Comments

123 responses to “Forged in the Fires of a Dying Sun”

1. 

   Ivan

   September 8, 2020

   Xenia,

   Thank you for recommending your late husband Donald’s book! I read the book’s description and the online sample pages’ foreword and introduction right away, and it sounds very interesting and beautiful. I plan to keep reading the sample pages, and I appreciate the reminder to pray the Psalms more often. I am not sure when I might buy Donald’s book, but I have been looking for an Orthodox commentary on the Psalms for a while. I will keep the Psalms and the need to study them in mind.

   In my response to Scott, I focused on the Orthodox relational principles and theological truths that can help someone who has depression but is not yet ready for a traditional prayer rule. Of course praying the Psalms and studying them is very helpful for recovery from any vice and disease – but not everyone reads them, and many people seeking God are not comfortable with rigorous prayer and lack a spiritual father to guide them in learning how to do it. It can take a long time to get ready for daily, disciplined prayer – and I’m sure that’s fine with Christ, Who is patient and wants people to grow in a calm, unhurried way. I think the book of Donald’s journals that you edited is an advanced text, not so accessible for seekers who are at an earlier phase of Orthodox life or not yet catechumens. To approach the Psalms from an Orthodox perspective is difficult for those coming from another religious background.

   Spiritual warfare often overlaps with one’s psychological issues and skills. My parish priest encourages me to participate in psychological therapy, and both Orthodoxy and the scientific consensus validate the benefits of counseling for treating depression and other mental or emotional diseases. All diseases are also spiritual, but that does not make therapy worldly or ineffective, as Dee eloquently wrote. I know the psychological community is struggling with an ethics crisis, as they lack training or a consensus foundation of faith in counseling on moral issues, and made a big mistake in turning to Westernized Buddhism for their postmodern methods of treatment. But many psychologists are Christians, and we had better not reject their professional work, considering that it mostly serves God and works well.

   While Dee wrote about the very popular, scientifically rigorous and broadly effective kind of therapy called CBT, it is not a catch-all. Rather, many professionals say, and I I agree, that each disease is better treated by different methods, from ACT to psychoanalysis, depending on each patient or client’s unique needs and personality. There is a wide range of approaches, which can involve poetry or literature. Sometimes I read passages from the Psalms with my psychologist for insight into my experiences and inspiration for how to cope and live well – therapy can absolutely be Christian and spiritual.

   Few Christians realize that depression is technically a sin, studied by St. John Cassian and other Church Fathers. St. John wrote that depression proceeds from anger and causes acedia, in a chain of moral and emotional events. That idea is difficult to understand for people living in a modern, Western society, but shows that psychology is an integral part of Orthodox patristic science. The process of therapy is meant to aid in self-understanding and repentance, just like prayer. I don’t think we need to disagree about how depression is overcome – the different approaches are mostly compatible and each person finds a unique path ordained by Christ.

   I really like this part of the end of chapter 7 that you quoted – “divine compassion … is the antidote to the poison of depression.” That thought is well put and very Orthodox. I think psychological warfare is part of God’s compassion for humanity – He provides many tools and treatments, not just the Psalms or prayer. I do not like to separate spirituality from psychology too much – the human psyche is made in Christ’s image, and our battle with sin is multifaceted.

2. 

   Ivan

   September 8, 2020

   Scott,

   A blog cannot provide pastoral care the way only an ordained priest can. I hesitate to fully reply to your newest comments, because it sounds like I can’t and shouldn’t try to persuade you of God’s right and desire to forgive everyone “by the Light of His Resurrection.” I can only offer a few thoughts.

   According to St. John Cassian, the eight deadly or cardinal sins happen in a chain of events – gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, restlessness, and separately, self-esteem and pride. Dejection means depression, and so the battle with depression always involves preceding anger. That is why I wrote on self-forgiveness – it is ideal for dealing with the self-anger that usually causes depression. It is usually painful at first and can seem fake, it is actually a deeply Christian thing to do. It typically leads to a discovery that we are angry with other people too, perhaps with God Himself, and need to work on forgiveness a lot more than we thought.

