Symeon lives the divine life through the practice of the virtues. Throughout his entire Hymns on Divine Eros, he focuses on the wedding of the virtuous life and the knowledge of Christ. Specifically, I want to highlight the union in Hymn 28 in the context of vigilance and repentance. Here, in his own practice of [...]
On Mary, With Gratitude
November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As I prepare for Thanksgiving, Advent, and our reading series on Jacob of Serug’s homilies on Mary, it seems only right to pause and give thanks for the Mother of God. She has become an important model for me in many ways, and like Jacob, I hope to speak of her with love and reverence. [...]
The Case for Abbots
May 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“We who live in coenobitic monasteries should of our own free choice gladly cut off our whole will through obedience to the abbot. In this way, with God’s help, we shall become to some degree tractable and free from self-will. It is good to acquire this art, for then…we shall not excite our incensive power [...]
The senseless passion of anger
April 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Now let us say something about the senseless passion of anger, which ravages, confuses and darkens every soul and, when it is active, makes those in whom it is easily and quickly aroused behave like beasts. This passion is strengthened particularly by pride, and so as long as it is so strengthened it cannot be [...]
Showered with Blessings
February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I think Nicolas would fit right in at the House of St. Michael. Like Nicolas, we hunger for communion with our Lord, and we question how to go about that, what path to walk to draw us closer to God and to help us overcome the passions. Like Nicolas, we turn to the fathers for [...]
St. Mark the Monk on Stillness
February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In our recently finished reading of St. Mark the Ascetic’s No Righteousness by Works, I have been recalling his words on the virtue of stillness over the recent weeks. Mark boldly says, “Stillness helps us by making evil inoperative.” What a thought, evil inoperative! He states the relation to stillness is deeply wedded to four [...]
My Dec. 2010 post in 2011
January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
31. The intellect cannot be still unless the body is still also; and the wall between them cannot be demolished without stillness & prayer. 35. Prayer is called a virtue, but in reality it is the mother of the virtues: for it gives birth to them through union with Christ. 97. Undistracted prayer is a [...]
Online payment link for Devotional Conference.
December 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
All, The link below is to a PayPal page where you can pay for the Devotional Conference. If you pay for more than one person in one payment, please specify the names in the ‘note to seller’ option. Remember, the cost is $20 thru 2010 and goes up to $30 on 1/1/2011. Should you wish [...]
On Self-ESteem
September 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Before I get started, this post needs a disclaimer: the following may make no sense. Chalk it up to pregnancy brain, the white noise machine in my head that has shrunk my mental capacity down to thoughts of “I’m hungry” and “I’m tired” and…yep, that’s about it. I’ve tried my best to not just write [...]
On Dejection and Solitude
September 22, 2010 By 1 Comment
“The soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden [...]
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