It's impossible to put up everything here, we encourage you to visit Orthodox Biz often for all the great stories, but if you want to enjoy every article on our site, please sign up for e mail updates delivered directly into your mailbox whenever something new is posted.  Visit now www.peterandhelenevans.com and sign up.  It's totally free and you won't miss a thing.

April 2, Good Friday, Prayer Vigil 10pm to 7am at Saint Nicholas Cathedral http://www.stnicholasdc.org/. Come for silent prayer or to read the Psalms.   All are welcome. Come and go as you please.

To enrich your prayer life, follow this link http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=194 and we also recommend a book called "Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom." Contact Peter and Helen Evans at <we2rone@cox.net> if you want to schedule a time to read Psalms.  The Mass Avenue door only will be open during these times.   When you come, consider buying several candles.

It a new twist on global warming, read carefully.

 http://www.cornwallalliance.org/articles/read/an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/

"It's About Government, Not Health Care," by Mark Steyn on National Review Online.

You may click here to view this article: http://article.nationalreview.com/427119/its-about-government-not-health-care/mark-steyn

March 6, Prayer Vigil 8:30 to Midnight at Saint Nicholas Cathedral http://www.stnicholasdc.org/. Come for silent prayer or to read the Psalms.   All are welcome.  Another vigil will be held all night on Good Friday, 8pm to 7 am. 

To enrich your prayer life, follow this link http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=194 and we also recommend a book called "The Way of the Pilgrim." Contact Peter and Helen Evans at <we2rone@cox.net> if you want to schedule a time to read Psalms.  The Mass Avenue door only will be open during these times. 

Children's PAscha baskets, Chrismation robes, Fire Thursday Lamps, Ukrainian Hand Painted Wood Eggs, Orthodox Bears and much more!

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=video&video-id=3116

Seeing our picture you would never believe we love this festival??? Of course, you would.  It's a beautiful time of year here.  Let us know if you are going to be in town.    Yes, over 3,000 trees, and more information below

http://dc.about.com/cs/familyactivities/a/CherryBlossom.htm

Job Opening for Fall 2010! - Agia Sophia Academy, an Orthodox Christian School in Beaverton, Oregon, is accepting applications for a licensed and experienced K/1 teacher for the next school year.

The Orthodox Christian Network has launched The Anchor, a 24/7 streaming Internet Talk Radio Station, just in time to help the faithful through Lent 2010!

Among Christians, an awareness is growing that much of our modern world is toxic to us. We eat too much of the wrong foods. We drink the wrong kind of water. We separate our minds from our bodies, and fail to treat ourselves as wholistic beings the way God made us. New companies are springing up to help people restore health naturally, and are using the power of the Internet to get the word out. Greenfield Naturals is one such company that is trying to help people get healthy, and live as God intended. In this interview, Paul Neustrom talks about his company and its goal - to reconnect people with the benefits of nature as God made it. 


We've all heard of people who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." Some, for sure, are sincere about believing in a higher power to which they should submit their will, but others are more concerned about making up their own religion to suit their own preferences. We're addressing this issue because most discussion is around the "religious" versus "secular humanist" divide. It's pretty easy to distinguish between those who believe in God and those who don't. A special problem occurs with those who believe in a God of their own making.

We lived for a time in California and here are some of the ideas and their implications.

There is only one God: Christians believe this, too. However, the 'spiritual' believe there is only one God and he has many names, e.g., Jesus Christ, Yaweh, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Gitchee-Manitou, Gaia, Seth, etc. Implication: Since every religion points, ultimately, to the same diety, one can pick and choose which rituals and moral orders to follow from day-to-day and change them as easily as one changes clothes. It's spiritual relativism.

God made the world out of himself: Selecting the very beginning of "in the beginning... " and ignoring what the first couple did in paradise, the 'spiritual' rationalize a blameless world. Implication: Since God is only good, the world is only good. There is no evil in God, therefore there is no evil in the world. Since terrorist masterminds like bin Ladin were made by God, they are not evil. The 'spiritual' rationale for the existence of terrorism is that America is reaping its own 'bad karma.' This plays into the hands of the hate-America-first crowd.

The world is a reflection of yourself: Since the world is only good, evil is only a distortion of good. Implication: Only those who are themselves "distorted" would perceive evil. Naturally, 'spiritual' people are aghast (and smugly superior) when President Bush speaks of the "Axis of Evil."

There is no hell: Since the world is only good, the afterlife must be even better. Implication: It is OK to put some people "out of their misery" because the mercy killers are merely "letting them go" to a "better place." What really matters is living with dignity and all suffering should be eliminated. Those who don't believe this have a 'distorted' view of the world.

There is no devil: Since everything supernatural is, by definition, divine, then any mystical revelation (e.g. voices in your head) could only be from God. There are no temptations from the Devil. Implication: Whoopee! Anything goes. Feel empowered to "experiment" with any sort of degraded behavior because it's just a "learning experience" and "it's all good" isn't it? And if it happens to turn out badly, just take a pill to end it all and go off to somewhere better.

So what's the danger in this self-serving, superficial spirituality? Their proponents view these bumper-sticker slogans as "progressive" in contrast to the archaic "superstitions" of Christians and the religious of other traditions. They imagine that the world is ready for a forward leap of evolving consciousness and that it is only the superstitious that are holding back the rest of the would-be "enlightened". While it's not widespread, there is a growing segment of this movement that suggests it would be better for "the world" to get rid of those who are holding back the enlightened, holding back "progress." If that sounds ridiculously paranoid, harken back to the Communist era of the 20th century for a little perspective. Recall the millions who died to make way for Mao's "Great Leap Forward."

Peter and Helen Evans, "http://peterandhelenevans.com.

I just got in a whole collection of children's books from Potamitis Publishing, and found myself blown away!

Sixty-four percent of retailers have made investments in social networking, according to a study from "Forrester Research". Social network presences will perform better as a marketing vehicle than paid search, according to "Internet Reailers" recent survey.

Many experts say if merchants want to connect with customers, and is not on a social network they are missing out. Online customers are spending more time on social network sites than any other type site.

The Orthodox Bookstore is pleased to announce the pre-sales of some new titles!

Saint Philothea Project partners with Andrea Embroidery

Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.” Even though they talk almost obsessively about the Founding Fathers, this simple truth has been totally lost on Republicans for decades. The trend has accelerated since 9/11, but "law and order" as a Republican wedge issue dates back to at least Nixon.

"Too few Christians understand how to defend what we believe. It's great to believe, but we need to defend it, because it is under attack in the culture."

Go here to see our interview with Robert George, professor from Princeton, on why he signed the Manhattan Declaration http://peterandhelenevans.com/. 

Plus interview with Jim Jatras, Congressman Frank Wolfe and Tony Perkins. 

My son is eight. Our normal bedtime routine is to read chapters from great novels and have short discussions on them before turning out the light. We recently finished up Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. The book deals with a lot of grown-up topics, and we used it as a springboard to discuss all kinds of issues, but especially the nature of crime, punishment, and torture.

In the book, Esméralda is accused of killing Captain Phoebus and of witchcraft. Since she refused to confess, she was taken to the dungeon to be tortured into confessing.

Knowing that she was just a young girl, my son sat up and asked, “Dad, who is going to torture her?”

“They’re Catholic priests,” I replied.

“They can't be real priests,” my son replied, “Real priests couldn't do that.”

Greenfield Naturals announces its new Website dedicated to Active Mineral Water, Active Liquid Minerals and Vitamins, and Oregano.

Education is a process of opening closed doors in the mind and heart to lead students to virtue and to a deeper understanding of God and His creation. Central to this process is to surround students with an ancient curriculum of virtue, nobility, honor, purity, sacrifice, loyalty, and beauty. CLRC instructors seek to do this through the study of literature, poetry, art, music, science, and theology with their students.

Fr. Tom Palke of St. Raphael's of Brooklyn Mission in Virginia.  Why I signed the Manhattan

http://peterandhelenevans.com/2010/01/fr-tom-on-man-dec/

Here is an interview with Faith McDonnell who works with Congress and other groups to help the persecuted Church in all areas of the world, including the former Soviet Union, Iraq, etc.  She gives her contact information so that she can help with resources and contacts to those who want it.  http://peterandhelenevans.com/manhattan-declaration/   Go to the middle column under Met. Jonah for her interview. 

This article was written in 2003, but it just shows that truth never goes out of style. 

"Having No Money Doesn't Mean You're Poor"              714 words

There's a proverb about sailing on the notoriously shallow Chesapeake Bay, "If you haven't run aground at least once, either you're not sailing or you're lying."  And so in every life, if you have never found yourself wondering where you're going to get the money to meet your financial obligations, either you're not responsible for yourself or you're lying.  However, even if you only had a nickel in your pocket, we wouldn't necessarily say you were poor. 

There's a difference between simply being 'broke' and being 'poor.'  Almost every one of us has been broke at some point in our lives. Sometimes it was an intentional choice, like subsisting on a part time job while going to school.  Sometimes it's just bad luck or the consequence of bad choices.   Life sometimes has its downs and we adjust; that's broke.  But, when we give up trying to better ourselves, that's poor.  And lack of money isn't the defining factor of poverty.

The difference between broke and poor is not a new concept.  We've known for ages that if someone doesn't work toward something themselves they don't value it.  The "greatest generation," who lived through the Depression and went on to win the second World War tried to give their kids everything they had to work hard for themselves.  But they couldn't 'give' them the values and stamina that made their success possible.  That was the difference between the war against Hitler and the "War on Poverty."  Just look at the housing projects to see what happens to something given to someone who has the poverty mindset.  We've seen the same cycle with many lottery winners or rock stars; suddenly they're rich but, within a short time they're bankrupt.  Remember that old adage, you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy.  The same holds true for the poverty mindset. We can't just throw money at poor people or the poor countries of the world, or even a poor cousin and expect them to suddenly have the motivation to make something of themselves.

Dr. Ruby Payne has written a great book for educators, "A Framework for Understanding Poverty."  In it she lists eight resources a person must draw on to abolish poverty or the 'poor' attitude.  Money is only one of them; the others are emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationship/role models. The eighth, and most interesting, factor is Knowledge of Hidden Rules.  She explains that in each class there are unspoken rules of conduct and behavior.  To escape the poverty mindset, new rules must be adopted.

So what are the implications for our national welfare system and the global welfare system?  That just giving money away doesn't eliminate poverty; that we're actually creating more poverty by down-playing or distorting the other seven resources a person needs to become self-sufficient.  President Bush's Millennium fund is one response to the hard problem of poverty in other nations, but it doesn't get alot of press and  the poor countries, which might benefit from it, are trying to change its un-hidden rules.  Why?  Because they must live up to certain standards in order to receive funds. In other words, they must 'work' for the money and that doesn't hold with the so-called Liberals of the world.

Of course we can't 'give' anyone emotional stability or mental clarity.  All we can do is expect it, and reward it.  Failure will provide its own corrective stimulus... if we don't intervene with a mis-guided 'compassion' that attempts to 'protects' people from learning the error of their ways.  As a society, we must demand that people accept the consequences of their own actions.  We can expect that people must learn the difference between right and wrong.  We can't take all the evil influences and bad people out of the world, but we can expect that people learn to recognize them for what they are and reject them, for their own benefit.

We all have a role to play to by our expectations, as expressed in law.  The so-called compassion that makes pets out of welfare recipients has to be re-examined.  If we are to survive as a society, we must expect the best from people.  Money alone won't solve the poverty problem.

Peter and Helen Evans, "http://peterandhelenevans.com/"

 http://www.bestorthodoxgifts.com/. Now there is a website devoted to Orthodox Christians and their pursuit to give specialized Orthodox Gifts to their family and friends of the faith.

