The consummation of Biblical prophecy in the Book of Revelation embraces the death, resurrection and ascension of the slaughtered Lamb at the heart of his glorifying union with the Father, putting to death, in the heart of Christ, the universal fall from grace. Raising souls from death to eternal life in the resurrecting heart of Christ, saints are deified in the… Read more »
Holy Orthodoxy bears witness to right-glorification, but ‘philodoxy,’ love of glory, is rarely mentioned, because although vainglory, kenodoxy, loves glory, it does so in self-centred ways, whereas it is wisdom who loves glory in sound and wholesome ways. Since love of glory is wisdom’s ultimate concern, ‘philodoxy’ does not only mean love of one’s own opinions but wisdom’s love of glory… Read more »
Wisdom remains hidden whilst purification is curing pride, but is revealed when illumination begins to heal the confusions of pride and divisions of vainglory. Self-condemnation to hell without despair condemns pride to hell and so is actually the initial unveiling of the energy of uncreated light, curing pride and opening wisdom to glory purified of vanity. Grace takes this form… Read more »
When pride arose, Saint Silouan the Athonite was given self-condemnation to hell without despair, initiating Saint Sophrony the Hesychast into holy self-hatred with trust in the grace of the Name to save. From the perspective of negative asceticism, wisdom appears to be pride and is condemned together with pride. Whilst pride is arising, wisdom is indeed providentially hidden and so are… Read more »
The prayer of stillness anchored childhood and adolescence in a revelation of love and peace which was newly inspired, in the summer of 1965, by a meeting with Saint Sophrony the Hesychast, prior to a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, at the age of twenty, in the company of my father. Saint Sophrony introduced me to the practice of Hesychast wisdom by communicating… Read more »
The Hagioritic Tome (1340) of Saint Gregory Palamas bears witness to the experience of purification, illumination and glorification that inspires Hesychast saints, insisting that the light of purifying illumination and glorification is uncreated because God’s energies of light and glory are uncreated. The noetic awareness of the heart is transfigured with uncreated light and deifying glory, opening hearts to the… Read more »
The decisive experience of glorification shatters the divisive dualisms of cause and effect, effort and achievement, opening prevenient grace to unwavering glory. The experience of glorification is inconceivable to those who do not know wisdom, so remains hidden until, by grace, glory breaks through and God’s way of glorifying God is revealed. Uncreated light purifies and enlightens the heart so that uncreated… Read more »
In an early second century Apocalypse, the Ascension of Isaiah, we discover that Christian prophecy was alive and well despite its exclusion from mainstream Christian circles, proving that visionary ascent was not neglected in the wilderness, because wisdom, as it ascended through seven heavens, beheld the glory of the throne in the midst of all seven of them. Glory lay at the heart… Read more »
Nobody can visually perceive God objectively in the world but theoria turns and sees the glory of God’s reign, initiating seers into the mysteries of contemplative vision by awakening the eye of the heart. For Hesychast saints, theoria is the indispensable and quintessential opening, beyond the visible heavens, into the invisible mysteries of wisdom and glory, the revelation of God’s Name that… Read more »
Christ’s way of the Name is ineffable, transcending all names and ways that are means to an end, liberating temporal incompleteness into timeless completeness. The Spirit communicates the mysteries of Christ as quintessential truth, imparting glorification as wisdom’s timeless way of life. Dazzling darkness opens heaven on earth, piercing the heart, communicating the incommunicable, revealing what was veiled without destroying the… Read more »