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Humility
Read more: HumilityWhen someone asked a hermit to define humility, he answered, “Humility is when you forgive someone who has wronged you before he expresses regret.” I cannot think of how many times in my experience the subject of apologies has come up along with the subject of forgiveness. Of course when someone asks forgiveness we should […]
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Is a Relationship with God What We Want?
Read more: Is a Relationship with God What We Want?An excellent question was raised in the comments of my previous post – the question being about the nature of relationship. It is commonplace in our modern parlance to speak of a “personal relationship” which is either redundant, or a way of weakening the true meaning of “personal.” I suspect that the modern meaning of […]
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The Depths of the Personal
Read more: The Depths of the PersonalI have written on modern distortions of “personal relationship” in which “private” relationship is one of its corrupted meanings. I have also noted that, properly understood, “personal” always carries a meaning of “corporate” as well. To be in personal relationship with Christ necessarily means that I am in relationship with His Body, the Church. There […]
Conversion, Culture, Fathers, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, The Church, The Journey of Faith
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The Orthodox Church and Personal Salvation
Read more: The Orthodox Church and Personal SalvationA priest friend sent me an article from Franklin Graham’s website, describing a revival in the Ukraine. Like others who have gone to Eastern Europe to preach the gospel, there is frequently a mistaken assessment of the Orthodox Church. Graham’s article recognized a holiness present in the Church’s there, but described it as “Old Testament,” […]
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For More on the Way of Humility
Read more: For More on the Way of HumilityFor those interested in reading more on the Way of Humility described by Archimandrite Zacharias, read the pages on the Ecclesiology of the Cross published on this blog.
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Grace and “the Inverted Pyramid”
Read more: Grace and “the Inverted Pyramid”Fr. Sophrony [Sakharov], in his book on St. Silouan, presents this theory of the “inverted pyramid.” He says that the empirical cosmic being is like a pyramid: at the top sit the powerful of the earth, who exercise dominion over the nations (cf. Matt. 20:25), and at the bottom stand the masses. But the spirit […]
Dostoevsky, Fathers, Knowledge of God, Orthodox Christianity, Saints, Scripture, The Church, The Journey of Faith, Tradition
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Silent Sentinels and the Saints among Us
Read more: Silent Sentinels and the Saints among UsI originally ran this post last December. I have watched the film mentioned in it many times. The thoughts in the post came back to me again today. Like many, I recall my highschool years somewhat vividly. Our school was of moderate size with a personal history for most students that increased its impact. It […]
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Living With A Brain
Read more: Living With A BrainFor the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Anyone who spends time listening to the spiritual struggles of other people – or spends time struggling with […]
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St. Silouan on Peace
Read more: St. Silouan on PeaceThe following is a small excerpt (including the prayer) from St. Silouan the Athonite written by the elder Sophrony. The painting is Vasnetsov’s Baptism of the Prince Vladimir. The soul that has known the Lord wants to see Him within her at all times, for the Lord enters the soul in quietness and gives her peace, and […]





Nathan, I take the silence to be guidance as well. I have conversations with hierarchs of various jurisdictions from time…