Glory to God for All Things
The Icon as Proof of God's Existence
·
God “adorns himself in magnificence and clothes himself with beauty.” Man stands amazed and contemplates the glory whose light causes a hymn of praise to burst forth from the heart of every creature. The Testamentum Domini gives us the following prayer: “Let them be filled with the Holy Spirit…so they can sing a doxology and give you praise and glory forever.” An icon is the same kind of doxology but in a…
Glory to God for All Things
Icons and Truth
·
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. In the last several posts I have written about the iconic character of reality – the world about us has the character of an icon. I have also noted the iconic character of language and of Scripture. There is much to say about what is meant by such descriptions as well as what it means to see things in an “iconic”…
Praying in the Rain
High School Camp Out Around Fr. Michael's House
·
It’s Saturday morning, 8:00 am and the “campers” are just stirring. It probably helped to let the rooster out of the chicken house at about 7:30. Last night went well. The last group arrived at about 8:00 pm, so we had an extended dinner starting at 6:00 and finishing at 8:30. The kid jelled almost immediately, which was great because a few were “outsiders.” They stood around a fire and roasted marshmallows.…
Glory to God for All Things
Icons and the Smashing of Images
·
My recent series on iconicity would seem to require a word or two about the smashing of images (iconoclasm). +++ I have a quote on the sidebar from an earlier posting. It is about the need we have for proper images and the danger inherent in “image smashing” or “iconoclasm.” We have to renounce iconoclasm. In so doing, we inherently set ourselves against certain forces within modernity. The truth is eschatological, that is, it…
Praying in the Rain
Prayer and the Acqusition of Things
·
“Everything we desire pleases us only so long as we do not possess it; and when we get it, we soon get tired of it. Or only what we do not as yet have seems to us good and attractive; while all that we have, even though it is the very best, is either not enough for us or does not attract us” (St. Innocent of Alaska, Indication of the Way into…
Glory to God for All Things
Grief Observed
·
As regular readers of this blog will know, I buried my mother last week. Her passing was a very godly event. I have no particular thoughts on my grief (that I care to share) – only the abiding comfort of the prayers of the Church and gratitude for the prayers of friends. I wrote the following article on grief in February of 2007 and found it of interest. Surely, He has borne…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Voice
·
Today’s saintly commemoration is the conception of John the Forerunner, known to most English speakers as John the Baptist, which is narrated for us, along with his birth, in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel. A major thematic element for today is the Voice. Zachariah, not believing the archangel, is made bereft of his voice until such time as he participates in the naming…
Glory to God for All Things
Drawn Ever Deeper
·
On translation and the iconicity of language – this comment posted earlier today is worth more attention: I’ve been enjoying thinking about your words on the subject of there being something revealing about the act and result of translation. It makes me think of weeping and other miraculous icons. The particular icon, written faithfully according to the canons, nevertheless is already a unique expression of the truth into which every occasion/expression of…
Praying in the Rain
Loving Myself Best of All
·
I have been having and argument with myself all morning about self love and the impulse to fix systems. I want to change systems because I love others and I do not want those with power to continue hurting and being hurt. I see a practice that oppresses others or that is destroying or may destroy what I love, and I want it to end. “I do,” I protest to myself, “love…
Praying in the Rain
Loving Yourself Best of All
·
In Dostoevsky’s short story, “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,” (and yes, it is actually short) a typically Dostoevskian manic is about to commit suicide late one night. But before he picks up the revolver to pull the trigger, he falls asleep in his armchair and has a dream. In his dream he is transported to an Eden-like world of love and understanding. Unfortunately, after a little while his presence in this…
Glory to God for All Things
Icons and Words
·
With this post I want to make a link between my last article, on how we “see” icons, and an earlier article, “Doctrine and Opinion,” in which I quoted the late Fr. Georges Florovsky who said, “Doctrine is a verbal icon of Christ.” I noted then that this presented a very different approach to doctrine and the usual reasoned treatments that accompany it. Human reason has a very vital role to play…
Glory to God for All Things
Icons - Beauty and the Salvation of the World
·
“God will save the World Through Beauty.” This saying, often attributed to Fyodor Dostoevsky, never occurs in precisely this form in his novels – though the idea is present in such a strong sense that the phrase is correctly attributed to him. It is a phrase that is easily misunderstood. For Dostoevsky, in good Orthodox fashion, beauty is far more than a matter of aesthetics – it is the very goodness of…
Glory to God for All Things
To See An Icon
·
My previous post spoke of the world existing “iconically” rather than “literally.” I do not mean that the world cannot be seen in a “literal” fashion – only that the world will not be truly seen if seen only in a literal fashion (there is probably a better word than “literal” to describe this secularized form of experience). The seeing which sees in a “literal” fashion, assumes that things are only things,…
Glory to God for All Things
Is the World Literal or Iconic?
