Glory to God for All Things
Knowledge that Saves
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It is perhaps unfortunate that our English language (as well as the Greek and many other Indo-European variations) do not make a clear distinction between knowing something as a fact, and a different kind of knowing which requires participation in the actual life and reality of that which we know. Thus it is possible for me to know a great deal about the history of bread-making in 16th century France, even though…
Glory to God for All Things
Do We Want to Know God?
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It was remarked briefly in a recent comment that “we cannot know God completely,” and that we should be satisfied with the mysteries of the faith and trust the teaching of the Church (I apologize for using the writer’s honest statement as the point of departure for this post). However, this short quote from St. Silouan: It is given to our Orthodox Church through the Holy Spirit to fathom the mysteries of God,…
Glory to God for All Things
Help Vladik Find a Home
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I am posting this at the request of John Hogg, an Orthodox Christian, who worked in a Ukrainian Orphanage. He’s trying to find a home for a wonderful child, Vladik. If you can be of help then contact John at his website. I have borrowed a picture of Vladik from John’s site as well. If you are able to be of help – send me a note at Glory to God for…
Glory to God for All Things
The Importance of Being Ignorant
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I remember a talk given by Fr. Thomas Hopko last year in Dallas. In the course of some side remarks, he said that his son, Fr. John Hopko, had been asked what his dad was doing now that he was retired and no longer Dean of St. Vladimir’s. As reported by Fr. Tom, young Fr. Hopko said, “He’s going around the country talking to whomever will listen and telling them to remember…
Glory to God for All Things
Ignorant Man - Part 3
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Twice before I have written on the topic, “I Am an Ignorant Man.” In both cases I posted the article for good reason. Today I post because occasionally I need to confess this before others, lest I be taken for some kind of an authority beyond what I actually am. Yesterday I posted a short article on reading the Fathers – though I am far less an expert at the subject than…
Glory to God for All Things
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
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Well known to almost everyone is the Christmas carol that bids: “Let every heart, prepare Him room.” It is an excellent piece of theology – drawing a comparison between the coldness and lack of hospitality found in Bethlehem so long ago and the inner landscape of our own hearts. We should prepare our hearts so that there is room for God. I had some experience with this in a different way earlier…
Glory to God for All Things
Reading the Fathers
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I mentioned in a comment to a recent post that more people talk about the Fathers of the Church than actually read them. I also noted that good translations are hard to find. I wanted to offer some thoughts on reading the Fathers as well as some suggestions on how to begin that important task. First, you should understand that you will never read all the Fathers, or understand all that they…
Glory to God for All Things
Solidarity and Salvation
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Who is God? And what is man? What is wrong with man such that he needs to be “saved?” Is there more than one way of explaining this? The issue of salvation, of how man is brought back into a proper relationship with God, has been the primary concern of Christianity since its very inception. Christ himself begins His ministry with the proclamation, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”…
Glory to God for All Things
The Fullness of the World to Come
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I am fascinated by what the Holy Tradition does with the idea of “fullness” or “fulfillment.” The Church is described as the “fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). And it is not unusual for Orthodox Christians to express the meaning of Orthodoxy under the rubric of “fullness”: Orthodoxy is the “fullness of the Church.” The Scriptures do much with the concept – speaking of the “fullness of time,”…
Glory to God for All Things
Music from Georgia - Ethnos Fulfilled
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The subject of Orthodoxy and ethnicity has come up in several recent posts. To limit Orthodoxy to a particular ethnic group is, of course, heretical. But as I have noted earlier, the fullness of Orthodox does not destroy the particularity of who we are – but fulfills it. A man does not become less himself but more truly himself than he could ever have been apart from Christ. Only in Christ are…
Glory to God for All Things
A Matter of Perspective
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During my recent foray into iconography – I spent a week studying with a Master iconographer and a week discovering how little use my hands are in certain circumstances. But among the most fascinating aspects of the week was a lecture that focused largely on the technique of “inverse perspective” that is part of the artistic language of icons. Essentially, inverse perspective does just the opposite of traditional Renaissance art with its…
Glory to God for All Things
A Smaller World - A Larger World
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I posted an addition to my blogroll today, an Orthodox Blog in Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic), Digital Areopagus. I added this link both because it seems a good site, and to return the favor of being added as a link to his site. The internet has a way of making our world both smaller and larger. Digital Areopagus found its way to this site through the postings of Fr. Dorin Piciorus on…
Glory to God for All Things
The Abolition of Man and Some Other Thoughts
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I frequently find myself thinking about C.S. Lewis’ little masterpiece, The Abolition of Man, if only because it was correct when he wrote it and has been prophetic ever since. It’s odd, the copy I own is old, tattered, and rescued from a fire – much like his thesis. That thesis is almost too complex to put into this posting – at least in the time I’ve allowed myself to write today.…
Glory to God for All Things
"A Single Word Shall Fell Him"
