Category: Asceticism

The Narrow Road

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 90 Leave a Comment on %s
There is a small collection of Christ’s sayings that center on the topic of the “narrow road.” The heart of the topic is that the way into the kingdom of God is difficult and very few will find it. The sayings are troubling. Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Becauseā€¦

Shopping for God

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 56 Leave a Comment on %s
It is unfair that I write this post on the evening of “Black Friday.” This is the day in the American vernacular (always the day after our American Thanksgiving holiday) when the Christmas shopping season officially begins. It is marked by many enticing sales and stores opening at Midnight of Black Friday (and now increasingly earlier – so that Black Friday is beginning to start on late Thanksgiving Day). It is theā€¦

Godless Morality

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 51 Leave a Comment on %s
Is it possible to be moral without believing in God? I would venture to say that moral is pretty much all there is without God. To be moral requires that we have some understanding of the rules governing our behavior and a willingness to live by those rules. I have pondered many times why someone has rules if they don’t believe in God (though a culture without rules would be decidedly againstā€¦

Passionately Drunk

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 60 Leave a Comment on %s
The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect.Ā Little wonder it is known popularly as the Philokalia. That word, Philokalia, means “the love of beautiful things.” It is notā€¦

The Greatest Generation

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 12 Leave a Comment on %s
A recent conversation within the comments gives the occasion for this post. The heart of the question – which is more difficult – marriage or monasticism? My own thoughts are that everything is extremely difficult. In our modern world, even the most fundamental structures of society have been eroded. In American culture we have re-imagined the family – with the result that today a majority of children grow up in a non-traditionalā€¦

The Luck of the Draw

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 61 Leave a Comment on %s
I have heard Fr. Thomas Hopko quote his father-in-law, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, many times as saying: “Spirituality consists in how you deal with what you’ve been dealt.”Ā The image, of course, is of playing cards. Fr. Alexander’s point is that the circumstances of our lives are beyond our control – our spiritual lives consist in how we respond to what is beyond our control. It is home-spun wisdom. There is another image thatā€¦

The Long Journey Home

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 16 Leave a Comment on %s
It’s not getting to the land of the dead that’s the problem. It’s getting back. – Capt. Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean at World’s End It is possible to speak in great detail about the origins and problems of the “false-self” (ego). Once the characteristics of the ego, it’s narrative, defenses, aggression, and unrelenting dominance of the mind are identified, it is not only easy to see, it is difficult notā€¦