Abba Antony said “Whatever you find in your heart to do in following God, that do, and remain within yourself in Him.”1 “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”2 Abba Moses knew the cell was essential for the ascetic life of the monk. There must be a specific place for encountering God and one’s self. But the “place” was not an end in itself. Abba Ammonas said, “A man may
I often use this line, a paraphrase of Albert Einstein: “No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that caused it.” Unfortunately, we have been trying to solve almost all our problems with the very same mind that caused them, which is the calculating or dualistic mind. This egocentric mind usually reads everything in terms of short-term effect, in terms of what’s in it for me and how I can look good. As long
By Father Stephen Freeman The genius of Dostoevsky lies in the profound theological insight of his tumbled novels. They can be difficult reads for many people – particularly in our modern setting. He has “too many characters” and they “talk a lot.” His characters are complex: I was a scoundrel, and yet, I loved God… Good and evil are in a monstrous coexistence within man. So says Dmitri Karamazov. And this statement describes all of
First, though, we need to define the Christian telos, which is to say, the kingdom of God, a little more clearly. 14 As with purity of heart, Abba Moses says a great deal about it over the course of his conference. The first thing with which he connects the kingdom of God is eternal life. So then, the telos of our [monastic] commitment is, to quote the apostle, eternal life-for he says “having, indeed, your
The Cell and the World Is anachoresis a rejection of the inhabited world? Is the solitude and inwardness of the cell a selfish endeavor? The desert abbas and ammas helped form a wider Christian monastic tradition that combines seeking God with conversion of life. In the cell the monk risks all in the battle between the ego (subjectivity) and openness to the Other. Through ascetic praxis the boundaries of the self are extended beyond itself
John Hancock 1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” —History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229. William Penn Founder of Pennsylvania “I do declare to the whole world that we believe
While Paul’s writing includes philosophical and poetic passages, it’s not esoteric. Paul’s teaching is incarnational. He sees that the Gospel message must have concrete embodiment. Concrete embodiment is Jesus’ idea of church, too. Jesus’ first vision of church is “two or three gathered in my name” (Matthew 18:20). This is why he insists that the message be communicated not by the lone evangelist but sent the Twelve out “two by two” (Mark 6:7). The individual
By Father Stephen Freeman I have written previously about various aspects of the “Modern Project.” It is the world we live in. Its ideas and assumptions enter our thoughts with no critical inspection or hesitancy. We are modern. However, the gospel is not modern and many ideas of Modernity are contrary to the gospel. It is necessary, therefore, as a simple matter of discernment to question and examine the assumptions of our world. And do not
So, what do the terms “purity of heart” and “kingdom of God” mean? We begin with purity of heart. Abba Moses speaks at quite some length about what it is, as well as what it is not. First, we will look at what Abba Moses says about purity of heart in positive terms-what he says about what it actively is. Abba Moses connects purity of heart to a variety of other terms and concepts that
The Cell and Love of Neighbor The external environment of a society, family or religious community reflects the internal environment of the human beings who form it. Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them” (Matt 7:16, NRSV). In the cell the monk’s interior life is formed in such a way that he or she becomes what the cell makes possible. The physical enclosure of the cell houses the activities of God’s transforming Spirit.
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