Father Symeon's Journal // Eastern Orthodox Christian Content ♥♥♥

This is an excellent blog to check out, though it hasn't been updated since August 2013.  Well worth your time, however.

Orthodox Christian Medicine   "The healing of soul and body through the ancient Orthodox Christian Way of Life."

Fr. Symeon's Journal [external link]

The Chronicles of Thomas Frith, O.P.

The Chronicles of Thomas Frith, O.P. (link)


  I want to read this book. The life of a Dominican Friar whilst he was traveling around Eastern Europe. I love books like this, particularly chronicling the travels & exploits of an unknown (to me) brother from the Order of Preachers (O.P.). In some ways books like this remind me of all the punkrock travelogue-fanzines I used to read. "In Abandon" done by a kid from Tampa, FL named Mikey, comes to mind. That was a damn good 'zine! God bless you all! ♥♥♥

Love Love Love

The Glorious, Equal to the Apostles and Queen, Saint Poulcheria, the Virgin 



Saint Poulcheria?s feast day is celebrated each year on September 10. This very holy and equal to the apostles Queen, was the granddaughter of Emperor Theodosius I the Great, daughter of Emperor Arcadios, and sister of Emperor Theodosius II.
Saint Poulcheria, who was extremely well learned and pious, is also known as Saint Poulcheria the Virgin as she promised God to remain a virgin throughout her life. She was extensively involved in the education of her younger brother Theodosius and maintained enormous influence over him for much of his reign and of the course of the empire. She also assumed the role of her brother?s tutor and she was solely responsible for his education until he grew up. Queen Poulcheria defended Orthodoxy and helped tremendously the church. Thus, she was extremely respected and revered by patriarchs, clergy and the rest of the people of the empire.
Queen Poulcheria was honored and respected as very few of the previous emperors and kings of the empire due to her many virtues, piety, prudence and numerous acts of charity. Many even referred to her as the new Saint Helen which was indicative of the people?s great respect and admiration to her person. 


When her younger brother Theodosius passed away in 450 the handling of the empire and its affairs came into the hands of Saint Poulcheria. Following the Senate?s counsel, Poulcheria married a very pious and virtuous man, Senator Markianos who agreed to respect her virginity as a condition for him to ascend to the throne.

In 451, Emperor Markianos and Queen Poulcheria called the 4^th Ecumenical Council which convened to condemn Eutichios, Dioskosos and the doctrine of Monophysitism (from the Greek monos meaning 'one, alone' and physis meaning 'nature'), which professed that Christ has only a divine nature.
Queen Poulcheria was esteemed and honored as a holy person even during her lifetime by many respected members of the church such as bishops and patriarchs, especially by Pope Leon of Rome. The theological epistles of Saint Cyril of Alexandria to her clearly demonstrated the impiety of the Nestorius?s heresy.
It was during Queen Poulcheria?s reign that the Greek language came to replace Latin as the official language of the empire. It was also during her time and the reign of St. Proclos, the Patriarch of Constantinople, that Queen Poulcheria negotiated the return of the relics of Saint John Chrysostom and the Forty Martyrs back to Constantinople.
Countless are the institutions, schools, hospitals, churches, and monasteries that this saintly woman built throughout the empire for the glory of God and for the benefit of her soul, granting them many privileges, funds, and other benefits. She was also the first benefactor and founder of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou an act for which she is properly honored and remembered throughout the ages. Saint Poulcheria also donated a cross, the so-called Cross of Poulcheria that is kept at the monastery and bears her name. The cross of Poulcheria is considered one of the most valuable and priceless treasures of the Monastery of Esphigmenou.

"One Day in the Life of a Men's Monastery"

Enjoy this fantastic little documentary showing us what life is like in a men's Catholic monastery! I love this video and was super happy to find it on YouTube.

Orthodox Prayer Blog

This is a cool site called Orthodoxprayer.org.   It is related to Saint George Greek Orthodox
 Cathedral in Greenville, South Carolina.

Orthodox Prayer blog (link)

"[ Pro - Life ] But not TOO Pro - Life" // Interesting Quote & Blog Link

I would never want to come across as being TOO Pro-Life, now would I?

This pithy little paragraph was stolen from a new blog I found:

"But I soon realized that my nonpartisanship had a steep price.  I could be pro-life, but not too pro-life.  You see, if you’re too pro-life; if you talk about too much, then you can’t be post-partisan.  One political party is completely dedicated to legal protection of abortion on demand.  The other political party is completely dedicated to repealingRoe v. Wade.  If you talk too much about abortion, others will define you, and if you’re defined how can you be independent?"

Great new Pro-Life Christian blog (link) 

† African Roots of Christian Spirituality †

I  took this from the "Pious Fabrications Blog," w/o permission.   I think it's great, and I truly did this because I admire the mans writing!  

