#eastern orthodox christianity

[laces-and-pearls]

Saint Spyridon. One of my favourite Eastern Orthodox Church saints.

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

I saw this pop up and immediately thought of the Areopagus podcast, A Gospel Without Demons?, where the hosts discuss the vacuous nature of most Christian outreach efforts. How most of them are marketing. This also made me think about a recent post by Abbot Tryphon on his blog, regarding the differences between the two types of evangelism as they've manifested themselves within the American experience. And what true evangelism looks like within an Eastern Orthodox perspective.

But while I was reading this, it sounded to my ears like Project management, and marketing. It made me think of recent post by Fr. Freeman where he wrote about the futility of a Christian trying to manage their salvation. Salvation isn't a project that can be managed. This article directly tries to apply project management to evangelism. So now, rather then trying to share the individual Christ we each experience, we are trying create situations where an individual will be compelled or persuaded to believe a set of beliefs, dogmas, or practices that we've packaged up and called, "True Christianity" - which incidentally is different then the "true Christianity" marketed further down the street.

I would contrast that with the two back-to-back posts from Beyond the Bars / Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (1) (2) detailing the nature of real evangelism as a genuine person to person encounter. Broken people ministering to each other under the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The Priest assigned is unsure of his role, as detailed in diary style entries. And make no mistake, the people he is ministering to are in prison - you don't get anymore broken than that. These people are at the literal fringe of society, some might argue fully removed. Yet, evangelism takes place. Lives are changed.

Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." He said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he travelled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" He said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." -- Luke 10:25-37

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy upon me, A sinner.

[myrussianorthodoxjourney]

About myself

Hello! I hope you are well! Here is a little about me so you all can understand more about who I am. My name is Aleks and I am aspiring catechumen; I hope to start the process soon. I am 22 and I am rediscovering and understanding God. I was baptized in my grandmother's Congregationalist church, went to a United Methodist church for several years and now I hope to be baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church I went to this summer! I come from an area in Russia that is historically significant for Eastern Orthodoxy, born in what is known as a Golden Ring City. I have always been fascinated in Orthodox Christianity, the icons and the prayers, but it was this summer that I visited a Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia for the first time. (I will tell you all about that spiritual experience another time, but I will say it changed my life.) I hope to learn, grow, understand and engage with other like-minded individuals on this site! May God grant your prayers and bless you and your loved ones!

[melcowpland]

Step 2: Letting Go of the World/Detachment

One who is has real love for God, who has begun their journey, begun to notice their sinfulness, and aware of the eternal judgement, won’t worry for money, things, people or reputation, but instead will be free of earthly cares and ties, including his own flesh, and will follow Christ without anxiety or hesitation, tirelessly. But having shaken off all ties with earthly things and having…

[timeenshrined]

“Mesmerized by the images flitting about on our computer screens, we become dull, predatory flies buzzing at the window screen of our computers, desperate to consume all the futility of the world. Yet, we are not the predators, but the prey. We are not the users of information technologies and social media, but rather we are being used, manipulated, and exploited by them.”

- Hieromonk Maximos Constas

[a-bloody-dowry]

Merry Christmas from Constanta.

[spokanefavs]

Ask an Eastern Orthodox Christian: Will God Forgive the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit of God?

Nick Damascus answers.

[blackmetalnature]

"The Hill Of crosses / Kryžių" in Northern Lithuania.

[soulrestinginstpetersburg]

[intheobituaries]

I’m loving learning about Eastern Orthodox funeral customs.

[laces-and-pearls]

Bethlehem icon of the Mother of God

(the only one where the Virgin smiles)

source

source

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

"I have heard non-Orthodox describe their use of the Jesus prayer, but it is possible to hear (almost in tone if not in words) they are not hesychists."

An opinion to ponder.

What does it mean to be a hesychast in the current world, living a modern life, in a modern culture?

Can a suburbanite try to embrace hesychasm while still dealing with a job, family, kids in college?

From Wikipedia -

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, a scholar of Eastern Orthodox theology, distinguishes five distinct usages of the term "hesychasm": 1. "solitary life", a sense, equivalent to "eremitical life", in which the term is used since the 4th century; 2. "the practice of inner prayer, aiming at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language"; 3. "the quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer"; 4. "a particular psychosomatic technique in combination with the Jesus Prayer", use of which technique can be traced back at least to the 13th century; 5. "the theology of St. Gregory Palamas", on which see Palamism.

Now, to be fair, I consider myself a failure in pretty much any metric used by our modern society to define success. I understand that this is a conceit. Some are homeless, while I do have a home. Some have no family, while I have at least a wife who tolerates me, if not children who do so too. I have a few other meager possessions, such as a car to get me to work. Nevertheless, scraping by is not really a measure of success in the modern world.

I have experienced modern "management", and am not impressed. The youngest generations are fighting back and I am supportive of their struggle.

To the specific points - I do not live a solitary life, so point one does not apply.

I have not followed "psychosomatic techniques" unless they were developed unconsciously by me, at least to my knowledge. So point four doesn't apply either.

I have not pursued the works of Gregory Palamas to the point where I understand his thinking at any depth, so point five does not apply to me either.

I would say that point two definitely, and possibly three are a focus in my life - I do want to aim "at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language", and it could be said that I, "quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer".

***********************************************************************

Recently on the 23rd of December I lost my keys.

In hindsight I think they were stolen.

On the 3rd of January our family car disappeared, and has yet to be recovered. At this point, if found, it will probably be a total loss.

Throughout the whole process, walking the roads looking for my keys, dealing with the police and the insurance company after the car theft - through all this and more, the only things that kept me together were these…

The Jesus prayer - calling on God's mercy kept me from spiraling into waves of anger and depression. And the verse - "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…" (Romans 8:28)

And especially parts of Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

All these thoughts gave me hope that there was a larger purpose to my pain. Further thoughts included Job, the taunts of his friends, and Ecclesiastes.

***********************************************************************

The point of all this is to meditate upon my usage of the Jesus prayer.

It is all I think of when I am troubled, or realize that my mind is wandering - is it an appropriation, and if so, does it matter?

It is so much a part of my default thinking anymore that I don't know how I could function without it running in the back of my mind whenever I'm not actively thinking of something else. If nothing more, it seems more healthy than anything else I could be meditating on when my mind is idling.

Should I even worry about it? Officially, I am not Orthodox. But I must confess, my idiosyncratic bastardization of Orthodox theology keeps me together and sane.

Maybe the highest praise I can ever eventually attain is to be called an Orthodox Heretic.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy upon me, Your sinner.

[furordinaricvs]

[melcowpland]

The Ladder of Divine Ascent: Introduction

We are in a social war. A war where people with power are seeking to impose a society whereby we live compliantly like animals for fear of the consequences. We are being conditioned to catastrophise small events to ensure our complicity. This war is not just a material war it’s a spiritual war where fears and unfettered desires (fantasies) are fed like the insatiable beasts from the world of…

[godlovesyousoiloveyou]