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 →
The Life-Giving Blessing: Genesis and The Eucharist
We have already seen that the first chapters of Genesis have much to teach us. In extending our dialogue to the Eucharist we move to a consideration of food, Divine food. Following Genesis: The Book of The Promise we see what is revealed about the food which God once offered to us through the law... Continue Reading →
Let us amass the riches of Repentance
"Let all of us who wish to enter the sacred gate of the holy fast erase and banish all earthly thoughts from our hearts; and let us pass the whole of it in holy fashion in good works. We fast by abstaining not from food only, but also from bitterness and malice; and from every... Continue Reading →
The Life-Giving Cross
"By your life-giving Cross, O Christ, the depth of the riches of wisdom and power can be seen. For when you who are the power of God were nailed upon it, upon the wood of infirmity, that is, the Cross, You changed it into a wood of power, such as befits God." St. Severus of... Continue Reading →
The Spiritual Sequence of Psalms 1, 2, 3
"The sequence related to salvation also looks to this [our benefit], and the order which assists us to this end is best. For example, the first psalm removed humanity from its cohesion with evil. The second, having indicated the appearance of the Lord through flesh in advance, showed to what we should cling, and that... Continue Reading →
An Exhortation To Repentance
“O Lord, I am a suppliant to You; You [The] Good! I am knocking at Your door; Break not, O Lord, Your promise, "Knock, and I will open to you. " Thy door is not closely fastened When the sinner comes and knocks at it; Thy door is always opened To the righteous and the wicked.... Continue Reading →
Distractions at Prayer
When the demons see you yearning to pray truly, then they propose representations of certain things that are supposedly necessary and shortly thereafter they raise up and implant the memory of them, setting the mind in motion to search for them. When the mind does not find them, it is deeply grieved and discouraged. Then... Continue Reading →
Christianity’s Forgotten Spirit
"Therefore because of the grace of the Spirit which has been given to us, we come to be in him, and He in us. And through his becoming in us, and we having the Spirit, it is reasonable that, since it is the Spirit of God, we are considered to be in God and God... Continue Reading →
Morning Hymn of St. Severus
"Come speedily, you peoples, let us go to the spiritual Jordan or the temple of the baptistery in order to honour the God-befitting mystery of the holy resurrection, and let us all in it worship the life-giving death of God who became incarnate and suffered on our behalf in the flesh; which also caused a... Continue Reading →
We too are rescued from slavery
Juxtaposing the ransom of humanity to the ransom of Israel from Egypt St. Cyril teaches: "He rescued us from the slavery of the devil as from clay and brick, he delivered from us the passions of the world and impurities of the flesh, he made us pass over as through a sea. For having outrun... Continue Reading →
We too must battle the dragon
In symbol and truth Leviathan is trodden down by mortals: the baptized, like divers, strip and put on oil, as a symbol if Christ They snatched you and came up: stripped, they seized the soul from his embittered mouth. St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Faith, 82.10. We too follow Christ in our baptism. As... Continue Reading →
By His Baptism He Brings Us to Life
"Christ, though immortal by nature, clothed himself in a mortal body; He was baptized-and raised up from the water the treasure of salvation for the race of Adam" St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Virginity, 7.10. See Theophany – The Spirit Descended and Remained Upon Him for a more indepth treatment of how Christian theology sees... Continue Reading →