-vadermask 3/28/12


† † †

  The African Roots of Christian Spirituality

Today, Christianity is generally thought of as a largely European and, due to European immigration and influence, North American religious and cultural movement. Christianity's recent and ongoing remarkable growth in the so-called “Global South” of Latin America, Africa, and southern and eastern Asia, however, coupled with a significant decline in adherents to Christianity in Europe, poses a significant challenge to that assumed European hegemony of Christendom.¹ There are many new questions that have arisen as a result of these recent changes, including what the decline of Christianity in Europe means for the future of the Western Civilization which it shaped and what new forms Christianity will take as it becomes fused to new cultures. The most central question being asked by Christians from both Europe and Africa is whether these forms will be faithful to the Christianity the world has known for the past 2000 years or will become something else entirely.²

Too often overlooked in these discussions are the monumental contributions that non-Europeans have already made to the Christian faith, even in its supposedly European forms. This is especially true of Africa, whose residents played a central role in Christianity's first several hundred years. Great early and early Medieval Christian figures like the apologist Tertullian, the first Christian to write extensively in Latin, Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria, whose Christology became the dominant understanding of the nature and role of Jesus to the vast majority of Christians throughout the world, and Augustine of Hippo, arguably the single most influential Christian thinker after the apostle Paul, were all Africans.³ The greatest contribution that Africa made to Christianity, though, was in the practice, piety, and intense devotion of the pioneers of Christian monasticism. Men and women like Anthony the Great, Pachomius the Great, and Syncletica of Alexandria, remembered by subsequent generations of Christians as the Desert Fathers and Mothers, developed a unique ascetic and mystical approach to Christianity which has been a major influence on all subsequent Christian history and continues to shape Christian practice, belief, and culture today.

The roots of Christian monasticism, a dedication to the practices of ascetic struggle and constant prayer coupled with a rejection of normal social expectations like marriage and family life, reach back to the faith's earliest days and even beyond. Judaism, from which Christianity emerged as a new religion, already possessed monastic traditions “like the Essenes or the group at Qumran from which the Dead Sea Scrolls come, or the Therapeutae of Egypt described by Philo of Alexandria.”⁴ It is not to be overlooked that the latter monastic group was specifically located in Egypt, near Alexandria, the same geographic location in which Christian monasticism would first spring up in its fullest form.

In writings that would later become part of the New Testament, the apostle Paul, writing in the middle of the first century, counseled widows, virgins, and unmarried men to remain unmarried and to use the freedom this afforded them to serve and worship God.⁵ Bart D. Ehrman, a scholar and professor of early Christian writings, suggests “it may have started with Jesus himself, who anticipated that this world and life as we know it would all come to an abrupt end when God appeared in judgment to overcome the forces of evil in control of this earth and set up his own Kingdom.”⁶ “If this world is soon to disappear, why be attached to its pleasures?” Ehrman goes on to ask, inviting us into the thought of the early Christians, and concluding, as many of them did, “It is better to prepare for the coming Kingdom, living simply and humbly in expectation of that final day.”⁷ This was certainly the thinking that led Anthony the Great, the earliest major figure of Christian monasticism, to take up the ascetic way of life.

According to the biography of Anthony written by Athanasius of Alexandria, an influential fourth century bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, Anthony entered into a church one day, “and it happened the Gospel was being read, and he heard the Lord saying to the rich man, 'If thou wouldest be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor; and come follow Me and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.'”⁸ Antony, so Athanasius relates, went out of the church immediately and gave away the entirety of the inheritance he had received from his parents, who had recently died, commended his young sister into the care of an order of Christian virgins in Alexandria, and sojourned to the wilderness to take up the life of a hermit and ascetic.

Though not the first to retreat into the deserts of Egypt, Anthony's example gained such reverence and notoriety that he inspired thousands more to imitate him. After the legalization of Christianity by the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I, in 313 and the elevation of Christianity from the status of a persecuted minority religion to that of one with official imperial favor throughout his reign, which lasted until his death in 337, and beyond, ever larger numbers of former pagans began to flock to the churches for conversion. Very often, perhaps more often than not, these conversions were halfhearted and for the purpose of attaining political, social, or economic gain, keeping up with the changing times and trying to remain with the “in-crowd,” rather than being inspired by any real adoption of or devotion to the tenants of Christianity.⁹ According to Michael A. Smith, a scholar of early Christianity and Baptist minister, this dramatic “growth in numbers was accompanied by a lowering of standards.”¹⁰ “The monks,” on the other hand, “aimed to live the Christian life to the full, and felt that continued residence in the 'world' hindered this. They tried to achieve a pure Christianity and a deep communion with God which they considered unattainable in the existing churches.”¹¹ According to scholar and philosopher David Bentley Hart, “enthusiasm for the monastic life became so great that, as a famous quip put it, the desert had become a city.”¹²

One of the most incredible features of this new enthusiasm was the nature of the practices which so many flocked to the Egyptian deserts to engage in. According to Athanasius, Anthony

kept vigil to such an extent that he often continued the whole night without sleep; and this not once but often... He ate once a day, after sunset, sometimes once in two days, and often even in four. His food was bread and salt, his drink, water only... A rush mat served him to sleep upon, but for the most part he lay upon the bare ground.¹³

The monks who followed Anthony's example sought to imitate his extreme asceticism. According to Smith, “the main routine of the hermit was prayer and meditation, supplemented by reading of the Bible. Fasting was also important and they attempted many other rigorous feats such as standing for hours while praying.”¹⁴ This “extreme deprivation taught self-mastery, and was itself a physical form of prayer.”¹⁵

In addition to continuing the typical Christian prayer practices, such as the recitation of psalms and liturgical Eucharistic rituals, however infrequently the monks were able to gather for the latter, the monks also developed a new form of prayer, to which they attributed especially great spiritual efficacy. This new method of prayer was first fully described by John Cassian, a European Christian who traveled to Egypt to speak with the monks there, in the late fourth century. In his Conferences, a record of interviews he conducted with some of the most renowned monks of Egypt, Cassian wrote that “every monk in his progress towards continual recollection of God, is accustomed to ponder” a short prayer, “ceaselessly, revolving it in his heart.”¹⁶ Though a variety of short prayers were used by the monks, the most commonly used in Cassian's time in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, according to Cassian, was the opening verse of Psalm 70: “O God, make speed to save me; O Lord, make haste to help me.” The monks recited this and other short prayers like it continuously as they worked and ate, and even spoke, read, and slept. The purpose of the extreme ascetic practices, they said, was to train the body in order to make this continuous repetitious prayer possible, “for he cannot possibly keep his hold over it unless he has freed himself from all bodily cares and anxieties.”¹⁷

