Daily Meditations Archives - Page 247 of 351

The Impossible Synthesis

02/15/2016

Alongside this ‘critical’ process, and in reaction to it, for more than a century there have been attempts to make a synthesis of beauty. For the 19th century we need only recall the operas of Wagner. As this century opened, symbolism was codified according to philosophical systems. In every country of Europe, but especially in Germany and Russia, many of the intelligentsia felt regret for an organic age, when the highest values were mediated to

To Live the Question (Part I)

02/12/2016

By slowly converting our loneliness into a deep solitude, we create that precious space where we can discover the voice telling us about our inner necessity-that is, our vocation. Unless our questions, problems and concerns are tested and matured in solitude, it is not realistic to expect answers that are really our own. How many people can claim their ideas, opinions and viewpoints as their own? Sometimes intellectual conversations boil down to the capacity to

Useful Counsels for All Monks

02/11/2016

Useful Counsels for All Monks “You can and must become a leader in the monastery without realizing it, without speaking. You can accomplish this only through fervent prayer for everyone. Open your heart simply, unforced, and spontaneously to our Lord. “Don’t force yourself, nor pressure yourself nor doubt that this will happen. In all this you should speak first to the Lord. And before you speak to your Elder, first pray fervently. A praying person,

Saint Haralambos: The Presbyter, Martyr and Miracle-Worker

02/10/2016

In the early Church, the term “martyr” was originally used when characterizing the Apostles as witnesses of Christ’s life and resurrection [Acts 1:8, 22]. Due to the persecutions that the early Christians endured, however, the term was applied to those who gave their lives for the Christian Orthodox Faith. In Greek, the word martyr means “witness” and, the verb form, martyred, means to “bear witness” or “give evidence.” Though martyrdom was not a constant experience

Deification and Sonship According to St Athanasius of Alexandria: Part I

02/09/2016

By Father Matthew Baker Popular presentations of the Orthodox Christian faith often highlight the doctrine of theosis, or deification, as a distinctive accent of Orthodox theology and spiritual teaching. In the 20th century, owing to the enthusiastic rediscovery of St Gregory Palamas and especially the wide influence of the theology of Vladimir Lossky, this message of deification was most often cast in terms of a “participation in the divine energies.” The phrase from 2 Peter 1:4, “partakers

ON THE JESUS PRAYER

02/08/2016

The saint Abbot Isaiah, the Egyptian hermit, says of the Jesus Prayer (1) that it is a mirror for the mind and a lantern for the conscience. Someone has also likened it to a constantly sounding, quiet voice in a house: all thieves that sneak in take hasty flight when they hear that someone is awake there. The house is the heart, the thieves, the evil impulses. Prayer is the voice of the one who

Meditation and Worship (Part III)

02/05/2016

On many occasions we can do a lot of thinking; there are plenty of situations in our daily life in which we have nothing to do except wait, and if we are disciplined – and this is part of our spiritual training – we will be able to concentrate quickly and fix our attention at once on the subject of our thoughts, of our meditation. We must learn to do it by compelling our thoughts

WATCHFULNESS IN DIVINE WORSHIP (Part III)

02/04/2016

After the consecration in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, this prayer follows: “that they (3l) may be unto watchfulness of soul (32), unto forgiveness of sins … “. Not only before but also after Holy Communion we have need of watchfulness and vigilance toward ourselves. According to St. John Chrysostom, watchfulness of the soul is the first blessed fruit of Holy Communion. In the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, in the prayer

THE FALL OF THE NOUS OF MAN BEFORE AND AFTER CHRIST (Part II)

02/03/2016

But with the coming of the Creator to the world, with the holy mystery of Baptism “as many as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ”. 4 And as many as have put on Christ have also put on the “mind of Christ” on that joyous day. But volition, sin, passions and the devil darken and pollute the nous, and turn it from the Immortal and Eternal Creator to perishable and transcient creation.

You Were Presented in the Temple

02/02/2016

By Father Stanley Harakas On February 2, our Orthodox Church celebrates a beautiful moment in the life of Christ – The Presentation of Christ at the Temple. According to the Jewish practice at that time, the first-born son of a family was to be brought forty days after his birth to the Temple in Jerusalem for sacrifices to be made. Since the coming Messiah was expected to be a first-born son, it was done in