Shemuel, the angel of the Name, Shem, is not saying: ‘Look at me,’ but ‘Remember God.’ All archangels and angels agree with him, saying, ‘Do not fixate on us, but remember God, for the remembrance of God is holy and hallows all that there is.’ Shemuel’s love of the Holy Name unveils this love to be loving remembrance of God in his Holy… Read more »
The heavenly twin can manifest in many mysterious ways, but as angel of revelation and wisdom, the twin loves to unveil the angel of the Name, Shemuel, with whom four archangels love to bear witness to the Name, Gabriel, angel of revelation, Oriel, angel of uncreated light and illumination, Phanuel, angel of the unveiled Face of uncreated Presence and revelatory Personhood,… Read more »
The blessing of the Holy Spirit imparts grace to the purified heart, whether in solitude or in community, fulfilling all the prescribed sacraments of the Church through purification and illumination, completing their uncreated empowerments with love’s uncreated glorification. Solitaries are not excluded from the grace of glorification, nor are members of thriving monastic communities always partakers in the grace of illumination, because… Read more »
The angel of the Name bears witness to the revelation of the Name in the heart, keeping safe the myatery of Name-hallowing until such time as the heart turns to see. Deification by grace includes this awakening to the witnessing heavenly twin, the angel of realisation, who is the prophet of our glorification. Orthodox Hesychasm fully acknowledges theosis to be… Read more »
Wisdom is uncreated and her uncreated creativity is the creative energy that creates and recreates creation anew in every moment, making all things new. Biblical and Patristic wisdom teaches that wisdom beholds the glory of uncreated grace, being herself, like glory, uncreated energy, endlessly creative in her uncreated creativity. So it should be no surprise that when, in 1922, a wisdom… Read more »
Those who put their trust in the Name, stand steadfast in wisdom, whose consummate completeness is perfect consonance, both dazzling bright and dazzling dark, replete with ineffable perfection. Wisdom turns the captivity of confusion into the freedom of communion, so that what tears sow in sorrow, wisdom reaps in joy. Hesychast stillness is founded on the blessing of the unveiled… Read more »
Keeping faith with Christ’s Gospel of the Name, desert elders transmitted the wisdom of glory in hidden caves and forgotten mountain sanctuaries so that mysteries of glory were never profaned. When Rome adopted the Gospel as the official religion of the Empire, persecutions ceased but new trials put confessors to the test, temptations that subjected glory to vainglory and gave… Read more »
The sword of the Spirit guards the Word of God that unveils the Name, communicating saving wisdom, worthy of trust: ”I AM’ is our God, ‘I AM’ is one” (Deut 6:4). The Holy SHEMA hears and bears witness to the SHEM or Name of glory the Word reveals. The Name is one and saints are one in the Name’s unveiling of the reign… Read more »
In wisdom’s unveiling, a hermit’s prayer unveils the uncreated light of the countenance of God, revealing the glory of graced wholeness. The hermit does not just pray the Psalms, she enters the heart of the Psalms in the One, true Spirit that inspired them. “Turn us again, O Lord, God of hosts: shew the light of thy countenance and we… Read more »
The spiritual legacy of Saint Sophrony the Hesychast has great potential and generous capacity because it is founded on the grace of the Holy Name, together with its Gospel of revelatory Glory. The ‘I AM’ theophanies of the Name in the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse were decisive for Saint Sophrony, inspiring his vision of Holy Orthodoxy in ways… Read more »