March 3, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Andrew of Crete, ascesis, asceticism, Christianity, church, church services, compline, daily prayers, deification, Divine Energies, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, fasting, glorification, good works, Great Canon, Great Compline, Great Fast, Great Lent, Hours, Lent, Lenten services, liturgical services, liturgies, Liturgy of the Hours, night prayer, night prayers, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, orthodoxy, prayer, prayer services, prayers, religion, salvation, services, Theosis, Uncreated Energies
That’s the upshot of these words of the late Fr. Alexander Schmemann (OCA). (Link may break after this year; I don’t know if it’s tied to today’s date, as Clean Monday or Pure Monday, the first day of the Great Fast this year, or not.)
An important liturgical and devotional tradition of Byzantine Christianity during the [...]
October 17, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, deification, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, Hesychasm, noetic, noetic prayer, nous, Orthodox Christianity, prayer, purification, religion, salvation, spirituality, Theosis
No, I wasn’t one of those kids who enjoyed reading dictionaries (much) … but you may do well to pray the O Heavenly King before reading this essential, profound definition-list ‘in a nutshell’ from Metropolitan HIEROTHEOS of Nafpaktos, courtesy of this website:
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and filleth all things, [...]
October 16, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, deification, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, free will, Holy Spirit, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, NLCS, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, prayer, religion, salvation, seminary, sports, sports nostalgia, Theosis, Trinity, Uncreated Energies, Uncreated Energy, World Series
Have you ever heard a couple million people cheer all at once? Have you ever heard them continue cheering for three-quarters of an hour? It was moving, but also a little creepy!
So there I am, IBS’ing under an open window (upper pane) a little after 11:30 ET tonight (Wednesday), out of reach of TV and [...]
October 9, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: 2 Cor 11, 2 Cor 11:14, 2 Corinthians 11, angels, apparitions, ascetic theology, Christianity, contemplation, deception, deification, delusion, devil, discernment, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, experiential theology, humility, illumination, meditation, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox way, orthodoxy, plani, prelest, private revelation, purification, religion, repentance, salvation, satan, self-restraint, spiritual advice, spiritual direction, spiritual discipline, spiritual parent, spirituality, theophanies, Theosis, Uncreated Energies, Uncreated Energy, Uncreated Light, visionaries, visions, visualization
This is common and EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ADVICE for Orthodox, seemingly paradoxical considering all the talk about Uncreated Light, angels, theophanies, visions, etc. “Even the devil can appear as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). We’re even supposed to avoid visualization-meditation of any kind, which he can make use of. And if we do see some apparition, [...]
October 9, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: apatheia, Christianity, deification, dispassion, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, fools for christ, glorification, Hesychasm, hesychia, humility, indifference, Macarius of Egypt, Macarius the Great, Makarios of Egypt, Makarios the Great, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, purification, religion, spiritual discipline, stillness, Theosis, Uncreated Energies, Uncreated Energy, Uncreated Light
From St. Feofil, the Fool for Christ’s Sake, courtesy of this blog:
If you are praised, be silent. If you are scolded, be silent. If you incur losses, be silent. If you receive profit, be silent. If you are satiated, be silent. If you are hungry, also be silent. And do not be afraid that there [...]
October 9, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: aphorisms, Christianity, communion, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Eucharist, glory, glory of God, Greek Orthodoxy, heaven, hell, humility, John Romanides, liturgy, mercy, mysteries, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, prayers, purifying fire, religion, sacramental preparation, sacraments, salvation, Theosis, Uncreated Energies, Uncreated Energy, Uncreated Light, worship
Every time I made it to Divine Liturgy while he was with my parish, or just about,* the priest who Chrismated me, preceded Communion with a collective reminder about the o/Orthodox understanding of the Mysteries (sacraments) as special encounters with God’s Uncreated Energies. I can’t remember it verbatim, but he said Communion is like a fire that risks [...]
October 8, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christ, Christianity, deification, distractions, Divine Energies, Divinization, Early Christian Writers, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Fathers of the Church, God, heart, Hesychasm, hesychia, Jesus, mental health, mental illness, nepsis, neptic, noetic, nous, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Psychotherapy, orthodoxy, psychology, psychotherapy, purification, religion, saints, sin, spiritual direction, spiritual discipline, spirituality, temptation, Theanthropos, Theosis, Uncreated Energies
From Saint Symeon the New Theologian, one of the key Fathers of the Church (his feast is commemorated this Sunday 12 October, and two hymns of his feast are here):
Our holy fathers have renounced all other spiritual work and concentrated wholly on this one doing, that is, on guarding the heart,* convinced that, through this practice, they [...]
