The Reign of the Name is key to all mysteries of glory, revealing glorification from east to west, beyond the boundaries of the Roman empire. The Celtic Church in Wales, Ireland and Scotland lay beyond the Roman Empire as did the Church of the east, beyond Edessa, but the reign of the Name had always transcended the powers of this world, as had the wisdom of the Beloved Disciple. Saint Patrick’s Lorica binds east and west together in the Holy Name, as do the Syriac Odes of Solomon, opening the far East and the far West to the glory of the reign of the Name.
Rome, Byzantium and Moscow easily overlooked what was way beyond their imperial domains, beyond their imperial councils and ancient power structures. But awakening to timeless glory, in the reign of the Name, opens the eye of the heart, uniting the mind in the heart to dazzling glory, revealing the ineffable mysteries of glory through the grace of deifying glorification. Saint Patrick’s Lorica revealed the power of the reigning Name, arming the Celtic Church for its renewal of western Christianity in early mediaeval times.
The Odes of Solomon express the wisdom of the Beloved Disciple that inspired the Fourth Gospel, hidden beneath the power structures of Rome and Byzantium, but revealed to saints whether in the east or in the west. Saints of the Syriac churches remembered the Beloved Disciple by name for a time but then forgot when they became national oriental churches. In our time, their lost gospels have been rediscovered and the wisdom of the Beloved Disciple heard again, renewing her original witness to the reign of the Name, empowering her timeless wisdom to expand into gracious glorification.
The Beloved Disciple continues to inspire the Hesychast wisdom of the Philokalia in the Byzantine east but also the mystical wisdom of apophatic mysteries in the west, transcending the dominion of ruling powers from within. The reign of the Name reveals the Father beyond all human experience of fatherhood, healing the traumas of the soul. As children of God, all are included in the mysteries of glorification, free to turn their backs on God or be welcomed home. Ultimately, east and west are one in the reign of the Name, mutually redeemed by grace, embraced together in timeless glory.
Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, died 848 AD.