“Man has been plunged into the abyss of darkness and the depths of death. He is suffocating and has lost God’s life within himself, surrounded by ferocious beasts. Who is able to penetrate into those depths of hell and death except that very Workman himself, who fashioned the human body? He himself [Christ] penetrates into... Continue Reading →
Hope Not in Your Own Strength
“Give us help out of affliction” (Ps. 59:13). Let us seek help, not from [physical] strength, not from the well-being of the flesh. Let us not think it right to obtain aid from any of those considered notorious among men. Strength is a matter not of amassing of money, not of extent of power, not... Continue Reading →
Be Angry and Do Not Sin
"So let us too not be angry rashly. Anger, you see, has been instilled in us for a reason, not for sinning but for checking others in their sin, not for it to become a passion and an affliction but for it to prove a remedy for passions. Accordingly consider the anomaly of vice, when... Continue Reading →
The Wondrous Paradox of The Incarnation
“Your mother is a cause for wonder: the Lord entered herand became a servant; He who is the Word entered — and became silent within her; thunder entered her—-and made no sound; there entered the Shepherd of all, and in her He became the Lamb, bleating as He came forth. Your Mother’s womb has reversed... Continue Reading →
Fasting Because All Things Are Good
“To eat and drink with thanksgiving to God all that is served up or prepared for one is not in any way opposed to the rule of knowledge. For everything is very good (Genesis 1.31). But voluntarily to abstain from what is agreeable and abundant is a sign of great discernment and higher knowledge. We... Continue Reading →
Give Evil no Entry
Speaking about the Egyptian desert and why the monastics there were successful at taming their thoughts and the attack of demons,“But everyone does the work assigned to Him in such a way that, by repeating by heart some psalm or passage of Scripture, he gives no opportunity or time for dangerous schemes or evil designs,... Continue Reading →
Christianity is Not The Destruction But The Elevation of The World
The highest aim for Christianity is not ascetic detachment from the natural life but its hallowing and purification. But in order to purify it, one must, in the first instance, be pure from it.
Adopt A Life of Prayer
"Whoever is used to praying only at such time as the knee is bent, prays very little. But whoever, even on bent knee, is distracted by any sort of wandering heart, prays not at all. And for this reason, it behooves us even before the time of prayer to be such as we would wish... Continue Reading →
The Lord’s Entrance Into Egypt: The Healing of Death and Sin
Hades is fallen, death is abolished, the tyranny of Egypt is overthrown.
In Praise of Athanasius
"In praising Athanasius, I shall be praising virtue. To speak of him and to praise virtue are identical, because he had, or, to speak more truly, has embraced virtue in its entirety. For all who have lived according to God still live unto God, though they have departed hence. For this reason, God is called the... Continue Reading →
Not What You Were But What You Were Made For
When you wish to understand who you are, compare [yourself] not to who you were, but to what you were made from the beginning.Evagrius, Aphorisms, Saying 10 in Cassiday, Augustine M. Evagrius Ponticus. London: Routledge, 2006.
Vanity of Vanities
“Vanity of vanities”, says the Preacher, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” ’ "To those who are entering the church of the mind and are wondering at the contemplation of the created things, the Word says, ‘You must not think that these things are the final goal that has been stored up for you by the promises... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 