Fall 2014 (#59)

“Kicking the Earth from Under Your Feet”: A Russian Scenographer on Seeing Ordinary Things in New Ways
Highlighting catharsis, transformation and humor, Tatiana Vyshenskaya, a production manager for Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, discusses classical and contemporary theatre and film: “Even as art spirals into new forms, the old questions remain at the center.”

An Actor’s Pilgrimage, A Life in Progress 
New York singer and actor Hal Robinson recounts six rich decades as a performer on stage and screen, from church and chorale singing to musical theatre, Shakespeare, opera, and six Broadway shows, highlighting the grace-filled interface between his life, work, and faith. 

An Insatiable Desire to Share the Excitement: The Actor as a Young Man
From southern Vermont, twenty year-old John Marshall relates his experience of four summer-stock musicals, a credible cache of Shakespeare, and how he negotiates the challenges, joys and opportunities of contemporary theatre as an Orthodox Christian.

Summer 2014 (#58)

Orthodoxy in Contemporary Sweden: From Viking-Era Christian Roots to a 21st-century Pan-Orthodox Theological Academy
With a millenium-long Christian heritage, a growing Orthodox convert movement, and an influx of Christian refugees from Europe, Dr. Michael Hjalm, Dean of Sankt Ignatios Theological Academy in Södertälje, speaks with Road to Emmaus about Orthodoxy in contemporary Sweden.

“Carrying the Tradition”: Thoughts on Orthodox Parish Life in Today’s Sweden
A native Swedish convert to Orthodoxy, graduate student Maria Olsson shares her observations on her journey to the Orthodox Church and the current state of parish life in Sweden.

A Swedish Princess in Kievan Rus: The Medieval Christian World of St. Anna of Novgorod
By Mother Nectaria McLees
Born in 1001, and witness to the dawn of established Christianity in Sweden and Russia, the remarkable 11th-century Christian princess Ingegärd Olofsdotter married into the Rurikid Rus’ Dynasty where she spent a vibrant and fascinating life with connections from Anglo-Saxon England to Sweden and Russia to Byzantium.

Spring 2014 (#57)

A Feeling for Beauty:  The Aesthetic Ground of Orthodox Ethics
An interview with Dr. Timothy Patitsas
In a remarkable sequel to his popular Winter 2013 interview, “The Opposite of War is Not Peace: Healing Trauma in The Iliad and in Orthodox Tradition,” Asst. Professor of Ethics Timothy Patitsas contrasts the Greek classical with the Orthodox Christian approach to healing, repentance, and free life in the Spirit. Examining traditional Orthodox anthropology and cosmology through the centrality of the Cross, we are led to the patristic paradigm of Beauty-Goodness-Truth as the royal way of the soul.

St. Theophan the Recluse: How to Love Christ
A short sermon by the nineteenth-century Russian saint, Theophan the Recluse, on responding to the love of Christ. 

Divine Eros in the Counsels of St. Porphyrios the New
The traditional patristic description of the Christian spiritual path as a progressive participation in Divine Beauty, Goodness, and Truth is clearly expressed in the inspired teachings of the newly canonized St. Porphrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalyvite.

Winter 2014 (#56)

His Life in Christ: A Pilgrimage to the Holy Places of St. John of Kronstadt
by Mother Nectaria McLees 
Saint John is well-known in the West through journal entries published as “My Life in Christ,” but there is also a rich material legacy—pilgrimage sites newly restored by faithful Russian and Estonian Christians to honor the life and memory of the great pastor of Kronstadt.

I. St. John's Birthplace: the village of Sura and the Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Pinezha District, Archangelsk, Russia.

II. Pühtitsa Convent of the Dormition in the Republic of Estonia: an unbroken monastic line founded and spiritually formed by St. John.

III. St. Petersburg’s St. John of Rila Women’s Monastery: founded by St. John and the site of his relics.

IV. Kronstadt, Russia: The naval town of St. John’s pastoral labors including the site of the former Cathedral of St. Andrew, the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas, and the newly-restored St. John of Kronstadt House-Museum.

An American in Tsarist Russia: Isabel Hapgood’s Meeting with St. John of Kronstadt
In 1895, in the American journal The Independent, the delightful and irrepressible Episcopalian Isabel Hapgood, a Boston native, world traveler, and well-known translator of Russian literature and Orthodox church services published an account of meeting St. John of Kronstadt in St. Petersburg. Here we revisit Isabel's refreshing and candid narrative.