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I recall the line from Luther’s great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.” When speaking of our adversary, whom I need not name, it boldly proclaims, “A single word shall fell him.” It goes on to say, “That Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth…” etc. A single word is indeed powerful, particularly if that Word, is Jesus. It also true, however, that as James says: “But the tongue can no…
Glory to God for All Things
When Things Are Not As They Seem
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It is said that when some of the natives of the South Seas first saw Captain Cook’s ships approaching, they saw them as clouds. There was no category in their world for “ships,” thus the Captain and his crew came in “clouds.” I’ve have always wondered about the connection between how we name things in the paucity of our experience and how much that naming actually shapes our ability to see. Princess…
Glory to God for All Things
'Til Christ Be Formed in You
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Writing to the Galatians, St. Paul utters the cry of a spiritual father: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…(Galatians 4:19) Though, interestingly, the imagery he uses is that of a mother and her children… But it is a groaning parents have for their own children as they await their maturation. I can recall with each of my children the first significant (by…
Glory to God for All Things
A Russian Tale
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This is not a tale from old Russia, or even so much a new tale, but it is a tale told by me, an American, born in 1953, who lived through the events of the 60’s, Vietnam, the whole mess. And strangely, Russia played an important role. At the end of the 60’s my older brother was in the Navy (long story that) and by the early 70’s was on a destroyer…
Glory to God for All Things
The Pearl of Great Price
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Christ told the parable of a merchant in search of fine pearls, who when he had found one truly great one, sold all that he had and bought the pearl – ever since known as the “pearl of great price.” What Christ refers to in the parable, of course, is the Kingdom of God. And lest we confuse anyone – the Kingdom means everything – God Himself and all that you could…
Glory to God for All Things
How Vulnerable is Your Life?
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Young parents quickly discover a level of vulnerability they had not known before a child came into their world. With the birth of a child, under most normal circumstances, your heart becomes extremely vulnerable. You discover that you’ve never loved anything so much and the fragility of their lives becomes, sometimes, all too obvious. I’m not certain that this sense of fragility stops even after their grown and no longer fit the…
Glory to God for All Things
Zizioulas and the Church that is Communion
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One of the more profound writers and thinkers in the Orthodox Church today has to be Metropolitan John Zizioulas – who has taught for years in Scotland and England – and is known to be one of the closest theologians to His Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Zizioulas [as he is commonly referred to without meaning any disrespect] is also famously difficult to read – he can pack a paragraph with insights…
Glory to God for All Things
Writing Plans - Zizioulas Made Plain
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I hope to spend some time next week “unpacking” (as they say) some of Met. John Zizioulas’ theology. It is very helpful in understanding the true nature of the Church. This weekend I am in Clarksville, TN, near Fort Campbell, to explore the possibilities of a new mission. I would much appreciate your prayers. It’s hard to be away from my home parish – even for two days, but especially on Sundays…
Glory to God for All Things
And Now for a Little Meat! Met. John Zizioulas and the Church
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If you are not familiar with Met. John Zizioulas’ work, then you have missed some of the best writing by an English-speaking Orthodox writer. Not that having read him you’ll understand what you have just read. But the following small article was sent to my by my dear friend, the Pontificator, whom many of you know from (now-demised) blog. I appreciate the head’s up. The article was publish elsewhere. John Zizioulas (Being as Communion)…
Glory to God for All Things
Orthodox Europe?
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From the Christian Science Monitor comes this interesting opinion piece: A short quote: Western suspicion of Eastern Orthodoxy can be traced back to before the Great Schism that divided the Christian Church in 1054. One hundred and fifty years later, it fueled the Crusaders’ zeal for the sacking of Constantinople. In the 18th century, it became a main theme of Edward Gibbon‘s influential interpretation of the Roman Empire, which was later echoed…
Glory to God for All Things
The Church of Many Rooms
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In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2). I have shared before about a dream I once had of a Church in which there were many rooms. It was an old, wooden Orthodox Church, packed with people and with a service going on – but the service continued from room to room.…
Glory to God for All Things
A Further Thought on Failure and the Church
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A priest much beloved to me wrote to me privately (among other things) these thoughts on my article on the “Failure of the Church.” He is entirely accurate and his words bear posting here lest I be misundertood. May God bless him in his ministry. It’s tempting when we see scandal and sin in Church life to attribute these things to the Church Herself. But there is no time or place in…
Glory to God for All Things
Orthodoxy in Indonesia
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Glory to God for All Things
Why I Am Not Concerned about the Church as Failure
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I suspected that having written about the “Church as Failure,” today’s post would be a required follow-up. I am not concerned about the Church as failure – because I believe the Church was meant to fail – if you’ll allow me explain. I have chosen the word “failure” to translate St. Paul’s description of Christ on the Cross as “weakness” and “foolishness.” I think those words were powerful when he was speaking…
