Glory to God For All Things

September 28, 2009

Prayer and Porridge

Some brothers visited Abba Anthony and asked him to tell them how they could find salvation. The old man said, “You are familiar with the Scriptures. That should teach you enough.” “Yes, but we want a word from you also, Abba.” Then the old man responded, “The Gospel instructs you to turn the other cheek.” […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 27, 2009

The Icon as Proof of God’s Existence

God “adorns himself in magnificence and clothes himself with beauty.” Man stands amazed and contemplates the glory whose light causes a hymn of praise to burst forth from the heart of every creature. The Testamentum Domini gives us the following prayer: “Let them be filled with the Holy Spirit…so they can sing a doxology and […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 26, 2009

Icons and Truth

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. In the last several posts I have written about the iconic character of reality – the world about us has the character of an icon. I have also noted the iconic character of language and of Scripture. There is much to say about what […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 24, 2009

Icons and the Smashing of Images

My recent series on iconicity would seem to require a word or two about the smashing of images (iconoclasm). +++ I have a quote on the sidebar from an earlier posting. It is about the need we have for proper images and the danger inherent in “image smashing” or “iconoclasm.” We have to renounce iconoclasm. In […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 24, 2009

Grief Observed

As regular readers of this blog will know, I buried my mother last week. Her passing was a very godly event. I have no particular thoughts on my grief (that I care to share) – only the abiding comfort of the prayers of the Church and gratitude for the prayers of friends. I wrote the […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 22, 2009

Drawn Ever Deeper

On translation and the iconicity of language – this comment posted earlier today is worth more attention: I’ve been enjoying thinking about your words on the subject of there being something revealing about the act and result of translation. It makes me think of weeping and other miraculous icons. The particular icon, written faithfully according […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 21, 2009

Icons and Words

With this post I want to make a link between my last article, on how we “see” icons, and an earlier article, “Doctrine and Opinion,” in which I quoted the late Fr. Georges Florovsky who said, “Doctrine is a verbal icon of Christ.” I noted then that this presented a very different approach to doctrine […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 20, 2009

Icons – Beauty and the Salvation of the World

“God will save the World Through Beauty.” This saying, often attributed to Fyodor Dostoevsky, never occurs in precisely this form in his novels – though the idea is present in such a strong sense that the phrase is correctly attributed to him. It is a phrase that is easily misunderstood. For Dostoevsky, in good Orthodox […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 19, 2009

To See An Icon

My previous post spoke of the world existing “iconically” rather than “literally.” I do not mean that the world cannot be seen in a “literal” fashion – only that the world will not be truly seen if seen only in a literal fashion (there is probably a better word than “literal” to describe this secularized […]
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Orthodox Christianity
September 17, 2009

Is the World Literal or Iconic?

What do you see when you see the world and how do you see it? I have written much about the secular character of our culture and its “literal” view of the world. The world is what you see and nothing more. Significant events take their significance from their own relation to other literal events. […]
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Orthodox Christianity

Jenny … I too have some problems with the doctrine of original sin, but as far as I know the…

Jenny, Bad theology is a lot like bad parenting. It’s why, historically, the Church has labeled certain things as “heresy.”

Good advice Mark. Thanks. I remember you saying something like good parents live what they believe and try to be…

Father, You can guess maybe how difficult it was to believe what Jesus had told me about being created in…

Mark, That’s very good advice.