We are now accepting pre-orders for our new lent 2010 t-shirt:

For the Hundreds in attendance, and the millions worshipping around the world.

LETS GET READY TO GET HUMBLE!

The Back side of the shirt has the phrase, "Got Orthodoxy? And a gold orthodox cross. Just $24.95 & will arrive before lent. Go to: http://www.shop.bestorthodoxgifts.com/

In addition to providing specialized gifts for the Orthodox Community, we have links for Orthodox videos and Orthodox charities that you can submit to the site.

Coming soon: Chrysmation Robes, Baptism Kits, Wedding Kits, Pascha items, and new home décor items.

We also have a new partner - Russian Foods Direct & The Russian Gift shoppe.

Check us out and order your t-shirt today: www.BestOrthodoxGifts.com

We had a private tour of the Leland House in DC by Dr. Land.  He explains how the separation of church and state made it into the constitution of our country. 

http://peterandhelenevans.com/2010/01/church-state-in-america-since-when/

Be sure ot sign up for updates while there.

http://peterandhelenevans.com/manhattan-declaration/

"I was impressed by the spirit of this inter-confessional document.... Not being abusive, not being aggressive, but being firm."

Here is a chilling account of what it is like to live in a country where there is no freedom of religion:

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/blog/2009/11/24/fr-symeon-danger-of-christian-persecution-in-america/

See more information about freedom of religion, including how the separation of Church and State became part of the United States of America. on www.peterandhelenevans.com

Why I signed the Manhattan Declaration by Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA, plus see our new website which has other signers.  This site will be growing over the months, go back frequently to see new signers and new items. 

http://peterandhelenevans.com/wp/manhattan-declaration/

Christian Patriots ? You see, it isn't that Americans have lost their Christian roots, it's that Christians have lost their American roots. They don't know that the American story, and the larger story of Western Civilization, is their story. No wonder they don't vote. They don't understand America was and is the great...http://townhall.com/columnists/FrankPastore/2007/01/28/why_so_few_christian_patriots

submitted by Peter and Helen Evans, join us on our website also at

www.peterandhelenevans.com

How links from other sites can improve a web site’s ranking in search listings is one of the least understood aspects of search engine optimization.

When my wife and I were dating, we wanted to give each other gifts that reflected the true meaning of the Orthodox feasts we were celebrating but alas we were faced with few options. Four years later, when we were planning our wedding, we had a difficult time finding items for the Sacrament of Marriage and gifts for our attendants. Over the years, my wife started to create specialized Orthodox Christian gifts for our friends and loved ones.

We are writing with great joy that we have created a new website devoted to Orthodox Christians and their pursuit to give specialized Orthodox gifts to their family and friends of the faith. We have Orthodox Wreaths, Embroidered Tree Skirts, Stockings, Baby Bibs, Toddler Blankets, Burb Cloths, Childrens T-shirts, Turtlenecks, Decorative Towels, Napkins, Table Runners, Bread Basket Liners, Baptismal Towels, Head Scarves, and Aprons. All beautifully handmade with Orthodox messages.

In addition to providing specialized gifts for the Orthodox community, we will have links to other Orthodox sites and hope to provide a valued service. We have pages for Orthodox videos that you can submit, and Orthodox Charities.

To view our products and website, Go to: www.BestOrthodoxGifts.com.

Please sign the Declaration

The Manhattan Declaration is the result of several months of dialogue among Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders culminating in a gathering of approximately 100 leaders in New York City on September 28, 2009," Catholic News Agency [CNA] reports. "Attendees considered an early draft... but the document was entrusted to a drafting committee."
>
> "We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right-and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation-to speak and act in defense of these truths," the Declaration reads. "We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.
>
> "We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral," the signatories explain.
>
> But, CNA reports, they also made clear that "we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family."
>
> The signatories explained that they speak now because in order "to defend principles of justice and the common good that are now under assault."
>
> "We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but we will under no circumstances render to Caesar what is God's."
>
> The full text of the declaration may be read at http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
>

Fr Paul Schroeder, the proistamenos of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Portland Oregon and the Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of San Francisco has the translated early patristic texts of St Basil the Great on social justice.

Highlights from the St. Vladimir's Seminary's Board of Trustees meeting.

CLRC is an online Resource Center for teachers and homeschoolers, dedicated to Christian education through Classical Learning. We believe that a Classical education prepares us for life's responsibilities, opens the door to a true understanding of our humanity, and deepens our Faith.

In honor of the Feast of Nativity, St John the Baptist Icon Studio is pleased to announce that all orders of hand painted Icons commisioned before January 6th will receive 15%! Commision an Icon Additionally, prices on all Icons in our "Icons for sale" now section have been reduced 20-40%.

Mary was a sixth-century hooker in the Eastern Roman Empire. She had been one from her youth. She wasn’t in it for the money, as she told a monk named Zosimas later in life, but "out of insatiable desire”. One day she saw the crowds of pilgrims preparing to go to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. She decided to go with them, out of curiosity perhaps. She went along, announcing to her fellow-travelers, "I have a body and that will serve as both fare and food for me". The trip was an eventful one, as Mary put her body to prodigious use with her fellow travelers.

Whatever Happened to the Land of the Free and What Can We Do About it.

See a promo for this talk here, http://www.peterandhelenevans.com/video-page.html

For more contact, Orthodox Speakers Bureau.

http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/peter-and-helen-evans/

Massad Ayoob is arguably one of the most lethal men around, in fact he even trains others in the use of deadly force. Many people cannot distinguish the difference between 'dangerous' and 'lethal.' When they hear that someone is an expert in handgun combat, urban rifle, knife/counter-knife, close-quarters battle and stressfire shotgun, they automatically think of someone to be feared. However, after reading the following we believe you'll recognize a good guy who balances lethal force and compassion. Only the bad guys need fear him.

Mr. Ayoob has had stories about him and interviews in various publications and news shows such as the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New York Post, ABC's "Turning Point", National Enquirer, PBS "Frontline", ABC's "20/20" and the BBC News Magazine and we are privileged to interview him here.

We've all heard of people who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." Some, for sure, are sincere about believing in a higher power to which they should submit their will, but others are more concerned about making up their own religion to suit their own preferences. We're addressing this issue because most discussion is around the "religious" versus "secular humanist" divide. It's pretty easy to distinguish between those who believe in God and those who don't. A special problem occurs with those who believe in a God of their own making.

We lived for a time in California and here are some of the ideas and their implications.

There is only one God: Christians believe this, too. However, the 'spiritual' believe there is only one God and he has many names, e.g., Jesus Christ, Yaweh, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Gitchee-Manitou, Gaia, Seth, etc. Implication: Since every religion points, ultimately, to the same diety, one can pick and choose which rituals and moral orders to follow from day-to-day and change them as easily as one changes clothes. It's spiritual relativism.

God made the world out of himself: Selecting the very beginning of "in the beginning... " and ignoring what the first couple did in paradise, the 'spiritual' rationalize a blameless world. Implication: Since God is only good, the world is only good. There is no evil in God, therefore there is no evil in the world. Since terrorist masterminds like bin Ladin were made by God, they are not evil. The 'spiritual' rationale for the existence of terrorism is that America is reaping its own 'bad karma.' This plays into the hands of the hate-America-first crowd.

The world is a reflection of yourself: Since the world is only good, evil is only a distortion of good. Implication: Only those who are themselves "distorted" would perceive evil. Naturally, 'spiritual' people are aghast (and smugly superior) when President Bush spoke of the "Axis of Evil."

There is no hell: Since the world is only good, the afterlife must be even better. Implication: It is OK to put some people "out of their misery" because the mercy killers are merely "letting them go" to a "better place." What really matters is living with dignity and all suffering should be eliminated. Those who don't believe this have a 'distorted' view of the world.

see the rest of this article on http://peterandhelenevans.com/articles-bogus_spirituality.html

Many studies show that proper consumption of oregano essential oil in very small amounts increases joint and muscle flexibility, reduces inflammatory pain. Studies also prove this essential oil kills parasites and undesirable bacteria in the human body, even the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus.

To accommodate the explosive growth of The Rudder, OCN's 24/7 streaming radio station featuring traditional Orthodox chant, we have moved the rudder to a new home. The Rudder is now located at http://www.myocn.com/rudder

The new Rudder site features an all-music format of traditional, sacred Orthodox music in a variety of languages and styles. The goal of the Rudder is to provide a harmonious listening experience that feeds the soul and enriches the mind. Programmed by Vlad and Helen Morosan, the Rudder also features several muisc-themed programs throughout the day, including the popular Icons in Sound podcast which Vlad has done for OCN for several years.

The Rudder is the premier listening experience for Orthodox faithful looking for liturgical music to listen to throughout the day.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL- The Orthodox Christian Network is pleased to announce the appointment of Vladimir Morosan, Doctor of Musical Arts, as the programming director of one of its on line radio networks. He has worked in the field of Orthodox Church music for over thirty-five years. After completing his undergraduate degree in music at Occidental College, in California, he received his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Choral Music from the University of Illinois. He has directed choirs in parishes of Russian, Serbian, and Antiochian backgrounds and has taught and lectured widely at church music workshops and conferences. He is Founder and Artistic Director of Archangel Voices, a professional-level choral ensemble dedicated to producing CD's of Orthodox liturgical music in English. His book "Choral Performance in Pre-Revolutionary Russia" (1986) is considered the definitive study of this topic. He is President of Musica Russica, a publishing house specializing in Orthodox and Russian music and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the “Monuments of Russian Sacred Music” series. He is also the composer and editor of numerous choral arrangements, chiefly for Orthodox liturgical use, and the host of “Icons in Sound,” an internet-radio podcast that airs on the Orthodox Christian Network.

CorFun, Inc. and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft. Lauderdale are please to announce the launch of the newly re-designed stdemetrios.org

Tara Concelman is a Behavior Analyst who works with families and also with children who have learning disabilities. Since starting her business, Home First Behavior, Tara has relied solely on word-of-mouth for acquiring clients. Looking to use the web to expand her business, Tara contacted CorFun looking for a website that would allow her to market her business, share links and books with readers, provide online forms for clients, and allow her to easily edit her own content.
 

Okay - Orthodox Biz has a free membership. You can get listed for nothing, so why consider an upgraded membership that includes blogging, videos, file sharing, audio files, a personal homepage, unlimited articles, and even more?

Well, this month we decided to post a letter from an Orthodox Biz reader who shares some really good reasons. Read on to find out why you need to upgrade and take advantage of all that Orthodox Biz truly has to offer!

Di: Hi Angel, summer's flown, and there's so much to say...

Angel: I've got an idea. What if we submit my Godparents article from www.malista.com in loving memory of and gratitude to my Godmother Athena Hanzakos, who passed away yesterday (8.8.1921 to 10.13.2009)?

Di: A beautiful idea since I've been thinking about your Godmother Athena all day, and Malista (yes, in Greek) is your Godsister Elena's Detroit area site.

Angel: Amen to that, and now for the story.

An Evangelical friend of mine of was complaining about his kid learning Chinese history in school. He was incensed that his son would learn "foreign history" instead of "Western history." I laughed and then infuriated him when I said, "For your kid, Western history is just as foreign."

When President George W. Bush was in office, I was a flaming liberal. I opposed the Iraq War on a host of grounds, not the least of which was the Constitutional requirement that only Congress (not the president) could declare war.

