“All the best that Russia has created is the result of the inward reconciliation of āEasternā and āWestern,ā of all that was true and immortal that sprouted from Byzantine seed, but could grow only by identifying itself once more with the general history of Christian humanity.” ~ Fr. Alexander Schmemann Note: For a disclaimer about historical terms in light of current events, see my previous essay on Pre-Petrine Russia. In an episode of the Simpsons titled, āThe Seemingly Never-Ending Story,ā Moe, owner of the local bar, tries to lose his friends and sometime bar denizensā¦
Mathetes explains to his interlocutor that Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body. They are dispersed throughout the world, and their presence of love towards the world is to its benefit, even if the world hates Christians and wars against them like the passions of the flesh war against the soul. Such martial language connotes a paradox. Christians must simultaneously engage the world around them (an invasion) and be aloof from it (a retreat). A believer plants one foot in Paradise and the other in the here-and-now. This is an attitudeā¦
Since Fr Andrew Damick and Michael Landsmen on The Areopagus Podcast recently had on Fr. Wesley Walker of The Sacramentalists podcast…we thought we’d follow suit and have Fr Myles Hixson, the other half of the Sacramentalists, on to Every Thought Captive. Today, on this feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Fr Daniel and Fr Myles sat down to record podcast on “Keeping the Faith – The Influence of Parents”. Our discussion is guided by an article published in First Things by Christian Smith, “Keeping the Faith“. The good news is that parents have an incredible influenceā¦
Our first episode introduces the new podcast and then we delve into Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s “The Task of Orthodox Theology Today”. We have a few episodes already recorded and will be sharing them in the upcoming weeks! Not just monologues! We will also have guests on the pod! Subscribe and share! Hit the image to go to the Ancient Faith webpage for the podcast.
Part of the reason for some of the low activity level here at Every Thought Captive has been the gearing up for the launching of a podcast! The podcast will be dedicated to the same themes as the blog…but more dynamic and interactive! Yes, we will continue with the production of new content – in depth analysis that bringing Orthodox thought and tradition to bear on current social and cultural issues. I also plan to go back and revisit certain threads and expanding those forays. We also plan to have on guests for interviews and discussions.ā¦
One cannot overstress the social aspect of Russian religious ethicsā¦. [O]ne must keep in mind that through all the centuries of medieval and Muscovite Russia her religion was predominantly socialā¦. An enforced individualism enters the Russian Church life only since the reform or revolution of Peter I. ~ G. P. Fedotov On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Low estimates count roughly 10,000 killed, nearly 4,000 of those civilians. The reality is likely much higher, and the fighting continues. Fleeing for their lives, 5.8 million have become refugees. I have views about this tragic bloodshed betweenā¦
Last year, I began a series on nepsis and the practice of so-called āDigital minimalismā for Orthodox Christians. Though this series had an auspicious beginning, I was rapidly taken off-track from completing it at that time for a multitude of reasons. With Lent coming to a close, I will continue that series now. We are approaching the very same Bridegroom Matins services and hymnography I referenced in my last piece. Let us keep those reminders of our spiritual life with us after Pascha! How easy it is to get through the Great Fast, through Holy Week,ā¦
The God of the Scriptures is a very specific sort of deity. He is the architect who created and fashioned all things in a logical and orderly sequence. While he does not permanently expel chaos from the cosmos, he makes clear that disorder is not good but a distortion of goodness and a movement towards non-being. God then places man in the midst of his creation and asks him to share in his work of establishing order by tending and keeping the garden.Ā Together with Zoe, Adam is tasked with subduing chaos and filling the voidā¦
We Orthodox face many contemporary challenges in the modern West. We have for decades now been fully aware of the challenge of secularism thanks to the works of Fr. Alexander Schmemann and Fr. Seraphim Rose. Typical for intellectuals the loss of God was analyzed from an intellectual framework. They approached the challenges by articulating intellectual genealogies and engaging in philosophical debate. The challenge of secularism has also been the occasion for the recent resurgence in discussing enchantment in many recently released Ancient Faith podcasts, as evidenced by the popularity of The Lord of the Spirits andā¦
Inasmuch as the present rests on the shoulders of the past, we can generally claim that our contemporary economic life is built upon the foundations set by the ascetic monastic labor of medieval Europe. ~ Fr. Sergei Bulgakov In the early twentieth-century, Adolf von Harnack observed in his historical study that āin Western monasticism we have to recognise a factor of the first importance in Church and civilisation.ā The sociologist Max Weber, Harnackās contemporary, also acknowledged this, for the West, in his major work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. By contrast, both figuresā¦
