Wednesday, September 27, 2006
The Sign of the Cross
In all travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross.
Tertullian
[B]y the sign of the cross. . . all magic is stayed, all sorcery confounded, all idols are abandoned and deserted, and ll senseless pleasure ceases, as the eye of faith looks up to heaven from the earth.
Athanasius
In the morning, when you rise, make the sign of the cross and say, "in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Martin Luther
Friday, September 15, 2006
A Tear in My Wine at Night?
Tears of compunction should accompany prayer. . . when the gift of tears is granted. . . the delight of those tears should not be counted as idleness (Alfeyev 140).
The theme of spiritual inebriation is the single most characteristic mystical theme in the works of Isaac (Alfeyev 191).
Inebriation is used by Isaac to describe an especially strong experience of the love of God, and the joy and spiritual elevation of a state of mystical ecstasy (Alfeyev 248).
Do not imagine, O man, that among all the works of the monastics there is any practice greater than night vigil. . . A monk who preseveres in vigil with a discerning intellect will seem not to be clad with flesh, for this is truly the work of the angelic estate. . . A soul which labours in the practice of vigil and excels therein will have eyes of cherubim, that she may at all times gaze upon and espy celestial visions (Isaac quoted in Alfeyev 185).
Prayer offered up at night possesses great power, greater than prayer at the daytime. Therefore, all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of body and the sweetness of sleep. This is why satan fears the labor of night vigil and uses every means to prevent ascetics from doing it. . . (Isaac quoted in Alfeyev 191).
Visions, revelations, and insights can therefore be spoken of as different aspects of the same phenomenon: a human person's encounter with realities of the immaterial world. Visions refer to encounters with personal beings (angels, saints). . . revelations: denotes spiritual penetration into the Divine Being or the eschatologically renewed, created world; insight signifies mystical flashes within in a person's intellect, when suddenly, during prayer or reading, the mysteries of the other world are opened to him (Alfeyev 235-6).
Coming soon. . . How One Should Read
The theme of spiritual inebriation is the single most characteristic mystical theme in the works of Isaac (Alfeyev 191).
Inebriation is used by Isaac to describe an especially strong experience of the love of God, and the joy and spiritual elevation of a state of mystical ecstasy (Alfeyev 248).
Do not imagine, O man, that among all the works of the monastics there is any practice greater than night vigil. . . A monk who preseveres in vigil with a discerning intellect will seem not to be clad with flesh, for this is truly the work of the angelic estate. . . A soul which labours in the practice of vigil and excels therein will have eyes of cherubim, that she may at all times gaze upon and espy celestial visions (Isaac quoted in Alfeyev 185).
Prayer offered up at night possesses great power, greater than prayer at the daytime. Therefore, all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of body and the sweetness of sleep. This is why satan fears the labor of night vigil and uses every means to prevent ascetics from doing it. . . (Isaac quoted in Alfeyev 191).
Visions, revelations, and insights can therefore be spoken of as different aspects of the same phenomenon: a human person's encounter with realities of the immaterial world. Visions refer to encounters with personal beings (angels, saints). . . revelations: denotes spiritual penetration into the Divine Being or the eschatologically renewed, created world; insight signifies mystical flashes within in a person's intellect, when suddenly, during prayer or reading, the mysteries of the other world are opened to him (Alfeyev 235-6).
Coming soon. . . How One Should Read
Sunday, September 10, 2006
The Incarnation
If zeal had been appropriate for putting humanity right, why did God the Word clothe himself in the body using gentleness and humility in order to bring the world back to his Father? And why was he stretched out on the cross for the sake of sinners, handing over His sacred body to suffering on behalf of the world? I myself say that God did all of this for no other reason than to make than to make known to the world the love that He has, His aim being that we, as a result of our greater love arising from an awareness of this, might be captured by His love when He provided the occasion of this manifestation of the Kingdom of heaven's mighty power-- which consists in love-- by means of the death of His Son. . . not to redeem us from sins, or for any other reason, but solely in order that the world might become aware of the love which God has for His creation. Had all this astounding affair taklen place solely for the purpose of forgiveness of sin, it would have been sufficient ot redeem us by some other means. What objection would there have been if he had done what He did by means of an ordinary death? But He did not make His death at all an ordinary one-- so that you might realize the nature of this mystery. Rather He tasted death in the cruel suffering of the cross. What need was there for the outrage done to Him? and the spitting? Just death would have been sufficient for our redemption-- and in particular His death, without any of these other things which took place. What wisdom is God's! And how filled with life! Now you can understand and realize why the coming of our Lord took place with all the events that followed it, even to the extent of His telling the purpose quite clearly out of His own mouth: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son-- referring to the Incarnation and the renewal He brought about.
