by Fr. Barnabas Powell In this, the second in a series of four articles on Pentecostalism and his journey to the Orthodox faith, Fr. Barnabas sets the stage for his own spiritual odyssey. THE FIRE IS KINDLED Pentecostalism is poised to become the dominant expression of Christianity in the West. The phenomenal growth of Pentecostal […]
Strange Fire
by Fr. Barnabas Powell In this, the first of a series of four articles on Pentecostalism and his journey to the Orthodox faith, Fr. Barnabas Powell sets the stage for his own spiritual odyssey. STRANGE FIRE Recently, Dr. Vincent Synan, Dean of the Divinity School and Regent University and long time historian of the Pentecostal […]
Finally Oriented
I didn’t realize till it was too late that the underlying theology behind historical Christian worship wasn’t compatible with my current theology. It was like trying to mix oil and water. It didn’t work. I imagine our Pentecostal church was the only Pentecostal church in the area with icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary behind the pulpit!
Moving East: Part Two
by Phil Silouan Thompson I read on from the earliest Fathers into the third and fourth centuries — Irenaeus, Athanasius, Basil. Where was the break I was expecting? Where was the change from congregational democracy and unstructured charismatic worship, to liturgical, hierarchical religion? That change was nowhere to be found; instead, it looked more like […]
Moving East: Part One
by Philip Silouan Thompson Phil Thompson is the author of the Silouan blog, an excellent site for information. He is also a well known iconographer in North American Orthodoxy, and this, his story, was taken from his own website. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the […]