And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, âAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.â Matthew 28:18 Who said it? âThe man of faith acts, not as one endowed with free will, but as a beast that is led by the will of God.â Martin Luther? John Calvin? No, the answer is St. Peter of Damascus, from the Philokalia. He goes on to pray, âDo what Thou wilt to Thy creature; for I believe that, being good, Thou bestowest blessings on me, even if IâŚ
âWhat must be implemented is not a âsteadily expanding economy,â but a zero-growth economy, a stable economy. Economic growth is not only unnecessary but ruinousâŚwe must renounce, as a matter of urgency, the gigantic scale of modern technology in industry, agriculture, and urban development âŚâ – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Orthodoxyâs principled objection to Communism is widely known and understood and, given that Eastern Orthodoxy was the religious tradition that bore the brunt of the Marxist-Leninist assault upon religion and Christian culture, the fact that the vast majority of Orthodox thinkersâŚ
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, âBehold the Man!â John 19:5 In a famed episode of The Twilight Zone in 1962, aliens known as Kanamits make first contact with earth, claiming that they come in peace. They offer advanced technology that eliminates famine, disease, and war. When they go, they leave behind a book, written in their undecipherable alien language. Naturally, the cryptographists get to work decoding it, led by scientist Michael Chambers. While some responded with skepticism toward theâŚ
In his famous poem, âArchaic Torso of Apollo,â Rainer Maria Rilke writes about the experience of looking at a great piece of art. His point is that great art looks at us, too; we find ourselves observed, questioned and judged. I argue that this is as true of literary art as of sculpture. What will we do after we close the book? The last line of Rilkeâs poem tells us, âYou must change your life.â The same Orthodox Christians who rightly express concern over the dangers of gamingâŚ
