Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12), revealing we are by grace the light of the world (Mt 5:14), when we turn and see the grace of his uncreated light in the midst. In Holman Hunt’s painting of 1853, the ‘Light of the World,’ Christ stands at the door of the closed heart and knocks (Rev 3:20; Song of… Read more »
William Morris was prophetic in his witness to radical communion that holds all things in common for the common good, not state socialism but radical democratic communion, not state communism but radical, grass-roots democracy. His vision of co-operative collaboration and shared responsibility was as uncommon in his lifetime as it still is in ours. Yet, without it, there is little hope… Read more »
‘Love is enough,’ for the void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter those lips and those eyes of the loved and the lover (William Morris: ‘Love is Enough,’ A poetic Romance in the form of a Lyric Masque, 1873). For Morris, as for the Song of Songs, ‘love is enough’ because its music of spheres is the song of angels… Read more »
The Spirit proceeds from the Father to abide in the Son, drawing us into his ineffable abiding in the primordial union of the Son with the Father, restoring glory to the Father through the Son. Abiding in God’s ineffable openness, the uncreated oneness of God is spontaneously present as a womb of indescribable glory. Wisdom discerns the wondrous self-emptying of the… Read more »
The wisdom of Christ holds everything together, including the paradox of time and the timeless. Christ is divine-human, so his wisdom is uncreated yet also created, curing confusion whilst healing division. Gathering what was scattered, wisdom discerns the glory of grace, integrating apparently exclusive opposites. The story is dialectical when it discerns the unfolding of divine-human coherence in time, but paradoxical… Read more »
Orthodox Hesychast wisdom was, from time to time, accused of the heresy of Gnosticism by those who thought they were its enemies, but Orthodox Hesychast wisdom has no real enemies except demonic hatred of God. Hesychast prophecy was occasionally accused of heretical Montanism by those who saw themselves as its enemy, but the only enemy of holy prophecy is Antichrist…. Read more »
Wisdom infuses the heart with transfiguring glory, fusing them in a union without confusion in the Holy of Holies. The simplicity of this union centres where stillness dwells, in the union of the Father with the Son, a union which the Spirit discerns and shares with all, opening it to those who hallow and glorify the Name. Wonder completes the lesser… Read more »
Saint Antony the Great, in his Letters from the desert, teaches that he who knows himself, in the Holy Spirit, knows God (Chitty, Letter 4 SLG p 12), for to know oneself without confusion is to know God without division. We are all members, one of another, in the Spirit, praying ‘Abba, Father,’ in Christ, because the Spirit proceeds from… Read more »
In his Conversation with Nikolay Motovilov, c1830-31, Saint Seraphim of Sarov said that the true aim of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God, and means to this end are good only if they are done for Christ’s sake and bring us the grace and fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is the grace of the Holy… Read more »
Wisdom shepherds guide hearts because wisdom herself shepherds hearts into illumination with luminous discernment, discerning the grace of Christ’s resurrection and ascension at work in angels and saints, overcoming death by death with deifying glory. Wisdom liberates seers by purifying hearts, blessing saints in realms of light and glory. Uncreated light communicates the timeless life of wisdom by illumining hearts with glory,… Read more »