The Holy Name ‘I AM’ weds the ineffable openness of God’s ‘I’ with the ever-present Oneness of God’s ‘AM,’ releasing divine glory into timeless freedom. Ineffable openness arises in the midst of uncreated awareness of the timeless presence of uncreated Oneness. ‘I’ awareness and ‘AM’ presence are indivisible, although they appear to separate into subject-object dualisms when division and… Read more »
The Holy Shroud of Edessa, found today in Turin, once resided in the Pharos Chapel in Constantinople where it was called the icon ‘not made with human hands.’ Like every holy relic, the mandylion veils a mystery of ineffable glory, but it is pre-eminent among relics, being an icon of the resurrected Christ bequeathed to us by the glory of… Read more »
Christly wisdom is a tree of life, whose truth is lived as way and whose way of life is union of spirit and truth. There is here a union of truth and way, lived as wisdom’s tree of timeless life. The Name is way, truth and life, divine life being the union of truth, discerned in theoria, and way, lived as praxis of turning, metanoia. Glory… Read more »
Bees mirror the uncreated love which does not seek its own. Such love forgives and gives life, like the uncreated, loving energy of the cross which radiates divine glory from before the foundation of the world. The Church of God circles round Christ, wisdom of God, like bees around their queen. Wisdom births us spiritually like the queen bee births the… Read more »
‘With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.’ Psalm 36:9. Saint Gregory Palamas bears witness that it is in uncreated light that the glory of uncreated light is seen. In Patristic tradition, there is no created way for creatures to know the uncreated. All created ways and means such as discursive reason fall short of… Read more »
Orthodoxy means right-glorification and Saint Silouan said Orthodoxy is lived as love of enemies. The Apostle Paul bore witness that love’s glory is uncreated grace which wisdom discerns as the glory of the age to come. In Christ, glory is breaking in by grace but Orthodox sinners are painfully aware of falling short of glory, which the Apostle called vainglory. They… Read more »
In the darkness before dawn, the dawn star of wisdom rises all glorious within. When wisdom turns and sees, the noetic intelligence descends into the awakened heart, uniting with the uncreated light of the Holy Spirit praying ‘Abba, Father,’ in our midst. The Kingdom of the dawn star is within us so whoever seeks for it outside will be… Read more »
‘Cry, cry, cry, thou upsurging depths, what distant terrors your vast threatenings hold. Come forth for what you are. Turn, burn and bleed. Resist no more and live.’ Journal January 1st 1965. In ‘Wisdom, Prophecy and Prayer’ 2014, Chapter 58 of Century 3 takes up this word, received well over fifty years ago. Turning is purification that consumes confusion… Read more »
Glorification springs from recognition, as when the disciples recognised Christ at the Eucharist in Emmaus and their hearts burned within them when he opened to them the mysteries of glory in the Scriptures, unveiling the glory at the heart of his suffering (Luke 24:13-25) Hearts burn when recognition of the Name sees Christ at centre in the midst. Deep turning… Read more »
The glory of Hesychast Ortho-doxology is ineffable glorification and the uncreated grace of purification, illumination and glorification that understands it or stands under it. Hesychast wisdom discerns love’s glory at the heart of the Eternal Gospel, a love that seeks not its own, a love that embraces all mankind, leaving none shut out, abandoned outside in outer darkness. The temporal gospels tell… Read more »
