Can Bishops, Priests, And Deacons Be Gossips?

GOSSIP: a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others. 

"My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed,we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh." James 3: 1-12 

To God's beloved Bishops, Priests, and Deacons: The sacrament you have received does not dismiss you from the obligation to tame your mouth. You do not have license, because of your ordination, to say what you will to another, be it clergy or layman, under the guise of "concern" or another's "spiritual welfare". Speaking to another about a third person's "personal or sensational facts" is as sinful for you as it is the Layman. Whether it be in word or letter, in private, or in a public forum, it is sin.

Orthodox Boy In Motion Picture

Shooting will wrap this week in LA on the film, Gumball. The poignant, humorous, and moving story of nine-year-old Lawrence Ashby, who hatches a plan to save his parents failing marriage, stars Nathan James Sharp, an Orthodox boy, and the grandson of JTO author, Nathan Lee Lewis. Pray for Nathan, his parents, and all Orthodox Christians who work in the film industry.

Seen and Unseen

Venice, California. Where Satan runs to and fro seeking whom he may devour. This is the view from the window of a room in which I was staying. It seems Satan and his minions don't have to hide so much here. They are allowed to advertise and parade in the open. Pray for all of we who are in the film industry--that we may resist the devil and confront him if necessary, and that we will be light and salt in this world.

Saint Genesius pray for us...

The Greatest Spiritual Gift

The Gift of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Advice For People Who Lie

“People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.” 
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“I always say the truth is best even when we find it unpleasant. Any rat in a sewer can lie. It's how rats are. It's what makes them rats. But a human doesn't run and hide in dark places, because he's something more. Lying is the most personal act of cowardice there is.” 
― Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion

“There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul.” 
― José N. Harris

“Hard truths can be dealt with, triumphed over, but lies will destroy your soul.” 
― Patricia Briggs, Moon Called

“Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be ready to fight the enemy you can see.” 
― Al-Ghazali

"Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow...You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
- God, The Bible

What Is That?

Shame on you if you don't support Orthodox Filmmakers...simply...Shame on you.

Top 10 JTO Posts Of All Time

http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-wedding-rings-on-right-hand.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-i-reject-protestantism-guest.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2013/01/has-god-ever-spoken-directly-to-you.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2007/01/crossing-yourself.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2010/09/where-are-all-orthodox-film-investors.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2007/09/are-mormons-christians.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2008/12/so-whats-with-beard-and-long-hair.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2009/03/metropolitan-philip-where-have-all.html
http://journeytoorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-orthodox-patriarch-of.html

No, Bishop John, We Are Not ALL Prophets

The Rt. Rev. Bishop John, Editor In Chief of the Antiochian Orthodox publication, The Word, recently wrote an editorial entitled "Would You Like To Be A Prophet?" He defines "prophet" in this way:

"A prophet is one who speaks for God. Because of the Resurrection, because we are Christians, because in our baptisms we put on Christ, we are already prophets. It is our vocation as Christians to incarnate the Divine Logos, the Word of God. It is our sacred duty to reclaim the space we live in and to reveal God to the world. It is our life to witness to the good news and share it with all of God’s creation. It is our life to speak Truth and witness to God in His world. It is our job to speak to the world, revealing what God teaches, wants, and is. So our first task is to see how to live as prophets in this time and place..."

Bishop John is confusing, or to be fair, at least not clarifying the distinction, between the gift of prophet and the gift of prophesying. They are distinct gifts. Yes, we all should prophesy, but we are not all prophets.

"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles. ARE ALL PROPHETS? Are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?"

Also...

"It was He who gave some to be apostles, SOME to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors, some to be teachers..."

A quick search for the Greek definitions of prophet and prophesy would benefit, before writing an editorial such as this. One may find that a better title might be, Would You Like To Prophesy? So, No, Bishop John, We Are Not ALL Prophets, nor should we "like to be". 

A Father's Pride

My third daughter, Allie, is on the right side of the law. She was recently sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff after a grueling testing period. Her testing was both personal and professional. She is married, has one daughter, and is a talented musician with a heart for helping hurting people. Her sweet demeanor and slender frame belie the fact that she is as tough as nails and can physicality subdue someone twice her size. She now joins the ranks of those sworn to serve the public. Her aunt, and my sister, just retired from a long career as a Chaplain in the Federal Prison system, so Allie now takes up the mantle. Thanks to all who serve and put their lives on the line everyday to uphold the Constitution and preserve the rights and safety of the Communities in which they serve. 

Divine Images Documentary

Here is another great opportunity to support an Orthodox filmmaker, Ben Andrus.

Ben is an MFA candidate at Regent University School of Communications and the Arts. He is a writer, director, and photographer and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia with his family. He has directed photography for music videos, short films, documentaries and commercials, and has written and directed several short films.

His documentary, Divine Images, will explore the lives, materials and techniques of some of the most extraordinary iconographers, as they carry on a ancient tradition in the New World.

Like many other Orthodox filmmakers, Ben is a missionary to the world through the medium of film. You can help Ben raise his modest budget of $10,000 by clicking on the link below. Donations start at $10.

                                       CLICK HERE