Another City

A Journal of Orthodox Culture

Main Content

New Articles

Loud Storms Surround Me, But My Heart is Tranquil: Selected Sayings of the Hieroconfessor Roman Medved

By

Sometimes the trials and irritations of everyday life seem almost impossible to bear gracefully, and at such times we may wonder how it would be possible to endure a far more harsh and hostile environment, such as a Soviet Gulag.

Here, in excerpts from letters written from a labor camp where he was imprisoned from 1931 to 1935, Hieroconfessor Roman Medved gives us glimpses of how the Christian life can overcome even the bleakest conditions through placing itself under the protection of divine grace, while practicing the everyday asceticism that opens the heart to God.

What is the Difference Between Orthodoxy and the Western Confessions?

By

The irreducible difference between Orthodox Christianity and the Western Confessions (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) writes Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) is that the former understands Christianity as first ascetic effort and the latter perceives it as moral perfection.

The differences are grounded in conflicting views of Christ’s atoning work. Where Orthodoxy sees the death and resurrection of Christ as the victory over death and the restoration of the Holy Spirit that Adam lost (and subsequently all men) as a result of his sin, the Western confessions see it as satisfying the avenging wrath of an angry God. This inevitably leads to different view on who man is and what he was created to become that affects how we see salvation working in our everyday lives.

Drawing on a short work by Russian Orthodox theologian Alexei Stepanovich Khomiakov, Met. Anthony goes into considerable detail outlining the differences between the Orthodox East and Latin West. Readers will grasp the particulars of his argument quite handily, even in their Latin and Protestant variants.

Recent Articles

St. Paisios of Mt. Athos on Love and Kindness

By

“He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love” (I John 4:8). So explains St John, Beloved of Christ. Love is at the center of our Orthodox faith, and indeed as the epistle reminds us, at the center of being itself. Assembled here is a selection of short sayings or aphorism from St Paisios of Mt Athos, whose love for God, for his fellow humanity, and for creation itself is unsurpassed in modern times.

Holy Tradition is a Living Voice of Revelation: An Interview with Elder Cleopa of Romania

By

God speaks to man writes Elder Cleopa and His living voice is the means of His self-revelation to man. God’s word was first passed on orally and constitutes what we call Holy Tradition and only later written as scripture, both Old and New Testaments. Holy Tradition then constitutes more than the written word of scripture. This does not weaken the authority of scripture Elder Ceopa explains because both scripture and tradition “…have remained within a reciprocal unity and intimate relationship – a relationship based on the fact that both comprise the holy revelation of God and for us are the fount and source of Revelation.”

Why We Are So Lonely

By

Many are familiar with the celebrated “boiled frog” fable (real frogs are smarter than this) in which the amphibian is placed in a beaker of water that is gradually heated until the animal is boiled alive. Even though it could easily leap to freedom, the progressive hostility of its environment is so gradual that it never quite notices. Hieromonk Gabriel helps us in this article to see just how abnormal the environment is that we inhabit, along with a brief history of how this came to pass, noting such ills as the decline of the family and the disintegration of social bonds, along with the rise of secularism and the privatization of religion.

The Basics of Spiritual Life, Based on the Writings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) Part I

By

The essence of any religion is contained in the spiritual life, which is its most sacred side. Entry into this life demands not only good intentions, but also knowledge of the laws of spiritual life. But to acquire this knowledge in an age of spiritual confusion requires clear guidance. The writings of the nineteenth century ascetic and theologian, St Ignatius Brianchaninov, are based upon his scrupulous study of patristic writings, tried in the furnace of personal ascetical experience. They provide a kind of Orthodox ascetical encyclopedia clarifying the most important questions of spiritual life, including the dangers that can be met along the way. They set forth the patristic experience of the knowledge of God as applied to the particular psychology and special weaknesses of people living in a secular age, making his writings exceptionally valuable for modern-day Christians.

The Preaching of Columns

By

We suffer an age of redoubled iconoclasm. It is not the image-smashing of Constantinople, the Reformation’s rage against papist altars in Germany, nor the vandal-piety of Vatican II that plunders its own treasures. It is a militant renovation of the very meaning of beauty which shuns “the aesthetic value of a building” as belonging to an obsolete culture of symbolic frills.

You are as Prone to Love as the Sun is to Shine

By

Thomas Traherne was a seventeenth century Anglican priest originally known as one of the less prominent “metaphysical poets,” although he was until recently overshadowed by figures such as John Donne and George Herbert. As a simple country priest, he led a quiet, obscure, and pious life, dying of smallpox in 1674 at less than 40 years of age.

