Shemuel, the angel of the Name, Shem, is not saying: ‘Look at me,’ but ‘Remember God.’ All archangels and angels agree with him, saying, ‘Do not fixate on us, but remember God, for the remembrance of God is holy and hallows all that there is.’ Shemuel’s love of the Holy Name unveils this love to be loving remembrance of God in his Holy… Read more »
The heavenly twin can manifest in many mysterious ways, but as angel of revelation and wisdom, the twin loves to unveil the angel of the Name, Shemuel, with whom four archangels love to bear witness to the Name, Gabriel, angel of revelation, Oriel, angel of uncreated light and illumination, Phanuel, angel of the unveiled Face of uncreated Presence and revelatory Personhood,… Read more »
The angel of the Name bears witness to the revelation of the Name in the heart, keeping safe the myatery of Name-hallowing until such time as the heart turns to see. Deification by grace includes this awakening to the witnessing heavenly twin, the angel of realisation, who is the prophet of our glorification. Orthodox Hesychasm fully acknowledges theosis to be… Read more »
Wisdom is uncreated and her uncreated creativity is the creative energy that creates and recreates creation anew in every moment, making all things new. Biblical and Patristic wisdom teaches that wisdom beholds the glory of uncreated grace, being herself, like glory, uncreated energy, endlessly creative in her uncreated creativity. So it should be no surprise that when, in 1922, a wisdom… Read more »
Those who put their trust in the Name, stand steadfast in wisdom, whose consummate completeness is perfect consonance, both dazzling bright and dazzling dark, replete with ineffable perfection. Wisdom turns the captivity of confusion into the freedom of communion, so that what tears sow in sorrow, wisdom reaps in joy. Hesychast stillness is founded on the blessing of the unveiled… Read more »
In wisdom’s unveiling, a hermit’s prayer unveils the uncreated light of the countenance of God, revealing the glory of graced wholeness. The hermit does not just pray the Psalms, she enters the heart of the Psalms in the One, true Spirit that inspired them. “Turn us again, O Lord, God of hosts: shew the light of thy countenance and we… Read more »
God’s self-revelation of timeless presence through his Name communicates spontaneous blessing, joy and peace as it awakens the eye of the heart to deifying wisdom and glory. Cooling showers of graced stillness nourish parched souls with timeless presence, nurturing growth in the Spirit, generating completeness from incompleteness. Hallowing the Name aright, delusions vanish into timeless presence right away. The… 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 »
Like poetic prophecy, the Song of Songs is lyrical wisdom poetry and like Hosea’s prophetic poetics of love, the Song offers us a wisdom poetry of love that employs lyrical love tropes to transfigure love. Poetic prophecy communicates wisdom mysteries of love’s ineffable glory, opening the human heart into transfiguring glory in the very heart of God. Mystical theology can… Read more »
The Book of Revelation unveils the glory of the life, death and resurrection of Christ in the light of his ascension and glorification, opening the prophetic imagination to the mysteries of his glorification, which are the consummating completion of Biblical prophecy. As the only work of Christian canonical prophecy in the New Testament, the Apocalypse is also the culmination of Christian prophetic… Read more »