I was critical of Bushian fiscal policies from profligate spending to steel tariffs to farm subsidies. I was bitterly opposed to the PATRIOT Act and other curtailments on the freedoms ordinary Americans enjoy. The various ideas coming out of the Justice Department about the ‘unitary executive' made my skin crawl, and please don't get me started at a party on the problems with torture and the ability to declare American citizens to be enemy combatants.

When was the last time that your image presentation in Virtuemart actually wowed a client? Okay, the default image handling isn't too bad. You get a thumbnail, which pops up into a lightbox. If you need multiple images, then you get a stack of thumbnails on the product details page - which also pop up into lightboxes.

Frankly, it's all a little ho-hum to say the least. Much of what we sell on our CorShops site is actually software, so we don't need the images so much. After all, we can demo the software and that helps sell the sizzle. But most of our development clients sell physical products, and they need to put these in the best possible light. And that light is usually not a 'lightbox,' which is why we created the FlyTabs Virtuemart Theme.

Virtuemart is a great shopping cart, but the core system has three big problems when it comes to handling images. First, the default option on a Category page is that clicking the product image thumbnail pops up a bigger image, instead of leading to the product details!

That just makes people mad. Online shoppers normally expect to get product details, not a bigger image. That is why our FlyTabs Virtuemart Theme has the option to link product images to product details.

A friend of mine asked me why I got a reconditioned Mac for my wife, instead of a new PC that was available from a box store for less money.

"Simple," I said, "I don't have time to play tech support."

As a company, CorFun was using Wink to do presentation and training movies. Wink is an open source application that did a decent job, and rendered its output as swf files that played nicely in a browser. However, as soon as we needed audio for training or demo videos, Wink just stopped cutting it.

The preseason rankings are in with Florida on top followed by Oklahoma and Texas. The students are heading back to campus, and the alumni are getting restless waiting for the first kickoff. It's almost time for college football! But even though the start of the season is still some weeks away, the major ticket brokers are already loaded with tickets for most games.

College football games for good teams are always sold out, so the bumper crop of tickets on Stub Hub and other ticket brokers bodes well for more fans to get in to the games. But how do you get the best seats and the best deals for college games? You go to seemyseat.com and check all the ticket brokers at one time and see all the seating options on an interactive seat map.

Tara Concelman is a behavior analyst and former homeschooling mom who works with families in their own homes to solve behavior issues. In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Tara talks about her work, how she got started, and gives some advice to parents.

It's a crowded Internet out there, which is why a site like Orthodox Biz can really make a difference in getting you traction. Not just among the Orthodox community, but also in getting your business linked into Google and other search engines like the new Bing! Orthodox Biz has thousands of pages of articles that draw a ton of readers a year. Which is why listing your business is a great way to help yourself succeed on the Internet. But....how you list your business or ministry is just as important as the fact that you did it all. Here are some tips for making Orthodox Biz work for you. (By the way, they also apply to any other directory site!)

The Second Coming of Jesus and the idea of the Rapture have been hot topics of debate over at the Orthodox Christian Network. On the Beyond the Veil Orthodox Christian podcast, Pres. Jeannie Jeannie Constantinou is covering the book of Revelations in the scriptural and theological tradition of the Orthodox Church. This series has been popular, but the most recent episode, entitled The Rapture - An Invention of Man kicked off a serious debate.

Watch for special reporting over the next several months from people in the know concerning the historic meeting in Chambesy and its ramifications for the Orthodox Christian Churches in America. The issue of unity of the Orthodox in the Diaspora has been on the lips of many people. Come and listen as OCN reporting brings you up to date in a responsible and knowledgeable way.

More information coming soon.

Check the OCN Website for more information as it is made available!

I first started working on Web projects for the Orthodox Christian Network (myocn.net) in late 2006. At the time, OCN had one program – Come Receive the Light. Come Receive the Light was primarily a traditional radio broadcast, airing in many key markets once a week. OCN’s Website was important, but had always been considered a secondary delivery channel compared to terrestrial radio.

When you a stranger, you are planting tiny seeds of possible business relationship with each person you meet. There's no guarantee that you'll doing business right away but over time you'll harvest a large crop!

I've noticed a few common mistakes that most people make when meeting others. I made them too until I realized how to properly grow in a relationship.

Virtuemart is the best free shopping cart available for the Joomla content management system. Packed full of features and backed by a huge community, Virtuemart is the heart of many Internet shops. But there is always room for improvement. On Virtuemart stores, the Virtuemart categories are often neglected. They sit over on the side in a Category menu, but for many shops the key to success is getting customers onto category pages as quickly as possible and shopping! Which is why CorFun is pleased to announce the Virtuemart JCategory Scroller! Using the powerful JQuery Javascript library, this new scroller lets you scroll your Virtuemart product categories and showcase them as never before.

LOGOS Web Services offers Web sites that are quick loading, visually pleasing, intuitively structured, and easy to update. We design your site with one thing in mind – to get your visitors to enjoy their interactions with you online. And that means they’ll come back again and again.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 6, 2009– Kansas City, MO

FOCUS North America is excited to announce the extension of its domestic outreach to the poor by receiving the highly acclaimed “Orthodox Youth Outreach” (OYO) program from the Antiochian Archdiocese Department of Youth Ministry and Teen SOYO. Added to FOCUS North America’s diverse ongoing operations and partner ministries, the addition of the OYO program strengthens its domestic ministry to the homeless and hopeless by involving youth in urban service learning opportunities and social action leadership training.

Virtuemart is the best shopping cart solution around for Joomla CMS. Joomla, of course, just happens to be the best content management system around, so the combination of the two is a serious powerhouse. Joomla requires a template to operate. Virtuemart uses a theme, but since it runs inside Joomla, it works with the template also. That causes a lot of confusion for more novice users, so we would like to help clear that up. New online shop owners need to understand how they unique and look and feel of their sites will be generated.

The Great Commission wasn’t a suggestion. It was a commandment. We are to share the Orthodox Faith with the entire world. But how are we supposed to reach people? Stand on a soapbox on a street corner? Go door-to-door? Visit the sick, the needy, the elderly? Those are all good things that are worth doing. But did you ever think about using your Facebook account to spread Orthodoxy?

Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites are all the rage. People use them to find lost friends, connect with others with similar interests, and as an easy way to keep everyone updated with the latest news.

SCOBA gives FOCUS North America a “warm endorsement” for this “welcomed initiative”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 11, 2009 – Kansas City, MO

FOCUS North America made a successful 20-minute presentation on Thursday June 25th, 2009 to the STANDING CONFERENCE OF THE CANONICAL ORTHODOX BISHOPS IN THE AMERICAS (SCOBA) at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral during its Spring 2009 session.

According to Glen Chancy, CIO of CorFun: “Email communication is integral to community based websites.” Glen further explained that Joomla Webmasters running these websites often encounter problems with email communication. Glen says, “Webmasters often need an email to go out targeting site members in a specific state, or zip code, or with a specific set of interests. A Joomla Webmaster with Community Builder installed can easily rely on the Users List function to search for members. Since Community Builder can do simple or complex searches, getting a good list of members with certain common demographics is not hard at all. Trouble is – what do you do with those results when you have them?”

Gigi Shadid is an educator, a Khouria, and a musician with two CDs of Orthodox children's music already to her credit. In this interview, Gigi talks about her background at Antiochian Village, her music, and how cheesy Protestant music motivated her to teach kids through song. As Gigi says, "If our kids are going to sing any song, why not sing songs that will teach them about our Orthodox faith?"

Why not indeed!

Each year, the Seattle Chapter of the American Harp Society sponsors a composer's competition aimed at generating new intermediate level solos for the harp. This year's winner was Maryjean Zarick with her composition "Syrian Chant." Maryjean's composition is loosely based on traditinal Eastern Orthodox Christian liturgical chant. Since chant is monophonic, having no harmonic structure, the challenge was to create a bass counterpoint, using elements of the chant melody.

The selection process began in October 2009 when committee members accepted a total of 19 compositions. By January 2009, eight of the compositions had made it past the committee and were then distributed to harp students, who were given six months to prepare one piece each for a public concert.

On June 5, 2009, the public was invited to listen as the judges heard the eight pieces performed at the Daniels Recital Hall on 5th Avenue in Seattle, Washington. The recital was video recorded and aired on PBS television on July 1 in the Seattle market. It will air again later this month in the New York cable TV market. The video is a production of International Artists Records and Time-Warner Cable and will eventually be available for viewing at www.intartists.com (Click on Crescento podcasts.)

My parish is in the Diocese of the South, and does not have a bishop at present. When we do have a bishop, that bishop covers an area the size of Western Europe with over 70 different parishes. The fact is that a bishop presiding over the South could spend every Sunday away from home, and still not be able to visit all of his parishes in a given year.

God's Will and Doing the Right Thing

We've been hearing alot of people being depressed about the economy, about government, about alot of things in their life. Some are just giving up, some won't watch TV or listen to the news anymore. Some are taking a different approach that is truly fatalistic. They are saying it's God's will and implying that all is as it should be and we shouldn't mess with it.

Someone is going to lose their home, oh well, it's God's will, don't worry. Someone loses their life's savings, it's God's will, nothing to fuss about. Government is moving to remove freedoms for which, we were reminded of this weekend, thousands of lives were sacrificed, and oh well, it's God's will, nothing we can do about it.

What's wrong with these attitudes? For one thing, they are forgetting that there are different types of God's will. One of sovereign will, that means it's going to happen no matter what. We don't know much about these except one called the second coming. That will happen, no matter what we do.

However, there is another type of God's will that current culture has just about thrown away. Providential Will. That's the will that allows us to have free will and to choose to do the right thing.

Let's take an example. This Monday we went to our favorite thrift store which had everything at 50% for the holiday. We got a few things and along the way Peter saw a hat he needed. He tried it on, and left it on with the tag hanging off it. The store was like Christmas Eve, crowded and every cashier was very busy. We paid our $5.50 for our 6 items and walked out. Outside we marveled at our bargains and then Peter realized he still had the hat on with the price tag, the cashier never noticed it; nor did he. Well, what should we have concluded from the situation? We could have thought that God "bought us the hat". After all wasn't it God's will that we walked out without paying? That's what some of the current culture thinks about these things, but it's wrong.

What happened was that it was God's will that we were given the opportunity to do the right thing. We were given the opportunity go back and pay the $1.25 for the hat.

So what are we to get from all this? Do the right thing. Don't take the fatalist approach; that approach that takes away your part of using your free will to do what's right. It's God's will that you do what's right.

The Preachers Institute is an online Orthodox Christian homiletics resource for preachers, evangelists, and apologists interested in the art of preparing and preaching sermons in the classical Orthodox oratorical tradition.

The Preachers Institute is a collaborative effort of Orthodox Christian clergy and laymen, of various juridictions, who have a powerful personal commitment to preaching the Gospel, and improving the skill and craft of homiletics and apologetics.

S. Eugene, AKA “Casey” Cohlmia long time Furniture retailer in Oklahoma and Wichita presented his first work of fiction to the Wichita KS market and the World last week .

Suicide is the active hastening of the moment of death, to the point where one commits self-murder. There is usually very little confusion or doubt about whether one is dying. In the course of a terminal disease or advanced age, the Christian prepares for the moment that the Lord will "require of him his soul," when he will enter his repose. When death is known to be approaching (and frequently, this is known to the person well in advance of the actual event), then it is better to prepare in prayer and repentance, instead of avoiding death by electing one "heroic measure" after another. A Christian is correct to forego a medical treatment that will only delay the inevitable - especially a treatment that will make his preparation for death more difficult. If he knows he is "terminal" or dying already, he is also correct to make an "advance directive" whereby he refuses, in advance, any "heroic measures" like resuscitation.