   Forgiveness is one of Fr. Stephen’s most controversial blog post topics. Forgiveness is almost socially forbidden – it goes against the culture where we are “addicted to outrage” and demand punishment of enemies, especially in politics. But this is one of the biggest ascetic trials in human life, so of course it’s difficult. I have spent thousands of hours working on forgiveness and studying it for more than a decade – but I am relatively new to Orthodoxy and very young, so I don’t have much experience to share. Loving my former enemies and respecting myself is good and feels authentic. I can’t prove the transformation of heart that happens through forgiveness is real, but I can continue to practice it.

   Here is the relevant essay from St. John Cassian:
   http://www.orthodoxriver.org/post/the-eight-vices/

   These quotes might be helpful:
   “The Lord’s intention is that we should remove the root of anger, its spark, so to speak, in whatever way we can, and not keep even a single pretext for anger in our hearts. Otherwise we will be stirred to anger initially for what appears to be a good reason and then find that our incensive power is totally out of control.”

   “The only form of dejection we should cultivate is the sorrow which goes with repentance for sin and is accompanied by hope in God. It was of this form of dejection that the Apostle said: ‘Godly sorrow produces a saving repentance which is not to be repented of (2 Corinthians 7:10). This ‘godly sorrow’ nourishes the soul through the hope engendered by repentance, and it is mingled with joy.”

3. 

   ScottTX

   September 9, 2020

   Thank you Ivan, your few thoughts were very thorough.

4. 

   Fr. Stephen Freeman

   September 9, 2020

   Ivan, et al
   Just a quick note on depression (acedia) as a sin. Our Western mindset has a very moralistic understanding of sin and so to say that depression is a sin can be easily misheard. The modern mind thinks “sin” means a “wrong action that I choose.” Very voluntaristic. Therefore, saying to someone that “depression is a sin” is heard as “and it’s your fault.” Which is just the sort of thing that can crush a soul. It would me.

   In Orthodox thought, sin and death are pretty synonymous. “Death” is the disease at work in us, separating us from God, alienating us even from our own selves, slowly working to destroy soul and body. “Sin” is, more or less, the various ways that work of death is manifest. In that sense, “sin” is a symptom rather than the disease. As such, just like physical symptoms, a particular sin can even be helpful as a signal of something deeper going on.

   Depression has many causes. Very few of them are affected by choices, other than a choice to seek help. Medication can assist in a process of healing. Some people, for a variety of reasons, are simply “prone” to depression. Those, for example, who are prone to anxiety are frequently prone to depression – they go together. Shame, I think, particularly toxic forms of shame, are a frequent source of recurring depression. Healing its death-dealing wounds can be a long, slow process that needs therapeutic assistance. This is particularly true when the shame wound begins in early life.

   What fascinates me, is the general soundness of patristic thought on much of this stuff – when it is properly understood and translated. The reason is that they were working largely from experience. The framework was largely drawn from earlier, philosophical sources, and honed in Christian experience. In the same manner, we should not be hesitant to draw from frameworks that have a clinical/medical basis.

   The other caveat is this: we read the texts of the fathers, but often have only our imagination to help us understand what they mean. For example, the use of “godly sorrow” (penthos) in the quote from St. John Cassian. We think we know what it means, but can actually only know what it means because we seen or encountered in an authentic form in someone, or stumbled upon it ourselves. The same is true of much else. Thus, it’s good to read with a healthy ignorance – realizing how much we don’t know.

   Pray, and when you do “know” something, use it. Be patient. None of us are being judged on how well we do any of this – except in the sense of God’s judgment finally healing us.

5. 