September 22, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: apocryphal gospels, ascetic theology, asceticism, Bible, Blessed Mother, Blessed Virgin Mary, Christianity, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, doctrine, early Christian writings, Early Church Fathers, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Fathers of the Church, free will, glorification, grace, Gregory Palamas, Hesychasm, hymns, Immaculate Conception, liturgy, Mary, Mary of Nazareth, monasticism, Mother Mary, mother of Christ, Mother of God, mother of Jesus, mysticism, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox liturgy, Orthodox Tradition, orthodoxy, Palamism, Patristics, prayer, religion, religious controversy, religious doubt, religious questioning, Russian Orthodoxy, saints, salvation, Scripture, Scripture and Tradition, Second Temple, sin, spirituality, St Gregory Palamas, Temple (Jerusalem), temptation, Theosis, Theotokos, Uncreated Energies, Uncreated Energy, women saints, worship
I know nothing about the recent controversy over this, referenced at the beginning of this article from St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania (anonymous), and was surprised to hear about it. But this article seems to address it well, briefly, and Orthodoxly. It also highlights the misinterpretation or misunderstanding of Patristic writings that is possible unless one [...]
September 18, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Anthony Bloom, Antony Bloom, Christianity, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, glory of God, God, Gospel, Hesychasm, illumination, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, purification, religion, salvation, saved, Theosis
More from Metr. Anthony Bloom:
…we must remember that ‘to glorify’ in Greek does not mean what we understand so often – to praise or applaud; it means that his splendour, his unutterable beauty is revealed….
So how do *we* glorify God? Preliminarily by struggling to unite with His Uncreated Energies, His Glory, through all the means [...]
June 25, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: angels, asceticism, Christianity, deification, discipleship, discipling, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, Faye Flam, glorification, heaven, John Romanides, marriage, monasticism, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, philosophy, religion, saints, salvation, self-discipline, self-restraint, sex, sexuality, Theosis
I just ran across local newspaper science columnist Faye Flam’s old article (PDF) about speculation around, let’s say marital relations, in the afterlife. She does remind us that the Lord Himself reported that in Heaven the saved do not marry [and therefore do not have sexual relations], but live as the angels. (In fact Orthodox Monasticism [...]
June 11, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christian spirituality, Christianity, Church Fathers, church history, deification, Divinization, Early Christian Writers, Early Church Fathers, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Evangelicalism, Fathers of the Church, glorification, heartland, kansas, Middle America, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, Patristics, Protestantism, religion, Roman Catholicism, salvation, spiritual guidance, spirituality, theology, Theosis, wichita
Says an Antiochian Orthodox bookstore owner in Wichita, Kansas,* in this 2002 Publishers Weekly roundup / preview of then-new Orthodox books entering the mainstream book market (in English in the United States).
(*–For the record, home of 5 Orthodox churches, visible at orthodoxyinamerica.org.)
April 24, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, Orthodox Christianity, prayers, religion, saints, Theosis, translation, Uncreated Light
NEOPHYTE OPINION ALERT
Numerous Orthodox hymns and prayers include the past tenses of the verb to shine, referring in one way or another to light, often God’s Uncreated Energies as Light, as frequently discussed in this blog, whether directly from a Person of the Trinity, or indirectly through a Saint, Angel, or the Theotokos (God-Deliverer).
Allow me [...]
March 27, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: 1 Cor 7:9, 1 Corinthians 7:9, Christianity, deification, Divinization, divorce, Eastern Orthodoxy, I Cor 7:9, I Corinthians 7:9, marriage, Matthew 19:6, morality, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, religion, remarriage, salvation, Theosis
I just found an intriguing ‘inside look’ in a public letter to his priests by then-Ruling Hierarch of the OCA’s Diocese of San Francisco and the West, Bishop TIKHON (Fitzgerald). I can’t offer any more about it than His Grace does, though.
March 22, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: 2 Cor 5:17, Apocalypse 21:5, deification, devotions, Divine Energies, Divinization, doctrine, Eastern Orthodoxy, hell, II Cor 5:17, Incarnation, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, prayer, Rev 21:5, Revelation 21:5, Revelations 21:5, salvation, theology, Theosis, Uncreated Light, worship
An Akathist (sometimes spelled Akafist or Acathistos, etc.) is a poetic or quasi-poetic devotional service dedicated to a Saint or God Himself, or themed around a Feast day, a need being prayed for, possibly other things. It’s divided into stanzas, each of which is called an Ekos (Ikos, Oikos) or a Kontakion. Several times during the [...]
March 15, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: art, basilicas, Blessed Mother, cathedrals, Catholicism, Christianity, deification, Divine Light, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, iconoclasm, iconography, icons, images, Italy, Mary, miracles, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, painting, religion, Roman Catholicism, Rome, saints, salvation, theology, Theosis, Theotokos, Uncreated Light, Western Orthodoxy
Italy’s former Orthodoxy is attested by the ancient icons and Greek icon-style murals and mosaics to be found in many old Latin churches there to this day. Rome itself has at least one icon said to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist (like a few in Orthodox hands, or rather, graced to Orthodox [...]
