The ineffable lucidity of wisdom weds the incomprehensible radiance of glory at the heart of the Name ‘I AM.’ Uncreated awareness abides timelessly in uncreated presence, revealing first-personhood to be God’s mystery of mysteries in the light and glory of his revelatory Name. Saint Sophrony the Hesychast bequeathed a restorative legacy of profound Johannine wisdom to Orthodoxy when he pointed out… Read more »
PASCHA 2020. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ resurrected, ascended and glorified reveals the way, the truth and the life of the glorified Name (John 14:6). So when he speaks in God’s Name, he says: ‘I AM’ the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).’ When he appears to Mary Magdalene in the garden, he is the resurrection… Read more »
Desert Hesychasm bears witness to the mysteries of Christ in the heart, the mystery of Baptism which it lives as purification through turning, the mystery of Chrismation which it lives as illumination through seeing, and the mystery of the Eucharist which it lives as glorification through divine-human being. It lives these mysteries by awakening to Christ, Christ who is the… Read more »
Christ is YHWH SABAOTH, Lord of angel hosts, EHYEH in the midst of the ELOHIM, ‘I AM’ in the midst of the glorified. He is our holy mystagogue, guiding our hearts to the altar of his presence and the hallowing completeness of his awareness. Indeed, glorification is union and communion with him in his Holy Name, and angels always bear… Read more »
Desert fathers were immersed in Christ’s wisdom and consequently were profoundly aware of the presence of angels. In this they were consistent with the first Christians of the New Testament and with the Eastern Churches of the early centuries. Angels were sons of God Most High and saints like angels were sons of God by grace. So when elders passed from… Read more »
Suffering pierces the soul, opening a blessed wound of love revealing God at centre,’I AM,’ present in glory crying, ‘Glory to God, glorious in angels and saints!’ Desert wisdom remembers its oldest Name for God, ‘YHWH SABAOTH‘, Lord of Hosts, the ‘EHYEH‘ of the glorified ‘ELOHIM,’ the ‘I AM’ of angels in glory, the Name (SHEM) of the deified… Read more »
The glorified are hallowed by the Holy Name of God because in wisdom they glorify God’s Holy Name. The glorification that angels offer sustains creation by participating in the uncreated creative energies of wisdom and glory in the Name. The angelic music of glorification partakes in the ‘Amen’ that says ‘yes’ to the uncreated creativity of God, ‘yes’ to the one… Read more »
Glorified saints sing the Thrice Holy Hymn Isaiah heard in the Temple in BC 742, sung by six-winged Seraphim before the throne in heaven, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3). ‘Lord,’ here, names God’s Name, ‘EHYEH,’ ‘I AM,’ so the Thrice Holy Hymn glorifies God’s Name ‘I AM’… Read more »
Angels glorify God, inspired by wisdom that communicates God-centred glorification. Saints have tended to experience angels as messengers of God but angels transcend what they do as messengers by partaking in the light and grace of unceasing glorification. Angels belong to the invisible creation which Christ unites with our visible creation in his incarnation, a union of illumination and glorification… Read more »
The Holy Name ‘I AM’ is the pinnacle of paths, as we see when Jesus transmits its glory with wisdom in the words, ‘Before Abraham was, I AM’ (John 8:58). Uncreated glory is what Hesychast tradition lives as glorification of the Name, imparting joyous union of wisdom and glory. But it is also endurance of persecution for God’s Name’s sake,… Read more »