In the Coracle

St. John Chrysostom’s Easter Sermon

April 11th, 2009, No Comments

The Easter Homily of St. John Chrysostom
If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.
If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let [...]

Mysticism and Theology in the Eastern view

April 8th, 2009, No Comments

In the dense, chewy but promising “Exploring Christian Spirituality: An Ecumenical Reader” (Baker Academic), two of the first chapters are essays on the topic, “what is spirituality?”. It’s an interesting discussion, and one I frankly hadn’t considered before – I thought that, like love or mirth, you just recognize it when you see it; it [...]

Relic of St. Benedict and 39 other saints found in British Museum

March 26th, 2009, 2 Comments

THE NEW medieval gallery at the British Museum in London is full of beautiful images of saints in ivory, stone, gold and wood – but invisible to visitors, it also holds the bones of 39 real saints, whose discovery came as a shock to their curator.
The relics, packed in tiny bundles of cloth, including one [...]

Call to Simplicity (St. Basil the Great)

October 31st, 2008, 1 Comment

One of the three great figures in Orthodox Christianity is St. Basil the Great (along with St. John Chrysostum and St. Gregory of Nazienza, also called Gregory the Theologian). Basil, born 329CE is known for his unbowed devotion to life with Christ.
He forsake a wealthy life, gave what he had to the poor (echoing the [...]

Differences in Eastern and Western spirituality

October 5th, 2008, No Comments

After slogging through two books I’m happy to not have to read again, I just started a good history of the byzantines. It seems balanced and insightful, at least in the first part of the book. It’s very interesting to get insight into a stream of the Christian faith that I really have no grid [...]

Working Bibliography, early peek

October 2nd, 2008, No Comments

A small version of my bibliography for a Research Bridge class assignment, as we’re learning about the Literature Review chapter in a dissertation. This bibliography will certainly expand massively, but there’s some goodies in here that I have just found.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aaron Raverty (2006). Are We Monks, or Are We Men? The Monastic Masculine Gender Model According [...]

The Practice of Becoming Silent

September 30th, 2008, No Comments

More tidbits from Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 94 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom).

[This sense of the presence of God] can be reached only if we learn a certain amount of silence. Begin with the silence of the lips, with the silence of the [...]

Preparation for Silence

September 29th, 2008, No Comments

More tidbits from Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 91-2 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom).

Real silence is something extremely intense, it has density and it is really alive.
[When preparing to pray] It is essential to be alert and alive, and at the same time still [...]

Prayer Is…

September 27th, 2008, No Comments

More tidbits from Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 31-32 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom).

What we must start with, if we wish to pray, is the certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation, that we are cut off from God and that we [...]

An Orthodox Doctor/Priest/Monk speaks

September 23rd, 2008, No Comments

Great tidbits from an interview with Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 11-12 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom) (bold/emphasized items by me):
Timothy Wilson (Interviewer): When were you ordained?
Archbishop Anthony Bloom: I was ordained in 1948 but before that I took monastic vows. This was done [...]