Glory to God For All Things

Category: Aesthetics

  • Akathist Hymn: Glory to God for All Things

    I have seen several translations of this hymn. This one comes from the site of St. John the Baptist Cathedral (ROCOR) in Washington, D.C. I have edited it only typographically. It was composed by Metropolitan Tryphon (Prince Boris Petrovich Turkestanov) +1934  – but frequently attributed to Father Gregory Petrov, who died in a Soviet prison…

  • The Transfigured Beauty of the Crucified God

    On the Mountain Thou wast Transfigured, O Christ God, And Thy disciples beheld Thy glory as far as they could see it; So that when they would behold Thee crucified, They would understand that Thy suffering was voluntary, And would proclaim to the world, That Thou art truly the Radiance of the Father! Kontakion of the Feast of…

  • Where Have You Seen Beauty?

    Within the bounds of propriety I will pose the following question: Where have you encountered Beauty and how did it relate to God? I’m just interested in hearing some stories. Be reasonable about length. But bear witness to what you have seen. I’ve written about “music from another room,” my first encounter with Rachmaninov’s Vespers.…

  • Music from Another Room

    In the 1998 Jude Law film Music from Another Room, the lead character makes an argument for love, describing it as being like “music from another room.” Whether you saw the film or liked it, there is something in the metaphor of music from another room that has stayed with me. There is something about…

  • Music and Scenes from Georgia (the Old One)

    I think of our young Church member who is living and working in Georgia this summer and pray he has such beauty around him many times. The richness of the Orthodox faith has such a depth that very little has been seen in the outside Western world. Enjoy the day.

  • Reading and Being Read

    There is one experience (at least) of reading Scripture, there is another altogether different of being “read by Scripture.” Both are quite valid but very different things. Reading Scripture is, of course, something we do all the time – perhaps so much so that we rarely stop to think about what we are doing. It…

  • Let the Righteous Rejoice

  • To Depart in Peace

    My prayer for all today is that wherever you go you may arrive and depart in peace, your eyes “having seen the Savior.” I offer this short video as a prayer. The music if the Nunc Dimittis from Rachmaninov’s Vespers.  

  • Why Do I Believe in God?

    I am always interested in the posts that come to my site from self-professed atheists. They tend to live in a world far-removed from the one I inhabit (surrounded as I am with religious services and the whole culture of the Church). I never satisfy the questions posed (which usually demand rationalist answers, that, though…

  • What An Icon Says

    According to the Seventh Ecumenical Council, “An icon does with color what the Scriptures do with words.” It is a very simple, straightforward explanation of icons – but it holds within it a world of theological understanding. This morning I had opportunity with a visitor of the Church to fall into conversation about the Scriptures.…

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Latest Comments

  1. Matthew, When you think about what our brains are doing when we judge – it’s of note. There can be…

  3. Thanks so much Fr. Stephen. The Roman Catholic priest in the church near our home said to us that although…

  4. Kenneth, “Judgment,” particularly in the Old Testament, generally describes someone acting to “put things right.” We should think in terms…

  5. Nathan, Fr. Georges Florovsky wrote: “The mystery of the Cross begins in eternity, in the sanctuary of the Holy Trinity,…

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