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Daily Meditations

From the Prayer of Jesus to Prayer of the Heart (Part II)

01/29/2019

Once this prayer [the Prayer of Jesus] has taken root within us, our heart is illumined by a deep confidence, in which we are spared of the former blindness that allowed us to pray only with the lips. Now we welcome prayer as an ineffable treasure. As spiritual guides have so often declared, “the Prayer of Jesus is a joy that elicits a response of thanksgiving.” At this point in the spiritual pilgrimage, the heart

Saints Isaac and Ephraim, the Syrians

01/28/2019

Saint Isaac the Syrian The great luminary of the life of stillness, Saint Isaac, was born in the early seventh century in Eastern Arabia, the present-day Qatar on the Persian Gulf. He became a monk at a young age, and at some time left Arabia to dwell with monks in Persia. He was consecrated Bishop of Nineveh (and is therefore sometimes called “Saint Isaac of Nineveh”), but after five months received permission to return to

Saint Gregory Nazianzus

01/25/2019

  Gregory, known as “the Theologian” in Byzantine Christianity, was a very wealthy man, the son of a bishop, and a close associate of the leading theologians of Cappadocia (Turkey) in the fourth century. He was the most educated Christian leader of his generation and wrote extensive treatises, letters, poems, and sermons. He was copied almost as many times after his lifetime as was the Bible, and so became the most influential of all the

Desert Fathers, Psychologists of their Day

01/24/2019

Around the year 300 the first signs of the monastic movement began to appear. Monks settled down in various places, first in uninhabited regions, and then in the desert. Scholars are still arguing over the origins of monasticism. Obviously there were some non-Christian sources. The Bible itself issues no call to monastic life. Monasticism is a broadly human movement that can be found in all religions, a primordial longing to live for God alone, to

Members of one another (Part IV)

01/23/2019

For St Silouan, as we have seen from his conversation with the dour hermit, this love for our fellow-humans includes even hell within its scope. Expounding the teaching of the Starets, Fr Sophrony writes: Dwelling in heaven, the Saints behold hell and embrace it too in their love. This is possible for them, because the love that is at work in their hearts is nothing else than the love of God Himself; and God’s love

From the Prayer of Jesus to Prayer of the Heart (Part I)

01/22/2019

Archimandrite Placide Deseille is Higoumen of the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, St.-Laurent-en-Royans, France, and professor at the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. The following thoughts are adapted from a talk he gave at a local parish on 6 March 2008, originally published by the Service Orthodoxe de Presse (SOP), supplement no. 327, April 2008. The expressions “Prayer of the Heart” and “Prayer of Jesus” or “Jesus Prayer” are often used as equivalents.

The Beloved Community (Martin Luther King Day)

01/21/2019

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. —Martin Luther King, Jr. [1] As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw clearly in the last years of his life, we face a real choice between chaos and community—we need a moral revolution. If that was true fifty years ago, then we must be clear today: America needs a moral revival to bring about beloved community. —William J. Barber II [2] I believe that

Saint Athanasios the Great

01/18/2019

Athanasios was born in Alexandria in the year 296 A.D. and from his early childhood had an inclination to the spiritual life. He was a deacon to Archbishop Alexander and accompanied him to the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 325 A.D.]. It was at this Council that Athanasius became renowned for his learning, devotion to and zeal for Orthodoxy. He contributed greatly to destroy the heresy of Arius and to strengthen Orthodoxy. He wrote the Symbol

Saint Anthony of the Desert. “You Are Crazy; You Are Not Like Us!”

01/17/2019

If the desert elders are not selfish, if they are simply men and women who are learning the hard lesson of sharing, are they perhaps opponents of the flesh? Do they hate the body? It is not difficult to find harsh statements about the passions and against the body in the Sayings. Yet, we should be careful to ask what these statements actually imply. Are the elders speaking of subduing the body or the passions?

From Image to Likeness (Part II)

01/16/2019

In the Mother of God, the first created person who has entered the resplendence of the Kingdom in her earthly flesh, we see the two mysteries conjoined: that of the image restored in Christ and that of the likeness achieved by the Spirit and freedom. Nicholas Cabasilas said that God, as long as he had not found a mother, was like a king in exile, like a stranger without a city. Solely because a young

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