The final goal which the monks set before them was one of union with God via continuous and automatic prayer and recollection of him. In the words of Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, “Anthony – and others like him – sought the shape of his own soul, hoping to accept the terrors and ecstasies of direct and unremitting encounters with himself and, having mastered himself, to discover his relationship to the Infinite God.”¹⁸ This was, ultimately, the purpose behind the asceticism and constant prayer of the monks. John Cassian related that the monks believed that through these practices

our mind will reach that incorruptible prayer … [which is characterized by being] ... not merely not engaged in gazing on any image, but is actually distinguished by the use of no words or utterances; but with the purpose of the mind all on fire, is produced through ecstasy of heart by some unaccountable keenness of spirit, and the mind being thus affected without the aid of the senses or any visible material pours it forth to God with groanings and sighs that cannot be uttered.¹⁹

One of the stories of the Desert Fathers, recorded in one of the several collections of the sayings and doings of the early Egyptian monks which made very popular reading throughout the Middle Ages, records an even more vivid description of the spiritual goal the monks set forth for themselves. According to the dramatic short story,

Abba²⁰ Lot went to Abba Joseph and said, 'Abba, as far as I can, I keep a moderate rule, with a little fasting, and prayer, and meditation, and quiet: and as far as I can I try to cleanse my heart of evil thoughts. What else should I do?' Then the hermit stood up and spread out his hands to heaven, and his fingers shone like ten flames of fire, and he said, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'²¹

The effect that this vibrant new Christian spirituality, intensely ascetic and mystical, had upon the popular consciousness, faith, and practice of Christians of later generations cannot be overstated. The Egyptian monks provided inspiration to men like Benedict of Nursia, whose Rule, based in large part on the ways of the Desert Fathers as recorded in the collections of their sayings and in the writings of John Cassian, became the standard monastic discipline in Western Europe through the Middle Ages and beyond.²²

Their influence extended well beyond the cloister as well. Their technique of repetitious prayer gave birth to the Rosary and the Jesus Prayer,²³ popular extra-liturgical devotional practices in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity respectively, both involving the repetition of short prayers whose number is tracked by counting on a set of beads, in the case of the former, or knots in a rope, in the case of the latter.²⁴ In addition to this outward introduction of new practices into the repertoire of Christian spirituality, the Desert Fathers also had a remarkable impact on Christianity's core, centering the goal of the Christian life in inner prayer, stillness, and mystical union with God.²⁵ This emphasis on the mystical side of Christianity had a great impact on such influential Christian mystics as Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, George Fox, Seraphim of Sarov, and Thomas Merton; in fact, the mystical tradition of which these and dozens of others were a part and the monastic tradition of which all but one of these was a part would not have existed at all had it not been for the influence of the Desert Fathers.

In addition to their impact on Christian spirituality, the Desert Fathers also had a significant impact on European popular culture throughout the Middle Ages and later times. According to Benedicta Ward, herself a Christian nun in the Anglican tradition, “they have inspired poetry, drama, opera and art as well as withdrawal into solitude and prayer.”²⁶ Whereas the first several centuries of Christians had found both inspiration and entertainment in the accounts of the deaths of the martyrs, such as the famous account of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, perhaps written by the African Christian apologist Tertullian in the early third century, after the legalization of Christianity and the end of the age of the martyrs, the sayings and hagiographies of the Desert Fathers and other monastic saints who followed in their footsteps became standard Christian literary fare.²⁷ Throughout the Middle Ages, the sayings and lives of the great monastic saints were popular Christian literature. “The first and most influential of such biographies” was, according to scholar Jaroslav Pelikan, “Athanasius's Life of Saint Anthony,” the original fourth century account of the original Desert Father.²⁸

Perhaps one of the most famous examples of the place of the Desert Fathers in more recent European popular culture is the 1647 painting of The Temptation of St. Anthony by the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger.²⁹ Though Teniers' painting is one of the most famous, this same scene has also been depicted by such great artists as Fra Angelico, Hieronymous Bosch, Michelangelo, and Salvador Dalí. The Temptation of St. Anthony also became the title and subject of a novel by the famous author Gustave Flaubert and, more recently, an opera, based upon Flaubert's book, by Bernice Johnson Reagon.³⁰

The Egyptian monks and their brand of Christian spirituality have also shown up in some rather surprising places in Western popular culture. One very recent example is the 1961 novel Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, the author most famous for writing The Catcher in the Rye.³¹ In the novel, Franny, one of the title characters, carries around a copy of the 19th century anonymously written Russian book The Way of a Pilgrim, a story of a wanderer who travels throughout Russia reading and discussing the writings of the Desert Fathers and practicing their method of repetitive prayer;³² Franny also reveals that she herself prays the Jesus Prayer in a search for mystical experiences and spiritual enlightenment.

