FATHER MICHAEL
"The life we experience on this sphere is both bitter and sweet,
which helps to prepare us for a faith filled with paradox!"
In 1964, I was ordained a Lutheran minister and served
parishes as such for a period of six years. Having developed a desire to
be part of a more traditional apostolic priesthood, however, in 1982
I moved to southern California to live in a small, autonomous Orthodox Catholic
monastery (which unfortunately, is no longer in existence). Later that same
year, on the Feast of the Dormition, I was ordained there as a priest.
In 1991, a friend and I set out to establish a
non-jurisdictional Western Rite monastery true to the Orthodox Catholic
Faith, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we disbanded after only
a couple of years. (Some recent developments have taken place, though, which
indicate our dream could possibly become reality again, within the next year
or two). In the meantime, I reluctantly refer to myself as a priest without
a jurisdiction. Having arrived at the conclusion that my main purpose in
life on this terrestrial ball is to edify and not to tear down, I now primarily
manifest my service to God through works of art, music and text that hopefully
will inspire and edify others. Everything that is offered here, therefore,
is intended to aid in healing whatever brokenness we might face in
this life, for I prefer making use of building blocks, rather than
setting up stumbling blocks .
Like so many, I find that the older I get, the less I
really know for sure, but one thing that has become ever more apparent to
me is that Christianity is a paradoxical religion. Much of the contents of
this site, then, comes from a mind that is constantly asking: "How can something
so simple be so complicated? How can something so complicated be so simple?"
I have come to the conclusion that it is best to give up the frustration
and just accept what is incomprehensible. In other words: Let us celebrate
the reality, rather than being perplexed by it!
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Email Michael the Ascetic at
HlyIncarHs@aol.com
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