Abba Anthony heard of a very young monk who had performed a miracle on the road. Seeing the old men walking with difficulty along the road, he ordered the wild asses to come and carry them until they reached Abba Anthony Those whom they had carried told Abba Anthony about it. He said to them, “This monk seems to me to a ship loaded with goods but I do not know if he will reach harbor.” After a while, Anthony... Read more
Christian missionaries have long wrestled with the fact that those people they evangelize often have something to teach them as well. Christianity offers Christ. With Christ, the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The Church is able to collect and integrate all truth into herself because the Church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Logos from which all logoi, even human-made logoi, flow. It has often been said that the method by which missionaries... Read more
In the opening of The Ladder of Divine Ascent, written by St. John Climacus, the 7th century abbot of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai, we find a rather hopeful view of the way God is at work saving all humanity: God is the life of all free beings. He is the salvation of all, of believers or unbelievers, of the just or the unjust, of the pious or the impious, of those freed from the passions or caught up... Read more
It should be seen as a major concern that not only is the combined wealth of Trump’s cabinet picks in excess of fourteen billion dollars, such a net worth can be shown to be greater than the combined wealth of one third of the nation. While it can be said that many, if not most, politicians are wealthy, and many if not most, of those in the recent past who have held a cabinet position are well-to-do, the problem has... Read more
Someone asked Abba Anthony, “What must one do in order to please God?” The old man replied, “Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes, whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.”[1] Because Anthony’s sayings were recorded for the sake of a monastic audience, much of... Read more
This week, in one of the first moves of the Republican controlled Congress, the House voted to remove an independent ethics panel which is meant to check and investigate misconduct of Congress. The same Republicans who have a long history of decrying the morality of others, the same Republicans who have done as much as they can to investigate any and all claims of ethical violations of Democrats, now want no oversight on their own actions. Yes, they might have... Read more
Last summer, I searched Amazon for used copies from the Fathers of the Church series which I did not yet possess, looking, moreover, for texts which I felt were in the price range I was willing to spend. Among the volumes I found was the one dedicated to Salvian the Presbyter. At the time, he was an unknown figure, so I looked online and read a little about him; finding out his main theme throughout his work was the failing... Read more
Scripture tells us that whenever king Saul suffered malaise from an evil spirit, his successor, prophet-king David would play the lyre, and through his music, David would restore peace of mind and soul to Saul: And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him (1 Sam. 16:23 RSV). What might seem strange to most readers... Read more
They said that a certain old man asked God to let him see the Fathers and he saw them all except Abba Anthony. So he asked his guide, “Where is Abba Anthony?” He told him in reply that in the place where God is, there Anthony would be.[1] The marvelous deeds spoken of St. Anthony and those who followed him into the desert not only made them famous, but led many of their admirers to go out to the desert... Read more
The absolute truth will never be what we think it is. Whatever we come to know of the truth can be said to be true insofar as it is derivative of the absolute truth, but yet, no matter how much we know, we will never be able to comprehend the truth in itself. The mind establishes understanding of what it experiences, and so constructs a vision of the truth through that understanding. Yet, we must remember, the absolute truth is... Read more
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