CAPUT II. How we ought both to be united and render praise to the Cause of all and above all. WE pray to enter within the super-bright gloom, and through not seeing and not knowing, to see and to know that the not to see nor to know is itself the above sight and knowledge. For this is veritably to see and to know and to celebrate super-essentially the Superessential, through the abstraction of all existing things, just as those... Read more
Christ is Risen! Today we celebrate this truth: death reigns no more; the final enemy has been overcome by its own stratagems. The enemy has been fooled by the wisdom of God. God came into his own; he became man and let the rest of humanity do with him as they will on the cross. The darkness of sin covered the whole of humanity. It turned them against their creator. He bore the blunt of their aggression as the nihilistic... Read more
The End of the Beginning A Poem on the Death of God The bronze serpent, poisoning humanity with the venom of sin, Long has provided the spiritual Amalekites the means of victory. The people of God, in the desert of the real, fear death’s win, Making their excursion in life vain, one aimless journey. Turned entirely into carrion for sinister birds of prey, Thrust into the pit of hell, where no light shines, They have become forsaken, abandoned, castaway,... Read more
Most of us are tempted with vainglory. We love the praise of others. When we get a lot, we let it get to our head, making us think we are something special, indeed, it makes us think we are some kind of authority in the world. Greatness, to us, is found when we have wealth, fame, and the power to demand others to serve us as we wish. But such greatness is ephemeral; it is easily lost. Fortunes come and... Read more
Now this I think signifies that the most Divine and Highest of the things seen and contemplated are a sort of suggestive expression, ‘of the things subject to Him Who is above all, through which His wholly inconceivable Presence is shown, reaching to the highest spiritual summits of His most holy places; and then he (Moses) is freed from them who are both seen and seeing, and enters into the gloom of the Agnosia; a gloom veritably mystic, within which... Read more
Today is the beginning of our salvation and the manifestation of the mystery which is from eternity. The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announces grace. So with him let us also cry to the Mother of God: Rejoice, thou who art full of grace! The Lord is with thee (Troparian of the Annunciation) The story of the Annunciation is well known to believers. Mary, a young virgin, was greeted by the archangel Gabriel, being... Read more
American rugged individualism has long created a detrimental effect on the psyche of American Christianity. The notion that we can work our way out of extreme poverty, all by ourselves, without need or help for anyone, has led to a spiritual form of that individualism which thinks we can and should work out our own salvation by ourselves without need for extraordinary grace or mercy. Just as those who believe they have come out on top on the social hierarchy... Read more
Dionysius turns to the figure of Moses as a key representative of the mystical tradition. Moses was one of the greatest theologians in history. He was able to use his engagement with God to teach and direct the people of Israel (and those who would read and study what he taught). Moses went to the place where God is all by himself, but he took with him those who, like him, were set apart and spiritually prepared to the spot... Read more
Scripture is not meant intended to be a book which we simply pick up and read if we want to know and understand the truths it proclaims. Its intention was to be the central witness of the Christian faith, to be the standard declaration of truth which was read to the faithful so that through continuous hearing of the text, they will consistently gain new and greater insights to the truth of God. If and when someone were to come... Read more
President Trump’s firing of Rex Tillerson has led to a new shift in his administration. Things will be going from bad to worse. Trump’s decision to pick Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson can serve as one such indication of where Trump’s policies are headed: Pompeo is aggressive, not diplomatic, indeed, he is a defender of torture and a warmonger who seeks a holy crusade in the world. Since Pompeo heads the CIA, Trump chose to replace him with Gina Haspel.... Read more
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