The Night that Changed My Life

By

In this moving account, Archpriest Nikolai Agafono narrates how a foolish childhood escapade led his family into Orthodox Christianity, despite their dismissive view of religion that exemplified attitudes imposed by the Soviet state. As the details emerge, he skillfully reveals how God’s love can permeate even the most rigid ideological filters that modern secularism is able to enforce.

The Abolition of Man

By

C.S. Lewis warns that refashioning man according to newly fabricated norms will result not only in the perpetual tyranny of those elites who have invented the new norms, but in the abolition of humanity itself.

Pray First, Then Mow! Modern Life at the Convent of St. Thecla and the Dormition

By

Despite the abundance of recent news on Russia, much of it false or distorted, little attention has been shown to the remarkable renaissance of Orthodox Christianity in that country. Yet during less than thirty years since the fall of the Soviet Union, the number of churches in Russia has risen from less than 500 to nearly 40,000—about four new or restored churches per day! This moving account of how two faithful Orthodox nuns restored an abandoned church, and helped revitalize the Orthodox faith in a small village along the way, is typical of thousands of wonderful stories that lie behind this resurgence.

Toll Houses: After Death Reality or Heresy?

By

In this interview with Kevin Allen, now newly reposed, Fr. Thomas Hopko offers a balanced and insightful discussion of the doctrine of the aerial tollhouses that the Church has traditionally taught we will encounter after our death. The toll houses have been the theme of recent debates so often assuming extreme positions that some have become skeptical of the issue altogether, setting it aside as undecidable.

Ye Shall Be As Gods: The Nature of Lawlessness

By

Lawlessness is the defining characteristic of both Antichristianity and the modern world. The Antichrist is described by St. Paul as “that lawless one,” and without any doubt at the heart of the modern era is revolution: the unprecedented systematic overthrow of all traditional political, moral, and spiritual authority.

What is Prelest?

By

Prelest (in Greek, “plani”) is the spiritual correlate of high blood pressure: its progression is slow and silent, and it often goes unnoticed until it reaches a deadly stage. From our friends at Orthochristian.com, here are two articles on prelest (or spiritual delusion) that discuss both its dangers and preventatives against it.

Chesterton and the Noble Value of Declaring Enemies

By

For the ancient philosopher Heraclitus, πóλεμος (polemos or strife) is “the father of all things,” an aphorism that seeks not to encourage actual warfare, but rather to acknowledge that conflict and struggle in one form or another bring to light what is finer and higher. Lest this be shocking, we should remember that Christ Himself reminds us that He came not “to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34), while urging his followers to sell their garments if need be, in order to buy a sword (Luke 22:36). At the very least, we may conclude that the Kingdom of God is worth fighting for. Addressing our age of “conflict resolution” that seeks to melt everything into a bland aggregation, and that praises accommodation while pursuing annihilation, Jesse Cone discusses G. K. Chesterton’s depiction of how opposing one’s enemy can ennoble both parties, while at the same time revealing the sacred. This insight is sorely lacking in today’s political, ethical, and cultural discussions, he argues, and we would benefit from rediscovering it since it reaffirms the vital importance of the sacred in our lives and safeguards our human dignity.

The Transhumanism Revolution: Oppression Disguised as Liberation

By

Transhumanism is an ideology asserting that humans must harness technological advancements to take an active, intelligent role in their own evolution. The transhumanist push towards a reimagining of our own humanity and our shared future is a primary component of three growing cultural trends: artificial intelligence, human augmentation through biotechnology, and the transgender phenomenon. The means of effecting these transformative developments are entirely technical, and promise liberation from reproduction, liberation from disease and mortality, and liberation from the body itself. In awarding the mind complete power and authority over the flesh, however, we are not liberating ourselves, but submitting to the oppression of a consciousness we do not yet properly understand.

One Hundred Years Since the Murder of the Russian Royal Family

By

Tuesday, July 17, 2018, marks the centennial of the killing of the Russian royal family. On that date a hundred years ago, the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, his wife the tsarina Alexandra, their five children and four retainers, were ushered into a basement in the city of Yekaterinburg during the early hours of the morning, for an execution that would mark a turning point in history.

In Depth Articles

Original Sin According to St. Paul

By

In regard to the doctrine of original sin as contained in the Old Testament and illuminated by the unique revelation of Christ in the New Testament, there continues to reign in the denominations of the West a great confusion, which in the last few centuries seems to have gained much ground in the theological problematics of the Orthodox East.

The Divine Liturgy as Mystical Experience

By

There are cases in scripture where God appears directly and sensibly to man—indeed, does not only appear to him, but walks, speaks, dines, and even wrestles. There is no suggestion that, because God is “purely spiritual,” such appearances are not of God “as He is in Himself.”

Nature and City in the Greek East

By

The poet seems to suggest that we can now find the natural city only in the imagination. The bridge for the modernist poet is now an interior, and even a psychological function. It was not always so.

Scroll to top