Like Jesus’ friend Martha in the Gospel of St Luke, we “are worried and troubled about many things.” But as we prepare ourselves for the Nativity of Christ — as we look ahead toward His birth not in a royal chamber, but in the rustic and unpretentious cradle of an animal trough — and as we anticipate his quiet but earth-shaking Incarnation into a … [Read more...] about St. Paisios: Too Many Worries Will Distance Us From God
Topics in Orthodox Theology
St. Porphyrios On Prophecy and Repentance in Times of Peril
When we sense that our sins are leading us toward a dark and perilous outcome, individual Christians know to stop and pray and repent. But when we hear that our "collective" actions are leading us into darkness, too often our tendency is to look for conspiracies and cast out nets of collective blame. But neither collective subjects nor collective objects actually exist: only … [Read more...] about St. Porphyrios On Prophecy and Repentance in Times of Peril
Dostoevsky And Memory Eternal: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the Brothers Karamazov
Why do Orthodox memorial litanies melodically reiterate "memory eternal” with such feeling and such energy? And why did Orthodoxy’s greatest novelist end his last great work so triumphantly with these same words? By going very deeply into a single passage in Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, "The Brothers Karamazov," Donald Sheehan leads us not only into the the center of the novel, … [Read more...] about Dostoevsky And Memory Eternal: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the Brothers Karamazov
Orthodox Responses to the Nihilism of Cultural Revolution, Self-Destruction, and Social Division
“Another City” has striven to set aside partisan politics in its editorial policy, and this commitment remains. But sometimes cultural and politics issues substantially overlap, as is the case with certain dark forces that are now manifest in Western culture and American society and which are important to understand deeply rather than in a partisan manner. Deacon … [Read more...] about Orthodox Responses to the Nihilism of Cultural Revolution, Self-Destruction, and Social Division
Are You Drowning in Your Own Stream of Consciousness? Logismoi and How to Cope with Them
Before the Fall, our consciousness (nous) was clear and undivided, focused on God and transparent to Him, without distractions from within or from without. But now we are perpetually distracted by logismoi (low-giz-mee)—not merely “thoughts” in the narrow sense, but also images and ideas running through our awareness tempting and beguiling us. Logismoi constitute a “raging … [Read more...] about Are You Drowning in Your Own Stream of Consciousness? Logismoi and How to Cope with Them