   Michael Bauman

   September 9, 2020

   While much can be gained focusing on our sins specifically as we each need to, we should always be gentle with ourselves and each other. I have been in the Church awhile, but am still young in the work in many ways. What has helped me recently is to recognize, as Father says, that sin, whatever its specific form, is the death of separation from God. As I strengthen my longing for God and turn to Him in repentance (sorrow for being separated from Him) forgiveness of myself and others is much easier. How can I forgive someone who has hurt me deeply? It can turn into an effort of will. More death.
   Scott is right, none of us deserve grace but that is just it, earning and deserving it are not part of what God does. So, I rarely ask for forgiveness, just mercy. Mercy is always a gift.
   If I can come to the point where I want to punish myself a little bit less, that is a aspect of mercy. As Shakespeare says: “The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven upon the earth beneath.” Dew forms out of the very air around us. So does mercy. Indeed, mercy is everywhere.
   Asking for mercy, I am acknowledging that I am unworthy and deserve to be punished and all of that. None of the facts of the case, so to speak, change. And yet, everything changes.
   “I have no wedding garment to worthily enter”. Yeah true, really true but so what? “Make radiant the garment of me soul oh giver of Light” and save me anyway.

   Is it presumption to ask God to save me even when I am totally unworthy? It would be except for one thing, Jesus words on the Cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

   All of our sins are done in ignorance. Only the evil one and his minions sin in full knowledge of what they are doing. But when they approach us they always use subterfuge. They like to trick us into thinking that their temptations, no matter what they are, come from our own knowledge and motivation. Mostly they do not, The evil one is quite good at mimicking our our inner voice. Most of us do not want to sin, our own inner voice is just too weak for us to hear. It is masked by the tempters. One big one they use is worthy/not worthy dichotomy. That is a false dichotomy. Only the lamb that was slain is worthy. Rev. 5:12 If I focus on my unworthiness, I have closed and locked the door of my own prison from the inside. But the key I still have.

   My late wife once worked in a liquor store late at night alone.. One night, a young man came in in a mask and and tried to rob the place, threatening her with harm. She looked him in the eye and simply said, “You don’t want to do that”. He came to himself and turned around and left. She was able to recognize who he really was and speak to him. She had seen him earlier in the week casing the place.

   God does the same thing but much more easily. He can do that fully because He created us and then became incarnate. He literally knows us from the inside out.

   Scott, if you have not, you might want to read St. Athanasius “On the Incarnation” the version with the forward by C.S. Lewis.

6. 

   Byron

   September 9, 2020

   I really wish there was a way to mark comments so they could be categorized and returned to with ease. I have tried copying discussions/comments to save but it is too much to track. Ah well.

7. 

   Andrew

   September 9, 2020

   A wonderful, richly rewarding post, thank you!
   An interesting detail it reminded me of is in C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, he refers to gold as “sun’s blood.”

8. 

   Ivan

   September 10, 2020

   Fr. Stephen,

   I appreciate your constructive criticism very much, and try to agree with you. Thank you for explaining my mistake so patiently. As I wrote earlier, a priest or clinician is needed when someone is depressed – because trained professionals are more polite and helpful, especially with the sacraments and spiritual questions. My approach to my own healing, which I share rarely because I recognize my ignorance, is less educated. Frankly I have concluded that discussing depression or many other normally pastoral topics is unlikely to help someone outside of formal counseling or close friendship. It is tempting to discuss how I approach repentance because I enjoy the process of theosis so much.

   My understanding of sin is not very Western like it was when I was younger and misled by American popular culture. I don’t believe God gets angry about sin, and am sure everyone will eventually be saved, perhaps after some undetermined length of time in further repentance after death. And I see sin as a sad thing to be healed, not a reason to feel guilty. Once while visiting a local prison as part of a college class, I learned a lot about guilt. I already felt that it was not useful in repentance, and rather believed in contrition or compunction. We were warmly welcomed in the prison, but the guilt common among the inmates seemed like America’s popular version of repentance that does not really work well. So I see a conflict between the guilt-focused culture and Orthodoxy’s heart-centered approach to how one should feel about one’s sins.