This is an article we wrote a few years ago, but feel is just as valid now; especially for Memorial Day.

Last night while flipping through the channels one last time before bed, we were shocked and amazed to see a young man urinating into a snow cone and then taking big bites of it, much to the delight of his companions. "So, that's entertainment," we thought disgustedly as we turned off the set.

Earlier the same evening we had watched with another type of amazement the 4th of July fireworks over the National Mall. We ooh'ed and aah'ed with thousands of others and felt a deep gratitude that we can witness loud, bright explosions in the sky with delight instead of running fearfully for cover, as they probably do in Iraq and Afghanistan these days.

"The great discomfort among many secular Americans is that the religion that they have dismissed for the last half a century needs to be revisited because we are now being visited by religious fanatics. The fanatics sense that our secularism is a great weakness of character that makes us vulnerable to defeat, and they are correct." --Rev. Johannes L. Jacobse

What is the Orthodox Church's stand on IVF and cloning? What should be done with so-called "leftover" embryos which are not implanted? What does a 2,000 year-old faith have to say to modern technology on the sanctity of human life?

Many have pondered that perennial question: "What is the purpose of the universe?" and not found a satisfactory answer. Yet, in a recent interview with Michael Novak, he gives us a profoundly simple and understandable answer. It also answers our question of, "What is America for?" Along the way we also touch on the question of what legacy we want to leave to future generations.... spotted owls, obscure mosses or a free republic?

Michael Novak is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, author of "On Two Wings" and over 20 other books.

What follows here is a selection from our interview.

Peter: That's the key to the whole dispute. They're basing their claims on the idea that "we're all just animals."

Brian: Of course we are animate beings, but we are not beasts - that's the key distinction. Generally, non-religious animal rights activists hold the position that we're just extremely intelligent, hairless monkeys. We evolved to that state through random mutation and natural selection with no recourse to divine guidance... we 'just happened' to turn out this way.

Of course, the Christian rejects that entirely because we are the only creatures made "in the image and likeness" of God. There was once a philosophical notion, very popular especially among secularists, that the only thing that separates animals from humans is that we are aware of our own mortality. I think that might have come out of the existentialist movement.

We are approaching that time of year when the mail box will be full of announcements from the sons and daughters of friends, relatives and acquaintances announcing the upcoming graduation of a young adult from high school or college.

Obviously a little green is always a welcome gift, as no fledgling adult is ever fully prepared for how expensive life really is. But there is a downside to giving money – because money doesn’t build any memories. That check you give today may help buy some towels for the new place, but that gesture is going to be forgotten. No one remembers a check – unless it has an unforgettable number of zeros on it.

Our children need more love and protection today than ever before. Orthodox vocalist Charissa Gianos has provided the perfect way for Orthodox Christians to pray for our children and to celebrate the Mother of God. In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Charissa talks about her new CD project, a first ever recording of the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children

Yesterday we had breakfast with Star Parker, along with about 300 others at the Leadership Institute. It was a very enjoyable beginning to the day listening to how the Republican party can win the votes of Joe, Jamal and Juan Jose.

Let's Get Back to Basics.

Politicos are gearing up for the fight over who should fill the vacancy on the highest court in the land. Yet, a recent poll revealed that a vast majority of the ordinary citizens of America cannot name a single one of the Supreme Court Justices. More disturbing is that a large segment of our population doesn't understand that judges are supposed to interpret and apply the law, not make it up. It's time to get back to basics, or civics. We had a very interesting chat with a fellow who will take us through some of the basics of what our country is about.

With all the new democracies that have popped up around the world in the last 25 years (80 or so), none are based on the sovereignty of the individual, except ours. We're taking this opportunity to give a history lesson about our democracy, lest we forget. We begin with a segment of an interview with Senator Wallop.

Helen: Does the Church consider birth control to be abortion?

Fr. Tom: No.

Helen: Does it allow birth control?

Orthodox Biz, a leading Orthodox Website, has now announced free basic listing options for businesses, ministries, and Orthodox Ministry Professionals! Effective in May 2009, it is now possible to get a listing in the premier Orthodox Business directory on the Internet for free. Read the rest of the article for full details.

Peter and Helen Evans were recently featured in an interview on Inside Catholic. Click here to see it.

Also, to sign up for our newsletter and get these directly into you mailbox, send a subscribe request to we2rone@cox.net, Just say subscribe in the subject line.

Jesus' attitude toward earthy riches was most succinctly summarized in the Gospel of Matthew 6:32 'For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.' His concern is that we should not assign them too high a place in our own concerns. He continues, immediately (v. 33), saying, 'But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.'

Many are concerned about the direction our country is going. Some call it anti -Christian, some call it post Christian, some call it secular. Whatever it is called, it is time to turn back the tide and bring Judeo Christian values back as the foundation of our culture and society.
From the video by Peter and Helen Evans

If you want to get our newsletter into your mail box, send a request to we2rone@cox.net and put subscribe into the subject line.

This past election we the people voted for change or a fresh start. What can they do different with this administration and economic condition. I have a few ideas that might help you get a little more out of your web site in the next year ahead of us.

ELEOS BLOG (14): PASCHA 2009: Magnify your Purpose with God’s Essential Oils, Loving EveryOne Selflessly

Di: Christos Anesti!

Angel: Alithos Anesti!

Di: Alithos O Kyrios! Which of our many beautiful oils would be appropriate for us to feature, honoring the greatest Feast Day of the year in the Orthodox Christian Church – Holy Pascha?

A: Well, sister, the name of our therapeutic-grade essential oil blend, Magnify Your Purpose, enters my mind every time I hear EIKONA sing the ancient hymn:

CorFun, a leading provider of eServices, has announced two new extensions for the Virtuemart Shopping Cart System. Virtuemart is the most popular shopping cart system for the Joomla Content Management System - a platform on which CorFun is a leading expert. The two new extensions are a JQuery-based Product Scroller, and the FlyTabs Virtuemart Theme.

Summer is here and its time to get busy! Here are some tips to getting your home ready for Summer.

Replace or clean your furnace / air conditioning filter.

It should be checked once a month and replaced or cleaned as needed. Some filters are reusable and are supposed to be taken out, washed with a hose and re-inserted. A dirty filter can lower the efficiency of the heating/cooling system, increase costs and cause fires.

Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter.

Keeping this clean of grease will help keep a stovetop fire from spreading.

Check your electrical system.

• Look for burn marks at the main electrical panel; they can be a sign of arcing inside the panel, which can easily lead to a fire. Loose connections or damaged insulation can cause the arcing. Note: Only a qualified electrician should remove the front panel cover..
• Remove any combustible materials such as paper boxes or flammable liquids from the area near the main electrical panel. Sparks caused by arcing inside the panel can ignite material stored nearby.
• Check all electrical outlets for loose-fitting plugs they are an indication of a worn out receptacle. Worn receptacles should be replaced as they cause overheating and fires. Also check electrical outlets and switches to be sure they work properly. If any switches, outlets or receptacles do not work, have a qualified person determine the problem and fix it to avoid fires inside the walls of your home.

Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher accessible.

Make sure it is Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listed or Factory Mutual (FM) approved. Check the gauges to make sure they are charged and ready to use.

Make sure the light bulbs in all your fixtures are the correct wattage.

The light fixture manufacturer recommends the correct wattage. If too high a wattage bulb is used in a light fixture, heat produced inside the fixture can lead to fire inside the fixture, ceiling or wall.

Henry Bentley is a home remodeling expert in the Central Florida area. For a complete of list of Summer tips, list visit his website.

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We are approaching that time of year when the mail box will be full of announcements from the sons and daughters of friends, relatives and acquaintances announcing the upcoming graduation of a young adult from high school or college.

Tea Party, April 25th, Washington DC

Friends, Americans, Patriots - lend me your ears!

We are gathered here on this beautiful day - not because we are filled with hate - but because we love our country.

With the economy in the tank, businesses need all the tourist dollars they can get. Which is why local police ruining family vacations with speeding tickets is a bad idea. Unfortunately, with towns and cities hurting for cash, the RADAR gun is getting more use than ever. New evidence proves that speed enforcement isn't about safety, but about making money for local governments. Not only is speeding not a serious cause of accidents, but a new study has shown a correlation between declining municipal revenues and increased speeding fines. Worse, as police focus on traffic enforement, other types of crimes tend to go up. Business owners need to get the facts to guard their businesses from the harm strict speed enforcement can cause.

NOT a Christian nation? Of course we are!

President Obama has been at it again - repeating the rather provocative statement that America is not a Christian nation. To be sure, he's said this for years and he also says that America isn't a Jewish or Muslim nation either. Rather, he says that we're "citizens" gathered around a "set of principles."

Peter and Helen Evans are now available to give a seminar/workshop based on their book, "Get Serious: The Church's Stand on Contemporary Culture." The seminar will focus on the six topics covered in the book: Euthanasia, abortion, stem cell research and cloning, war, welfare and animal rights. Some of the questions we'll discuss are: What happens to us after we die? Haven't we progressed beyond the need for war? What will make me happy? If there is so much suffering around, how can we say God is compassionate? What does it mean to help the poor? Aren't all rich people barred from heaven? Are we just animals? These are just a few of the issues we'll address. Depending on the audience the workshop will be about 2 to 3 hours long.

Please contact Orthodox Speakers Bureau "http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/peter-and-helen-evans/" to book the seminar.

According to a recent article, dying in one's sleep is actually a frightening thing for Orthodox Christians. This seems foolish to the world, but much Orthodox truth seems counterintuitive like this.

I. Making Decisions at the End of Life in a Post-Traditional Culture: Finding One's Way to God

Orthodox Christianity offers orientation in the cosmos. More precisely, it leads us away from our passions and purifies our hearts so that we can be illumined by the uncreated energies of God and come into union with Him.

Angel: Hi, Di! We’re over halfway through the Great Fast, during which we often recite or read silently the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim:

O Lord and Master of my life, take away from me the spirit to be lazy and neglectful, the desire for lust of power and idle talk. Grant me, your servant, the spirit of moderation, humility, patience and love.
Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and keep me from judging my brethren, for You are blessed now and forevermore. Amen

In last night's "Prime Time Press Conference" the Dear Leader promised that he would "cut the deficit in half" by the end of his first term. Sounds like a good thing, right? Wow, he's going to cut something bad that starts with a "d" in half! With all the bad financial news lately, this sounds like dramatically good news. Not so fast. Sit down, take a deep breath and pay close attention.

It is astonishing to me how many paid journalists seem to confuse the two "d" words, "debt" and "deficit." Most of us know what a debt is. If we owe somebody something, that's a debt. If I borrowed a cup of sugar from you and said I would give it back next week, that's a debt of one cup of sugar. If I borrowed $100,000 from a bank to buy a condo, that's a debt of $100,000. Right now, the U.S. has a debt of a little over eleven Trillion dollars. That "little over" is $41.7 Billion as of Monday March 23rd, according to the Treasury Office. For lots of scary truth visit "http://www.federalbudget.com/"

OK, what's a deficit? It's the opposite of a surplus. The deficit is the amount that you are increasing the debt in a given fiscal year. A "deficit budget" is a budget that spends more money than it takes in. A "budget deficit" is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue. Not too complicated, is it?

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the 2009 budget deficit will be $1.85 Trillion. The Administration estimates that it will be "only" $1.75 Trillion. Let's split the difference and call it $1.8 Trillion. President Obama says that, by the end of his first term, he will cut that deficit in half. We'll be spending $900 Billion more each year than we take in. In other words, we'll be increasing the national debt by almost a Trillion dollars a year.

