"Pleasure is only a fleeting delight. Yea, pleasure quickly takes flight, and we cannot tie it down even for a few moments. For such is the destiny of human and sensible things: hardly do we possess them, and they escape us...They offer nothing solid or assured, nothing fixed or permanent. They flow away more rapidly... Continue Reading →
The true prisoner
"A prisoner of barbarians is bound in irons; a prisoner of the passions is bound with sadness." Evagrius Pontus, On The 8 Thoughts, Chapter 5, Tract 8. Let us see that slavery of the passions for what it truly is, slavery causing sadness.
Avarice as The Root of The Passions
"One who wishes to cut off the passions should cut out their root; for while avarice remains, there is no benefit in trimming the branches: whenever they are cut off they will immediately sprout again." Evagrius, On the Eight Thoughts, On Avarice, Chapter 2 Let us recall that for the Greek fathers, the passions are... Continue Reading →
Bring Your Thoughts Under the Control of Logos
“If reason (logos)... assumes control over such movements [the passions], each of them is transmuted to a form of virtue; for anger produces courage, terror-caution, fear-obedience, hatred-turning away from evil, the power of love the desire for what is truly beautiful; high-mindedness in our character raises our thought above the passions, and keeps it from... Continue Reading →
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“ I was not sent, he says, as the teacher Moses was, to condemn the world with the law or to introduce a command to convict people of sin. Nor do I do the ministry of a servant. Rather, I bring the love for humanity that befits the master. As Son and heir of the... Continue Reading →
And The World Did Not Know Him
“The theologian very quickly counters these things by saying, ‘The world did not know him.’ He does not say that he was at fault for being unknown. Let the world blame its own weakness. The Son enlightens, but the creature blunts the grace. The creature was loaned the sight to conceive of the one who... Continue Reading →
Let Us Always Hold God Near
"Prayer is beautiful, making distinct for the soul a notion of God. And the indwelling good is this -- holding God settled in oneself through the memory. We thus become temples of God whenever the continuity of our memory is not interrupted by earthly worries and whenever the mind is not disturbed by unforeseen passions.... Continue Reading →
Diagnosing The Problem
But the audacity of men, having regard not to what is expedient [ie good] and becoming, but to what is possible for it, began to do the contrary
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 