The 2016 Old Testament Challenge
If you, like many who read this website, are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or the diaconate, I’d like to invite you to participate in the 2017 Preachers Institute Old Testament Challenge. It...
View ArticleGGWB Episode #13: Trust, Max Weber, and Dragon-Slaying Phone Apps
Good Guys Wear Black (Ancient Faith Radio) 23 September 2016, Fr. Anthony Perkins In this episode, Fr. Anthony talks about the phone apps he uses to slay the morning dragon of the desert and redeem the...
View ArticleGGWB Episode 14: the Priest as Pastor AND Prophet
In this episode, Fr. Anthony begins by talking about things you can learn about priests from the way the keep the altar. Then, after a commercial break for a cool new liturgical gadget, he talks about...
View ArticleSupplications for Vocations (during the Litany of Fervent Supplication)
Again we pray to You, All bountiful and loving God, to open the hearts and minds of the men and women of our parish family to hear the call of our Lord to the priestly and monastic life in service to...
View ArticleOn the Origin of Priestly Pectoral Crosses
by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk In the ancient Church priests did not wear crosses on the breast. The four-ended, gold breast cross was introduced in the Russian Orthodox Church as an award for...
View ArticleA Code of Conduct for the Brotherhood of Priests (a first cut)
When I joined the Army, we were quickly taught the Army Values, the Soldier’s Creed, and the Code of Conduct (and similar sets of rules/expectations). We learned them by memory and had to recite them –...
View ArticleGGWB Episode #16: Honor Among Priests
“Honor Among Priests” Fr. Anthony Perkins Good Guys Wear Black Podcast (AFR, 10 November 2016) In this episode, Fr. Anthony uses insights from his former career in intelligence to explain the spiritual...
View ArticleThe Origins of Priesthood and Orthodox Doctrine
An interview with Fr. Seraphim Cardoza Fr. Seraphim Cardoza (www.StInnocentOrthodoxChurch.org) talks about the Early Church worship, the spread of Christianity in the first centuries after Christ, and...
View ArticlePastoral School to Provide Comprehensive Seminary Instruction in Spanish
Glorious news! With the blessing of Archbishop Peter of Chicago & Mid-America, President of the Pastoral School, and Bishop John of Caracas and South America, the Pastoral school is pleased to...
View ArticleThe Orthodox Priesthood and the Love for God
A deep study of the Orthodox priesthhood by Archimandrite (now Bishop) Irenei Steenberg. Enjoy! The Orthodox Priesthood and the Love for God
View ArticleDay1of40 – A Reflection on a Quiet Celebration
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to do something special; I concelebrated with a man on the 44th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. From the outside it looked pretty simple: just...
View ArticleDay3of40 – Self-Discipline, Camaraderie, and the Demon of Noonday
Even in the West, where we have built up huge walls to keep it out (and bread and circuses to keep us busy when the siege is strong and infiltrations are many), pain makes its way into our lives. Pain...
View ArticleDay4of40 – “Can’t I Just Serve Well?”
This is a question/conversation that comes up fairly regularly with seminarians and priests. I strongly believe that in most American parishes it is NOT enough to just serve well and that one of the...
View ArticleDay5of40 – The Vision Thing
Every priest needs to have a vision for his priesthood and for the parish he serves. Because today’s blog is a continuation of yesterday’s on leadership, this post will focus on the latter. So… do you...
View ArticleDay6of40 – On the Problem of Scientific and Spiritual Validation
As a social scientist, I was trained to test models based on their internal and external validity. A good model would explain a significant portion of the variation within the sample data (i.e. have...
View ArticleDay7of40 – On the Joy of Service, Well Done
One of the many things I am thankful for in being an Orthodox priest is that the most important thing I do is scripted. As a musician, I was never inclined to jazz (or any kind of improvisation); I...
View ArticleDay8of40 – The Sin of Letting People Down
It’s an accepted truism that “you can’t please everyone.” And, as long as lazy people don’t use it as an excuse to ignore the preferences of those they are called to serve (i.e. their neighbor), it’s...
View ArticleDay10of40 – Pastoral Strategy in an Iterated Game
As I mentioned yesterday, one of the first thing social scientists do when they want to model interactions is figure out whether the interactions are iterated (i.e. repeated). The vast majority of the...
View ArticleDay12of40 – Orthopraxis and Theosis – The role of ritual in the training of...
Here is the paper I presented (warts and all) at the St. Sophia Institute Conference on Vladimir Lossky’s The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. The conference was excellent and recommend such...
View ArticleThe Priest and the Parish Council (by Fr. Lawerence Farley)
Parish Councils are like personal computers in a number of ways. The initials for both are P.C.; neither existed before very modern times, and we can scarcely imagine life in the church here in the...
View Article