“The will of my Father is that a person be made a participant in the Holy Spirit and that the citizen of earth be reborn into a strange and unaccustomed life and be called a citizen of Heaven. And when he says that the rebirth by the Holy Spirit is ‘from above,’ he shows clearly... Continue Reading →
The Life of The Slain Lamb Repels Death
"This is the mighty one whose proclamation (of the Gospel) became a bridle in the jaws of the nations, turning them away from idols to the one who sent Him. Dead idols with closed mouths fed upon the life of their worshipers. For this reason, you mixed Your blood, which repelled Death and terrified it,... Continue Reading →
Despondency; The Modern Plague?
The demon of acedia [despondency], also called the noonday demon, is the most oppressive of all the demons. He attacks the monk from about the fourth hour [10am] and besieges his soul until the eighth hour [2 pm]. First of all, he makes it appear that the sun moves slowly or not at all, and... Continue Reading →
The Human Being: Halfway Between Greatness and Nothingness
"The great Architect of the universe conceived and produced a being endowed with both nature, the visible and invisible: God created the human being, bringing its body forth from matter which He animated with His own Spirit... Thus in some way a new universe was born, small and great at one and the same time.... Continue Reading →
The Vision of God is Life
“And for this reason did the Word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men, for whom He made such great dispensations, revealing God indeed to men, but presenting man to God, and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father, lest man should at any time become a... Continue Reading →
Christ, The Aim of Scripture
"The aim (skopos) of the inspired Scriptures is the mystery of Christ signified to us through a myriad of different kinds of things. Someone might liken it to a glittering and magnificent city, having not one image of the king, but many, and publicly displayed in every corner of the city . . . .... Continue Reading →
He in All and All in Him
"For who is so simple-minded as not to believe, when he considers the universe, that the Divine Being is in every thing, clothing Himself with it, embracing it, and residing in it. If then all things are in Him and He in all things, why are they ashamed of the plan of our religion which... Continue Reading →
He is Outside and Yet Within All Creation
"'Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool... All these things my hand has made' (Isaiah 66.1-2). The whole heavens are held in God's hand, the whole earth in the hollow of his hand... The heaven is also his throne and the earth his footstool. His throne and footstool are his infinite omnipotence,... Continue Reading →
The Remembrance of God’s Goodness
"Behold what ought to be the point of departure for a profitable journey according to God. You must always go over in your memory and guard in unceasing meditation, the remembrance of the goodness of God Who has ordered your life's course according to His design, of His benefits that aim at your souls salvation.... Continue Reading →
We Become That Which We Love
In St. Gregory of Nyssa's works there is a beautiful, little known work. This is his commentary on The Inscriptions of the psalms (we probably miss these as we read but these are the texts, some small some large, written in tiny font above the Psalm in most of our Bibles). He sees these inscriptions... Continue Reading →
Participation in Beauty and Goodness
"For since the most beautiful and supreme good of all is the Divinity itself, to which incline all things that have a tendency towards what is beautiful and good, we therefore say that the mind, as being in the image of the most beautiful, itself also remains in beauty and goodness so long as it... Continue Reading →
The Pure Heart Shall See God
There is in you, human beings, a desire to contemplate the True Good. But when you hear that the Divine Majesty is exalted above the heavens, that Its glory is inexpressible, Its beauty ineffable, and Its Nature inaccessible, do not despair of ever behold what you desire. It is indeed within your reach: you have... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 