Christ bears witness to the Father in the Holy Spirit, as way, as truth and as life (John 14:6). There is no division concealed here, nothing satan can control to separate us from God. God the Holy Trinity is sound through and through, curing separation, healing division. The way of the Name is therefore true right through, sound from beginning… Read more »
The feast of the myrrh flowing martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica on October 26th was chosen by Saint Sophrony thirty years ago to impart the Great Schema to this unworthy monk, twenty-five years after first meeting him in his monastery. The mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation open wisdom mysteries of glory to save us, raising us from our unworthiness to… Read more »
Today is the Feast of the Holy Martyr Longinus, whose spear pierced the side of Christ, revealing the holy waters of Baptism and the blessed blood of the Eucharist. As the Centurion commanding the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus, he was witness to his resurrection at the garden tomb of Holy Pascha, empowering his martyrdom in Cappadocia to bear witness… Read more »
Today is the feast of the Holy Apostle Philip, who bore witness to the glory of the age to come, empowered by wisdom to awaken to the Kingdom of God, but today is also the day we remember the Optina elders and their witness to the glory of the Holy Name. Hesychast wisdom continues to witness to the glory of… Read more »
The Holy Apostle John gave us the Fourth Gospel, three epistles and the Book of Revelation, handing on the wisdom and witness of the Beloved Disciple. The Church’s first hymn book, the Odes of Solomon, comes from the same circles if not directly from the Beloved Disciple, stemming from the wisdom of deifying glorification. The feast of Saint John the… Read more »
Union with God pierces heart and mind with cauterising flame, enlightening the mind in the heart, severing glory from vanity by consuming confusion and dissolving division. Union by grace restores glory to God, purifying the heart by consuming vainglory, illumining the mind in the awakened heart, glorifying saints in the hallowed Name. Union by grace proceeds through Christ from the Father… Read more »
The Completeness of God is ‘eternally now,’ unveiling temporal incompleteness in timeless presence, awakening uncreated wisdom in uncreated glory. Christ, divine but human, communicates theandric co-inherence by grace to all who receive him, embracing the cosmos with cosmo-theandric glory. The Holy Spirit enlightens seers with uncreated wisdom, transfiguring saints with uncreated glory, communicating mysteries of glorification to all whose hearts are open. Orthodox Hesychasm… Read more »
The Holy Cross saves by crucifying confusion and healing division, raising into ascending glory all who turn and see with wisdom’s ‘single eye.’ The cross is holy because it purifies the heart, enlightening the mind in the heart, deifying saints through the holy practice of glorification. Cutting through layers of confusion, leaping over mountains of delusion, the Holy Cross hallows all… Read more »
The mysteries of the Mother of God unveil dimensions of deifying glory which remain utterly hidden until the eye of wisdom opens. Mystery through and through, from her Nativity through to her Dormition, her mysteries are celebrated yet concealed, visible yet invisible, revered in the silence of wonder. Her mysterious silence communicates ineffable stillness, imparting glorification beyond what words can… Read more »
The Nativity of the Holy Virgin is celebrated on September 8th, according to traditions based on the Proto Evangelium Jacobi, an apocryphal gospel with references to the birth of the Holy Virgin going back to AD 130-140. Although not named in Scripture, it very firmly supports Scripture, preparing for the Annunciation and Incarnation. Joachin and Anna, bearers of the God-bearer,… Read more »