Nature of Conversion

“The nature of conversion has been much discussed. As I have already noted, a convert is a person who, having formerly held one set of beliefs or values is persuaded to adopt other beliefs or values; these may be radically different from those he held formerly.

Conversion, and especially religious conversion, never occurs, as it were, in a vacuum. Protestant evangelism tends to lay stress on what has been called "crisis conversion". In other words, conversion is a crisis event in the life of the Person concerned. It can be, and often is, a very real and meaningful experience. "Crisis conversions" often occur within the context of "crusades" or other large evangelistic meetings. An "evangelist" who is skilled in this type of work delivers an impassioned address. Usually he is supported by a talented soloist who sings heart-rending "gospel songs". There will be a well-rehearsed choir. The whole purpose of the proceedings is to play upon the emotions of those present. The evangelist's address ends with an "appeal" to those who wish to make a decision for Christ to come to the front. They are then led off to be "counseled."

...In the environment of great evangelistic meetings the appeal to the emotions is powerful and for many, irresistible. It is inevitable that the Orthodox Church views "mass evangelism" with disfavor. True conversion is something far more profound than an emotional response.” + Metropolitan Makarios Tillyrides

Source: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/mission/makarios_zimbabwe_culture.htm

Also read: http://glory2godforallthings.com/2012/06/24/evangelism-and-the-ego/

John X's Vision for the Patriarchate of Antioch

Very inspiring and encouraging how Patriarch John X mentions Liturgy, proper encounter in our missiology, Orthodox Unity, service to family and the poor, and also ecology. May all Orthodox Churches be inspired by the vision that His Holiness Patriarch John X has for the See of Antioch. Je nai nan. Lord Have Mercy on us all.

John X's Vision for the Patriarchate of Antioch

http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2013/02/john-xs-vision-for-patriarchate-of.html

This is the official translation of Patriarch John X's pastoral letter dated February 17, 2013. In it, he puts forward his vision for his patriarchate and for the Church of Antioch.

On God's Will

SubDeacon Vincent points out some things concerning reductionism, the second storey and the desire to package God:

I was recently discussing this topic with a preist friend of mine, and he noted that such an expectation (discerning “God’s will” and the like) is futile, due to the fact that God does not have a gnomic will. The distinction between a “natural” and “gnomic” will is something for which the Church owes a debt of gratitude to Maximos the Confessor, whose theological ruminations became the foundation for the decrees of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (AD 681). The natural will is that which is in concert with the Logos or the telos of one’s being. The gnomic will, on the other hand, is the will of one’s “intentions” or “free choice,” and is a product of the fall; the gnomic will either guides a person into decisions that are sinful and determined by the “passions,” or into decisions that are in union with the Divine energies of God. As such, Jesus Christ (in the incarnation, becoming fully man) has no gnomic will, being omniscient. In other words, there was never a time in which the Lord Jesus Christ was “ignorant” of what he should be doing; he never had a “crisis” of choice, guided by sinful passions.

When it comes to “making choices,” one is engaged in a spiritual struggle between one’s passions and between the Logos. Will we make decisions that are determined by sin, or by faith? By succumbing to the passions, or by succumbing to the “will” of God as revealed in Christ? After all, if one wants to know the Father, one must look no further than the Son (St John 14:9). 

Sayings of Gerontisa Gavriellia

Gerontisa Gavriellia

http://synaxisstudy.blogspot.com/2013/02/selections-from-apophthegmata-of.html

The Gerontissa Gabrielia was born in Constantinople a hundred years ago on October 2/15, 1897. She grew up in the City until her family moved to Thessalonika in 1923. She went to England in 1938 and stayed there throughout the Second World War. She trained as a chiropodist and physiotherapist. In 1945 she returned to Greece where she worked with the Friends Refugee Mission and the American Farm School in Thessalonika in early post-war years. Later she opened her own therapy office in Athens until 1954. In March of that year her mother died and the office was closed. Sister Lila left Greece and traveled overland to India where she worked with the poorest of the poor, even the lepers, for five years.

Fasting With Love

Once two brothers went to visit an old man. It was not the old man's habit, however, to eat every day. When he saw the brothers, he welcomed them with joy, and said: "Fasting has its own reward, but if you eat for the sake of love, you satisfy two commandments, for you give up your own will and also fulfill the commandment to refresh others.

Love: The Deepest Thirst for Truth

"...love is the deepest thirst for the truth, the very voice of a being." 

