Saint Gregory Palamas bears witness to wisdom’s discernment of glory in circular angelic movements of illumined intelligences, all of them aware of the good and the beautiful in God in ways that are ‘without beginning and without end’, anarchois kai ateleutetois. (150 Chs: 66 p 161; Denis DN 4:8) This wisdom is able to behold glory: eis tous aionas ton aionon, ‘unto ages… Read more »
“Be not afraid, I AM the first and the last, the living One; I died and behold, I AM alive unto the ages of ages, and I have the keys of death and hades” (Rev 1:18). Many Scriptural doxologies refer to doxological time, giving glory to God ‘unto ages of ages, Amen: eis tous aionas ton aionon, Amen.’ The Septuagint readings… Read more »
Every day is the last day when glory unveils the Day of ‘I AM.’ ‘I AM’ is one, as glory is one at wisdom’s centre where all centres coincide. Wisdom’s love of liberating paradox does not attempt a rational account of glorification but offers signs, signifying not solutions to problems but mysteries of uncreated grace, indicating what reason fails to… Read more »
The Logos of glory unveils yet wisely veils the Name of God. It reveals God in his Name ‘I AM,’ but does not profane it, because Logos veils the Name from profane scrutiny. Wisdom discerns what the Logos reveals by hallowing the Name so the Kingdom comes. The Logos unveils glory by purifying the heart with uncreated fire,… Read more »
Icons of the Dormition bear witness to the mystery of glorification as does the mature wisdom of the Apostle Paul. Orthodox wisdom is the secret and hidden wisdom of God which discerns the glory of the age to come, the glory of the crucified Lord of glory who glorifies elders and saints. (1 Cor 2: 6-16) This wisdom of the… Read more »
Wisdom in the desert is timeless flame, since every day is equivalent to any day in the Name, which begins where it ends and ends where it begins. The step back of true turning awakens the heart to the consuming fire of uncreated energy, which sees union of seer and seen in the Name. The uncreated river of fire is… Read more »
When we witness the devastation of the environment wrought by oblivious materialistic consumerism, harmony appears to us as a long lost past or as a distant aim that seems irredeemably divided from us. Pre-modern worlds appear as paradise lost and the ruthless rape of the earth’s resources as a brutal dislocation from true harmony. When science is divorced from wisdom,… Read more »
The Apostle Paul says that he heard ineffable words when he was caught up in paradise and experienced revelation of unutterable glory (2 Cor 12:2-4). Hesychasts know that the Holy Name is an ‘ineffable word’ of the eternal Word when it reveals God in glory in the midst. But they also know that the words they use to communicate this… Read more »
The Son of Man partakes in what is ours so that the Son of God can give us what is his. Saint Symeon the New Theologian says the Son of God raises us to what is his by regenerating us in the Holy Spirit in his Kingdom. He opens us to the grace of the glory of his Kingdom by… Read more »
The Holy Shroud of Edessa, found today in Turin, once resided in the Pharos Chapel in Constantinople where it was called the icon ‘not made with human hands.’ Like every holy relic, the mandylion veils a mystery of ineffable glory, but it is pre-eminent among relics, being an icon of the resurrected Christ bequeathed to us by the glory of… Read more »
