The wisdom of the Beloved Disciple inspired the Fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation in different ways, enabling three epistles to speak of her love of her Beloved who loved her, which is not mere sentiment but the profoundest wisdom. Love of her wisdom regenerates Holy Orthodoxy way beyond the boundaries of the old Byzantine Empire, inspiring many and speaking through… Read more »
Companions of the Grail in Holy Orthodoxy do not speak of the Holy Grail or the Matter of Britain because the parousia of the Holy Eucharist and the parousia of the Holy Name are already intrinsic to their Holy Orthodoxy. Hallows that shepherds of wisdom always regarded as quintessential, the Eucharist and the Name always lay at the heart of their… Read more »
Co-companions of glory hallow the Holy Name of God in the midst, acknowledging the love that unites them at centre, in-breathed with the Spirit’s kiss, whose joy is to reveal the Son’s union with the Father, restoring fallen glory to God in Holy Trinity. Bearing each other’s burdens, both die daily into each other’s lives, transforming confusion into union, division into… Read more »
At Christmas, the Church celebrates the Holy Nativity of Christ, remembering the story of Christ’s birth in the stable at Bethlehem, the angels and the shepherds on the hill, with the wise men from the east offering gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet. But wisdom also remembers the eternal birth of Christ in hearts that awaken to his presence,… Read more »
Wisdom discerns the union of mercy and peace in the light of wisdom and glory. The mercy of ineffable openness and the peace of spontaneous presence both bear witness to indivisible oneness. The full spectrum of divine names and qualities is manifest in the revelation of glory, which is the revelation of the completeness of peace in the temporal mercy… Read more »
Rest in peace usually refers to life after death but stillness, hesychia, even now rests in peace in the midst of life, transfusing it with the undying, resurrecting energy of uncreated grace. The Spirit rests in peace in the Son, who rests in peace in the Father, revealing that rest in peace is the uncreated light and glory of the Holy Trinity, purifying,… Read more »
From childhood, at my mother’s knee, the prayer of stillness lay at the heart of daily prayer: ‘Be still and know that I AM God.’ ‘Seek ye my Face; Thy Face, Lord will I seek.’ Still, still, very still, hands are folded, very still. Keep our minds and bodies still, for a moment, deep and still. Now I am ready for hearing God,… Read more »
When the heart abides in Christ, the mind rests in Spirit, united with the heart, partaking in the Great Peace of the Father. Rest in Spirit is not soporific passivity but active remembrance of God, partaking in the Spirit’s insight into the union of the Father with the Son. With Christ’s ascension, the Spirit raises saints on high and deifies them… Read more »
The spiritual legacy of Saint Sophrony the Hesychast has great potential and generous capacity because it is founded on the grace of the Holy Name, together with its Gospel of revelatory Glory. The ‘I AM’ theophanies of the Name in the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse were decisive for Saint Sophrony, inspiring his vision of Holy Orthodoxy in ways… Read more »
The Spirit of Truth comes to guide us into all truth, that is, truth in its wholeness and completeness. Fear haunts the institutions of incompleteness, returning in dreary dreams of incompleteness to frighten us back into the clutches of reigning powers, clinging to familiar darkness. Authorities may appear benign until the Spirit unveils what they really are, blind guides that… Read more »