Gosh, that doesn't sound quite as great as it did when he said it last night. Even if he can bring the deficit down that much by then, which many experts doubt, he'll still be digging our financial grave twice as fast as G.W. Bush's record year of 2008 when the deficit was a paltry $459 Billion.

Stop helping us, President Obama. You're just making things worse.

Glen Chancy is the publisher of Orthodox Biz, a software designer, and a serial Web entreprenuer. In this interview with Orthodox Biz contributing writer Sarah Long, Glen talks about his company's latest project called SeeMySeat.com. SeeMySeat.com is an online aggregator for tickets offered for sale by all the major online ticket brokers. In this interview, Glen offers advice on getting good deals on all kinds of events, as well as taking you behind-the-scenes as to how tickets get sold.

Let's discuss this article http://www.alliancealert.org/2009/03/09/barna-9-of-american-adults-have-a-biblical-worldview/.  It says that only 9% of Americans have a Biblical worldview.  Alot more think they are Christian and we've seen surveys where about 90% think they are "spiritual."  What that usually means is they make up their religion as they go along.   

If any of you are upset by the changes our government is making, say with the federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research, or the so-called Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) that ensures the 'right' to abortion, then you might want to remember that politics is applied theology. That is, we get the poltics that our culture and world-view demands. 

Our culture reflects our belief or non-belief or made-up belief about God, our culture elects the politicians that reflect those beliefs and we get laws that institute those beliefs.  How to the change politics?  Change the worldview. It's a grass-roots effort.  What do you think?

D: Hi, Angel sis. Today let’s clear up some misconceptions about MLM and our Eleos business, clarify how Young Living (YL) is neither a “Ponzi” nor a “get rich quick” scheme, and show that is an equitable, private, debt-free, green, grass roots, and seed to seal company that offers rewards to everyone from new customers to entrepreneurs.

In one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, the esteemed detective had deduced that the villain was an American. But, all the suspects were purporting to be British. How to figure out which one was lying?

Elementary, my Dear Watson! Holmes tossed the prime suspect a ball. He caught it with his left hand, at which point Holmes promptly arrested him.

Why, you might ask? Because the man was right-handed. A right-handed European man would catch a ball thrown to him with his right hand. A right-handed American, however, would wear his baseball glove on his left hand. That means a right-handed American would catch a ball with his left hand, which is the exact opposite of how the rest of the world works.

www.peterandhelenevans.com/Our current crisis is not a financial crisis. It was not caused by some complicated financial dealing that only a few 'experts' can understand. No, it was caused by a whole lot of people doing things that they knew were wrong. Our current crisis is a moral crisis.

The financial meltdown was caused by the failure of credit markets. When you boil it down, credit is really just another name for trust, which is another name for a mortgage, too. As long as we trust that our debtors will pay us back, the system works better than anything the world has ever seen. But, as soon as doubt and uncertainty replace trust, the whole structure falls down. That's where we are today.

Angel Hi, Di. Isn’t it wonderful that Young Living (YL) has just had an incredible harvest of Idaho Balsam Fir?
Di Hi, Angel, that’s so true! The harvest was at the YL farm in Idaho, of course, only thirty-five miles from the Canadian border, and it was done under ideal conditions – in extremely cold and pristine soil!
A Like in Michigan! The soft, evergreen fragrance makes me think of our Greek Orthodox summer camp in Rose City, Michigan. This is what led me to give our YL conifer blend Evergreen Essence the nickname of “campessence”. (Laughs)
D Exactly! Our sense of smell is very profound and evokes even our earliest memories from childhood!
A What do people say about Idaho Balsam Fir?
D It’s been called the “jump in the bottle oil” because that’s what it might make you want to do, and “the happy oil” and the “put it wherever it hurts oil” for obvious reasons!
A Where is this exhilarating oil found?
D Idaho Balsam Fir is exclusive to YL and is bottled in 5ml and 15 ml sizes. It‘s also in Animal Scents Ointment (for pets and their owners), the supplement BLM (for bones, ligaments and muscles) and in the essential oil blends of Believe, En-R-Gee, Egyptian Gold, Gratitude, Sacred Mountain, and Transformation. And before I forget, it’s in the new Deep Relief Roll-On, YOUR favorite, sister!
A Oh, Di, you know me SO well. I carry the roll-on in my purse at all times, and I use it if I feel a headache coming on, am stuffy or have pain from tendonitis. …Don’t you have a quote from St. Basil or another church father about balsam?
D Yes, in the Prolog, Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic (1880-1956), the “Serbian Chrysostom”, states, “For Christ’s presence is like that of some life-giving, scented balsam which restores health, enriches life and gives savor to man’s soul, thoughts and words.”
A Wow, the wisdom of the church fathers includes knowing the benefits of God’s incredible trees!
D Our “green” Patriarch, Bartholomew continues to remind us to be stewards of the earth.
A And as we can see, using the earth’s treasures wisely is good for us and for the earth. In concert with this, whenever YL chops down a tree, it plants another in its place, as part of its dedicated reforestation program.
D When we breathe in the essence of forest trees captured within essential oils, we breathe better like we do in the forest itself. The trees produce oxygen, and their aromatic oils carry oxygen swiftly to all our cells.
A How does Idaho Balsam Fir work, Di?
D You can hear Gary Young speak about Idaho Balsam Fir’s global effects by going to the YL site, www.youngliving.com, under opportunity (conference calls). He explains that Idaho Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) is anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-coagulant, anti-depressant, and anti-stress.
A It’s calming and uplifting.
D Yes, this oil relieves stress by lowering cortisol levels. In fact, its universal benefits are much like those of lavender, the “Swiss Army Knife” of oils. But that’s enough technical stuff. To my mind, the best part is its “sparkly” aroma that inspires me to think of Christmas!
A I agree and just love it. To encourage us to try this awesome oil, YL has a special promotion this month and next; anyone earning 165 PV in one order will get a free 5 ml bottle of the lovely Idaho Balsam Fir AND a 10 ml Deep Relief Roll-On!
D Generous! And these unique products come from Young Living farms -- nowhere else!
A We’re so blessed to have these oils and to be able to share them through our blog!
D To explain just a bit more, the PV (product value) listed in the catalog and online is roughly based on the product’s wholesale dollar value.
A Thus the PV total of your order is what gives you the free products. To obtain Idaho Balsam Fir or anything else from our extensive virtual online health and wellness store, visit us at www.youngliving.org/eleos (6422) or www.youngliving.org/angelbrock (287231).
D Since we’d love to hear about and answer your questions, we invite and encourage you, our readers, to respond to our blog in the comment box below!
A Until next time, blessings!
D Amen!

Globally, Orthodox Christianity is known to be highly conservative concerning what is frequently referred to as "traditional Christian morality." In Europe, for example, more progressive and liberal elements of society spare no effort in attacking the Church as a bastion of traditionalist repression, especially concerning homosexuality.

Ironically, however, in the United States an image seems to be growing of the Orthodox Church as more liberal towards sexual sins than, for example, the Evangelical denominations. Quite a few people, judging by chatter on the Internet, are getting the impression that Orthodoxy is similar to the Episcopal Church in respect to moral issues.

The Orthodox Bookstore is pleased to announce that the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture is now available for distribution in North America in Arabic, Russian, and Spanish. Like its English counterpart, the series as a whole will consist of 29 volumes. The series presents a patristic approach to biblical interpretation.

Last month I issued an invitation to harpists to upload their favorite arrangements to my website: www.HarpMusicNow.com and I am pleased with the response. These uploads add an element of diversity as they are very different than the kind of harp music that I produce. Ruthann Ritchie uploaded a harp and voice version Caledonia, a tribute to Scotland by Dougie MacLean. Alice Freeman of Windy Wyoming shared two traditional Celtic pieces, The Cutty Wren and The Star of County Down. And Susan Strick graciously uses the website to debut her original composition Amandina, flamboyant piece and the first installment in a series of "gypsy" pieces. A sound sample of each of these pieces can be heard on the home page.

I offer my heartfelt thanks to these harpists. There are now a total of 33 titles available for download on the HarpMusicNow website! If you have not visited the site, please do.

There is still room for plenty more uploads. I am particularly looking for arrangements for wire strung and triple or cross strung harps. If you have a contribution and you are not yet a member, please contact me directly. A timely upload could earn you a complimentary membership!

Maryjean Zarick
www.HarpMusicNow.com

Obama's stimulus plan won't help the economy, and might actually sound the death knell of the dollar. After all, the whole thing is predicated on the idea that you can borrow and spend your way to prosperity. That is just plain nuts, of course. You don't borrow your way to wealth - you produce your way to wealth. Americans are tapped out and swimming in debt, so producing for the domestic market is a tough slog right now. Good thing there is a big world out there, and a good way to sell what you produce is to target it.

Angel Hi Di, this is so awesome to get together for our blog. Several people have emailed to ask us how to use Clarity and all our other Young Living therapeutic grade essential oils. We need some clarity on this issue (laugh). To start, the easiest way is to inhale them.
Di Right, sister, just open the bottle, take a deep breath, and take in the aroma of the oil.

Glen Chancy, the publisher of Orthodox Biz, is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Political Science and a concentration in Eastern European studies. He then taught in Poland for three years, bringing home a lovely Polish wife at the end of 1995. Back home, he reverted to the Pentecostalism of his youth, and took his Roman Catholic wife with him. His wife, Justyna, accepted this quietly for years. Eventually, she wanted out of Pentecostalism, and by then so did Glen. They visited a Roman Catholic Church for Mass, only to discover that it was unrecognizable for a traditional Catholic. During the service, Justyna kept demanding (in Polish), "Does the Pope know what these people are doing!" When female Eucharistic ministers helped dispense the Body of Christ, Justyna came very close to outright violence. Then, one Sunday morning they ended up at Borders for coffee and Glen saw a book in the bargain bin called Dancing Alone.... click below to listen:

If you have ever belonged to a Book of the Month club, you will understand the concept behind Maryjean Zarick’s newest membership website, HarpMusicNow.com.

Maryjean, a professional harpist and composer, began publishing books for the harp in 1987 under the name of Paradise Music. But with rising costs of printing and shipping, Maryjean began offering a few sheet music downloads on her former website ParadiseHarpMusic.com. As the downloads became more popular than printed books, Maryjean converted her publishing operation to a download only business.

Ron Moore is a musician and singer who grew up in a Protestant missionary family. He has made 14 albums, gotten air time on over 100 radio stations, and even had his own cable TV show. He is credited with having coined the term Contemporary Christian Music back when that style was more commonly called Jesus Music or Jesus Rock. These days, he is a fulltime musician and the programming director for The Ark - an Orthodox Internet Radio Station on the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN). In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Ron talks about his life in music, his finding Orthodoxy, and what can be termed the growing scene of contemporary music with an Orthodox perspective.

Let’s say you are looking for good tickets to a ballgame, or to the theater, or even to see your favorite band. Most good events sell out almost immediately, so that leaves you looking for your tickets in the reseller or secondary market. There are only four major ticket resellers, and they almost always have tickets available. But to see all your options, and find the best deal, you have to go to four different Websites.

In the U.S., Orthodox Christians rarely get the opportunity to feel good about celebrities. There are quite a few people who claim to be Orthodox who work in movies, in politics, and in the arts. Unfortunately, almost all of these people are not what could be termed spiritual role models. Nominally Orthodox politicians get busted for corruption, Hollywood Hellenes live tabloid lives that shame everyone, and our artists cause no end of mischief. We are so used to this state of affairs, most of us don't even react anymore. Which is why when someone who is genuinely Orthodox, and famous, does something important we need to take notice.

