Month: December 2009
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The Heart of Forgiveness
Nothing is more difficult to our heart than forgiveness of our enemies. I cannot complete this small series on the heart without a few words on this topic. This post was written last March. I cannot think that any of my readers is a stranger to forgiveness, either the need to be forgiven or the…
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What the Heart Reveals
It has been said that “icons do not depict but rather reveal.” It is an insight into the intrinsic character of icons. Events that are seen in a merely historical manner do not reveal their true nature. The meaning of an event and its significance are almost never apparent. Indeed, the world itself does not…
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Guard Your Heart
I often think about the admonition of the fathers to “guard your heart.” It seems so obvious to me that the disposition of my heart has everything to do with how I will perceive and react to everything around me. An anxious heart perceives everything as a threat – a disaster or vexation in the…
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A Heart Without Exits
The following is a short collection of sayings from the Elder Epiphanios of Athens (1930-1989). They are quoted from the text, Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit. True love is like the flame of a candle. However many candles you light from the flame, the initial flame remains unaffected. It doesn’t lessen at all. And…
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Ever Being Formed in our Heart
In our modern world we sometimes forget that a single person is not able to do much on their own. If Wittgenstein was right, then we really can’t do anything on our own. We live, for good or ill, within a culture, within a social matrix that makes most aspects of our life possible. Language…
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The Treasures of the Heart
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34-35 The heart itself is but a small vessel, yet dragons are there, and…
You say it well Dee. The tension I feel when I want to tell the good news of orthodox worship…