It’s an interesting point that, just as the Hydra of the Ancient Greeks had seven heads, so sin can be described in terms of the seven deadly ones: pride, avarice, gluttony, lust, sloth, wrath and envy. All of them poison people’s souls. But the most destructive of all is envy. Because the sole aim of envious people is to harm their neighbor.
I recall my first classes in Moral Theology some 35 or so years ago. The subject is an essential part of Western thought (particularly in the Catholic and Anglican traditions). In many ways the topic was like a journey into Law School. We learned various methods and principles on whose basis moral questions – questions of right and wrong – could be discussed and decided. These classes were also the introduction of certain strains of doubt for me. The great problem with most moral thinking – is found in its fundamental questions: What does it mean to act morally? Why is moral better than immoral? Why is right better than wrong? Such questions have classically had some form of law to undergird ...
As Christ descended first to the nethermost parts of the earth and then ascended above the heavens, so humble love raises up a ladder in the heart of man. The same ladder which Christ used to descend to man, man uses to ascend to God, for ‘in his heart he has purposed to go up.’ Man then led by the Spirit of God, curtails sinful practices, eradicates desires and evil thoughts which are enmity against God. He is healed from the pestilence of sin, cultivating the longing for heavenly goods, performing God-pleasing works, entering into the heavenly enlargement of holy love of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He proceeds ‘from strength to strength’ becoming the son ...
Am I not free? (1 Corinthians 9:1) God persuades, He does not compel; for violence is foreign to Him. (Epistle to Diognetus VII, 4) What Shall We Offer? In an Orthodox hymn used at Vespers on Christmas Eve, the Virgin Mary is seen as the highest and fullest offering that our humanity can make to the Creator: What shall we offer You, O Christ, Who for our sakes have appeared on earth as human? Every creature made by You offers You thanks: The angels offer You a hymn, The heavens a star, The Magi gifts, The shepherds their wonder, The earth its cave, The wilderness the manger; And we offer You a Virgin Mother. As our supreme human offering, the Mother of God is a model — next to Christ Himself, and through God’s grace — of what ...
She finished her story here and invited to me to eat some of the beans she had in her basket, because she’d been told “from the outside”, that I was very hungry. We ate and drank until I was full. But I saw that both the basket and the pitcher were still full, so I gave glory to God. When it was time for me to go, I wanted to leave her my outer raso , but she wouldn’t take it and said: “Bring me new clothes when you next come”. I was filled with joy when she said this and begged her to wait for me and to welcome me again. We prayed again, I bade her farewell and left, imprinting ...
Far from discouraging the faithful from seeking the aid of medical science, the Fathers of the Church actually encourage us to visit specialists for whatever ails us. It is true, however, that Basil the Great rejects excessive respect for the art of medicine and points out the spiritual danger involved in ‘officiously keeping alive’. Let us examine medical science from the point of view of Christian Patristic Ethics. In his work Όροι κατά Πλάτος (The Greater Rule) Basil the Great a Father and Doctor of the Church sets out the relationship which we have with medical science, which is the anthropological principle that ‘God made us to be all of a piece’. He believes that the restoration of the health ...
If a doctor puts us on a diet for the sake of our health, we follow it religiously. What’s a diet? It’s fasting and, in fact, abstention from many forms of food. But we don’t follow the fasting imposed by God. We listen to the doctor but don’t listen to Christ. For us, the doctor’s word is more important than Christ’s.
Rev. Patrick H. Reardon The universal claims of the Christian revelation rest on the assumption that the God revealed in his Son and his Holy Spirit is the only true God. There is only one God, the Father with his Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, we Christians are deeply persuaded that God has no relations with this world except through his Son and in his Holy Spirit. In the creation of the world and in all his dealings with it, God has never once acted except through his Son and in his Holy Spirit. The created order and the order of history are related to God only through his Son and in his Holy Spirit. Man has no other access to ...
Brueghel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus Believers are often challenged with this question: How can you believe that God cares more for human beings than for other creatures, or any other part of creation? We have answered too confidently sometimes, almost as if we could know the mind of God. We know that God does love human beings, and the Cross and Resurrection show the extent and depth of that love. But we do not know that God does not love the rest of creation in ways we cannot fathom. I remember a poem by Jorge Luis Borges in which the Word becomes flesh for every part of creation-a tiger for the sake of tigers, and so forth. While the ...
