Christ as Physician, Holy Communion as Medicine, and Salvation as the Healing of the Human Person according to the Orthodox Church Introduction The Orthodox Church does not understand herself primarily as a courtroom, where a person comes in order to receive a cold legal verdict of guilt or innocence. Rather, she understands herself as a hospital of healing, a spiritual infirmary, where the human person wounded by sin is healed through the grace of Christ. Christ is the great

The Delusion of Reincarnation/Metempsychosis and the Orthodox Hope of the Resurrection Introduction One of the most widespread religious and philosophical ideas of the modern age is reincarnation, or metempsychosis. This theory teaches that the soul, after the death of the body, passes into another body— human or even animal—and lives many successive lives until it is purified or liberated from the cycle of births. Metempsychosis was known in antiquity, especially in certain

Prayer for the Church, the Clergy, Our Brethren, and Our Enemies Introduction Prayer for others is one of the clearest marks of a Christian heart. A person who prays only for himself remains confined within the narrow circle of his personal needs. But a person who prays for others begins to live ecclesially—that is, not as an isolated individual, but as a member of the Body of Christ. Prayer then becomes a work of love, a ministry of invisible philanthropy, a mystical offerin