In stillness, wisdom inspires the heart to turn and see, awakening to God in his Name, for as the Psalm says, ‘Be still and know that ‘I AM’ God, for I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10). In stillness, compulsive striving, straining and stressing release as the heart opens to God’s Holy Name,… Read more »
Saint Clement of Alexandria quotes a saying of Jesus from the Gospel of the Hebrews that reflects the threefold unfolding of the ascetic life, purification, illumination and deification, which his contemporary, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, also taught. ‘He that seeks will not rest until he finds, and he that has found shall marvel, and he that has marvelled shall reign,… Read more »
The wisdom of stillness is the wisdom of God for whom there is no sin, no fall from glory, no fall from grace. It is the Gospel of wisdom that God’s grace announces to sinners whose glory is to forgive sin. Sin comes into existence when delusion seduces false gods to usurp God and icons of God to degenerate into… Read more »
When the Jesus Prayer is prayed three times, it becomes an invocation of the twelve letter Name, YHWH, YHWH, YHWH, as in the Priestly Name Blessing. ‘YHWH bless you and keep you. YHWH make his Face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace’ (Number 6: 24-26). The four letter… Read more »
The Apostle says God makes his mysteries known to the saints in all wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:8). Insightful wisdom reveals the union of all things in heaven and earth in Christ, the fulfilment of consummate completeness sealed by the Holy Spirit for the glorification of the saints. Desert Hesychasm is a silent witness to the Spirit’s unceasing prayer of… Read more »
The covenant of the Name is an everlasting covenant of peace whose foundation is wisdom’s embrace of glory that sustains the Name, ‘I AM,’ God’s indwelling presence in the midst of his covenant community and the whole created cosmos (Exodus 3:14-17; Ezekiel 37: 26-28). This covenant of the Name in the desert is trustworthy and sure, being a covenant of grace… Read more »
The experience of ineffable Oneness is the Father’s secret shared with the Son and the Spirit, shared with us as the Name unveiled, as light of wisdom and glory. Saint Denys’ little treatise, ‘Mystikes Theologias,’or ‘Theologia Mystica,’ is not a rational theological discourse concerning the mysteries of God, but a God-centred glorification of God’s mystery of ineffable Oneness, radiant Oneness of Godhead… Read more »
Desert elders abide in the Holy Name of God, ‘I AM,’ a union of deifying awareness and uncreated presence which reveals the enlightened state of hallowed glorification as wisdom’s living stream to the saints. ‘I AM’ is ever-present as timeless awareness, but without recognition, there is no remembrance of God, only the endless confusion of conditioning thoughts grasping at conditioned phenomena, or… Read more »
Ineffable release abides at centre in Christ as it rests in peace in this life and in the world to come. Death is release when timeless awareness abides in pure presence on both sides of the great divide. The transition called death is not the catastrophic loss that fear dreads but is rather an ineffable release into love’s blessed consummation…. Read more »
Suffering pierces the soul, opening a blessed wound of love revealing God at centre,’I AM,’ present in glory crying, ‘Glory to God, glorious in angels and saints!’ Desert wisdom remembers its oldest Name for God, ‘YHWH SABAOTH‘, Lord of Hosts, the ‘EHYEH‘ of the glorified ‘ELOHIM,’ the ‘I AM’ of angels in glory, the Name (SHEM) of the deified… Read more »