What is Joomla? Joomla is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) that is used world wide to generate everything from simple personal home pages to complex corporate web sites. Joomla has been developed and is maintained by a world-wide community of programmers. Their individual effort and collaboration includes the availability of thousands of ready-made additional features (known as extensions) which can be added to your website as your needs grow.

The Orthodox Christian Network is pleased to announce its new Artist page on iTunes. The page allows iTunes users to view and subscribe to all OCN podcasts in a single location. Visit the new OCN Artist page on iTunes by clicking here. (Your iTunes application should launch automatically.)

The Ark is the flagship Internet radio station for the Orthodox Christian Network. If you are an Orthodox musician, you've probably heard of it. But, did you know that your music could be featured?

Orthodox Biz Publisher and Orthodox Christian Network Webmaster Glen Chancy was recently featured on the Ancient Faith Radio Broadcast The Illumined Heart.

Rod Dreher is an Orthodox Christian and columnist for the Dallas Morning News. He's also a contributor to the Orthodox Christian Network, where his Just Thinking podcast is one of the network's most popular shows. He was also the target of a critical article recently published on a prominent conservative blog site.

Economic times are, to say the least, uncertain. Many companies are laying off workers as they struggle to weather the ongoing economic storm. Chris Romac is an entreprenuer who may have the answer for people searching for new opportunities in these challenging times. Chris expects her business to double in the next four years, even as many other companies shrink or disappear entirely. In this interview, Chris talks about her business model, going green, and how to make money from home while taking care of your family.

The economy is down, unemployment is through the roof, we’re in the worst financial crisis since the great depression. Sounds like the worst time to start an online business right? Wrong! The year 2009 could be the perfect time to start an online business because of all the turmoil going on in the business world. Let me explain…

While the rest of the business world is in shambles the online business world is doing well. According to the Department of Commerce U.S. Retail E-commerce sales numbers are up all around. The 2nd Quarter of 2008 saw $34.6 billion in sales which was a 2.9% increase from the 1st quarter and a 9.5% increase from the second quarter of 2007. Just recently on “Cyber Monday” (the online world’s “black Friday”) the online world saw another positive sign, consumers spent $846 billion on cyber Monday which was an increase of 15% over 2007’s cyber Monday. Read more

The deadliest conflict in Gaza in four decades has killed hundreds and wounded thousands. International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) has released emergency funds and is working in cooperation with other humanitarian aid organizations to deliver medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to Gaza hospitals that are stretched to capacity. “Gaza was already in a desperate situation before this increased conflict with a significant lack of food, medicine, fuel and electricity. All commodities are in scarce supply,” said Dirk Lackovic-van Gorp, IOCC’s Representative for the Palestinian Territories.

Over the years, professional harpist, Maryjean Zarick has shared her music with other harpists in the form of printed books, but her newest publishing medium has gained her the kind of attention that really pays off. For about the last year, Maryjean has been offering individual sheet music as PDF downloads on her paid subscription website ParadiseHarpMusic.com. Through this website, her most recent creation, “Christmas Fantasy” came to the attention of Mark Anderson of the Seattle Chapter of the American Harp Society.

This chapter is sponsoring a competition to encourage the creation of new music for the harp. Mr. Anderson approached Maryjean about entering “Christmas Fantasy” into the competition. “This is just the kind of work we have been hoping to attract,” he told her.

Peter and Helen Evans announce the publication of their book Get Serious, Whoever said Christianity was Nice, or The Church's Stand on Contemporary Culture.

The Orthodox Christian Network is proud to announce that Dynamis Daily Devotional readings will now be a daily feature on the OCN Website.

Congratulations to Peter and Helen Evans on being accepted by the Orthodox Speakers Bureau. Peter and Helen's profile on the Orthodox Speakers Bureau can be viewed here: http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/peter-and-helen-evans/

Way to go Peter and Helen!

My first Christmas Eve in Poland, I was invited to a friend's house to celebrate. It was 1992, and though I had been teaching in Poland for six months, most of my time had been spent around other ex-pat Americans. This was my first real Polish holiday, and I had looked forward to it eagerly.

A Website exists for a reason. That seems axiomatic, but the fact is that many Website owners lose site of that fundamental fact. Before taking on any Web project, I always ask future Web entrepreneurs, "What is the purpose of your Website, and how do you plan to make money off it?"

[YONKERS, NY] Renowned liturgist The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Robert F. Taft, S.J. will present the keynote address at an international academic symposium titled “The Past and Future of Liturgical Theology: Celebrating the Legacy of Father Alexander Schmemann,”  to be held at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVS), from January 29–31, 2009.

International Religious Group Denounces Mumbai Terrorism The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church—Canonical (Exarchate of the United States of America and All-Canada) (UAOCC) The Exarchate Of the Unites States of America and All-Canada officially mourns and denounces the tragic loss of human life in the terrorist attack on the defenseless citizens and visitors to this major Indian metropolis.

Growing up in Northeastern Ohio with an Italian mother meant that Christmas was a time for bringing out the vinyl Mario Lanza record. This amazing tenor of a by-gone era could really belt out those classic Christmas songs. If I close my eyes, I can still experience the smell of Christmas cookies baking, the sight of frost on the windows and the sound of Mario Lanza nailing the high note in “O Holy Night.” In 2004 when my youngest brother was dying, he took great comfort in listening to the CD version of this same album, especially one particular song called “Guardian Angels.” The lyrics tell of an angel with shining wings, standing at the bedside, ready to lead one to Paradise. This song was played at his funeral in December of that same year. The melody haunted me until I finally sat down to work it out on the harp. Each time I played through the piece, I found myself wondering who had written such a comforting melody. A Google search revealed that the composer was none other than Arthur “Harpo” Marx.

Orthodox Biz was launched one year ago. In celebration of our first anniversary, we did what all good Web designers do to mark major milestones. We tore the site apart and rebuilt it from scratch. The new Orthodox Biz 2.0 is now ready for its official unveiling, and we invite you all to read more about the next generation of Orthodox site.

Since 2002, Penn State scholar Philip Jenkins has been describing in several books the changes and the faces of global Christianity for the 21st century, with membership growth and ecumenical power shifting to the Christians in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But his newest book, "The Lost History of Christianity," travels back nearly 1,500 years to a forgotten empire of Christian churches in the Middle East and Asia, co-existing with non-Christian regimes, but eventually falling prey to persecution and ethnic/racial cleansing.

Content Management Systems are growing in popularity as a framework for running Websites. A Content Management System (CMS) automates many of the repetitive tasks associated with running a Website. Using a script framework and a database, a CMS lets organizations sponsoring Websites focus on publishing content to the Web. A CMS framework also comes bundled with all kinds of capabilities such as interactivity (discussion forums, comments, blogging), membership, syndication (RSS feeds), podcasting, and a whole lot more.

In the afternath of the last election, Peter and Helen Evans, the authors of the upcoming book, Get Serious: The Church's Stand on Contemporary Culture, have announced a new talk - Whatever Happened to the Land of the Free and What Can We Do About it. A video promo for the talk is available below.

Check out our New Releases section for The Orthodox Bookstore. This section features 22 newly released or forthcoming titles with up to 25% off retail prices. Most of these items will be on a pre-order basis until they are released in December. However, for those limited items/quantities that are in stock, they will ship out immediately. Most books should be available in time for Christmas.

Are you an Orthodox Christian with friends or relatives in or around Damascus, Syria? Do you belong to the Antiochian jurisdiction, and so have ties to Syria that way? If so, you might want to notify all your Syrian contacts that Damascus, ancient seat of civilization and the home of the Patriarch of Antioch along with thousands of Christians, is about to be destroyed by Israel.

CorFun, a leading provider of eServices, is pleased to announce the launch of its latest Web development project - ChristianMusicInstructors.com. ChristianMusicInstructors.com is a site dedicated to helping music students find qualified and safe teachers in their locality. In this press release, the founder of ChristianMusicInstructors.com, Xavier Aguilar, talks about the impetus for founding this site and the good that it can do for the music community.

PITTSBURGH, PA [OCA Communications] -- On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, His Grace, Bishop Jonah of Fort Worth was elected Archbishop of Washington and New York and Metropolitan of All America and Canada at the 15th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America.

Programs this month will cover topics from Buddhism to Byzantine music, religious freedom to raising faithful kids in today's world. Spread the word and feel free to re-publish the monthly schedule in your parish bulletin or personal Web site.

And, as always, visit www.myocn.net to listen, or subscribe through iTunes.

Maryjean Zarick, harpist, composer, arranger and owner of Paradise Music announced today that 8 of her music arrangements and 1 of her original compositions have been selected for inclusion in the Soundtrack Library at Full Sail University.

Editor's Note: Father Stephen will be unable to attend the tour. However, this tour will be available. Please contact the tour company for full details.

Father Stephen Allen of SS. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church in Charlottetown, PE will be walking in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul as part of a 10 day tour to Greece and Turkey visiting a number of historically significant sites based on the travels of the Apostle Paul.

Let me tell you something Google and the other Search Engines don't want you to know.

Several studies have shown that web surfers' eyes jump over paid results and go directly to the natural results. One study on Google showed surfers preferring natural results 3 to1. So instead of shopping for Google Adwords, consider the natural method for getting more traffic.

Melissa McCutcheon is an Orthodox Christian and professional clinical counselor. Even though most in her profession have rejected Biblical truths, Melissa actively pursues therapy based on Orthodox principles. In this interview, she provides insights on how Orthodox Christians can cope with the stressful and trying times in which we now live.

Brendan Kulp is a second-generation American Orthodox iconographer. He felt called to become an iconographer after visiting St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona. Despite not knowing how to proceed, God placed people in his path to enable this calling to be realized. In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Brendan discusses his journey and his work.

My family members are Evangelicals of the Pentecostal variety. I was raised in that faith, but being Orthodox for almost 10 years has distanced me quite a bit from the world of megachurches and televangelists. Still, visiting home frequently means coming face-to-face with it, as my retired dad usually watches several hours of televangelism a day. He's good about keeping the TV off when my kids are awake, but after they are in bed, he often turns on programs he's recorded during the day.

New Christian Song Sparks Controversy Fireworks

For more than a decade, The Handmaiden, published as a 64-page journal, has been serving Orthodox women by offering them fresh content to inspire and illumine their hearts. With the Handmaiden of the Lord, the Holy Theotokos, as its guide, The Handmaiden strives to be a beacon of light, a place where Orthodox Christian women and others who are interested in Orthodox life and spirituality can come together to learn, share, relate, and grow. Click below to find out more about the Summer 2008 issue.

Professionals need Websites. Doctors, instructors, engineers, service companies - regardless of the industry, business in the 21st Century demands exposure on the Web. In this article, CorFun CIO Glen Chancy goes through the process of how a Website is designed for an instructor site to maximize Search Engine placement while providing a sleek, stylish user experience.

We got herded into the room blindfolded. We knew that we had gone down some steps into a basement and that it was cool. Other than that, we weren't sure where we were or what was happening.

We heard chanting. Suddenly, the blindfolds were removed, and robes were hurriedly put on us. As we stood there blinking, we found ourselves in a candlelit room with various symbols on the wall. On the floor, was a great diamond around which we found ourselves arrayed. As we stood there, a ceremony began that would bind us to this brotherhood. The service was intoned by robed men reading from leather-bound service books.

Handy links to all of the Orthodox Christian Network's new shows are included below.

In addition to those mentioned in the title of this post, be sure to check out "Journeys to Orthodoxy" for the story of an African-American jazz musician and Assistant Professor of Music at Ohio State University who recently entered the Orthodox Church.