The Desert Fathers also had a number of unintended and unexpected effects on the subsequent developments of Christian theology. The most significant of these indirect consequences of the early Egyptian monks' pioneering ways may be the conversion to Christianity of Augustine of Hippo, one of the most important and influential Christian thinkers in all of Christian history, and himself a fellow African. Augustine, whose theology would later become the standard understanding of the Christian faith for the majority of Christians, originally struggled with acceptance of Christianity, wavering in his decision to join the Church. He was deeply impressed, however, by the example of Anthony. He relates his own reaction to first hearing about Anthony in his Confessions, writing as if speaking to God that “we were amazed, hearing Thy wonderful works most fully manifested in times so recent, and almost in our own, wrought in the truth faith and the Catholic Church.”³³ Later, in deep emotional turbulence over his indecision in his religious beliefs, he recalled the example of Anthony. According to Augustine,

I had heard of Anthony, that, accidentally coming in whilst the gospel was being read, he received the admonition as if what was read were addressed to him, “Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.” And by such oracle was he forthwith converted unto Thee. So quickly I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I put down the volume of the apostles, when I rose thence. I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell.³⁴

The passage which Augustine opened up to and read, Romans 13:13-14,³⁵ struck him deeply and finally convinced him to convert to Christianity. The Desert Fathers, then, were indirectly responsible for inspiring one of the most important figures in Christian history to become a Christian in the first place.

The Desert Fathers also served the world indirectly by creating a system which would ultimately save European literature, heritage, and culture from destruction. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, the monasteries of Europe became repositories of learning, preserving art, literature, and the art of literacy through a period of rapid and dramatic European cultural decline and rampant warfare.³⁶ It was because of the monastics in Europe, part of that tradition founded by their forerunners in Africa, that Europe was able to save the Classical heritage of the Romans and Greeks from being destroyed.

The Desert Fathers were a ragtag group of men and women who came from a variety of backgrounds and had a diversity of characteristics and personalities, as can easily be seen from the titles attached to the names of many of them, such as John “the Dwarf,” Moses “the Strong” (also known as Moses “the Robber” and Moses “the Black”), and Paul “the Hermit.” Some, like Moses, had been outlaws before venturing into the monastic life in the desert, others, like Abba Arsenius, had been educated men of the Roman upper classes, others, like Pachomius, had been soldiers and civil servants, and still others, like Anthony the Great, had been peasants and farmers. As diverse a group as they were, what they all had in common was that they retreated into the deserts of southern Egypt in a search for a more intimate and personal relationship with their God and, in so doing, pioneered a new Christian way of life, one that would spread out through and from Africa and conquer the whole of the Christian world.

The Christian monastic, mystical, spiritual, and devotional traditions of today all trace their lineage back directly to these men and women in the deserts of Egypt in the fourth and fifth centuries. As Christianity continues to dwindle in numbers in Europe, with which continent it has come to be associated in the modern mind, and rises in prominence and numbers in other places in the world, especially Africa, it is in fact not going somewhere new but returning home.

Notes
 

¹ Philip Jenkins, “Believing in the Global South,” First Things, December, 2006, accessed 11 November 2011, http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/believing-in-the-global-south-17.

² Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 3.

³ Hans Küng, Great Christian Thinkers: Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher, Barth (New York: Continuum, 1999), 71.

⁴ Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (New York: Dorset Press, 1986), 176.

⁵ For instance, 1 Corinthians 7.

⁶ Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 44.

⁷ Ibid., 45.

⁸ Athanasius, “Life of Antony,” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4: Athanasius: Selected Works and Letters, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2004), 196.

⁹ Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 113-4.

¹⁰ Michael A. Smith, “Christian Ascetics and Monks,” in Eerdmans' Handbook to the History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley (Herts: Lion Publishing, 1977), 205.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² David Bentley Hart, The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith (London: Quercus, 2007), 56.

¹³ Athanasius, 197-8.

¹⁴ Smith, 205.

¹⁵ Frederica Matthewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2009), 4.

¹⁶ John Cassian, “The Conferences,” part 10, chapter 10, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 11: Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 405.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 82.

¹⁹ John Cassian, 408.

²⁰ “Abba” is the word in many Semitic languages for “father.” It is still used by most Middle Eastern Christians as a form of address for their priests and monks and is the origin of the English word “abbot,” used for the head of male monasteries.

²¹ Benedicta Ward, tr., The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 131.

²² Ibid., xx.

²³ “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

²⁴ Matthewes-Green, 5.

²⁵ Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995), 122.

²⁶ Ward, xxii.

²⁷ Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975), 100.

²⁸ Ibid., 135.

²⁹ Hart, 58.

³⁰ Lydia Mann, “Toshi Reagon: Music for Your Life: Temptation of St. Anthony” (2011) http://www.toshireagon.com/parisTemptation.shtml (accessed 12 November 2011).

³¹ J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (New York: Back Bay Books, 2001).

³² Helen Bacovcin, tr., The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way (New York: Doubleday, 2003).

³³ Augustine, “The Confessions of St. Augustin,” Book 8, Paragraph 14, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1: The Confessions and Letters of Augustine, with a Sketch of his Life and Work, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 122.

³⁴ Augustine, Book 8, Paragraph 29, 127.

³⁵ As quoted by Augustine in his Confessions, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

³⁶ Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization (New York: Anchor Books, 1996), 159.

Bibliography

Athanasius of Alexandria. “Life of Antony.” In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4: Athanasius: Selected Works and Letters. Editors Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2004.

Augustine of Hippo. “The Confessions of St. Augustin.” In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1: The Confessions and Letters of Augustine, with a Sketch of his Life and Work. Editors Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994.

Bacovcin, Helen, translator. The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way. New York: Doubleday, 2003.

