November 14, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: 101 classes, Bridgeport, Carpatho-Russian Orthodoxy, Christian spirituality, Christianity, church, classes, classes in Christianity, Connecticut, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, eastern religion, Eastern spirituality, Fairfield, fairfield county, introduction to Christianity, introduction to Orthodox Christianity, introduction to Orthodoxy, introductory classes, Milford, Moodle classes, New Haven, Norwalk, online classes, Orange, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox Eastern Church, orthodoxy, Orthodoxy 101, religion, religion classes, spirituality, Stratford, Trumbull, Westport
…begins this Monday, November 16, at 7pm Eastern Time (U.S.), from a Connecticut parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (Patriarchate of Constantinople). It’s free, but Moodle, so you have to sign-up in advance to access it; you also need an email address to confirm your registration. It’ll webcast live for 7 Monday nights in [...]
February 5, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Russian Orthodoxy, Christianity, religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, sin, Orthodox Church, saints, temptation, Reformation, Protestantism, Fathers of the Church, spirituality, virtue, bishops, Martin Luther, Evangelicalism, Russian Christianity, Russian Orthodox Church, eastern religion, grace, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox bishops, grace alone, works, works righteousness, grace and works, grace vs works, good works, struggle, podvig, Theophan the Recluse, Theophan of Poltava, Doctors of the Church, spiritual fathers, raising children, child raising, Orthodox saints, Orthodox monks, Fundamentalism
Short reflection inspired by St. Theophan the Recluse is here.
(Theophan, sometimes called Theophanes [the original Greek version of his name], was a 19th-century bishop in Russia who retired early from the active episcopate – hence “recluse” – and became an incredible spiritual father and writer! A real latter-day Father of the Church. He even wrote [...]
January 28, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Bolshevik Revolution, canon law, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, church, Church canons, church history, church polity, College of Cardinals, Communism, early Christianity, early church, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern church history, Eastern church polity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Great Patriotic War, history of Christianity, Latin Church, Latin Rite, locum tenens, locum tenentes, martyrdom, martyrs, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church history, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox patriarchates, Orthodox patriarchs, orthodoxy, papacy, Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch of Russia, Patriarchate of Moscow, Pope of Rome, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Russian church, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian patriarchate, sede vacante, Soviet Union, spiritual guidance, spirituality, St. Peter of Krutitsy, St. Tikhon of Moscow, theology, USSR, Vatican, World War 2, World War II, World War Two
It’s being noted in news coverage that Moscow Patriarch-elect KYRILL was “Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne” since shortly after the repose of Patriarch ALEXEI. This concept is not unknown in Western Christianity … in fact, locum tenens is the traditional Latin-language term whose Greek or Slavonic counterpart I do not know, but seems commonly [...]
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 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 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 [...]
October 1, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: ceaseless prayer, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Jesus Prayer, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, orthodoxy, pray without ceasing, prayer, prayer in the Spirit, prayer of the heart, prayer to the saints, prepared prayer, quiet time, relationship with God, religion, religious icons, saints, self-acting prayer, spirituality, worship
A very insightful post at Alana Roberts’ blog. She’s converted from Evangelicalism.
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 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 27, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: aliens, Christianity, Coast to Coast AM, demonology, devil, Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, outer space, religion, sci-fi, science fiction, spirituality, UFOs, X-Files
As an old science and science-fiction fan and occasional listener to Coast-to-Coast AM and viewer of The X-Files – for years I even thought I had seen one of the “famous” Hudson Valley UFOs over Hartsdale, NY, in the ’80s, after returning to my office at WFAS Radio from covering a local town council meeting [...]
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 [...]
October 28, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholicism, Christianity, church history, conciliarism, conciliarity, contraception, deaconesses, divorce, Eastern Orthodoxy, economic justice, Fathers of the Church, first among equals, Liberal Catholicism, liberalism, liturgy, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox mission, papacy, Patristics, pope, progressive, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, sobornost, social justice, spirituality, theology
(Polished and expanded a little on 18 January 2008.)
How can Orthodoxy possibly dovetail with liberal Roman Catholicism?
Collegiality and conciliarity; no Papal Infallibility. While the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has some very supportive supporters, he’s really not supposed to be a worldwide ecclesiastical autocrat, merely “first among equals” among the bishops of the Orthodox Church, permanent [...]
July 16, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Bible, Christianity, deification, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, forgiveness, glorification, Hebrew Scriptures, Job, Job 42:7, Job 42:7-8, Old Testament, Old Testament Church, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, philosophy, philosophy of religion, religion, salvation, Scripture, spirituality, theology, Theosis
See Job 42:7-8 (NAB):
…the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job. Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and [...]
July 6, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, creed, creeds, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, filioque, glorification, Jesus Christ, John Romanides, nicene creed, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, religion, Romanity, salvation, spirituality, theology, Theosis, Trinity
(UPDATED 4 August 2008, clarifying about the Son and Spirit proceeding eternally [ie, Their "existence"] only from the Father, ie, no Filioque in the true experience of God’s Glory.)
From Prophet of Roman Orthodoxy: The Theology of John Romanides, by Andrew J. Sopko, Dewdney, BC, Canada: Synaxis, 1998, pages 41-42:
Lest glorification/divinization be equated with a mystical [...]
July 1, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: apostolic succession, Bible, Catholicism, Christendom, Christianity, church history, churches, conciliarism, conciliarity, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, first among equals, glorification, Great Schism, Holy Spirit, infallibility, John 16:13, Matthew 18:18, Matthew 6:13-19, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, orthodoxy, papacy, patriarchates, pope, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, salvation, Scripture, sobornost, spirituality, St. Peter, theology, Theosis, Western Christendom, Western Christianity, Western Church
Yesterday was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles. The Gospel reading for Divine Liturgy was Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Matthew 16:13-19 (here, from the NAB).
13
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14
They replied, “Some say [...]
