The practice of yoga is becoming normalized in our society as a religiously-neutral, “holistic” exercise program that will promote mental and physical health. But this article, written by an Orthodox author who had once pursued yogic practices extensively in India, shows how yoga is inseparable not only from Hindu and Buddhist doctrines, but from dark and demonic … [Read more...] about Hidden Fire: Orthodox Perspectives on Yoga
The Wider World
Literature, Culture and the Western Soul
In his his splendid biography of Fr Seraphim Rose, Fr Damascene Christensen tells the story of a young monastic aspirant seeking the esoteric spirituality of Orthodox Christianity on Mt Athos. But once he finally arrives at his destination, the Abbot hands him a copy of Dickens’ novel, “David Copperfield” to read. When the young man protests in dismay that … [Read more...] about Literature, Culture and the Western Soul
Perceiving the Sanctity of Saints: A Review of Konstantin Kapkov’s “The Spiritual World of Emperor Nicholas II and his Family”
The author of this essay, Andrei Manovtsev, is one of the foremost scholars of the lives of the Tsar Nicholas II and his family. He has contributed greatly to the current research on what are for now being called the “Ekaterinburg remains”—bone fragments unearthed near Ekaterinburg that are believed by some to belong to the Royal Family. In this review of a … [Read more...] about Perceiving the Sanctity of Saints: A Review of Konstantin Kapkov’s “The Spiritual World of Emperor Nicholas II and his Family”
Orthodox Spirituality and the Technological Revolution
Technology has led us into a dangerous new arena. As Fr Aimilianos puts it, whereas in industrial society people were consumers enslaved to the products they had made, in post-industrial society they are “ becoming consumers and slaves to [the] images and information which fill their lives.” Contrary to the technocrats with blind faith that technology will … [Read more...] about Orthodox Spirituality and the Technological Revolution
The Diabolist: Remembering a Youthful Encounter with Evil1
In this recollection of his youth, the noted English writer G. K. Chesterton reflects on the terrifying and lingering impact of an encounter with evil in the person of one of his companions. The narrative is made unusually powerful by the skill with which Chesterton reveals the invisible concealed within the visible, the supernatural cloaked within the natural and mundane, deep … [Read more...] about The Diabolist: Remembering a Youthful Encounter with Evil1