   The scientific approach to depression can be disempowering or even unethical, which is why some Christians express anti-psychological sentiments. That is a big part of the comments I was responding to, but not what I normally think. Some people feel a need to understand their condition in a moral way, which can be moralistic. I think morality can heal us, if we understand and apply it well. I don’t want to give up on things that trigger shame, because that goes against St. John Chrysostom’s teaching that we need healthy shame, as it provides awareness of boundaries and reality. I think I missed how it can be hurtful to cite that ‘dejection’ (not acedia, that’s the next one in the text) or depression is a sin because I find this knowledge so precious and healing (as I explain further below). If sins are diseases of death, then I conclude that all diseases are caused by someone’s sin (not necessarily that of the sufferer himself). This is another view of Providence, where nothing happens without a cause.

   I love St. John of Kronstadt’s teaching about “being forced into sin,” as it goes well with the modern idea of a cycle of violence where “hurt people hurt people.” Nobody would sin if they knew what they were doing and had a clear vision of God’s Will with the ability to obey Him. I agree that much sin is involuntary – but if we only counted ‘culpable’ sins, we would have nothing to confess. “God does not punish,” as Abbot Tryphon writes, so I do not mean that sin is a reason for guilt, rather I find it useful to keep the passions in mind for identification and proactive response. I feel deeply motivated by knowing what to call my sins and how to interpret them, which helps in planning a course of treatment and recovery. The virtues are used to resist the vices, and this moral knowledge provides guidance.

   When I discovered St. John Cassian’s writings on the passions, I felt relieved of shame about my diseases and inspired to repent comfortably. It felt like a theological Christmas present, as I found it online around that time of year. I don’t find St. John’s writing more moralistic than that of St. Paul or some words of Jesus Christ – in fact Jesus is harsher, so it can be painful to read the Gospel. I trust that they all intend to help people heal and grow, not feel bad about themselves.

   Because modern science is Darwinistic (perhaps unnatural competitiveness is inherent to evolutionary theory, but I don’t know – my concern is with “survival of the fittest” being exclusionary and inhumane), and attaches hypocritically worse stigma to mentally ill people while claiming to reduce stigma by de-moralizing conditions such as alcoholism. It feels worse to be ‘evolutionarily unfit’ according to a dehumanizing, atheistic ideology than to be a sinner battling my sins by God’s loving grace. I see morality as a reliable part of the way Christ leads people and nations out of Darwinism and eugenics.

   If sins are only diseases, then people will restore the stigma around sin in clinical or scientific ways. We can’t avoid stigma by using a disease model in a secular, harsh world – the stigma just goes somewhere else and returns again. The psychological community promises humanistic acceptance, but only God can make us accepting people – the ability to not judge others, whether they are mentally ill or not, is a gift only Christ can give. Christ’s love, patience, and forgiveness defeat stigma. I seek a balanced therapeutic approach that sees the paradox of morality and uses it to transform shame into joy. All negative emotions, including shame and guilt, can be healed into positive ones. Studying morality can be crushing or liberating, so I’ll try to err on the side of caution in mentioning it.

   I was depressed for a long time but feel usually happy these days. The guidance and support of an elder abbess I visited on a brief pilgrimage last year made a huge difference in my self-image, behavior, and hope for the future. I think many people need to hear the kind of wisdom and clairvoyant insight that only elders have, but few people know where to find a monastery. By the way, the abbess said humanity was created much later (9,000 years ago) than the cosmos was (billions of years ago), so the age of the Earth is independent of human history. I think that timeline allows for peace between different factions in the cosmology debates – young humanity, old Earth and universe.

9. 

   Fr. Stephen Freeman

   September 10, 2020

   Ivan,
   Thank you for your patience, as well. I also suspect that we have a different understanding of the word(s) moral, morality. Healthy shame is absolutely essential in life – and little understood. The abuse of the morality model that I have in mind is far more geared towards toxic shame. But, that is something that I’ve written about elsewhere.