What a week! All our shows are back, now that a couple have returned from their summer siesta. You can listen to all 10 of them by clicking on the links below or by tuning in to any of our 27 online Orthodox radio stations at the listed times (EST).

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. — The Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) is pleased to announce its newest weekly show, “Journeys to Orthodoxy,” produced by Icon New Media Network and now available at www.myocn.net.

Journeys to Orthodoxy tells the personal stories of individuals who have searched for spiritual truth — often in remarkable ways — and ultimately found what they are looking for in the Orthodox Christian Church.

Baltimore, Maryland — International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), the Baltimore-based humanitarian aid organization, announces a new grant that will provide food and emergency supplies to vulnerable families living in Sadr City, one of the poorest and most densely populated districts of Baghdad.

The life of a princess isn’t all glamour, handsome princes, and beautiful clothes. It’s also devotion to duty, sacrifice for your people, and a lot of just plain hard work. And if your country happens to suffer two world wars and a communist takeover in your lifetime, it means danger and suffering, exile and heartache as well.

When it comes to web site design, e-tailers today face many choices. They have more technology than ever at their fingertips to create a site full of bells and whistles, but at the same time, they want to deliver a quick and seamless shopping experience so consumers can get in, get their product, and get out.

CorFun, a leader provider of Web design and eServices, is pleased to announce the go-live of its latest eCommerce site for New Hope Oils (www.newhopeoils.net). New Hope is a Brunswick, Ga. based manufacturer and seller of Christian anointing oils using unique blends of traditional ingredients Frankincense and Myrrh.

New book announcement! The Person of the Christ: The Earthly Context of the Savior Written by Daniel Fanous with a Forward by Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty

The following is checklist designed to help you gauge the search engine friendliness of your website. If you are planning a website this checklist will help you avoid the common pitfalls of unfriendly designs.

The popularity of search engine optimization may have slipped with some retailers in favor of paid search, but is still a critical component of any retailer’s search marketing strategy.

Orthodox Biz is pleased to announce a new set of tutorials on the Acajoom Pro mailing system. This is the same eNewsletter system that is used by such noted Orthodox organizations as the OCN, Orthodoxy Today, and the American Orthodox Institute.

The Acajoom system is also available for use by Platinum members of Orthodox Biz. Click here for more details.

Interested in doing professional, high-quality eNewsletters? View the tutorials to see how easy it can be, and then consider joining Orthodox Biz at a Platinum level or higher!

To view the tutorials, click here.

Written by Dianne Tzouras June 19, 2008 Welcome to my blog.

Semper paratus. Always be prepared.

After liturgy and fellowship on the last Sunday in March, I stopped at a red light in the left lane and then, when the light turned green, I crashed into the car in front of me.

Peter and Helen Evans are students in the St. Stephen's course of studies in Orthodox Theology from the Antiochan House of Studies. Their project is a talk on Bioethics: the Christian Perspective on the Difficult Questions New Technology Poses for our Lives, which they plan to give at Orthodox Parishes around the country. In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Peter and Helen discuss their faith background and the bioethical topics they have been studying.

On this week's episode of Come Receive the Light, the national Orthodox Christian radio program, Fr. James Bernstein, author of a new book called "Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity," talks about his spiritual journey and how it led him to become an Orthodox Christian priest. Fr. James explains why the Orthodox Church is the true home not only for Christian Jews, but for all who seek to know God as fully as He may be known.

Click here to listen and to download the accompanying study guide by Fr. John Parker.

Word of mouth is a proven way of driving sales. When product buyers give a thumbs-up, the endorsement car­ries powerful credibility that retailers and manufacturers cannot duplicate in product descriptions. Little wonder, then, that customer reviews can pack the same punch online. Maybe more, because of the Internet's power to distribute consumer comments more widely and rapidly than word of mouth.

What do “Hits” mean?

Hits would be any request to the server which is logged. This could be both human, as in visitors or other computers, such as search engine spiders or bots. The request can be for anything. It could be for HTML pages, graphics, audio files and more.

What are “Visits” then?

Well if “Hits" are times the files are accessed by man or machine, then visits are when a request is made to the server from a given IP address.

Content writing for the Web might not look too tough, but I promise you it is harder than it looks. Anybody and everybody can write - you learn how to do that in grade school. The problem is not everybody can write well. To hopefully put you back on the right track I thought I would share with you a handful of tips that pros use when doing any sort of web site content writing.

Last month, I was asked for advice on choosing the right payment gateway, specifically for the pros and cons of working with PayPal over the other more expensive options. I’m keeping this list of pros and cons quite short, hopefully this will help you decide if PayPal is the best solution for your online e-commerce website.

Retailers are creating a presences on social networks to make a minimal investment in an attempt to gain maximum exposure.

Roxy, a retail clothing store, posted a video on the social network and video site You Tube to get potential customers interested in its brand.

As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges. http://www.americansolutions.com/ is a site that is petitioning the government

Icons in Sound is a relatively new program on the Orthodox Christian Network. The host, Vlad Morosan, is an expert on Orthodox liturgical music. I feel like this is a show that practically every Orthodox Christian needs to listen to, and listen to every week.

Why? Because we don't go to church except on Sunday.

On June 1, 2008, Paradise Harp Music kicked off its subscription membership drive. Paradise Harp Music is a website for people who play the harp. It was developed by Maryjean Zarick, a professional harpist well known for her music arrangements. Through Paradise Harp Music, Maryjean has been publishing and selling books and sheet music for the harp since 1987. Now, thanks to software and technical support provided by CorFun, Paradise Harp Music is able to offer sheet music downloads. Customers can download and print harp arrangements instantly, eliminating the cost and time of shipping.

I'm often accused of being something of a Joomla Content Management System Evangelist. I'll admit it. I am a little passionate. But I think with good reason. This blog is actually a reprinting of a case study I did concerning Maryjean Zarick and her Paradise Music site. I wrote it up to highlight some of the great stuff Joomla can do for a small business person, and I decided to share it as a blog here to help spread the word.

Contemporary Orthodox Christian Singer/Songwriter, Jim Giatas, Has A Change Of Heart. Jim Giatas has been inspired to make his original music available for free. He is no longer in the business of selling music and will, instead, be giving his music away to anyone who wants it.

The Orthodox Research Institute is pleased to announce the availability of five new titles!

BEN LOMOND, CA – Conciliar Press Ministries is pleased to announce the release of a new spiritual memoir of a man's conversion from Judaism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Raised in Queens, New York by formerly Orthodox Jewish parents whose faith had been undermined by the Holocaust, Arnold Bernstein went on a quest for the God he instinctively felt was there. He was ready to accept God in whatever form He chose to reveal Himself—and that form turned out to be Christ.

I wanted to reconnect with the seasonal store shopping experience to understand first hand why stores are getting so hammered by online merchants at Christmastime. The stores I visited were nicely decorated and neatly stocked-and hauntingly empty. Parking was easy and checkout was a breeze. I got suitable gifts and prices were good.

Imagine sitting at your computer and suddenly hearing the heavenly sound of a harp. This is possible if you are listening to the Orthodox Christian Network's internet radio station, "The Ark." The station has recently added to it's playlist a pre-release track from Maryjean Zarick's upcoming album, Songs Of Angels, a collection of liturgical cherubic hymns. As a harpist, Maryjean has arranged the music primarily for harp, although she is joined by other Orthodox musicians playing various other string and woodwind instruments.

Dean W. Arnold is an Orthodox Christian, a screenwriter, published author, and former head of a national right-to-life ministry. In this second interview, Dean discusses some of the insights into evangelism that his research into the Trail of Tears has afforded him. When dealing with native peoples, the Orthodox and Western approaches are very different, and nothing illustrates that better than comparing what happened to the Cherokee with the native peoples in Alaska.

TURNAROUND: THE ORTHODOX PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE has recently been published by Regina Orthodox Press and is selling well. Forrest Long, a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church served as a Baptist pastor for twenty-eight years before making his journey to Orthodoxy. He has written a practical, hands-on guide to the personal spiritual life which is soundly Orthodox and is a great tool for seekers as well as new converts to the faith.

This week's episode of Come Receive the Light is dedicated to Holy Pascha. Fr. Chris Metropulos shares a special message about the Resurrection entitled "The Tomb Is Empty And So Is My Heart! Would Someone Please Tell Me What I Am Missing?", and Fr. Thomas Hopko explains why Christ died on the Cross. Click here to listen.

Here is a letter I wrote to hopefully make people aware of what is going on in the public school system. I called the superintendent of schools office, the school and school board. As of yet no one has called me back as is the case whenever I have a concern.

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. – The Orthodox Christian Network will be featuring several special programs for Holy Week and Pascha on its Web site (www.MyOCN.net), including the first episode of a new Web TV series, beautiful liturgical music for Holy Week and live Web TV broadcasts of every Holy Week service.

Written by Dianne Tzouras April 12, 2008

Tempus fugit. Time flies as we get older. The Marketing Bootcamp Teleclass I took this year was about preparing the soil for new growth in business and life.

James Carville, the political campaign strategist, hung a sign at Clinton’s Little Rock campaign headquarters that read: “It’s the Economy, Stupid” became ensconced in American political folklore—and helped get Bill Clinton elected President in 1992.

"IN AS MUCH," a 12 song digital album written, arranged, performed, recorded, mixed and mastered entirely by Jim Giatas is now available.

Пасха – главный христианский праздник. Во все времена в этот день православные христиане приветствовали друг друга словами «Христос воскресе!», дарили крашеные яйца и писали поздравительные письма и открытки. К нынешней пасхе Культурный центр «Русская неделя» выпустил авторскую серию пасхальных открыток тюменского художника Евгения Юрьевича Андреева. Открытки просты, красивы и задушевны. Ознакомится с образцами вы можете по адресу: http://www.russned.ru/stats/2174 По вопросам приобретения и распространения открыток обращайтесь по телефону (3452) 64-64-08 E-mail: info@russned.ru Цены оптовые. При заказе более 500 открыток предоставляется скидка. Возможна любая форма сотрудничества. Доставка открыток по России осуществляется в течение трех дней. Приглашаем к сотрудничеству православные приходы, издательства, частных предпринимателей.

Corfun, a leading provider of eServices for businesses and non-profits, has announced a new program of monthly payments for custom Web design solutions.

Free Beer Buddy, the premier Website for all things beer-related, has announced the addition of Peter LaFrance as a featured blogger.

In February 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. This capped off a process which had begun with NATO's airwar on Serbia from 24 March to 10 June 1999. That campaign killed an estimated 5,000 Orthodox Christian Serb soldiers, and wounded an estimated 10,000 more. This is in addition to the estimated 500 innocent Orthodox Christian civilians that were killed by bombs striking non-military targets. The direct damage of the bombing campaign has been estimated at $30 billion dollars in one of the poorest nations in Europe. Serbia is not expected to recover from the U.S.-led bombing campaign for another decade or more.

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. – Come Receive the Light, the national Orthodox Christian radio program produced by Orthodox Christian Network, is now being broadcast on the radio throughout Central Massachusetts.

For optimizing Search Engine Placement and driving referral traffic, getting links to your business or ministry site is absolutely essential. Unfortunately, despite the critical need for this, many Webmasters don't even know how to check the links they currently have, much less how to get more.

My ninety-one-year-old grandmother was in horrible pain. As she lay in the hospital bed, dehydrated and unable to even take her own medicines, she repeatedly cried out to God, "Lord, help me!"

My father and I sat at her bedside watching her struggle. "She's praying for healing," I said to my father, "I don't think God is going to answer that prayer. I think he's already rendered His judgment on this, and she's praying the wrong prayer."

