There are many different kinds of love. Ancient Greeks had multiple distinct words for what we try to cover with our single word “love”; these include philia (friendship), eros (passion), storge (familial love), and agape (infinite or divine love). I sometimes fear that our paucity of words reveals an actual narrowness of experience. For Paul, agape love is the Great Love that is larger than you. It is the Great Self, the God Self. It’s
The spiritual path of the early monks is, then, not a moral way, but a mystical, a mystagogical way, that leads us into God. That is why the writings of Evagrius breathe, not some sort of dour severity, but love, attentiveness, and joy over our calling, to be allowed to be one with God in prayer. One senses in his words the longing for God. To be able to pray undisturbed, without distraction, is the
While visiting the University of Notre Dame, where I had been a teacher for a few years, I met an older experienced professor who had spent most of his life there. And while we strolled over the beautiful campus, he said with a certain melancholy in his voice, “You know … my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.” Don’t we
Theotokos In addition to the celebration of the Annunciation, there are three major feasts in the Church honoring Mary, the Theotokos. The first of these is the feast of her nativity which is kept on the eighth of September. The record of the birth of Mary is not found in the Bible. The traditional account of the event is taken from the apocryphal writings which are not part of the New Testament scriptures. The traditional
One can pray everywhere and anywhere, yet there are places where prayer ends its natural climate; those places are churches, fulfilling the promise; ‘I will make them joyful in my house of prayer’ (Is 56: 7). A church, once consecrated, once set part, becomes the dwelling-place of God. He is present there in another way than in the rest of the world. In the world he is present as a stranger, as a pilgrim, as
In Romans 8:22, Paul says, “From the beginning until now, the entire creation as we know it has been groaning in one great act of giving birth.” Just this one line from Paul should be enough to justify a Christian belief in evolution. Yet to this day, the issue of evolution still divides some Christians, questioning what is rather obvious: that God creates things that create themselves. Wouldn’t this be the greatest way that God
Contemplation as a Path of Healing A person can’t be healed within simply through discipline. Dealing with thoughts, along with concrete exercises, helps to calm the passions and make the soul healthy. But it takes contemplation to actually achieve that health. That was the monks’ experience, and that is how Evagrius Ponticus described it. Contemplation is pure prayer, prayer without respite, praying beyond thoughts and feelings, praying as oneness with God. Evagrius never tires of
The natural environment provides a broader, panoramic vision of the world. In general nature’s beauty leads to a more open view of the life of the created world, somewhat resembling a wide-angle focus from a camera which ultimately prevents us human beings from using or abusing its natural resources in a selfish, narrow minded way. In order however, to reach this point of maturity and dignity toward the natural environment, we must take the time
+ BARTHOLOMEW By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, Peace and Mercy From the Creator, Sustainer and Governor of All Creation Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ “All of creation is renewed by the Holy Spirit, returning to its original state.” (Anavathmoi, First Tone) “Blessed are you, Lord, who alone daily renew the work of your hands.” (Basil the Great) Brother concelebrants and
We see that we cannot partake deeply of the life of God unless we change profoundly. It is therefore essential that we should go to God in order that he should transform and mange us, and that is why, to begin with we should ask for conversion. Conversion in Latin means a tum, a change in the direction of things. The Greek word metanoia means a change of mind. Conversion means that instead of spending
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