   My “corrections” were simply the concern for how someone might have misconstrued what you were saying. There is very little that can be said in these matters of the inner life without some hesitancy as to how it is being heard. I have seen very innocent remarks send someone into a psychological tailspin of devastation. I add to that the daily reality that readers here come from the full range of cultures and cultural experience across the globe. I am amazed that together we do not step all over each other all the time. That, I take it, is a work of grace.

   God keep you in your journey.

   My

10. 

    Byron

    September 10, 2020

    If sins are only diseases, then people will restore the stigma around sin in clinical or scientific ways. We can’t avoid stigma by using a disease model in a secular, harsh world – the stigma just goes somewhere else and returns again.

    I think that the world does not repent of its sin. Rather, it repackages it. As has been pointed out on this blog many times, the human heart has not changed throughout time. What was once “just a negro/chinaman/woman/fetus” is now “just a disease” (or some other identification). This is not “progress”, but rather a refocus of the same, sinful heart on a more socially acceptable victim. It is, sadly, how a heart steeped in the world, works. A never ending culture of death.

11. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    September 10, 2020

    Byron, Ivan, etc.
    My reason for using a “disease” model for talking about sin is not really so much about removing the stigma associated with it. It’s that the moral/voluntaristic model is inaccurate and does not adequately describe what is going on inside us. If you read Romans 7, you will see this clearly described by St. Paul. “The good that I would do, I do not do, while the thing I do not want to do is the thing that I do…” etc., and he describes this as a “body of death.” “Sin is at work in my members.” It’s not my imagery – it’s St. Paul’s.

    The moralistic approach’s failures are well-illustrated by their near total ineffectiveness in treating things like addictions. You can “will” to quit and fail again and again. The “disease” model is simply more accurate.

    Now, we have responsibilities in dealing with our diseases. Some, indeed, are “our fault.” But, frankly, figuring out whose fault something might be still doesn’t fix anything other than if you’re trying to figure out who to punish. Punishment is also among the most ineffective things ever devised.

    Understanding the nature of sin and its ways of working in us – is foundational for its healing. Christ makes healing and forgiveness synonymous in his healing of the paralytic. If someone finds a moralistic approach to be helpful, well and good. But it has a very nasty history.

    It is worth noting that moralistic thinking is extremely popular among atheists and the radical left. They are perhaps the most moralistic people of our time. It makes me suspicious.

12. 

    Diana Christina

    September 10, 2020

    Father,
    The photograph at the beginning of your post is so beautiful, I nearly wept.

13. 

    MichaelPatrick

    September 10, 2020

    Being very quick to judge myself, it is too rare that I step back from the habit and trust God to be my only judge. Ironically, I have to remind myself that He’s perfectly capable of getting my attention.

14. 

    Ivan

    September 11, 2020

    Fr. Stephen,

    You are welcome for my patience; I like your perspective a lot. My love of morality is probably much more unusual than I knew about. I am very grateful for the context you provide about how people often experience moral and moralistic ideas. I forget how much toxic shame happens through moralism, especially in cases of bullying. It took me a long time to find a way to enjoy morality in a way that feels authentic and comfortable. I will consider why in our society and world so many people are struggling with toxic shame. I think it means there are multiple steps to the process of repentance, first seeking God’s love and then changing behavior based on His commandments.

    I read Romans 7 to see what you refer to, and I think what St. Paul says is more complex, but he is difficult to understand without a commentary. In 7:12-14, he seems to say that the moral law is holy, not wrong, but sin takes advantage of the law and human weakness. To me that means we can’t avoid the law by using another model – moral problems are not going away except through healing that “delights in the law of God” (7:22). I now think a healthy use of God’s law, with comfortable shame, is very rare, so I should thank God for giving me such grace.