·
What do you see when you see the world and how do you see it? I have written much about the secular character of our culture and its “literal” view of the world. The world is what you see and nothing more. Significant events take their significance from their own relation to other literal events. Much that passes for Christian theology or “thought” belongs to this world-view today. Thus those who concern…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
For us, there is only the trying
·
Among other saintly commemorations today, we remember Ninian, the Enlightener of Scotland. From all apparent worldly analyses, St. Ninian was something of a failure. He’s called the Enlightener of Scotland, because he first brought the Christian faith there in the final years of the 4th century, but he wasn’t terribly successful. He never saw the astounding conversions the way Columba did nearly 200 years…
Praying in the Rain
The Living Temple of God
·
The Church often refers the Mary as the Living Temple of God because, like the temple of the Old Testament, her womb was the place where the Glory of the Lord dwelt. However, unlike the temple—made of inanimate stones and wood and covered in gold—Mary is the Living Temple of God. Although she has experienced death, she is still the Living Temple because, as Christ said, “all who live and believe in…
Glory to God for All Things
Memory Eternal
·
A personal note: I received news this evening (September 14) of the falling asleep of my mother, Nancy Freeman, in her home in South Carolina. Her passing was peaceful and marked with words of love. My heart is very full. Earlier today I had given thanks for this 5th anniversary of my parents’ reception into the Orthodox faith. It seems significant to me that on this date my mother is now received…
Glory to God for All Things
The Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ
·
The Mystery of our Salvation is contained within the Cross of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And it is correct to say the “mystery of our salvation,” for what is contained there is more than a cosmic transaction (Christ pays for our sins): it is also the whole of our way of life. It is truly the mystery of our salvation. The extent of this mystery is hinted at in Christ’s…
Glory to God for All Things
A Mother's Word
·
Praying in the Rain
The Heart of the Matter
·
It says of Rehoboam that “he did evil because he did not direct his heart to seek the Lord.” So much of what we do or do not do, especially what may have eternal significance, depends on where our heart is directed. The Judgment of God, at least as it is recorded in Matthew 25, says nothing about our hearts, but only speaks of actions. And yet it is the direction of…
Glory to God for All Things
The Religion of the Mind and the Religion of the Heart
·
I write frequently about what I term the Religion of the Heart. Archimandrite Meletios Webber has a short piece on what can be called the Religion of the Mind. The distinction between mind and heart is not a distinction between thought and feeling. Rather it is a distinction between the mind (seat of thoughts and feelings) and the heart (the seat of a deeper awareness – sometimes called the nous in Orthodox…
Praying in the Rain
A Rebel With A Cause
·
When Israel rebelled against Judah, Jeroboam against Rehoboam, it is with Jeroboam that I have the most sympathy, although it is to Jerusalem that “those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord” continued to come to offer their sacrifices. Jeroboam had only asked for what was reasonable. After the great achievements of Solomon in the areas of architecture and the building up of cities, achievements accomplished by the almost slave…
Glory to God for All Things
Doctrines and Opinion
·
From the Desert Fathers: Malicious sceptics visited Abba Agathon to see if they could annoy him. They had heard that Agathon possessed great discretion and self-control. They spoke directly to him, “Agathon, we heard that you are an adulterer and full of pride.” He answered, “Yes, that’s true.” “Are you the same Agathom who gossips and slanders?” “I am.” “Are you Agathon the heretic?” “No, I am not a heretic.” “Why did…
Praying in the Rain
Nakedness and Masks in Marriage
·
I have noticed that when my heart is upset (anger, confusion, frustration, depression, etc.) and I speak unguardedly, I don’t say what I mean. Now here when I say “heart,” I don’t mean the heart of man as the Fathers speak of the heart; rather, I mean what most English speakers mean when they say heart: their feelings, their inner emotional selves. Particularly in the relationships I care most about, I must…
Glory to God for All Things
The Nativity of the Theotokos
·
Today marks the birth of the Mother of God on the calendar of the Orthodox Church (New Calendar). It is one of the twelve major feasts of the year. It is also a feast which shares a great deal in common with many other events in the course of Scripture – all of which emphasize the character of our salvation. The story of Mary’s conception and birth, as received by Tradition in…
Glory to God for All Things
The God Gene
·
Praying in the Rain
Getting to Know Our Mother
·
“Thy womb has offered to Christ, the Lamb of God, our substance to be His fleece; therefore in our hymns we all honour thee on this day of thy nativity from Anna.” (Canticle one, second canon, 4th verse, from Matins for the Birth of the Mother of God, by St. Andrew of Crete) Many converts to Holy Orthodoxy have trouble making a personal connection with Mary, the Theotokos. They understand and accept…
