life to caring for the sick poor while living among them. At her death […]
Many Christian Churches in America were founded by a pastor who had a Bible, a microphone and a conviction that God wanted him to preach. So he gathered a few followers (often his own relatives), rented space and scheduled services. Americans see nothing unusual in this – after all freedom of speech and individual initiative […]
