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Knocking Down the Gates of Hell
Read more: Knocking Down the Gates of HellThe Swedish Lutheran theologian, Gustav Aulen, published a seminal work on the types of atonement theory in 1930 (Christus Victor). Though time and critical studies have suggested many subtler treatments of the question, no one has really improved on his insight. Especially valuable was his description of the “Classic View” of the atonement. This imagery, […]
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The Bridegroom and Judgment
Read more: The Bridegroom and JudgmentBehold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse […]
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Lazarus Saturday
Read more: Lazarus SaturdayLargely ignored by much of Christendom, the Orthodox mark the day before Palm Sunday as “Lazarus Saturday” in something of a prequel to the following weekend’s Pascha. It is, indeed a little Pascha just before the greater one. And this, of course, was arranged by Christ Himself, who raised His friend Lazarus from the dead […]
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The Limits of Holiness
Read more: The Limits of HolinessI saw a commercical recently that proclaimed, “Freedom has no limits!” It sought to capture the modern imagination with what is a patently absurd statement. Everything in creation has limits – that is the nature of created things. It is nonetheless the case that we can imagine our life without limits – a shameless existence […]
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The Mythic Character of Reality
Read more: The Mythic Character of RealityThe friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien is well-known, as is Tolkien’s role in bringing Lewis to Christ. Less well-known (unless you dig a bit further) is Tolkien’s role in bringing Lewis out of a rigid and flat understanding of the world and into the rich possibilities afforded by “myth.” Without this conversion, Lewis […]
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The Ladder of Your Daily Life
Read more: The Ladder of Your Daily LifePerhaps the most prominent ladder in our culture is the one associated with careers. It is an image of the American road to success. We begin at or near the bottom and, step by step, make our way towards the top. It is a metaphor that works well with our modern notions of hard work, […]
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Can Shame Ever Be Healthy?
Read more: Can Shame Ever Be Healthy?When I first began to research the topic of shame, I was surprised to find so little mention or use of the word in the Fathers. There are a few significant examples in which shame features largely, such as Book 4 in The Ladder. Nevertheless, the word seems somewhat scarce if you think about the […]
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The Despised God
Read more: The Despised GodIn On the Orthodox Faith, St. John of Damascus declares: ‘The Son is the image of the Father, and the Spirit the image of the Son’. Such statements are easily read and passed over as among the more obvious Trinitarian statements. I add to this statement another from St. Irenaeus: “That which is invisible of […]
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Christianity in a Plain Brown Wrapper
Read more: Christianity in a Plain Brown WrapperBut we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Co 3:18) Among the many losses within modern Christianity has been the place of transformation. Nineteenth century revival movements and […]
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Following a Conversation with a Tree
Read more: Following a Conversation with a Tree“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,while we do not look at the things which are seen, […]
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Yes … “inner person” … 🙂 Thanks so much Fr. Stephen as always.
Matthew, For one (in the good news department), what I have described is more just. In point of fact, no…
Well Fr. Stephen … what you and Fr. Sergei and Solzhenitsyn share seems like very good news. Is it? If…
Matthew, Yes. That’s how I read it (following the suggestion of Fr. Sergei Bulgakov). It also parallels Solzhenitsyn’s observation that…
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Fr. Stephen wrote: “But our hope is not in places, nor in mechanical operations of salvation. Our hope is in…