Interrupting the Silence

Category: Theology

  • St. Maximus on Image and Likeness

    The first objective of God was for the human being to come to be “according to the image and likeness of God,” and what is “according to the image” is incorruption, immortality, invisibility, which image the divine: and he has bestowed these on the soul for it to possess, having bestowed along with them both… Read more

  • Where is God in the Hatian earthquake?

    That question is one many struggle with in regards to not only natural disasters of national proportions but also in our own lives and personal struggles, losses, and disappointments. “Where is God?” To ask the question is to acknowledge our own powerlessness over much of life and the world. My own experience of powerlessness is… Read more

  • Incarnation, Theosis, Ecstasy

    In a previous post I wrote about ecstasy; that God is ecstatic and we are called to respond to his ecstasy with our own ecstasy. This double movement of God to humanity and humanity to God underlies the doctrine of theosis and describes the very purpose of incarnation. This double movement is sometimes referred to… Read more

  • Hymns on the Nativity – St. Ephrem

    “The Son of the Most High came and dwelt in me, and I became His Mother; and as by a second birth I brought Him forth so did He bring me forth by the second birth, because He put His Mother’s garments on, she clothed her body with His glory.” – St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on the Nativity, Hymn XI. Read more

  • Are You Saved?

    Although it offers an Orthodox answer I think this video also represents The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion at our best – when we return to our patristic roots. Thanks to The Country Parson and Byzigenous Buddapalian Read more

  • The Feast of St. Gregory Palamas

    Today, November 14, is the Feast of St. Gregory Palamas, monk, archbishop, and eminent theologian. He dedicated most of his active life to theological argument focused on one central truth: The living God is accessible to personal experience because he shared his own life with humanity. He taught that humanity’s true knowledge of God comes… Read more

  • The Feast of Leo the Great

    Today, November 10, is the Feast of Leo the Great (Bishop of Rome 440-461). He was involved in one of the great Christological controversies. The question dealt with the relationship of divinity and humanity in Christ. Eutyches argued a form of monophysitism, the idea the Christ has only one nature. He conflated the two natures… Read more

  • Love Came Down – St. Symeon the New Theologian

    “Love came down, as is its way, in the appearance of a luminous cloud. I saw it fasten on me and settle upon my head. And it made me cry out, for I was so afraid; and so it flew away and left me alone. Then how ardently I searched after it; and suddenly, completely,… Read more

  • St. Macarius the Great on Apophatacism

    The following quotation and icon were originally post by Moses at The Burning Bush. Thank you Moses. But if man were to begin to investigate the mind of God and say: “I have discovered something and truly understand it,” the human mind would be found transcending the mind of God. Truly you wander far into… Read more