As I explore transformation as a process of letting go of the ego’s needs and accomplishments, you may think I’m overemphasizing detachment. But when you look at Jesus on the cross, you see that Christianity also fosters attachment. Jesus tells us to love and to pay the price for loving. The heart and the soul are the first to attach to things and fall in love. When we attach, when we fall in love, we
When the desert monks left the inhabited world, every monk brought parts of his or her former life with them. Memories, thoughts, fantasies, regrets, old lusts, pride, unfulfilled desires, anger, fear, unresolved conflict and a host of other remnants of the “world” were present in their cells. At the same time, they found a new “world” in the desert in the lives of other monks, visitors, local towns and villages and the rich, yet austere
By Father Stephen Freeman The priest, Seraphim, spent 30 years of his life in the Soviet Gulag. During that period he was tortured from time to time and was assigned the duty of cleaning out the contents of the latrines. Other prisoners avoided him because of the stench that hung about him at all times. He was a living saint and saved the souls of many around him. His story, in brief, is told in
As a result of the inherent differences between individuals within the Church, the fathers of the Conferences teach that individual Christians must acknowledge and seize the particular spiritual opportunities that are present to them. Abba Paphnutius notes that it would be strange if things were any other way. Your objection would be on target if every work or discipline had only a beginning and an end, with no middle between them. Yet, we know that
Let us Glory in Temptation The devil does not have only one weapon. He uses many different means to defeat human beings: now with bribery, now with boredom, now with greed he attacks, inflicting mental and physical wounds equally. The kind of temptation varies with the different kinds of victim. Avarice is the test of the rich, loss of children that of parents and everyone is exposed to pain of mind or body. What a
It is helpful for us to know about the whole arc of life and where it is tending and leading. Walter Brueggemann, one of my favorite scripture scholars, brilliantly connected the development of the Hebrew Scriptures with the development of human consciousness. Brueggemann says there are three major parts of the Hebrew Scriptures: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature. The Torah, or the first five books, corresponds to the first half of life.
Abba Antony said: Having therefore made a beginning, and set out already on the way to virtue, let us press forward to what lies ahead. And let none turn back as Lot’s wife did, especially since the Lord said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the Kingdom of heaven.” Now “turning back” is nothing except feeling regret and once more thinking about things of the world.
By Father Stephen Freeman “Becoming human” is a baffling phrase. Surely we are simply born as human beings. Of course this is true, but the nature of the modern world allows us to configure our lives in ways that can be described as “less than human.” When we visit a zoo and see a tiger pacing in its cage, we are not seeing a “true” tiger, but a distortion of the animal. Tigers cannot truly be tigers
Here is how things stand so far. We have observed the five most important virtues through which the fathers in the Conferences teach us to establish the purity of heart that is the go al of Christian life. These are detachment, discernment, discretion, balance, and humility. We have observed that the fathers taught Christians to practice these virtues in order to guide them to their proper telos, which is the kingdom of God. We have
Anything a Fool says is Rubbish Jerome said: ‘Stupid and tasteless words are not fitting for Christians. Their speech should always be in good taste so as to sound pleasing to the ears of other people. ‘Anything a fool says is rubbish, just an empty din.’ Gregory said: ‘Just as the ear does not understand food nor the throat take in words, so the fool does not comprehend the conversation of the wise.’ Isidore said:
© 2020 Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
