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The Pity of God in Dostoevsky
Read more: The Pity of God in DostoevskyThe following passage is scandalous in the extent of its mercy. It is not in the canons – but in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Perhaps I love it because many of the men I knew in my early life were more likeMarmaladov (the old drunk) than like others. But this passage has always been a favorite. Forgive me if I scandalize any by quoting Dostoevsky. God will scandalize us all when we finally behold His mercy – for, I assure you, His mercy will be beyond human imagining. Of this I have no doubt. In the following scene, Dostoevsky is in a…
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A Personal Salvation
Read more: A Personal SalvationPerhaps the most difficult theological truth to communicate in the modern world is that of personal existence. Modern English has taken the word person from the realm of theology and changed it into the cheapest coin of the realm. Today it means that which is private, merely individual. As such, it becomes synonymous not with salvation but with our very destruction. Life lived as a mere individual is no life at all but a progressive movement towards death and destruction. Thus there is always something of a hesitancy when someone asks (in newspeak), “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your…
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Work Out Your Salvation
Read more: Work Out Your Salvation…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) What does it mean to ‘work out our salvation’? It means that among all the things that we see in cosmic existence, we choose what is pleasing to God and separate ourselves from what goes against God. Then, little by little, we see our life changing. But be patient. God can, of course, visit us and in an instant open our eyes to eternity. But usually it is a labor of several years, which has nothing to do with a mere creation of our imagination. Read Saint Silouan: you…
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The Importance of Waiting
Read more: The Importance of WaitingI took some time early this morning to look through a small devotional book on the Church year. It interested me that it looked at Christmas and Theophany, and then immediately went to Great Lent. It was as though these times of the year immediately abut one another. And of course they do, to a certain extent – but not without the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. It seemed again the commentator was in a hurry – first there’s Christmas – then’s there’s Lent. “Gentlemen! Start your engines!” But this is not the way the Church…
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What Are You Waiting For?
Read more: What Are You Waiting For?To a degree, it can be said that everybody is waiting for something. Some are waiting for their ship to come in. Some are waiting to win the lottery. Others are waiting to finish school. Some are waiting to die. This list could probably be made as long as the imagination could sustain. As I child, I was waiting for things to get better. Sometimes it was as simple as waiting for Christmas – but that holiday often had enough danger surrounding it in my family that I waited very ambiguously. I waited for people to remember to say, “I…
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A Few Things More
Read more: A Few Things MoreIt’s very easy in longer postings (such as the previous) to forget the closest things. Church is everything the Scriptures say of it, but we largely encounter Christ in a particular setting, among particular friends and family (sometimes). Thus, just as He gives Himself to us in His consecrated Body and Blood, so too, He gives Himself to us in the flesh and blood, and spirit, of the witnesses with whom we share His presence. My experience has taught me that it is that particular place that the cross is erected – that these people are the ones to whom…
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The Ecclesiology of the Cross
Read more: The Ecclesiology of the CrossThe following article is a series I wrote during the early months of the blog. I think it worth reprinting (surely people aren’t going back to read everything I’ve written). It is also available in the “Pages” section of the blog. If you’ve read it before I hope you enjoy rereading it – if not, I hope you find it useful or worth some thought. Part I Writing to the young Timothy (first letter) St. Paul gives this homey admonition: These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest…
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St. Isaac the Syrian and the Door of Heaven
Read more: St. Isaac the Syrian and the Door of HeavenBe at Peace with your own soul; then heaven and earth will be at peace with you. Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and so you will see the things that are in heaven; for there is one single door to them both. And another: If you do not strive, you will not find; and if you do not knock eagerly at the door and keep long vigil before it, you will not receive an answer. And this small word from St. Augustine: Where can we find Him?…Not on earth, for He is not here. And…
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God and the Universe
Read more: God and the UniverseThe material and organic world is not a world of thought. Only man can think, knowing himself and everything that surrounds him. In our mind an entire ideal world is borne in which is reflected everything we know. But we see that the universe is filled with wisdom, that in acquiring the knowledge of the truth we do not invent it but perceive it through our spiritual eyes. The truth about the universe is neither matter nor a human concept.What is the source of this truth and this wisdom, which penetrates all that exists without merging with it, this wisdom…
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At the Edge of Tradition
Read more: At the Edge of TraditionThere are many things that we see in our lives to which the word “traditional” may be attached. It can refer to a style of dress or an understanding of relationships. In Church it may refer to the use of certain kinds of music or a sytle of worship. Many years ago, pastoring my first parish as an Episcopal priest, I had a young couple who were Roman Catholics, who had come to the Church as inquirers. One of their first statements and complaints to me was that the service in my parish was not “traditional” enough. I was slightly…
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Thank you for this article and for your comments and responses to the questions and comments flowing from the article.…
Yes, indeed! Orthodoxy tends not to issue doctrinal statements when nothing is required (as in a Creed). Rather, its faith…
So it’s the inversion and redifining of worldly power to the true power in the kingdom of God that was…
What I appreciate so much from having been exposed to Orthodoxy and your words, Fr, is the centrality of the…
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Margaret, I sincerely mean it when I say that it is difficult. The difficulty especially comes when we want or…