For, instead of a fig or an almond or some such thing, vanity and love of honour and love of gain and love of pleasure, and whatever else the evil assembly of the devil places before greedy men instead of sweetmeats, easily bring to light the ape-like souls who, through pretence and imitation, play the role of the Christian and then remove the mask of moderation or meekness or some other virtue in a moment of personal crisis.
Thy Will be Done
“As darkness vanishes when light is brought into the gloom of caves, so also, when Thy Will is done in me, every foul and wicked movement of my free will is brought to nought. For continence will extinguish the uncontrolled impulses of a mind dominated by passion; humility will destroy conceit, moderation will heal the... Continue Reading →
The Art of Living Is The Imitation of God
Every person is the painter of his own life, and choice is the craftsman [technitees - literally, artist] of the work , and the virtues are the paints for executing the image
The Spiritual Journey of The Psalter
“First the Psalter separates us .. . from the attached evil to which we have been attached (chained). And thus it scrapes and polishes our understanding by means of more delicate teachings of ideas. Then, by means of the forms of virtue, it forms Christ in us, in accordance with whose image we existed in... Continue Reading →
The Senses Become Attuned to Him
Commenting on Song of Songs, St. Gregory of Nyssa says about the human acquisition of virtue as mirroring God more fully. He speaks here about the spiritual senses. The bride then rightly recognizes the difference between herself and her Lord. As Light, He is an object of beauty for our eyes; He is a sweet... Continue Reading →
We Are Our Own Birth Givers
"Now, it is certainly required that what is subject to change be in a sense always coming to birth. In mutable nature nothing can be observed which is always the same. Being born, in the sense of constantly experiencing change, does not come about as the result of external initiative, as is the case with... Continue Reading →
More than Meets the Eyes: Icons, Ascesis and The Deception of Empiricism
Icons teach us not to look on reality as what we see but perceive its deeper reality. Asceticism in turn trains our spiritual perceptions to perceive reality properly in order to lead us to God.
The Human Being as Divine Song
"If, then, the orderly arrangement of the cosmos as a whole is a musical harmony, ‘whose designer and maker is God' (Heb 11.10), as the apostle says, and man is a miniature cosmos, and this same man has also been made an image of the one who composed the cosmos, what reason knows in the... Continue Reading →
Pleasures whose only remaining trace is shame
"These pleasures rule every material pursuit, but the zeal for such things achieves no goal, for there is no way, by nature, of preserving the momentary pleasure which people experience, so that the pleasure which they so zealously acquire is stored away for them. On the contrary, it is as though those who love pleasure... Continue Reading →
Firstfruits and The Ascension of Our Lord
As we have celebrated another joyous feast of The Ascension of our Lord and Pentecost, let us contemplate what The Ascension of The Lord means for us. In doing so we must contemplate some of the words we pray and say, but perhaps without having fully gleaned what it might mean for us. Here let... Continue Reading →
Psalm 151, Bright Saturday and The Resurrection
“I was small among my brethren, and youngest in my father’s house: I tended my father’s sheep. My hands formed a musical instrument, and my fingers tuned a psaltery. And who shall tell my Lord? the Lord himself, he himself hears. He sent forth his angel, and took me from my father’s sheep, and he... Continue Reading →
What He is, He Does
Commenting on the beginning of Psalm 106 St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches; "For he begins immediately by saying, Give thanks to the Lord,for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever (Ps 106.1).’ Exomologesis is to be understood here in the sense of thanksgiving, not in the sense of confession. He exhorts us here... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 