    St. Paul develops an advanced idea in the end of this chapter, one I have contemplated many times over the years. I think he is saying he follows God’s law in his mind, but continues to struggle with addiction in his flesh. He doesn’t seem to ever let go of moralism, or he would not be so moralistic throughout his epistles in general.

    In my experience studying and praying with God’s law does help with addiction, but not in a conventional way. My method is to cultivate authentic, ‘intrinsic’ motivation to obey God and respect everyone involved in the moral situation, so I commit to the law in a bright, cheerful way. It feels liberating, not judgmental. Fr. Michael Gillis’ method, as described in his blog article that I linked to earlier, is the most similar account I’ve seen, but it’s also a successful application of morality. Compassion for oneself and others, together with loving attachment to one’s family and all humanity, are critical aspects of how I see morality integrated in the cosmos and human communities. In other words, the fact that people repeat habitual sins many times for me is not a reason to set moralism aside – rather I seek a creative way to use the law for healing, not judgment. As long as it is framed supportively, the law probably won’t hurt anyone’s feelings.

    A disease model can be theological or secular, and include morality to various degrees. I am concerned by how secular models are usually less merciful, even if they are not moralistic. In fact I find God’s law itself merciful, so leaving it out feels unfair to people with moral challenges. Perhaps my perspective is different because I had big moral questions for many years, and felt undereducated about what is right and wrong. So now that I am aware of Christ’s commandments, I find Him telling me how to behave comforting and beautiful. Though I struggled with toxic shame, I figured out that it was not of God, so there had to be another way.

    I find the ‘chemical dependency’ model of addiction materialistic, as it focuses on the brain’s pathology, not the heart’s shame wounds or a person’s inner pain. I don’t like how the disease model is usually presented, but it can probably be used pleasantly too.

    I have felt healed by Confession and when forgiving others, but I don’t think we can rely on God granting healing simultaneously with forgiveness. I am sure my sins are fully forgiven, and bear little resentment, but am still sick.

    I agree that moralistic thinking is popular among radicals, but the radical right is moralistic too, not just the left. I suspect, based on experience, that radicals have heavy shame wounds that motivate their activism and outrage. Perhaps it’s not really sincere how they blame opposing politicians for their suffering and dissatisfaction with society, rather a cry for help. I feel a lot of compassion for those caught up in radicalism, as it took me years to recover from that kind of despair, fear, and idolatry. However radicals are not committed to traditional morals, rather to political ethics, which is more about scandals, power, and winning arguments. So I see them using judgment and anger as rhetorical weapons against their opponents, not in truly moral ways. Political correctness is a shallow substitute for God’s law.

    Atheists tend to accuse the Church and/or God of moralistic judgment and hypocrisy, while seeking an alternative form of justice. Failure to morally thrive is a big reason people leave the Church – I think it’s one of the biggest reasons youth tend to leave. People need ways to repent that are comfortable and based in Christ’s love – and a lot of that means needing role models to imitate. The lives of saints are very helpful for inspiring repentance by example. I guess that’s what I need to read next.

15. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    September 11, 2020

    Ivan,
    You’re obviously working through all of this quite carefully. You’re also quite committed to the term “moral” and “moralistic,” etc. Along with a number of other Orthodox writers, I prefer to use that term to describe a particular way of seeing the Law and rules, etc., and therefore do not use the term in very positive manner. It is worth noting that it is not a Biblical term, and is therefore imported into the Scriptures when we choose to use it to describe what we’re reading. I do not think St. Paul is describing a “moral” approach except when he was describing his failure.

    I would define “moral,” in terms of “moralistic” as the effort, by the will, to follow a set of prescriptions imposed from outside. That’s why it can be attributed to atheists and non-believers. Anybody can “try” to follow a set of rules, regardless of whether the rules are good or bad. Worse still, following the rules can make you “moral” but mean nothing more. The Pharisees (including St. Paul before his conversion) kept the rules of the Law very well (or so they thought) and Jesus described them well: “You are white-washed tombs, but inside you are filled with dead men’s bones.”