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization. New York: Anchor Books, 1996.

Cassian, John. “The Conferences.” In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 11: Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian. Editors Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994.

Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. New York: Dorset Press, 1986.

Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hart, David Bentley. The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith. London: Quercus, 2007.

Jenkins, Philip. “Believing in the Global South.” First Things. December, 2006. Accessed 11 November 2011. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/believing-in-the-global-south-17.

Jenkins, Philip. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

Küng, Hans. Great Christian Thinkers: Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher, Barth. New York: Continuum, 1999.

Mann, Lydia. “Toshi Reagon: Music for Your Life: Temptation of St. Anthony” (2011) http://www.toshireagon.com/parisTemptation.shtml (accessed 12 November 2011).

Matthewes-Green, Frederica. The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God. Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2009.

Pagels, Elaine. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Salinger, J.D. Franny and Zooey. New York: Back Bay Books, 2001.

Smith, Michael A. “Christian Ascetics and Monks.” In Eerdmans' Handbook to the History of Christianity. Editor Tim Dowley. Herts: Lion Publishing, 1977.

Ward, Benedicta, translator. The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Ware, Bishop Kallistos. The Orthodox Way. Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995.

Spiritual Elders

 

 When reading the biographies and writings of certain modern day Holy Elders, one will inevitably come across various "prophecies" they made concerning end-time events. These "prophecies" have especially arisen in modern times during periods of high anxiety for Orthodox Christians - in Slavic countries with the rise of communism and in Greece especially since the 1970's and on as we neared the beginning of the second millenium. Much of the latter stems from the rise of eschatological propaganda infiltrating Greece from the West in translation (in 1970 Hal Lindsey's The Late, Great Planet Earth was published following the Six-Day War in the Middle East that sparked a plethora of eschatological writings in the West), and the translation into Greek of the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by a Greek politician in the 1980's. Fascinated by these writings, Orthodox Christian thinkers began to look into their own tradition to apply these seemingly convincing portrayals of the soon-to-be second coming of Christ to make them their own. Unfortunately many of our beloved Holy Elders and modern day Saints were influenced by these writings and traditions, to the confusion of many. I personally believe this was mainly due to the simplicity of their hearts, since these neoeschatological and conspiratorial writings do seem to conform to aspects of Orthodox eschatology if one is pushed to reconcile them. This should by no means determine the authenticity or sanctity of a Holy Elder, since no one is infallible and God may have His reasons for allowing such things.

But not all of our Holy Elders were of a similar mind on these eschatological issues. In fact, when these Holy Elders were asked about these issues, they flatly disagreed with what other Holy Elders were saying about these things. In doing so, they would never try to discredit the Holy Elder they disagreed with, but still considered them men of God with special gifts of the Holy Spirit. They recognized that these things were spoken not by revelation, but through their own opinion or because it was a tradition that they were convinced of by their own logic. Unfortunately most people cannot tell the difference between a real prophecy and an opinion, and this has caused much confusion among impressionable contemporary Orthodox.

One of the most popular and beloved Holy Elders today is Elder Paisios the Athonite (+ 1993). He is one most especially known for his end-time prophecies circulating throughout the Orthodox world. Elder Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (+ 1991) was another Holy Elder of our times very much beloved by Orthodox Christians. These two Holy Elders are considered the two strongest pillars of sanctity in 20th century Greek Orthodoxy. But on the critical issue of eschatology they strongly disagreed, much like the Apostles Peter and Paul disagreed in the Acts of the Apostles on the issue of Jews and Gentiles in early Christianity. In fact, Elder Porphyrios censured Elder Paisios for circulating his eschatological material. From this incident, many important lessons can be learned by contemporary Orthodox Christians. For this reason the details of this incident are written below.

The Epistle of Elder Porphyrios to Elder Paisios

In an interview for Cypriot television, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou spoke of his personal relationship with Elders Porphyrios, Iakovos, Evmenios and Paisios. He says in the interview that he was instructed by Elder Porphyrios to have Elder Iakovos of Evia as his spiritual father. The Metropolitan was in law school at the time, before he entered ecclesiastical life. His impression of Elder Porphyrios was that he was able to be attuned to another persons soul in a more intimate way, like an x-ray machine, than the other Elder's he met, such as Elders Iakovos, Evmenios and Paisios. This is because each Holy Elder has a particular gift manifested in a more powerful way than other Holy Elders.

The special gift of Elder Porphyrios above all the other Greek Elders, according to Metropolitan Neophytos, was that of clairvoyance and the foreseeing of the future. He had the unique gift of being able to see not only future events, but those of the past as well. He could tell you about the various mineral deposits below the earth better than any geologist, he could determine the accurate movements of the stars better than astronomers, and if there was anything below the sea or in your home you needed to know about, he would reveal to you that as well. The charisma he had was very rare which few in the history of the Church ever possessed. What is striking however is that despite his clear visions of things in the past, present and future, he never spoke about the signs of the end-times.

This, said the Metropolitan, is a very strong message for the people of our day who are inundated with many supposed prophecies and predictions concerning the end of the world, the reign of Antichrist and the second coming of Christ. These in fact are mere speculations and baseless interpretations of the writings from people of the past that have been imposed upon our time to deal with the various changes our world has gone through over the past few hundred years and especially now that we have entered the second millennium after the birth of Christ. The Church works synodically; it is a synaxis. Since a synod of the Church has not expressed itself on these matters, then no individual can interpret them any way they please. For these reasons, understanding the times we live in, Elder Porphyrios did not reveal anything about end-time events that was revealed to him, according to God's will. Thus, while richly endowed with gifts of clairvoyance and prophecy, Elder Porphyrios systematically avoided speaking about apocalyptic events.

