In this talk, given to monks and pilgrims at the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1977, Fr Seraphim Rose shows how St Patrick must be regarded not just as a romantic figure from a bygone era, but also as our own contemporary, enlightening not just the ancient Celts but ourselves as well, who are surrounded by a very different kind of darkness from … [Read more...] about St. Patrick of Ireland: A Saint for Dark Times
Spirituality
How Not To Be An Accidental Iconoclast
The Triumph of Orthodoxy, which we celebrate on the first Sunday of Lent, entails both an affirmation and a negation. It commemorates the restoration, in the year 787, of icons to Orthodox temples and homes, and at the same time it commends what the Seventh Ecumenical Council called their “veneration and honor (timitiki proskynisis)” while reserving their "real … [Read more...] about How Not To Be An Accidental Iconoclast
The Threshold to Lent: Remembering our Explusion from Paradise
First we must remember what we have lost. Indeed, "all mankind weeps and sighs over the first Adam, over the now elusive phantom of happiness.” But we don’t realize that it is paradise itself from which we have been expelled and that this is why we live as exiles. "The whole world, harassed and weary, weeps because of its waywardness, because of its naked soul; … [Read more...] about The Threshold to Lent: Remembering our Explusion from Paradise
The Prophetic Role of Mount Athos in the Contemporary World
Mount Athos, the center of Orthodox Monasticism located on an autonomous peninsula in Northern Greece, has what Dr. Jean Claude Larchet calls a "prophetic role" in the modern world. This is true not only for Orthodox Christians, but believers in other religions and even atheists, Larchet writes. Why is this so? Why is Mount Athos a place of such enduring and widespread … [Read more...] about The Prophetic Role of Mount Athos in the Contemporary World
The Three Principles of Orthodox Spirituality: The Path to Prayer
In this lucid and accessible talk, Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) takes us to the heart of Orthodox spirituality. His approach here is emphatically practical, rather than theoretical or technical. In the first part, he lays down three basic spiritual principles that serve to sum up the Orthodox hesychast tradition as articulated in the "Philokalia". In the second part, … [Read more...] about The Three Principles of Orthodox Spirituality: The Path to Prayer