Orthodoxy Articles

Hymns for the week of April the 3rd, 2011

2011-04-03T05:00:23Z

The Life Of John The Elder And The Cave Of Sapsas

2011-03-28T05:01:49Z

There was an elder living in the monastery of Abba Eustorgios whom our saintly Archbishop of Jerusalem wanted to appoint higoumen of the monastery. The candidate however would not agree and said: ‘I prefer prayer on Mount Sinai.’ The archbisop urged him first to become higoumen and then to depart for the mountain but the elder would not be persuaded.

Ascetic: Reflections on the Way of Self-Sacrifice

2011-03-27T23:40:49Z

An Anonymous writing

A boy once approached his father, ‘Old man, why do you fast?’ The father stood silent, bringing heart and mind together, and then:

‘Beloved boy, I fast to know what it is I lack.

For day by day I sit in abundance, and

all is well before me;

I want not, I suffer not, and I

lack but that for which I invent a need.

But my heart is empty of true joy,

filled, yet overflowing with dry waters.

There is no room left for love.

I have no needs, and so my needs are never met,

no longings, and so my desires are never fulfilled.

Where all the fruits of the earth could dwell, I have

filled the house with dust and clouds;

It is full, so I am content—

But it is empty, and so I weep.

Hymns for the week of March the 27th, 2011

2011-03-27T23:35:36Z

The Akathist Hymn: Stanza Two

2011-03-20T18:06:16Z

Canon Of The Akathist Hymn: Part 1 (Odes I-Ode IX and O Champion General, Τῇ ὑπερμάχω)

2011-03-20T18:03:27Z

Hymns for the week of March the 20th, 2011

2011-03-20T18:00:03Z

Gregory Palamas: An Historical Overview

2011-03-20T17:48:31Z

This is the first half of our two-part investigation in to the Palamite controversy and its influence on Orthodox theology. Here we will deal with the historical background in which the controversy developed and took place; the next discussion will then take up the particular theological issues put forth by St Gregory Palamas and examine them in more detail. As such, this investigation does not address the theology of the controversy in any more specific detail than is needed to paint a broad picture of the historical situation at hand.

Gregory Palamas: Knowledge, Prayer and Vision

2011-03-20T17:46:03Z

The theology of St Gregory Palamas, as expressed during the Palamite Controversy of the mid-14^th century, is far too extensive to be addressed in its full breadth in a paper such as this. Rather than attempt a manifestly impossible task, then, we will limit the focus of this essay to three central points in that theology: first, the idea of knowledge as expressed in the conflict between Gregory and Barlaam; second, the matter of prayer and the body; and third, the notion of the divine vision, which will lead naturally into a discussion of the energies and the essence of God.

On The Holy Icons

2011-03-20T17:37:48Z

‘You shall not make an image of anything in the heavens above, or in the earth below, or in the sea’ (cf. Exodus 20.4), in such a way that you worship these things and glorify them as gods. For all are the creations of the one God, created by Him in the Holy Spirit through His Son and Logos, who as Logos of God in these latter times took flesh from a virgin’s womb, appeared on earth and associated with men, and who for the salvation of men suffered, died and rose again, ascended with His body into the heavens, and ‘sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High’ (Hebrews 1.3), and who will come again with His body to judge the living and the dead. Out of love for Him you should make, therefore, an icon of Him who became man for our sakes, and through His icon you should bring Him to mind and worship Him, elevating your intellect through it to the venerable body of the Saviour, that is set on the right hand of the Father in heaven.