The great spiritual fathers of the Church have insight into every aspect of human psychology and spirituality. At the beginning of the life of the Church they were able to describe, categorise, and provide from their own experience a very detailed understanding of what goes on inside of us. These are a few thoughts about […]
It is in silence that the first signs of the life of prayer reveal themselves. The Spirit of God does not force Himself upon us. He is gentle as a dove. When the Lord told Moses that He would appear to him we read that He was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, […]
I would like to speak briefly about Orthodoxy and the Holy Spirit. I grew up in an evangelical community and during the late 70s and early 80s, in my late teens and early adulthood, the effects of the charismatic renewal reached even into our Brethren community. Some left us and joined explicitly Pentecostal groups in […]
If God is Love, why Hell, “Purgatory”, Judgement, Eternal Punishment, Darkness and the Lake of Fire? I want to speak very much more briefly on a second topic, which is how we reconcile the idea of a God of love with the punishment of those judged unworthy, however this is understood, which is described in […]
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go […]
Eutyches and the Oriental Orthodox tradition The Oriental Orthodox communion has been regularly and routinely accused of following the teaching of Eutyches, the controversial archimandrite of Constantinople. Historical sources, such as the Catholic Encyclopaedia, conflate the teaching of Eutyches with monophysitism, and then insist that all those who speak of one nature may be indifferently […]
I recently discovered an interesting book, Sinai and Golgotha: A journey in the East, which was published in 1849. I enjoy finding the different accounts of Egypt written by visitors at this period. It was one among many written by travellers in the 19th century. The author was Frederick Adolph Strauss, a clergyman in the […]
When our Lord Jesus was about to teach his disciples how to pray in the words that begin, Our Father… he warned them, do not use vain repetitions, as it is translated in the New King James version of the New Testament. (Matthew 6:7). This often seems rather an embarrassing verse for Orthodox Christians, since […]
We only understand how we are who we are when we consider the influences that have come to bear on our ancient community. This is true of the controversies and pressures which were faced in the distant past, in times of theological disagreement and persecution, but also in regard to more recent experiences which have […]
Someone asked me… if God cares infinitely for every soul, then what does our prayer for one another add or what’s it’s purpose? This is a good question. I would start by saying that we can care for someone and yet not wish to do everything for them or without their participation because we might […]