In His Own Words: St. John of Kronstadt on Prayer and Warmth of Heart
Quotes from the famous Russian archpriest on life and faith.

Fall 2013 (#55)

Salvation and the Free Life of the Spirit in the Orthodox Canonical Tradition 
In an interview characterized by his own unique blend of clarity, incisiveness, and compassion, Professor Emeritus Lewis J. Patsavos, canonist for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, explores the canonical heritage of the Orthodox Church. Dr. Patsavos’ warmly pastoral approach answers common questions and dispels misconceptions, while affirming the Orthodox canonical tradition as a living gift of the Holy Spirit to be approached with reverence and embraced with gratitude.

Nadezhda Savova’s Bread Houses: Bread-Making as Food, Art, Healing, Prayer, and International Community
When 29-year-old Orthodox anthropologist Nadezhda Savova inherited her great-grandmother’s crumbling house in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, she brought together local volunteers to rebuild it into a community-owned Bread House and Cultural Center where neighbors of diverse backgrounds could come to bake bread and form friendships. Since then she has established Bread Houses in a dozen countries, from Russia to Israel, Brazil, England, South Korea, and the United States. With a newly-won doctorate from Princeton, Dr. Savova was named National Geographic’s 2012 “Traveler of the Year.” Road to Emmaus is pleased to count her among our widening circle of friends.

Summer 2013 (#54)

An Intimation of the Sacred: The Iconography of Hieromonk Silouan Justiniano
Tikhon Pino traces the artistic world-view of Puerto Rican-American iconographer, Fr. Silouan Justiniano, in an introduction to his work and thought. 

Beauty as a Double-Edged Sword: Icons, Authenticity, and Reproductions
An interview with Hieromonk Silouan Justiniano

I. Beyond Appearances: Classical Techniques and Sacred Painting
In an engaging multi-faceted interview, Hieromonk Silouan describes his awakening to Orthodox iconography. Through an exploration of classical and modern art forms and his own struggle with freedom, creativity, and subjectivity, Fr. Silouan leads us into the sacred realm of iconography, “the Gospel in color,” where matter is affirmed as good and brought to a unique level of participation with the glory of God.

II. The Iconicity of the Icon
The aesthetics of an icon is not merely for the sake of sense gratification, an end in itself, but a means “by which we ascend to an apprehension of the Sacred with the eyes of the heart.” Here, Fr. Silouan shows how the rich texturing of wood, pigment, technique, and prayer allows the icon’s transparency to the spiritual world, and how far that transparency can be retained in reproductions.

Incarnational Aesthetics
Contemporary and traditional Orthodox voices on: uncreated beauty; matter, incarnation, senses; the craftsman and the Spirit; symbolism and anagogy; and art for art’s sake.

Spring 2013 (#53)

“The Mystery that Moves the World Now Has a Name”: How 150,000 Mayans Turned to Orthodoxy
Archimandrite Andres Girón de Leon of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and Rev. Fr. John Chakos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese on the mass conversion of 300 Mayan villages. As spiritual father of the quickly-growing Orthodox Mayan population, Fr. Andres movingly describes the natives’ journey to faith, the impact of Orthodox Christianity on village life, and how this momentous conversion is influencing the universal Church.

Ahora y Siempre! A Seminarian’s Travels in Orthodox Guatemala
Seminarian Jesse Brandow travels through the coastal towns and highlands of Guatemala and southern Mexico savouring the life and faith of the region’s newly-established Mayan Orthodox Christian communities.

Popol Vuh: A Mayan Tale of Creation
When the second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr wrote that “the seed of reason (the Logos) is implanted in every race of men,” a pre-Christian creation tale reminiscent of the book of Genesis was already being recited by native Mayans. A warm and colorful introduction to the traditions of an ancient people.

Winter 2013 (#52)

War, Byzantium, and Military Saints
An interview with Dr. James Skedros
What was the Byzantine Orthodox Christian attitude to war? Who are the military saints and why are they venerated? Road to Emmaus delves into the lives of saints invoked in war and peace and their meaning for contemporary Orthodoxy. 

The Opposite of War is Not Peace: Healing Trauma in The Iliad and in Orthodox Tradition
An interview with Dr. Timothy Patitsas
A fascinating look at the ethics of war through the lens of traumatized combatants, classic Greek literature, and the bracing world view of an Orthodox civilization. 