When Metropolitan Neophytos was a deacon in Cyprus he went to visit his elder Iakovos in Evia. At the time the people were in a fever about end-time events, the meaning of 666, the identity of the Antichrist, etc. Also, an Archimandrite had published a best-selling book about apocalyptic events. He went to Elder Iakovos and asked him his opinion on all these matters. Elder Iakovos then spoke in a very authoritative tone, which was something very rare for him to do, since he spoke much more humbly than all the other Greek Elders he had met. He said: "Listen to me, my Neophyte. Elder Porphyrios and dumb Iakovos do not speak about anything. Not the things of the present, nor of the things to come, unless the Holy Spirit expressly reveals to them. And up to this point the Holy Spirit has not revealed any such thing to me, not about the Antichrist, nor about wars to come, nor about the future." These are the exact words of Elder Iakovos and the Metropolitan says that he neither added nor subtracted from his words.

I will now translate the words of Metropolitan Neophytos:

"I must mention that there is an epistle held by a monastery on the Holy Mountain, and it would be good for the keepers of this epistle to publish it at some point. This happens to be an epistle by Elder Porphyrios addressed to Elder Paisios. Now I understand that the content of this epistle might challenge some of our spiritual brothers, but it is good to be challenged this way. It is better to be challenged than to fall into exaggerations. This epistle was from a man who honored and revered Elder Paisios very much. Fr. Porphyrios told me that Fr. Paisios is a man of God. And he wrote to him:

My beloved Father Paisios, what happened to you? If Constantinople will be freed or not, this is the concern of the politicians and of the military rulers, and not of the monks nor even the archpriests. If the Antichrist will come, this must be the concern of the archpriests and it is their duty to inform the people. And when that time comes, God will provide us with illumined archpriests who will in turn illumine the people. We the monks, if we are members of the priesthood, we need to liturgize for the salvation of the entire universe. And if we happen to be simple monks, we need to weep over our sins. Now because of my love for you, and knowing how much you love Christ, I am giving you a rule not to talk about these things again out of your great love for Asia Minor and Hellenism.

And Fr. Paisios, this great man of God, did obedience to this great Elder of Elders, Fr. Porphyrios. And since then he kept silent about these matters, because he realized that the smallest comment he would make would often be exaggerated by his highly impressionable visitors. Not to mention, some of these prophetic sayings were not his, but he was quoted by different people, or misquoted, and with other things he was often quoting from a notebook of his spiritual father, St. Arsenios of Cappadocia, who happened to be his godfather. St. Arsenios had received the gift of prophecy [or had heard things from others] and recorded a number of things. Elder Paisios would make some comments based on this notebook he had in his possession.

Now what can we say about all this, but to marvel at the great spirit of discretion of Elder Porphyrios. A spirit of watchfulness, vigilance and patient endurance. But in order to have this patient endurance regarding end-time events, whether social or political or personal, the exercise of patience is extremely necessary....

The work of the Church is to liberate people, to redeem people. When people lean towards interpreting the signs of the times and the future, this mania about the things to come is often alienating people from the essence of spirituality - from their personal struggle, the purification of the heart, our personal trauma, and our need to become well, to cure our passions. This is the heart of the problem.

One time I asked Elder Evmenios about these things, and he responded very simply. He was the most simple of all the Elders, a man of very few words who did not like endless spiritual talk. He needed to be inspired by someone or by something in order to speak. And when I asked him about all the prophetic talks circulating, he said: 'You know, I personally don't believe that Christ would only give 2000 years of grace to the world. It just doesn't seem very long to me.'"

Some Awesome Prayers to Start Your Day Off.....Love, Always Use Love--

Prayers

Prayer at the Beginning of the Day

(by St. Philaret of Moscow +1867)

O LORD, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Thy holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Thy will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with firm conviction that Thy will governs all.

In my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events let me not forget that all are sent by Thee.

Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring. Direct my will. Teach me to pray. Pray Thou Thyself in me. Amen.

Prayer for the Acceptance of God's Will

(by St. Philaret of Moscow +1867)

O LORD, I know not what to ask of Thee. Thou alone knowest what are my true needs. Thou lovest me more than I myself know how to love. Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me. I dare not ask either a cross or consolation. I can only wait on Thee. My heart is open to Thee. Visit and help me, for Thy great mercy's sake. Strike me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up.

I worship in silence Thy holy will and Thine inscrutable ways. I offer myself as a sacrifice to Thee. I put all my trust in Thee. I have no other desire than to fulfill Thy will. Teach me how to pray. Pray Thou Thyself in me. Amen.

Some New Stuff I Recently Got Into [read, write, talk, love]

Received the new issue of  "In Communion"  the journal of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship.

Also received the new issue the journal "Christian Apologetics" in the mail. 
Excellent journal / magazine.  Find it & read it, lest you be a chode!

