The First Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, became understood as an Ecumenical Council only long after it had been convened and its declarations had been promulgated throughout the church. The fathers who were there understood the council to be significant, and its declarations to be authoritative, but they did not know that they would be starting a precedent which would be employed for other divisive questions in the church: The fathers of Nicea did not call... Read more
Sergius Bulgakov, for a period of his life, considered himself to be a Marxist, but that changed when, in the middle of his graduate studies in economics, he saw how Marxist analysis failed to take into consideration developments of science and technology after Marx. It can be said that science helped direct him to the Christian faith. This is not to say, once he became a Christian, Bulgakov rejected the social concerns which led him to embrace Marx. Rather, he... Read more
The final part of Christ’s earthly ministry was not his resurrection from the dead but his ascension into heaven. The two, of course, are related. The ascension should not be seen as separate from the resurrection. Rather, the ascension serves as its fulfillment, for it shows to us the spiritual transformation or fruit which emerges from the resurrection. In the resurrection, death is overcome, the wound of sin is healed. In the ascension, we see humanity received into heaven, that... Read more
St. Diadochos of Photiki, a bishop-ascetic who participated in the Council of Chalcedon, began his major theological work, “On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts,” by telling his readers not only to focus on the three theological virtues, but to center upon the virtue of love: All spiritual contemplation should be governed by faith, hope and love, but most of all by love. The first two teach us to be detached from visible delights, but love unites the soul... Read more
When Jesus encountered a man who was born blind, his disciples asked him why the man was blind: was it something his parents had done, or was it, somehow, something which the man had done which had caused his blindness? Jesus answered: it was neither (cf. Jn. 9:1-3). The lesson here is simple. While, it is true, what we do, how we act, has consequences for us, and sometimes those consequences have long-standing effects upon us or the world at... Read more
Pope St. Paul VI, in Octogesima Adveniens, spoke against racial injustice: Among the victims of situations of injustice – unfortunately no new phenomenon – must be placed those who are discriminated against, in law or in fact, on account of their race, origin, color, culture, sex or religion. [1] When bigotry leads to discrimination and abuse of various people, whether by law or by the way society treats them, it must be denounced. The dignity of the human person is... Read more
Wisdom, according to the Psalmist, is at the foundation of creation: “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures” (Ps 104:24 RSV). All things are made in and through Wisdom. What exactly is this Wisdom? Is it merely the Logos, as some think? Certainly, the opening of John tells us all things are made through the Logos (cf. Jn. 1:1). It is easy to see why some... Read more
In his address to the Pontifical Academy of Science in 1996, Pope St. John Paul II reiterated the need for Catholicism to embrace what the sciences discover and not to fear it. Evolution, which scientists have discerned to be more than a hypothesis, but truth, does not contradict what Catholics believe. This is why he said, “We know that truth does not contradict the truth.”[1] To embrace the truth is to accept the truth wherever it can be found. Truth does... Read more
In the Byzantine Calendar, the fifth Sunday of the Paschal Season (or the fourth Sunday after Easter) commemorates St. Photina, the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at Jacob’s well. On it, we are reminded once again of the way Jesus acted contrary to the expectations of his time, showing us that his followers, likewise, must transcend social conventions if and when they hinder the kingdom of God. Eva Catafygiotu Topping expresses quite well one of the important elements of this... Read more
Those who are self-righteous, those who are so self-absorbed in their own ideas of righteousness that they end up being cold and uncharitable towards others, are in reality far from the righteousness which they claim to possess. It is true, they might have attained some level of virtue, at least in relation to the virtue which they pursued, but that is all they have. They have closed themselves off, in their own self-absorption, from the source of righteousness itself so... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In