Coda: Invoking God in War – Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln describes his experience of the Civil War and the workings of divine providence. An often-neglected address with commentary by Dr. Timothy Patitsas.

Defending Russia: Belief and Coming of Age in the Soviet Army
As one of the last army recruits to take an oath to the Soviet regime, Orthodox Hieromonk Afanasy Ryumin recalls his path to manhood and the Church through military service in Russia’s Far East.

Fall 2012 (#51)

Reading Hagiography: How to Engage those Astonishing, Perplexing, Archaic, and Stunningly Grace-Filled Saints’ Lives
For readers who intermittently wrestle like Jacob and his angel over the vagaries of saints’ lives, Byzantinist Dr. Maria Kouroumali explains how to value some of the oldest and most sublime literature in Christendom. 

Byzantine Bride-Shows and the Restoration of Icons: A Tale of Four Iconophile Empresses
by Mother Nectaria McLees 
The historical foundations of the Life of St. Philaret the Merciful: Byzantine empresses link generations and dynasties to overthrow their husbands' iconoclasm and restore icon veneration to the Church. Featuring a cast of iconoclast emperors, iconophile empresses, young royalty in and out of love, Charlemagne and his daughter, and an Arabian caliph from One Thousand and One Nights.

Early Church Writers on Hagiography
Three choice extracts by esteemed first-millenium hagiographers.

Summer 2012 (#50)

Turkey and the First Throne of Orthodoxy: A Reconsideration
Turkish historian Dr. Elçin Macar reviews the historic tensions and contemporary pulse of relations between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Republic of Turkey. A revealing look at recent history, international influences, and the dawning prospect of rapprochement between the Orthodox Church and Turkey’s secular state. An insightful view of a troubled era.

Euripides and Puccini Under the Ottomans: The Surprising Richness of Greek Girls’ Schools in the Late Empire
In a rare glimpse of Greek education in the late Ottoman Empire, Turkish professor and historian Dr. Oya Macar describes the genesis of women’s secondary schools, and the methods, curriculum, and creativity that left a legacy.

The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit: Preparing Chrism at the Patriarchate of Constantinople
by Mother Nectaria McLees
Explore the centuries-old preparation and sanctification of holy chrism in an elaborate and grace-filled Holy Week ritual in the “Queen of Cities.”

Spring 2012 (#49)

Natural Conception, Natural Birth: The New Hope for Infertility
With western society facing rising rates of infertility, Melanie Sabtchev, an Orthodox natural fertility care practitioner, describes the medical, ethical, and spiritual problems of many contemporary reproductive technologies, and current research that has made natural fertility awareness an effective and life-affirming alternative for couples hoping to conceive.

The Hospitality of Abraham: Orthodox Ethics and Reproduction
After a Spring 2011 lecture on reproductive screening techniques, a lively discussion arose in the graduate bioethics seminar offered by Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. Led by Dr. Timothy Patitsas, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics, the class was described by its students as life-changing and revelatory. We think you’ll agree.

The Embryo in Orthodox Christian Theology and Tradition
In a remarkable linking of science, scripture and the Church fathers, scientist-theologian Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki spoke at Chambésy, Switzerland in 2002 on “The Embryo and Its Development in Regards to Its Formation as a Complete Human Being.” These selections from his full address give a glimpse of Orthodox bioethics at its best. 

While as Yet He Was in His Mother’s Womb… 
A homily on the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth from the Latin Roman Breviary for July 2, Second Nocturn, attributed to St. John Chrysostom.

Winter 2012 (#48)

Orphans in Contemporary Russia: the Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund
When Andrew and Georgia Williams founded the Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund in Moscow, Russia in the late 1990’s, the charity ran on hope, inspiration, and a handful of generous donors. Fourteen years later, ROOF is still working hard to change the lives of orphans and post-orphanage graduates throughout western Russia. In this wide-ranging interview the Williams’ describe the extensive Russian state-run orphanage system and the innovative programs and staff that are improving the conditions of parentless children in Russia today.

Inspiration in the Making
Matushka Nadezhda Dorogochenko on her family’s remarkable Orthodox farm community for abandoned, disabled, and orphaned children near Moscow, Russia.

Orphanages and Philanthropy in Byzantium
Professor Timothy Miller of Salisbury University, Maryland, gives an insightful and often surprising overview of Byzantine philanthropy: how modern hospitals and the care of orphans originated and flourished in the Eastern Christian Empire before spreading to the West.