Just finished reading "From the Ashes of Sobibor" by Thomas Toivi Blatt.  Supposedly a true story about a Jewish kid who escapes from Sobibor work camp in Poland, in 1943 or so.  He's on the run all over Poland dodging Nazis & Polish & Russian Partisans who are unfriendly to Jews.  Him & some other random Jews who are homeless & stateless, hide out in various barns, silos, & haystacks.  As well as forests, woods, cellars --abandon buildings--you names it he's squatted there.  Very fast paced story & book.  There is an added interview that the author conducted with one of the head guards from the camp, done in 1983.   The German military officer served 16 years in prison & was filled with regret over what allegedly went on in this & other work camps, or concentration camps as they are also called.  In some ways the author seems to relish in continually bringing up atrocities & alleged mistreatment that may or may not have gone down that way 40 years earlier.  World War II was terrible--for everyone, NOT just Jews, Gypsies, or Jehovah's Witnesses.  German & Polish civilians had a horrible time, especially towards the end of the war.  Yet it is the Jews who are usually in a position of power, with the media and various governments, so they can push the books, movies, TV shows, magazine articles, etc, about the "German Holocaust™ of European Jewry."  It's as if the Jews call the shots in the public's everyday lives!  OK OK, I'm not some Neo-Nazi or total conspiracy buff (tho I do follow many of the alternate historical theories laid out by minds more brilliant than mine) but I now know that there is WAY more to this holocaust™ story than meets the eye!  Especially after learning that in fifteen countries it is a FELONY to ask questions about 
the official holocaust™ story line!  Why in the heck does truth need to be protected by prison
time?!??!  Well, this is fodder for many many more posts.  Just read this book if you happen to
find it somewhere for free.
Published by Northwestern University Press. ♥

*Also watched "The Amityville Horror" from 1979 with Cheryl the other night.  Such a damn good movie.  But I kind of stick to what my friend Deacon Dave said recently:  he doesn't watch movies like this because he knows the evil one is all too real.  Sometimes movies, books, music, or other art
in this vein can be a sort of "doorway" through which Satan or any of his demons can creep into one's
mind, body, or life in general.  I don't want to come off as some sort of 'holier-than-thou' Bible thumping, closed minded, scaredy cat, but maybe Deacon Dave's message is worth paying attention
to?  Lord knows I've done things MY way for a long long time.  And look where it's gotten me! ♥
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
-----> [Edit 1/28/2013]  Strange to re-read a simple post like this, where I mention watching a DVD
  with Cheryl, me now ex-girlfriend.  I've been missing her for the past several months, and we have
  been talking, emailing, and texting each other.  She says she would like to try to be friends first,
  to maybe start over that way & then see where that leads.  Then maybe we can get back together,
  she stated.  However, she has turned me down, all fifteen times that I've asked her out over the past
  three months.  She even sent me an email telling me the CORRECT way to ask a woman out, and
  told me, "feel free to use this advice on me or any other woman!"  So I asked her out the way she
  suggested was proper, and she IGNORED my request!  LOL, then I reminded her that I had asked
  her out, and she claims to have FORGOTTEN that I did so!  LOL, I've never been fed such a line 
  of utter bullshit, lies, and disrespect in my entire life!  I was slack-jawed as I read her email explain-
  ing this to me!  Seriously, I've been rejected & ignored before, but I think this one takes the cake!
  LOL!!!  Obviously she thinks I'm retarded & has absolutely ZERO respect for me!  So, I am now
  following the advice of my spiritual advisers & supportive people in my life: I just CANNOT even
  be friends with her at this point in time.  I'm not supposed to have ANY contact with her whatsoever.  She is toxic for me, and I DO NOT deserve this kind of bullshit or pain or lack of respect.  It's hard for me to do, because I thought I still loved her.  Turns out that I wasn't really in love with her, rather I was afraid of being alone!!!  I am worth much, much more than anything she can provide for me.  So I've had to move on, and perhaps at a later time we can be friends.  But at this point, anyone around me who treats me the way she has been treating me is NOT my friend.  Yes, 
I'm sad.  Not too sad, now that I see things in a different light, but a bit heartbroken.  Oh well, it will
pass, it always does.  Besides, she's not a millionaire, nor a beauty queen, (her words not mine) and
I'm quite confident that I can do much, much better. ♥

Checked out from the public library yesterday: "The Lost Sutras of Jesus: Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of the Xian Monks" by Riegert & Moore.
"Lectio Divina" by M. Basil Pennington.  He wrote "The Monks of Mount Athos" which is a great book.  We'll see how this one turns out to be.
"The Eastern Catholic Churches: And Introduction to Their Worship & Spirituality" by Joan L. Roccasalvo.
"The Jesus Sutras" by Martin Palmer.  Good stuff.

Also wanted to mention some other books I'm currently reading very slowly, and probably won't finish for another year (as is my m.o. I read maybe two dozen books at once...little by little.)
"Gates to Buddhist Practice" by Chagdud Tulku.
"The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers & Mothers" by Wilson - Hartgrove.
"Praying the Word: An Introduction to Lectio Divina" by Enzo Bianchi.
The winter 2010 - 2011 issue of "The Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives."
"A Tree in a Forest: A Collection of Ajahn Chah's Similies" edited by Dhamma Garden.

Thomas Merton & Buddhism, & What I'm Reading--

"The Wisdom of the Desert" currently reading.

Also: The Catholic Hearth --various issues of this beautifully & artfully put together Catholic 1/2 sized journal, put out by The Neumann Press.

"Pure Land Pure Mind"  translation by J.C. Cleary. I love love love this book about Pure Land Buddhism.  Pure Land is the most prevalent form of Buddhism on the planet, but one of the least practiced in the West.  It has some similarities to Zen and can thus be practiced alongside Zen Buddhism.  I received many Pure Land books in the mail over the summer, and none of them have let me down.  As a matter of fact, I've got reading material to last me well into 2013!!!  Thank God for generous Buddhists!

