John Burnett (OCMC missionary to Uganda) has a nice photo essay of the recent visit from Pope Theodore II, the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa. Check out the pictures as well as John's blog.
Some good conversation going on in regards to Hell, eternal punishment, and how it relates to the Atonement. I've enjoined evesdropping and hearing the different points being made. For some differing views check out the following:
The Pontificator discusses Frederica Matthewes-Greene's article of punshment in Hell here…
Scot McKnight and fellows discuss justification and the atonement here, with some contributions of an eastern orthodox perspective by Professor Bradley Nassif…
and finally Fr Patrick Henry has an article on the atonement at Orthodoxy Today…
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”
–Reflections on the Psalms
“The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.”
–Reflections on the Psalms
“Nothing is yet in its true form.”
–Till We Have Faces
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
–Mere Christianity
“All joy…emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.”
–from an unknown letter
“Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self…”
–Mere Christianity
“Poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.”
–Reflections on the Psalms
“‘Nothing, not even what is lowest and most bestial, will not be raised again if it submits to death.’”
–The Great Divorce
Here is a good post that is especially good to remember during these days of Lent. evangelical outpost talks about how we attribute gluttony as merely a lack of a healthy lifestyle issue as opposed to it being what it actually is, a sign of something cookoo spiritually. i know in my own experience, when i tend to overeat, it's due to my lack of discipline, a problem that effects every aspect of my life. anywho, read the article at…
Read more at http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/001861.html#more
A few years ago I visited Cambodia and absolutely fell in love with the country and it’s people. I stumbled across the picture site that really captures the beauty of Cambodians from Siem Reap province . sigh… they really bring me back. i hope that you enjoy them as well..
The Prayer of St. Ephrem
O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust for power and idle talk.
(Prostration)
But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.(Prostration)
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters. For blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.(Prostration)
O God, cleanse Thou me a sinner
(12 times, with as many bows, and then again the whole prayer from the beginning throughout, and after that one great prostration)
–St Ephraim the Syrian
Ah, that's a real treasure. These words are very precious. Theophanes is a great poet. The 'height of virtue' is the love of God which is perfect and absolute. 'Punctured': when our soul is 'punctured', when she is wounded by divine longing, the susceptibility of the flesh to the passions withers away. Divine craving defeats every pain, and so every pain is transformed and becomes love of Christ. Love Christ and He will love you. All pains will pass away, they will be defeated and transformed. Then everything becomes Christ, Paradise. But in order to live in Paradise, we must first die — die to everything and be as if dead.
Then we will live truly; we will live in Paradise. If we do not first die to our old self nothing happens.
I'm very fond of the poem by Veritis called 'In company with Christ':
I longed to live in company with Christ,
His warming love enclosed within my breast, To open up the strictures of my heart, That loving more, it never love enough.*
That the heart may never love enough! The more wine you drink, the more you want to drink. The more you give yourself to the love of Christ, the more you want to give yourself. We must love Him with all our soul, heart, strength, power and mind. We must plug our heart into His love and be united with Him. That is what the Lord demands, not for Himself out of selfishness, but for us, so that He can give us everything — joy and happiness.
Fr Stephan Freeman has a great article on "Scripture as Icon". Check it out…
"Some years ago, within my thesis at Duke University, I wrote about the iconicity of language, meaning that language, especially Holy Scripture, functions in a manner similar to the Holy Icons. The Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council stated that “icons do with color what Scripture does with words.” I turned that succinct statement around to ask if Scripture does with words what icons do with color. It became the starting point for my thoughts on the iconicity of language…
Read more at catholica.pontification…
what i love about Orthodoxy is the fact that you don't enter the Church in order to change her. You enter into the Church to be changed. You allow the Church to judge you and your beliefs, and more importantly, your life. Genuine transformation and changed is something lost in today's evangelical world where we get caught in polemics and never just live as we're supposed to. Relationally with others and in constant repentence. here is a nice article from Pontifications on how we should allow the Church ( in this case Rome-but sure can be applied to Orthodox) to change us…
Read more at catholica.pontification…
Here is some good information from the “evangelical outpost” on reading between the lines of what people say, and what people actually mean.
“Dear Joe,
My girlfriend is driving me nuts. She will never say directly what she means. Instead she beats around the bush and expects me to know what she meant rather than what she said. Why don’t women just say what is on their mind? Are they speaking some foreign language that I’m not aware of? I need some help.A.V.
Dear A.V.,
When asked to rate the qualities they admire most, women often claim to value honesty above all else. This is, of course, rather ironic since honesty is the trait they least tolerate in men. Admitting that, yeah, now that she’s mentioned it, she does look kind of chubby in that dress, will not win a man praise for his integrity. Most likely it will simply lead to a trip to the ER to have a size 8 stiletto removed from the side of his neck.
Women, of course, are smart enough to know that nothing is more detrimental to a relationship than being truthful. Watch them when they are talking to members of their own sex and you’ll see what I mean. Women can barely tolerate one another as it is; if they were to tell each other what they really thought (“Which dog groomer gave you that hairstyle?”) it would be the end of civilization as we know it.While you may not be able to read her mind, you do need to read in between the lines. Here is a brief guide to what people say and what it is they really mean:
“I don’t kiss up to anybody.” — Translation: I’m a tactless jerk.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks.” — Translation: I’m deeply insecure and constantly worry about what everyone thinks of me. …”
Read more at www.evangelicaloutpost….
The BBC International News Pontifications