The true self versus the false self
By Abbot Tryphon, January 5, 2020
Reformed theology focuses on forensic justification, whereas the mystical theology of the Orthodox Church focuses on restoration to God through healing of the darkened soul alienated from Him. These are two very different models, but not really equal, because one can have faith in Christ’s sacrifice, but still not be healed and restored.
Our restorative healing is not about some terrible legal “remedy” which requires that God’s righteous wrath, aimed at our depravity, be “satisfied” by the substitutionary death of His Son. Rather, it is about the cleansing of the nous that has been darkened, and thus restoring us to health and wholeness. The nous in communion with God is all about our real self, and is the true seat of our personhood. The ego, which is nothing but the ultimate disconnect from our Creator, is the false self.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
~Abbot Tryphon, The Morning Offering, https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2020/01/nous-versus-ego-3/
Quietude
Quietude, silence and prayer
By Abbot Tryphon, January 1, 2020
It is in keeping constant vigilance, guarding our senses, and living a life of repentance and self-rapprochement, that we can hope to gain control of our passions and enter into true communion with God. The basic element of such a life has got to include quietude, for it is in states of calmness and inner reflection that we can begin to know ourselves, and in doing so, begin to know God. Silence and prayer must have an important place in our lives if we are to progress in spiritual wisdom and acquire the peace that comes from knowing God. Let us usher in the New Year with a renewed commitment to make our communion with God the center of our being.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
~Abbot Tryphon, The Morning Offering, https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2020/01/quietude-2/.
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