And this reminds me of some of the Thomas Merton books I have that talk about his affinity for Zen Buddhism and Buddhist & Eastern religious practices in general.  Good stuff, get in to it!

Hundreds & Hundreds of Books......

...to read!!!  I'm backed up about 225 books right now!  YIKES!!!  I've also got about three hundred fanzines that need to be re-read.  I have to periodically look through my library to be reminded of what I own.  I used to do that with my music collection since I would, on many occasions, buy a 7" or CD that I already owned!  Every time I went to a hardcore fest I would come home with 25 - 100 new 7"'s, LP's, & CD's.  Not to mention a couple of dozen demo tapes.  Man I loved those demo's!  Still do.  My favorite part of MRR (Maximum Rock n Roll fanzine for you non-punks) has always been the demo's review section and the fanzine review section.  I don't even know how many times I would get the new issue (usually at Borders...ugggghhh, that's a whole other blog post --to come sometime soon) and read it with a pen in my hand to mark the thing that I wanted to order.  You can't get much more D.I.Y. than sending off $3 to some kid for his bands crappy (most of the times) demo cassette.  Or a couple of bux for the first and only issue of a new 'zine.  But actually many times the demo's would turn out to be awesome and some of the bands best work.  And to me it was always worth it for just a few dollars.  Getting a letter and small package in the mail from Singapore or Poland....cool as all hell!  A hand-written note on the back of a punk show flyer, thanking me for buying his band's demo!  Or being one of the lucky fifty people to get the first issue or the last issue of some fanzine.  I vividly remember getting the newest issue of "In Abandon" fanzine done by that kid Mike in south Florida...Tampa to be exact.  It turned out to be his last also.  I went to my p.o. box in downtown Ann Arbor at around 9:30a.m. one sunny late summer/early fall day.  Those perfect sunny-but-not-humid days we experience mid September here in Michigan!  I grabbed a nice, fat stack of mail and drove over to the small park near St. Francis church & school. Sat in the freshly mowed grass and opened a manilla envelope from Mikey in Tampa. I was blown away at the outstanding printing job he or someone else did with the 'zine!  The blacks were ultra dark and super crisp, all the lines were sharp, and the drawings were vivid.  It was printed on a heavier bright white paper.  Lots and lots of block lettering and weird/cool drawings and doodles.  An awesome story about going on tour with his favorite band, who just happen to be comprised of his best friends!  All kinds of anecdotes that punk kids experience being 20 years old and touring the United States in a punked-up van full of sweaty, stinky d00ds and band equipment.  Mike meets and befriends all kinds of interesting people up & down the east coast of our country.  He repeatedly talks about the "revolution at 3 a.m." jolted up on coffee and wide eyed & in love with life!  Such a great 'zine!  I never got to meet Mike though I did write him a few times.  A bit later I saw that hed done a bunch of artwork for the REVERSAL OF MAN records who he was good friends with.  And I saw something he did for the band BRIGHT CALM BLUE.   I recently pulled out that very issue of In Abandon and re-read parts of it.  I also wound up buying the two previous issues of that 'zine.  Twelve years later those fanzines are still great!

Pope John Paul II & The Hare Krsna's...

....May 1st.  I wish I had $2300 for the trip to Rome some peeps are going on.  Sigh.....  The beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II.  I can watch it on the internerd or the TV.  It's just neat to have something like this happen in my lifetime.  I vividly remember when he died and pretending to be so indifferent, with a twisted touch of stoicism!!!  I had fallen away from Catholicism at that time, although I would proudly tell you I was "spiritual!"  Whatever that means / meant!!!  I love this st00pid AA line, "religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell and spirituality is for people who've already been there and DON'T want to go back.  Dumb alcoholics think they've got the market cornered on spirituality.  Yes, thank God for AA's spirituality, opening the door, and my mind, to a higher power, a higher being, a higher purpose, and a higher calling.  But that's just a start.  I needed to nurture and grow my spirituality.   Which... is... just.....religion......gasp!!!  Besides, AA was founded by two Christian men, contains and co-op's several Christian (Catholic) prayers such as "The Lord's Prayer," "The Serenity Prayer," and "Instrument of Peace"  (the St. Francis prayer) on page 99 of the "Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions," an AA approved (official) book.   Most of the AA old-timers I know also belong to a church or claim some religious affiliation.  My friend Matt (a Jew I'm told) got very involved in Islam shortly after getting sober in 1999 or so, changed his name to Idris, wore traditional (as traditional as an Ann Arbor Jewish punk rock kid can get) Islamic garb to meetings, and moved to Saudi Arabia to teach English.  And secure a wife.  My friend Tarun Krsna-das, whom I met at the Fischer Mansion (a.k.a. the Hare Krsna temple) in Gross Point one soul searching Sunday, got clean, joined Narcotics Anonymous and then joined the Hare Krsna's.  He helped me a ton --came out to Ann Arbor to check out some AA meetings with me, kick the soccer ball around, chant Hare Krsna, and discuss Prabhupada's writings.  Tarun helped me to be a little less materialistic, as well as showing me how to eat vegetarian food without any traces of garlic, onions, and mushrooms.  Three foods in the mode of passion or ignorance, I can't remember which.  I miss Tarun.  After he went on a pilgrimage to Vrindavan I never saw him again.  St00pid hotmail deleted a couple hundred messages of mine, including one with his email addy in it.  And since Tarun Krsna-das is not the real name of a white trash, I.C.P. listening, workin' on car in the front lawn of your house, guy from Taylor, I've not been able to locate him since late 1999.