    It is not our failure to keep rules – no matter how good the rules – that is our problem. The Law never could have given life.

    What is required and needed by us is an inner change – an inner resurrection. I choose to use the term “healing” and associated terms to describe that process. Rules, rightly understood, can be of some assistance, but they are not the primary means of that healing. That healing comes through union with Jesus Christ – something that is rooted in the sacraments and the life associated with it. In this new life, God uses even our weakness to save us: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

    The terms “moral” and associated words have a long history in English. They have been part of theological and ethical systems that were not grounded in Orthodox thought – usually in Catholic and Protestant thought and then borrowed into secular ideas. In my writing, I am trying to separate some things out for the purpose of better understanding – so people can begin to see clearly the teaching of the Orthodox faith without confusion and mixing it up with all of the various mistaken and misguided things they have heard through the years from these other sources. It requires me to be careful with words, but is a ministry that I think has borne good fruit in helping people to understand the faith.

    If you find it helpful – well and good. If not – then just lay it aside. I don’t mean to argue with those who find it less than helpful, but I need to continue to be clear in how and why I use the words I do for the sake of those who do find it helpful.

    Blessings.

16. 

    MichaelPatrick

    September 11, 2020

    It helps me to remember that everything about our will, thoughts, attitudes, actions, and so on, is ultimately about our relationships with God and others. Nothing of importance – in the end – is about our performance relative to a code of conduct. A static moral standard can push loving others right out of our heart; It can become an idol. “Love God with all your … and your neighbor as yourself.” Moralism fixes our attention us on our own performance instead of others. The very purpose and fulfillment of our life is to embody and give Christ’s love. I believe that moralism feeds an insidious form of pride because it encourages us to look at and judge ourselves. Since Christ is our standard and judge we’re better off looking into his eyes for approval.

17. 

    Byron

    September 11, 2020

    In more practical, simplistic terms, I have begun praying daily to not be a stumbling block for anyone else. It provides a focus that keeps me grounded, I think, and helps me to not impose myself on anyone else.

18. 

    MichaelPatrick

    September 11, 2020

    Thanks Byron. That’s a great idea.

19. 

    Xenia

    September 11, 2020

    Great response. Thank you for that clear formulation.

20. 

    Ivan

    September 12, 2020

    Fr. Stephen,

    I think we agree more than it seems, due to our different language usage and cultural backgrounds. I don’t want to argue either, so I will simply share two prayers below that I think show a non-moralistic unity of righteousness energized by God’s love.

    I just finished rereading your book, and liked the last two chapters the best. Those chapters reminded me to focus on relationships and reconciliation to see God in others. I appreciate the encouragement to forgive generously.

    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2025&version=KJV

    St. Sophrony
    Come, O Lord and perform Thy will in me. Thy commandments find no place in my cramped heart, and my poor mind cannot discern their content. For if Thou wilt not come and abide in me, I perish. I know that thou dost not coerce but I pray Thee, in power enter into my house and give me new life. Transform my benighted pride into Thy humble love. By Thy light transfigure my all perverted nature, that not a single passion posses me to prevent the coming of Thy Father and Thee, to make me a holy abode for the life which Thou Thyself has vouchsafed me to behold. Yeah O Lord, I beseech Thee, perform in me this token of Thy kindness.

    http://www.orthodoxriver.org/prayer/

21. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    September 12, 2020

    Thank you, Ivan. St. Sophrony has been an important influence in my thinking.

22. 

    ScottTX

    October 9, 2020

    I mentioned J.S. Bach above, but forgot to mention that if you too love Bach, there’s an online video project to record all his works by the Netherlands Bach Society at http://www.allofbach.com. One of the most wholesome things on the internet.

23. 

    Dee of St Hermans

    October 9, 2020

    Thanks Scott!