Author page: Fr. Barnabas Powell

The paradox of becoming who you are is filled with all kinds of opportunities, pitfalls, and wrong turns. The truth is the journey IS the destination when it comes to discovering who you really are. And the only way to journey well is through living a wakeful life! But how do you do that?

“Get out of the way!” My daughter in the back seat was yelling at the cars in front of us as we were on our way to her dance class. She was frustrated at the amount of traffic in front of us and reacted like she had seen “someone” else react in the same situation.…

I never will forget the look on his face. He was a brave and honest man and his spiritual journey had brought him to the Orthodox Church. He had taken the classes I required to become a catechumen. He had attended services as I had asked, so, when he was made a catechumen he asked…

Say what you will about the old TV shows: They were naive. They weren’t completely honest. They were sentimental. All of that may be true, but at least they attempted to foster the best of our hopes and dreams rather than pandering to our lowest desires. One such show was “Father Knows Best.” Robert Young…

It scared me to death! I was convinced something was lurking in the dark in my room, and I wasn’t about to shut my eyes! After all, it was only my constant vigilance and watchfulness that was keeping whatever was “out there” away from me, right? Imagine my surprise when sleep finally took me and…

A popular show (on PBS no less) is Downton Abbey. And that’s a bit surprising to me since we Americans seem to always be gripped, al least in our rhetoric, with this notion of egalitarianism. But this popular show is very much about the clear stratification of “classes” and the “drama” of etiquette and class.…