Fr John Valadez
Fr John Valadez is an artist, writer, and editor for Death to the World. Being part of the 'zines original resurrection in 2006, he has helped out at festivals, events, and seen Death to the World grow.
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Homily on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
by Geronda George Kapsanis of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou, Mount Athos It is true that everything in the Church of Christ and in the life of Christians is sealed by the Cross of the Lord. There is nothing that happens in our Holy Church or in the life of the pious that is not sealed with the Honorable Cross of Christ. The Mystery of the Divine Eucharist is completed with the seal of the Honorable Cross. All the blessings of the priests of the Church are sealed with the Cross. The first mystery of salvation, Holy Baptism, is accomplished through the Honorable Cross. And in our daily lives, from…
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Why Were You Created? (Video)
Abbot Ephraim of Vatopaidi on the Holy Mountain speaks to students on the mystery and purpose of why we were created. What is the purpose of life? Where do we find rest and healing? This talk was given during the Nativity season, just before St Porphyrios was canonized. Source: Pemptousia
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Bowie and the Devil in the Pool
In an age numbed by the constant glow of digital devices and the poisonous inoculation of indifference, the spiritual realm has become a haven for those who seek to pull themselves out of the mire of nothingness and depravity. However, still hypnotized by our culture of consumerism and it’s devilish daughter, self-gratification, some who seek escape are still held in bondage, turning to forms of spirituality that worship the self. Thus, the spiritual realm can be equated to just another form of entertainment, or at best a feel-good drug that satisfies our want for sensation in an otherwise bland and numb world. Spirituality has become a cerebral playground that one…
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The Cedar of Lebanon: St Jacob the Martyr
As a cedar of Lebanon groweth without fear of martyrdom or death. Thou didst become a victor O Father Jacob. Thou didst conquer death in thy body when by humility thou didst control the passions and when thou wast burnt like incense as a sacrifice. Intercede with Christ to grant us great mercy. +Apolytikion in the Third Mode Above the Kadeesha River sits a pearl of ascetic struggle unworthy of the world. Burrowed in the caves of Mount Hamatoura exists the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, overlooking a land that once flourished with monastic fervor. Until the late 90’s this monastery was in ruins, uninhabited, and forgotten since times…
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A Paradoxical Wonder: The Double One
…A double man, made from two natures In an inexpressible wonder… O paradoxical wonder [You are] among… the creatures, Both immaterial and material: The material are the things that you see, And the immaterial are angels. Thus, among them are you The living man, the double one: Immaterial among the sensible [creatures] And sensible among the immaterial ones. +St Symeon the New Theologian, Hymn 53 As he looked on the vastness of the sky, contemplated the night stars and beheld the moon, the psalmist asked, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” The question of the human person is an ancient itch that continues to gnaw away…
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Apathy Epidemic
“Rouse thyself, thou who sleepest, and rise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine on thee.” +St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (5:14) Too often do we become diverted in the cares of mass and social media, teleporting through computer mainframes and cellular devises to a land sadistically bent on self-worship. It seems these days that at birth we are plugged into a computer grid of ever-distracting chaos, gazing on a vacant throne only occupied by phantoms of our own fantasies. This is something that has been talked about over the last few decades throughout academia and scattered across millions of blogs. We are loosing ourselves in distraction, letting…
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Love Moves: The Life of St. John the Wonderworker
Take a listen to an excellent podcast on The Arena by guest speaker Fr. Irenei Steenburg about Saint John of San Francisco! “Loving God Without Fear” is a free three-part lecture series by Father Irenei (Steenberg), Ph.D., author of “The Beginnings of a Life of Prayer.” Father Irenei, a onetime fellow of Oxford University and Chair of Theology and Religious Studies at Leeds in the United Kingdom, is currently director of the Ss. Cyril and Athanasius Institute for Orthodox Studies and an Archimandrite in the Western American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in America. This is part two.” http://audio.ancientfaith.com/thearena/20141206_Lecture.mp3 (Audio curtesy of Ancient Faith Radio)
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Arriving at the Last True Rebellion
“…Escape from brainwashed minds and pollution. Leave the earth to all its sin and hate, find another world where freedom waits…” -Black Sabbath, Into the Void I was born into brokenness. I have never known the type of family you read about in books or see in movies. My parents were both very young and separated before I took my first breath of air. They were both metal-heads that had no idea what a baby was all about. Drug use, partying, and cranking up the volume on their stereos was life before me. In fact, my first concert was Iron Maiden while still in the womb and most pictures of…
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Saint Febronia: Beauty Bathed in Blood
The following is a true account of a woman who gave her life for the sake of truth and for God. On the 25th of June in the year 305 AD this woman suffered the greatest torture ever imaginable and this we warn the reader that what they are about to experience might be shocking or upsetting. Please understand that those who love the truth don’t fear what people will do to their flesh for their faith. After reading this account one cannot help but understand and feel that in truth there is a living and loving soul within our flesh that desires freedom, a freedom that only God can…
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IOCC Responds as Serbia and Bosnia Brace for More Flooding
Baltimore, MD (IOCC) — On the heels of epic floods that left at least 37 dead and thousands homeless in Serbia and Bosnia, a second surge of floodwaters continues to fill an already swollen Sava River and threatens thousands of lives as well as Serbia’s biggest power plant. The Nikola Tesla power plant, which provides roughly half of the country’s electricity, is in the deadly path of a flood wave created by the heaviest rains to hit the region in 120 years. In Bosnia, evacuees are being placed in temporarily shelters like military barracks, but many more await help in areas that are not accessible yet. From its offices in Bosnia…
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Through Closed Doors
From Issue 8 In may of 1980, the singer /poet Ian Curtis of Joy Division hung himself in his Manchester, England home the day before he was to depart for their big U.S. tour. On the same day in Washington State, Mt. St. Helen’s erupted, and a young man prepared for high school graduation, and the turmoil that his life would soon become… The day after graduation, I left for San Jose, seeking the skateboard meccas of Northern California. Through previous trips, I had my first exposure to the San Francisco punk scene. There in a Holiday Inn on San Carlos Blvd., I cut my hair and went “punk.”…
