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 [...]
June 18, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: agape, Andrew Greeley, apologetics, charity, Christianity, church history, community, conversion, doctrine, dogma, early church, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, established church, established religion, establishment, evangelism, evangelization, friendship evangelism, Greeks, Hellenism, Hellenistic world, Hellenization, Jewish Christians, Jews, Judaism, Latter Day Saints, LDS Church, love, martyrdom, Mormonism, Mormons, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, paganism, pagans, Providence, religion, religious free market, Rodney Stark, Roman Empire, seminaries, service, social change, sociology, sociology of religion, statistics, theology, urban ministry, urban mission, women's issues
What follows is extracted from this blog post I know nothing else about, which is why I’m giving you what I got out of it here instead of sending you there to try and pinpoint it. The book-author discussed, Rodney Stark, a sociologist (and BTW, according to Wikipedia he’s not “a Mormon fanatic” as one of [...]
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 [...]
…from the original source follows, for interest’s sake (emphases and footnotes mine):
8.) What do you personally find the most challenging about Orthodoxy?
I keep finding that I have so much further to go. Well, to step back, the most challenging thing about Orthodoxy is that it dumps you right out at the place where it’s you [...]
September 24, 2007 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholic Church, Catholicism, catholicity, Christianity, church history, church polity, conciliarism, conciliarity, doctrine, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecclesiology, local church, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, papacy, Philip Sherrard, pope, prelest, Protestantism, Quakerism, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, Russia, sobornost, spirituality, theology, Uniates, Uniatism, Uniats, Western Christianity
The blogger from the previous post, Mr. Brooks Lampe in the Washington, DC, area, here tackles some heavy stuff, without it coming across too heavy! He’s reporting and reflecting mostly on a book by Philip Sherrard, whose writing can be extremely dense – well-planned, well-packed, making for downright oppressive reading, like much philosophy can be [...]
July 22, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: ascesis, asceticism, askesis, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, doctrine, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, empirical theology, experimental theology, glorification, John 7:17, Orthodox Christianity, purification, salvation, theology, Theosis, virtue
John 7:17 (NKJV):
If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or [whether] I speak on My own [authority.]
Here was discussed the fact that those who experience Energetic Union with God/Glorification perceive fundamental o/Orthodox Christian teachings therein. Now John 7:17 seems to reinforce that testimony. If [...]