+ Paul Evodokimov, The Sacrament of Love, p31

Lent and Fasting

As we prepare for the Fast of Nineveh and the Great Lent approaches, thought this article/podcast might be of benefit. An interesting observation of Fr Andrew is that one of the side effects [or perhaps even the presuppostion] of a theology that rejects a theology of Theosis, is a focus on pietism and/or moralism.

“Giving Up Something” for Lent
http://roadsfromemmaus.org/2012/02/24/giving-up-something-for-lent/
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/orthodoxyheterodoxy/giving_up_something_for_lent

World as Gift

"Only if all men are united can they transform the world and respond to the call to treat the world as a gift, as the means of mutual exchange. When we share in the material goods of the universe we must be conscious that we are moving in the sphere of Christ, and that it is by making use of these material things as gifts for the benefit of one another that we progress in our union with Christ and with our neighbour. We must also be aware that when the material world becomes the means whereby we communicate in love, then we are communicating in Christ. Thus the universe is called to become the eschatological paradise through the agency of fraternal love. It is our duty to free the universe from the vanity of the blind and selfish use we make of it as sinners, and to see that it shares in the glory of the sons of God (Rom 8: 21), the glory which is an inseparable part of our union as brothers."

+ Fr Dumitru Stăniloae

St Dioscorus of Alexandria Re-examined

Was Dioscorus of Alexandria an Eutychian heretic?

http://pearlofgp.blogspot.com/2013/02/was-dioscorus-of-alexandria-eutychian.html

True Unity

TRUE UNITY WILL BE AN INSPIRATION TO THE WORLD
Fr. Matta el-Meskeen (Father Matthew the Poor) 1988

I. No Violation of Doctrine

Doctrine with regard to a church means the very existence of that church. For example since a Coptic Orthodox doctrine exists, the Coptic Orthodox Church also thus exists. Moreover, since this doctrine still exists unchanged, the Coptic Church exists unchanged as well. Doctrine is not simply lists of clauses, pronouncements, or church canons; rather it is above all spiritual worship and living faith, both of which are endowed with clear, distinctive features and characteristics. These distinctive features and characteristics are what give a doctrine its character. To the extent that the church adheres to this character, it will live and endure, otherwise its features will change, even its name may change, and perhaps it will pass out of existence.

The survival of these distinctive features through the ages has not been by means of rote memorization, faithful record keeping, apologetics, or even legal defence, so much as by means of love and ardor, living practice, exposition, clarification, contemplation, extensive description and definitions, as well as a profound exploration of the truth hidden within the doctrine itself. All of this together becomes a precious living heritage as it is handed down from generation to generation, first as an oral tradition and then recorded. Thus has the Church survived, and with it her doctrine. Throughout the generations doctrine has been compiled comprehensively in such a way that the most precise explanations, definitions, and codifications are included in its contents so that the history of any church has become the history of its doctrine; also the history of a church’s leaders and prominent teachers has in fact become the history of the extent of their adhering to or their forsaking of its doctrine. Thus, doctrine in the church has assumed a canonical framework which it cannot possibly neglect or budge from because such a framework constitutes the church’s very being, as mentioned above, and expresses its existence, history, love and spirit.

And thus has Christianity, or rather Christ, settled among all peoples, assuming their appearances and distinctive features, and giving in return his life. For in Africa Christ appears as if he were black, in northern nations as if he were fair, in India he is brownskinned, and among the Eskimo he is very short—but among all of them Christ is one and the same: Christ of Calvary, the grave, the resurrection, Christ of the whole world.

St Severus of Antioch Re-examined

St Severus of Antioch (Coptic Orthodox Icon)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAqLWsk2Cj8

Severus of Antioch: Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Perspectives

Fr. John Behr

Severus of Antioch (c465-538) is one of the key figures in the study of the development of post-Chalcedonian Christology and, consequently, also for our modem dialogue. It is with Severus’ place both in history and in our contemporary theological dialogue that this paper is concerned.

Love Reveals

"Love alone reveals things for what they are & transforms them into what they were always intended to be." + Fr Stephen Freeman

Polyeleos (Much Mercy)

Psalm 135 (136) also know as the Polyeleos Tone V in Byzantine Rite, or the Second Hoos in Coptic Rite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coQw0qM5Cxs

Polyeleos Tone V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPmrdmcTzoo

The Second Hoos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iakKgRiHy1o

Lyrics in English
From http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/1239

The Hope of Unity

"Orthodoxy will be credible only when all local Autocephalous and Autonomous Orthodox Churches will be able to speak and act as one single body and not as separate ethnic or national entities."

