Glory to God For All Things

October 5, 2020

Grace Enough

Some years ago I was in hospital for a time and not in the least bit happy about it. One sleepless night I was walking the halls of the unit, unable to sleep, and tempted with self-pity. I thought to myself (in rebuke), “Father Arseny endured the Soviet Gulag with more hope and patience than […]
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Knowledge of God, Modernity, Reflections, Union with God
September 28, 2020

The Poetry of God

Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. – St. Pophyrios of Kavsokalyvia St. Porphyrios made this statement in the context of love and suffering: That’s what it is! You must suffer. You must love and suffer–suffer for the one you love. Love makes effort for the loved one. She runs all through […]
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Beauty, Knowledge of God, Reflections
September 24, 2020

From Desire to Necessity

I recently re-watched one of the most eye-opening programs on the 20th century, The Century of the Self (BBC 2002). It looks at the development of advertising, particularly the theories and work of Edward Bernays. You’ve seen his work, but you didn’t know it. He was one of the pioneers of modern advertising as […]
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Family, Modernity, Reflections
September 22, 2020

What To Do With What You Know

In a world driven by information, it is more than a little easy to mistake knowing something as important and good in and of itself. As such, the acquisition of spiritual information is something of a going industry. In a Russian novel written back in the 90’s, a woman intellectual encounters a monk who is […]
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Knowledge of God, Salvation
September 15, 2020

A Cruciform Providence

The entire mystery of the economy of our salvation consists in the self-emptying and abasement of the Son of God – St. Cyril of Alexandria Trust in the providence of God is much more than a general theory of how things are arranged in our lives and in the world. We tend to discuss the […]
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Cross, Modernity, Reflections
September 9, 2020

Doors, Windows, Mirrors, and the Secret Place

My first impression of the monasteries on Mt. Athos began with their doors: massive, thick, iron and steel configurations with bars and locks. They are not decorative in the least. They are meant to keep out marauding Turkish pirates and the like. The walls of the monasteries are similar in their function. The whole structure, […]
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Beauty, Icons, Knowledge of God, Prayer, Reflections
September 1, 2020

Forged in the Fires of a Dying Sun

Today I stood at the altar and marveled at the gold of the chalice. It is, of course, supremely blessed, holding (as it does) the very Blood of God. But I was simply thinking of its journey to that altar, its transformation, indeed, its transmutation. If the science of cosmology is followed, then heavy elements […]
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Beauty, Morality, Reflections, Secularism, The Sacraments
August 25, 2020

The Greatest Battle Is at Hand

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul warns of the dangers of being “tossed about with every wind of doctrine.” Early Christianity had very little institutional existence or stability. Churches met in homes (usually those of the wealthy). They gathered around their Bishop (or Bishops) with their Presbyters and Deacons. They were grounded in […]
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Communion, Reflections, The Church
August 17, 2020

Fleeing Paris with Vladimir Lossky

Times of relative peace and prosperity are far more rare than we realize. Our present difficulties reflect stresses and strains that have been common in many parts of the world and through time. I have found some comfort in reading lives and stories from those times and places, particularly those accounts that point towards a […]
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Reflections, Thankfulness, Union with God
August 15, 2020

Every Generation

In my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring […]
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Family, Mother of God, Personhood

Believe me, a hug is a great gift of God that brings tears both when you receive them and when…

Byron, I would, on the whole, settle for a hug.

It read your blogs (All of it? Not sure) and what it came up with is “He writes like a…

My wife, bless her, got a whole new Internet system. Content identical but presented in such a way that I…

Father, This conversation reminds me of the Dr Strange Love movie where a cowboy rides a nuclear missile to his…