A short time later, she suddenly switched her prayer. She cried out, "Lord, take me on!" She prayed that prayer three times. Then she became very still, as if sleeping. Within five minutes, I noticed she wasn't breathing.

"I guess she finally prayed the prayer that God was willing to answer," I said to my father as we verified that she was gone.

Jim Giatas grew up with a Greek Orthodox father and a Roman Catholic mother. His journey took him from a childhood in the Catholic Church, to college years filled with New Age religion, to an adulthood embrace of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In this interview with Orthodox Biz, Jim deals openly and honestly with his past, and talks about the music which he has been called upon to share with the world.

Anna Snyder is a real estate agent in the Central Florida area. Until recently, metro-Orlando was one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. In this interview, Anna discusses the current housing market and gives some great tips for both buyers and sellers.

On March 7th, Norma Penaranda participated in the High School Fine Arts Competition sponsored by the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools where she won a rating of “Excellent” for her judged performance on the harp. Norma is the daughter of Maryjean Zarick (Penaranda), professional harpist and owner of Paradise Harp Music.

Customer reviews and other user generated content is becoming a "must have" for retailers to compete online. 50% of merchants surveyed have adopted the technology, according to a new report from The E-Trailing Group Inc. Of the merchants who have adopted customer reviews, 58% said improving customer experience was the most important reason for adding the program to there site. We find that

"CHRIST IS RISEN", "IF YOU LOVE ME" and "THE GIFT OF GOD" are each 12 song digital albums of original contemporary Orthodox Christian songs made available over the Internet by Orthodox Christian singer/songwriter, Jim Giatas at www.nimbitmusic.com/jimgiatas. All downloads are * i-Pod Compatible * DRM Free * 256 kbps MP3 * 99 Cents each or $9.99 for each 12 song album. Nimbit.com is an A.S.C.A.P. approved and recommended site. You can hear six of Jim's songs for free at www.myspace.com/jimgiatas You can also see Jim’s contemporary Orthodox Christian music videos at www.youtube.com/jimgiatas (and Google Video), www.orthodoxbiz.com, and www.godtube.com.

Jim’s purpose is best expressed by Philippians 4:17:

Not because I desire a gift but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

Tune in this week to Come Receive the Light, the national Orthodox Christian radio broadcast, to hear Fr. Stephen Freeman, author of the popular Orthodox blog "Glory to God for All Things", as he speaks with Fr. Chris about deepening our spiritual life through Holy Confession, fasting and prayer during Great Lent.

Click here to listen, and here to download the study guide (pdf).

This Sunday, March 9, is "Mission Sunday" across North America. Find out more about our common call to missions, and the ministry of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, in this interview from OCN with Fr. Martin Ritsi. Click here or listen below.

MIT did a study of 500 International Companies looking to figure out the key ingredients to success in the global economy. The results of this study were summarized in a book by Suzanne Berger called How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today's Global Economy.

The book itself makes interesting reading, if you like this kind of literature, and I highly recommend it. For those that don't go in for that sort of book, let me summarize the key findings.

Ben Lomond, CA – Conciliar Press Ministries is pleased to announce the release of five new books, just in time for Great Lent 2008. The five titles -- three picture books for children and two adult titles -- include:

Conciliar Press has announced that sales of the new Orthodox Study Bible have been extremely strong. First available in February 2008, the Orthodox Study Bible is the first ever full-length presention of the Bible of the early church. The Orthodox Study Bible uses the New King James Version of the Bible as the basis for a fresh translation of the Septuagint text. The Septuagint is the Greek version of the Bible used by Christ, the Apostles, and the early church.

Orthodox Biz now accepts Credit Cards for membership in the online business promotion, social networking, and business directory site.

The move was announced on March 3rd by Glen Chancy, CIO of Corfun.com and publisher of Orthodox Biz.

Modern businesses and ministries run off software. We need it to do everything from sending emails, to preparing presentations, to finding new members/customers online.

In this blog, I would like to take a moment to recommend some great Open Source Applications which can really make your business life easier, and which won't stretch your budget.

Join a dynamic group of Orthodox Christians from around the Midwest for a lecture, brunch, and book signing with noted author Frederica Mathewes-Green on Bright Saturday, May 3, in Rocky River, Ohio.

What would you say if I told you there was a medication that could help you to relax, make you feel better, and improve your relationships with your family and friends—would you be interested? If I told you there were no side affects, that it was free, and that you could easily get this medication—would you take it?

Recently, we got word that some users of Orthodox Biz were experiencing Stack Overflow Errors when surfing the site. After looking into the problem, we figured out that some of our graphics were causing IE 6.0 to choke.

That's right - pictures. A few of our pictures were portable network graphics or png. Under some conditions, Internet Explorer 6.0 has trouble handling these kinds of pictures. We've fixed the issue, but this is a good a time as any to remind people - if you are still using IE 6.0 you are only hurting yourself!

A few months ago I was working in a soup kitchen. One client—we’ll call her Kathy—had a glazed look in her eyes. I tried to talk with her, but she was in her own world. If you have ever had the joy of working at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, you have met individuals like Kathy; people who, for whatever reason, can’t communicate coherently with others.

The Orthodox tradition recognizes numerous saints of a certain type: Fools for Christ. These individuals, like Kathy, had difficulty relating to others “normally.” Yet the Church in her holy wisdom found it appropriate not only to accept such individuals, it actually recognized them as truly saintly men and women, inspired by God.

This raises the question: what, according to our faith, is “normal"?

Though I rarely have time to watch TV, the other night I did catch a rather intriguing episode of Animal Planet. It seems that in the high dry interior of Kenya, there was rumor of a lioness who was keeping company with an antelope. An animal expert traveled to the game reserve to see if there was any truth to the rumor. She did, indeed, find an adolescent lioness who seemingly had abandoned her

Orthodox Biz has added video hosting to its list of services. Videos can be submitted by non-members, and are published subject to approval.

Videos can either be directly uploaded and published right from Orthodox Biz's own server, or linked in from a supported service like YouTube.

Orthodox Biz has now announced free publishing options. Now Press Releases, Announcements, Events, and Forum Posts do not require a membership.

The Paradise Harp Music website continues to offer free harp sheet music downloads. This month's free download is "Desperado" by the Eagles arranged for lever harp by Maryjean Zarick.

In exchange for the download, Paradise Music is requesting a donation to OCMC (Orthodox Christian Mission Center.) A direct link to the OCMC donation page is provided from the sheet music download page.

The free downloads are mostly lever harp arrangements of rock and pop music. Last month's free download, "Stairway to Heaven," is still available on the website.

TURNAROUND: the Orthodox Purpose Driven Life

“A One Month Life Strategy for Spiritual Renewal”

- by Forrest Long (Regina Orthodox Press)

Book stores that feature religious books have shelves of books on spiritual formation and spiritual renewal. It is certainly a topic of interest for many today, both inside and outside Christianity. Many promote the latest fad or technique, but Turnaround is different, in that it doesn’t promote something new, but something very old.

When a European journalist based in Ammam Jordan calls a writer in Central Florida for a comment on church bombings in Mosul, only to end up on a conference call with an Assyrian activist in Beirut - you know things have changed. The world is just not the same.

In Part 2 of this interview, Di Tzouras delves into the science behind her business of essential oils and discusses their unique benefits. The interview is full of surprising facts and insights into the benefits of simply using the substances that God has created in His infinite widsom.

According to CIO magazine, a recent survey of over 200 CIO's for medium and small enterprises revealed that 83% of them were leveraging some kind of Web 2.0 technology. That is excellent news for those of us who are into the Web design space and don't care much for static Websites.

Unfortunately, many business professionals and Christian ministers will read that statistic and ask, "What is Web 2.0?"

This week I'm starting an 8-week telephone course with Susan Sly called Marketing Bootcamp. Now I never took a business class, unless you count Economics as a senior in high school 46 years ago. Economics comes from the Greek for taking care of your own house. The Church uses economia (economy) in efficiently and fairly solving problems.

One fall evening in 1954, a car sped through dusky Pennsylvania twilight. Headlights off, it careened recklessly towards a blind intersection in a cornfield. In a sickening split second, it smashed broadside into another car.

There were three people in that second car. When the dust and smoke cleared, two bodies lay among the twisted metal. One was my mother, who would remain in a coma for a month. The other, my aunt, was killed instantly. My father escaped with only scratches. Looking up to the sky, he asked “Why us, God? We were on our way to be missionaries!”

Like a lot of other Orthodox Christians who spent time in a Greek parish, I've done my share of festival duty. Several years in the Gyros booth, a couple in the parish bookstore, one doing church tours - been there done that.

The Departments of Youth Ministry of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America have joined with the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) to offer a new podcast for Orthodox Christian teens and their peers.

The show, called Orthodox Teen Talk Online (OTTO), features a pan-Orthodox group of teens from around the country, who discuss real-life issues in an open and honest manner with at least one Orthodox priest.

Paradise Music, publisher of sheet music for the harp, will be on the road to Naples, Florida to participate in "FOR LOVE OF HARPS," one of the largest harp conferences in the state. Maryjean Zarick, owner of Paradise Music has been invited to host a vendor's table at this three day event where hundreds of harpists will attend workshops and concerts, and shop for harps, harp music and harp related items. The conference is hosted by the Southwest Florida Chapter of the American Harp Society and will take place in Naples, Florida on February 1, 2 and 3. Contact information is available on the Paradise Music website: www.paradiseharpmusic.com.

In late 2007, Dr. Clark Carlton, author of the well-known five-volume Faith Series of books on Orthodoxy, published an Open Letter to Orthodox Christians on behalf of Ron Paul. In his letter, published on LewRockwell.com, Dr. Carlton lays out his case for why Orthodox Christians should support Republican Ron Paul for president.

Dr. Carlton believes that our unique experiment in self-governance is at a cross-roads, and that only rediscovering Constitutional principles as espoused by Ron Paul can save our Republic.

I got to do something really nice last week. As an Orthodox Christian and Web professional, I'm always thrilled whenever I get to help out new ministries get started. That is why being able to help the online presence of a new ministry dedicated to helping our missionary families was such an honor.

Orthodox Biz includes the ability of Gold level members and higher to have their own mini-sites. Mini-sites can be used for a variety of purposes, including having additional marketing presence, or even serving as your primary Web presence.

MOORESVILLE, NC (January 2008)—Fr. William C. Mills is pleased to announce the publication of his fifth book, Let Us Attend: Reflections on the Gospel of Mark for the Lenten Season. This book is a collection of pastoral reflections on the gospel lessons from Mark that are read during Great Lent. Let Us Attend is a wonderful resource for personal and group Bible study, adult education classes, and sermon preparation.

Di Tzouras is an Orthodox Christian, teacher, naturalist, and distributor of environmentally friendly essential oils. In Part 1 of this two part interview, Di talks about her life, her faith, essential oils, and her business.

The Rise of Wicca!

The journalists look at this process and see a way to write sensational headlines that grab the readers' attention. Many conservative leaders look at this and immediately start denouncing the sorry state of affairs, while asking for our donations to help rectify it immediately. Theologians of all stripes launch into attacks on the foundations of the new mystery cults.

But, I'm a business analyst. I look at this situation and see a really good marketing opportunity for Orthodoxy.

"I would like to see Share the Light Sunday reach out, and, in the future, [for Come Receive the Light] to be heard throughout the United States," His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston said during Sunday's live Web TV program hosted by the Orthodox Christian Network. "I know that a tremendous effort has been made these last few years to reach the greater American public in many of the major cities of the country. I'd like to see it reach every corner of the United States — not only once a week, but why not every da