+ V.Rev. Dr. Georges Tsetsis, "Ethnicity, Nationalism and Religion", October 5, 2002.

Unity in Diversity

I think then that the one great goal of all who are really and truly serving the Lord ought to be to bring back to union the churches who have at different times and in different ways divided from one another. 

-- St Basil the Great, Epistle 94

Unity in Diversity: The Opportunities and the Challenges

 Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff

http://www.svots.edu/voices/faculty/speaking-truth-love

“Unity in Diversity.” This expression speaks about a balance between wholeness and difference, between integrity and variety. The idea is sometimes rooted in our teaching about the Holy Trinity: God is a unity, one God, in a diversity of persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Unity in diversity can also suggest something very important to us, as human beings, but specifically as Orthodox Christians. Because it can illustrate that things or people don’t have to look, walk, talk, and think exactly alike in order to be in union with each other.

Understanding of Peace in the New Testament and the Orthodox Liturgy

For the Peace from Above: The Understanding of Peace in the New Testament and the Orthodox Liturgy
by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMzvBjlISfc

For the Peace from Above: The Understanding of Peace in the New Testament and the Orthodox Liturgy. The Academic Forum for Peace, Poland 2011, held by Wrocław University and Institute for the Study of Islam.

Transcript

A Mission of Bees and Honey: Excerpts from the Protreptikos of St Basil the Great

A Preamble

Recently finished Father Elia's book and I agree with some of the concepts such as his awareness of the dangers of creating cultural ghettos in the Orthodox world, the dangers of nationalism, and his argument for the benefits of cooperation and intercultural pluralism as a framework for Orthodox in the lands of immigration. His other suggestion of adapting to "Western modes" is a convincing one I think if one is considering the cultural milieu as one of technology and and dialogue and not necessarily 'religious'.  However I think that this understanding of integration and pluralism will also require further thought, further studies and deeper awareness of what Orthodoxy is.

Escapism

Escapism is not a Fruit of the Spirit
by Vincent Martini

http://onbehalfofall.org/2013/01/16/escapism-is-not-a-fruit-of-the-spirit/

In every generation, and perhaps more frequently, there is a belief set forth within various corners of Christianity that we are living in “the last days.” Many examples are given to support such a claim, despite the fact that we are never given any indication of “timing” or “events” that will precede the end of this age, and the beginning of the new.

In the Silence

In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you.

Memory and Thought

“Burden the soul with the labor of reading the Scriptures which make known the narrow ways of ascetic life and of contemplation, as well as the stories of the saints; that you may exchange one habit for another even if in the beginning your soul does not feel the pleasure because of the thick darkness and confusion of present memories. Then when you arise for prayer and for the office, instead of musing upon the things of the world, ideas from Scripture will be imprinted in the mind. And with these, the memory of what it already has seen and heard will be erased from it. In this way your mind will come to purity.”

+ St Isaac the Syrian

Prayer as Refuge

'Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.' 

+ St John Chrysostom

"The Robe of Glory" by Sebastian Brock

The Robe of Glory

A biblical image in the Syriac tradition

by Sebastian Brock

The background

‘The question of the relationship of the human person to clothing is basically not a moral concern . . . but a metaphysical and theological one.’ This statement, made by the author of a classic article entitled ‘The theology of clothing’,¹ may at first sight seem surprising, but it only needs a few moments’ reflection to recall that there are numerous passages in both Testaments where clothing imagery is employed with reference both to God and to human beings; thus, for example, in the Old Testament God ‘puts on righteousness’ (Isai 59:17), ‘is clothed in light’ (Ps 104:2), and ‘the Spirit of God clothed itself with Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest’ (2 Chr 24:20), while in the New Testament Christ tells the disciples they ‘will be clothed in power from on high’ (Lk 24:49) and the baptized ‘have put on Christ’ (Gal 3:27).

Prayer and Life

Prayer and Life

Mother Raphaela

http://www.stnina.org/print-journal/volume-3/volume-3-no-1-winter-1999/prayer-and-life

That they may have life and have it abundantly.
- John 10:10

In these words the Lord speaks of what He desires for all of us; indeed of what He desires for the whole of His creation. What means has He given us to gain this life? He has given us the fruits of His own life, passion, death, and resurrection. But how do we make these our own? How do we enter into the mystery He holds out for us?...