Category: Knowledge of God
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Paradise in a Single Moment
The Exapostelarian for the Matins of Good Friday is the hymn, “The Wise Thief.” It draws our attention to the mercy of God – who promised paradise to the wise thief, “This day.” Thoughts on the nearness of paradise are also a theme in the writings of Dostoevsky. If paradise is so near – why…
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Riding on a Donkey
As far back as Genesis, in the prophecy of Jacob over his sons, we hear the association of the Messiah with a donkey: Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a…
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It Is But a Small Thing
I have noticed in my daily struggle that most of the things that are of importance turn on very “small things.” The decisions that set me on the course of prayer or kindness are made not with fanfare or even large efforts, but on a moment’s turn. By the same token, the decisions that…
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Living Knowledge of God
From Fr. Nicholas Sakharov’s I Love Therefore I Am… As far as spiritual knowledge is concered, it has a unique basis: “Our knowledge is a result of the revelation from above.” Spiritual knoweldge is understood as “con-joined existence,” or “co-existence” (sobytie), as “uniting fusion” (spaika) of very being. In Felicite, Fr. Sophrony writes: “Knowledge is…
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To Remember God
Abba Macarius said, “If we remember the evil that others have done to us, we shut down our ability to remember God.” There are many ways to misunderstand the Christian faith – certainly far more ways to get it wrong than to get it right. One of the deepest misunderstandings of our culture is the…
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Worth the Time to Think It Through
There are many things written in theology that are difficult to understand. Certain writers, certain realities are difficult if not impossible to grasp with reason alone. I can recall spending several days with a single sentence from Met. John Zizioulas’ Being As Communion. However, after several days, “the coin dropped,” as the saying goes, and…
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Careful Devotion to Christ
In writing about monasticism, I recently made mention of what I called “careful devotion to Christ.” In turn, a reader asked me to write further on “careful devotion.” In many ways the great problem of our age is the two-storey universe (which is make-believe) in which we live as religious people. We live in a…
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Fr. Sophrony on Personhood
The incarnation of the Logos of the Father – Jesus Christ – furnishes a solid foundation for our knowledge of God. Actuated by love for Him, we undergo a profound transformation of our whole being. Christ’s infinite life is transmitted to us. Our spirit finds itself on opposite poles – in both the black depths…
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And Now a Word from St. Isaac the Syrian
Sometimes…while prayer remains for its part, the intellect is taken away from it as if into heaven, and tears fall like fountains of waters, involuntarily soaking the whole face. All this time such a person is serene, still and filled with a wonder-filled vision. Very often he will not be allowed even to pray: this…
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Augustinian Surprises
God is He Whom we know best in not knowing Him. – St. Augustine It is He about Whom we have no knowledge unless it be to know how we do not know Him. – St. Augustine Both quotes are from De ordine. Fr. Thomas Hopko is fond of saying that “We cannot know God…
Thank you Aric. I echo your thoughts.