John was 20 years old when the judge told him that he would spend the next 5 years in prison as a result of the felony for which he had just been convicted. From that day forward, John was branded a FELON. Though the “F” was not physically branded on his forehead, he knew it was there and his family knew it was there. His life would never be the same nor would his family’s life for they seemed to carry the same “F” with them. John came from a great family who were all very active in their Orthodox Church. John had served in the altar until he was 16. He was a good boy who had made a couple ...
1st of January, first of the month, New Year’s day. First day of the new civil year. On this day our holy Church, celebrates three important events: a) the circumcision of Jesus Christ, that is the event which took place eight days after the celebration of His divine incarnation. This was a custom, a rite that Jews performed on all new-born boys eight days after their birth; b) The memory of the Great Father of the Church Saint Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia; and c) the beginning of the new civil year, a new period of time. Source:users.sch.gr/aiasgr Time and its measurement exists for people while they are alive on this earth; that is, after death there is no time, ...
(c) 2016 || www.studiomathewes.com In church and in home prayer, my children get very easily distracted. This is understandable, given their young age, and I work with where they are. But by far the most infuriating thing to me is when they distract each other. Sometimes it’s unintentional, but many times it’s that they’re choosing to focus on what the other person is doing rather than on the prayer or the liturgy. “Moooooooooooooom, he won’t stop making that face at me.” “Don’t look at him. Turn your head and look at the icons.” “But he’s dooooooooing it.” “Ignore it. Turn your head and you won’t see him.” “But–” “Look at the icons.” I should listen to my own advice. So-and-so made an offhand comment that I found irritating. Look at the ...
The evolution and renaissance of music for Greek church choirs which occurred in the 19th century is an incontestable fact, which is clearly confirmed by the compositions of Iakovos the Protopsaltis. The Byzantine age has, of course, left us with sublime examples of the art of Church music by such composers as Saint Ioannis Koukouzelis, Manouil Chrsysafis and others, but more recently others such as Petros Peloponissios and Iakovos the Protopsaltis have also contributed beautiful settings. It’s worth mentioning that in the Athonite tradition of Church singing, the settings of Iakovos the Protopsaltis are very popular and familiar and are still sung to this day. The recording which follows includes the slow Pasapnoaria by Iakovos the Protopsaltis in tone 1 and ...
Birds are very clever and wise creatures. They’re not easy to catch. As soon as they see someone coming to catch them, they fly away and so escape their enemies. Christians should be as astute and careful as this, so that the bodiless hunters can’t snatch their soul.
We also said that those who are born of the spirit have a heart in which dwells Christ ‘through faith’. According to biblical anthropology and orthodox tradition, the heart of man is the centre of his personhood. It is there that choices occur and decisions are made. There, God is revealed and there He dwells. There, man meets with God and through God he feels united with all the generations of men. God makes his heart ‘His footstool’ and enlarges it with His grace, so that it can embrace heaven and earth. A man that bears this divine enlargement within him will always accept his brother as his own life and will never reject him because that would cause his ...
A saintly hermit told the brothers the following story: One day, as I was sitting in the desert, I began to feel worried and sad. A thought came to me: “Get up and go for a walk in the desert”. So I walked and came to a water-course and gazing into the distance in the moonlight- night had fallen already- I saw something hirsute sitting on a rock. At first I thought it was a lion and stopped walking in that direction. But then I thought it over and realized that, even if it were a lion, I shouldn’t be afraid, but rather should take courage and believe in the grace of Christ. So I started off again, heading towards the ...
St. Theophan the Recluse You’ve got to get out of your head and into your heart. Right now your thoughts are in your head, and God seems to be outside you. Your prayer and all your spiritual exercises also remain exterior. As long as you are in your head, you will never master your thoughts, which continue to whirl around your head like snow in a winter’s storm or like mosquitoes in the summer’s heat. If you descend into your heart, you will have no more difficulty. Your mind will empty out and your thoughts will dissipate. Thoughts are always in your mind chasing one another about, and you will never manage to get them under control. But if you enter ...
1 January 1946 “Behold, I and the children God has given me”. I didn’t want to have children in the world by the flesh and God gave me you to have as my spiritual children. That saying comforts me and I imagine it brings you joy, too. I’ve got you as my children and you think of me as your spiritual father. The spiritual father is superior to the father after the flesh. Because if I see you dashing your foot against a rock, I’ll be worried; I’ll run and help. If I see you being dragged to court over some debt that you owe, I hurry along and pay it on your behalf. If I see people condemning you, swearing at ...
What a fine image the faithful make. How wonderful their joy is. Its beauty wins you over and expresses their faith in God. And the serenity which permeates them expresses the peace in their soul.
