The practice of stillness in the desert often fled from writing and reading books in general but not from Lectio Divina, divine reading, which includes the gnomic wisdom Centuries that were treasured in Eastern Christian monastic circles. Saint Gregory Palamas was obliged to write very prolifically because the Hesychast Tradition of gnomic wisdom was under attack in his day and… Read more »
Many are of the opinion that there is no profound wisdom in Christianity and that wisdom is to be found only in Eastern religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, Sufism or Taoism. This assumption forms part of a profound cultural crisis that sees Christianity as the tool of western imperialist oppression and therefore responsible for most of the world’s ills. The… Read more »
Prophecy discerns the embrace of Seraphic wisdom and Cherubic glory in Christ’s heart as he undergoes death, resurrection, ascension and glorification, interceding on behalf of all, as the whole Adam in person. His heart enthrones God’s Name, ‘I AM,’ in death and descent into hell, in resurrection and ascension into heaven, in glorification on high and intercession for all (Rom 8: 34). The… Read more »
Saint Silouan the Athonite bears witness to love of enemies as the spiritual criterion of true Orthodox Christian Tradition. Whenever political enmity threatens to divide the Orthodox Church, the mystery of Pentecost speaks to her condition, revealing how love of enemies acknowledges the many warring tongues even as it bears witness to the one Spirit, the one flame of fire… Read more »
Archimandrite Sophrony left many gifts to those who revered and loved him, but to some he bequeathed the healing mystery of the Name ‘I AM,’ set like a jewel within the mysteries of self-emptying kenosis and of perichoresis, co-inherence. Recently, in a woodland skete just like many to be found on the Holy Mountain but blessing England with its humble presence… Read more »
Christian Tradition is one in Christ, one in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, one in the transmission of the Name, one in the faith that hallows the Name and bears witness to the Kingdom come. Wisdom discerns the unifying glory of the Name as the New Jerusalem, Bride of Christ, transmitting the communion of the Bridal Chamber, the voice of… Read more »
The unspoken horizon of stillness is given within the revelation of the Name, and its ineffable theophany is given the divine name glory, and its ineffable epiphany is given the divine name wisdom. Hesychast wisdom inspires a poetry of vision that plays with multifaceted symbolism, which in turn infuses pure prayer of the Spirit in the heart, prayer that assimilates what… Read more »
The eye of wisdom in the desert knows the Name as Logos through the Name as Spirit, ascribing glory to the Name of God, the Father. Wilderness turns every winding way into a straight path when God the Son reveals God the Father and the Spirit bears witness to the Father through the Son. The straight path winds again in… Read more »
The wisdom of the desert sees prayer of the Name as a hallowing of seven heavens which involves a harrowing of seven hells. The Name EHYEH, ‘I AM,’ was unveiled in the desert in the midst of a burning bush, symbol of uncreated transforming fire, which consumes hell’s confusions but not heaven’s sound differentiation and heals hell’s separation so as to… Read more »
Edward Curtis (1868-1952), in a photograph of Hollow Horn Bear (1850-1913), taken in 1907, caught him gazing into us out of a sorrow that does not define him, with a serenity that does not confine him, open to ‘I AM’ that transcends him and opening, inspires him, saying: ‘I AM’ is one. ‘I AM’ is closer to him than he… Read more »