"If you renounce the life you are leading today and if you persevere in your prayer, you will feel that your effort is securing you great restfulness. You will discover in these slight pains and fatigues a joy and a happiness that are immense. God's tender love is ineffable. He offers Himself to those who... Continue Reading →
Uniting man to God
"He that is God by nature became, and is in truth, a man from Heaven; not merely inspired [ie by the Holy Spirit], as some of those who do not rightly understand the depth of the mystery imagine, but being at the same time God and man, in order that, uniting as it were in Himself things widely opposed by nature, and averse to fusion with each other, He might enable man to share and partake of the nature of God." St. Cyril of Alexandria, On John 17.20
St. Philoxenos on The Eucharist
Speaking about our access to God through the Eucharist, St. Philoxenos teaches, "It became His own flesh which He took from us and not that of another man who is considered separate from Him. For this reason also, we confess that we take the living body of the living God, and not the simple body... Continue Reading →
He is Transfused in Us
That Deity should be born in our nature ought not reasonably to present any strangeness to the minds of those who do not take too narrow a view of things. For who, when he takes a survey of the universe, is so simple as not to believe that there is Deity in everything, penetrating it,... Continue Reading →
Humanity Ascends in Him
"Our Lord Jesus Christ consecrated for us a new and living way... it is not then that He may present Himself to God the Father, that Christ has ascended upon high; for ever was and is and will be continually in the Father, in the sight of Him Who begat Him, for He it is... Continue Reading →
Death Devours Him and Is Devoured
"He was begotten by a woman, so that He might bring all those begotten to rebirth. He was willingly crucified, so that He might take down [from the cross] those unwillingly crucified. He died willingly, so that He might raise up [from the grave] those who died involuntarily. He accepted a death that He need... Continue Reading →
He Draws Near To Our Death
"Our whole nature had to be recalled from death to life. God therefore stooped over our dead body to offer His hand, so to speak, to the creature lying there. He came near enough to death to make contact with our mortal remains, and by means of His own body provided nature with the capacity... Continue Reading →
Our Death to Death and Rising to Life
“We must therefore avoid love of glory, the sister and neighbour of arrogance, which is not far distant from its borders. Let us flee the illustrious honour of the present life as something unjust, and instead let us seek the holiness found in humility, yielding to each other as the blessed Paul admonished us: ‘Each... Continue Reading →
The Firstborn From The Dead
"Not only was the creation of all existent things brought about by Him [The Son of God], but that when the original creation of man had decayed and vanished away, to use his [Paul’s] own language, and another new creation was wrought in Christ, in this too no other than He took the lead, but... Continue Reading →
Death is Distraught at His Entering In
As we have celebrated the Joyous and Bright Saturday, we contemplate the liturgical poetry of St. Ephrem the Syrian. Death is conquered by the one Who enters therein! Death says, "The death of Jesus is to me a torment. I prefer for myself His life rather than His death. This is the Dead One whose... Continue Reading →
The Loosing of Lazarus and Our Release from Sin
After the Lord cries out that Lazarus arise we read, "Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go." And this too is representative of the general resurrection, when, being loosed from sin and the corruption of death, every one will be set free. For, falling into sin, we have wrapped the shame of... Continue Reading →
He shall give His angels charge over you- Our Temptation and Christ
Commenting on Satan's temptation to Christ, "Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ and, ‘In their... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 