SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness or unforgiveness of your sins, then, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how serious it is…Our Lord Jesus gives us the teaching regarding forgiveness. He tells us that forgiveness is an integral part of the kingdom of heaven, and the

“ On the day of Christ’s birth, the regular events of human history began to be penetrated by eternal events: the Incarnation, the redemption on the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the sitting at the Father’s right hand…the Nativity was not properly the beginning of the Life of Christ, but rather a bodily extension of His eternal spiritual presence. His Incarnation was only the means for His entry into the world in order to carry out the strategy designed by God f

“Saint Maximos [the Confessor], as we just said, uses the term logos, with a small “l,” for each thing’s specific and particular share of the self-offering of the Logos. By this, the saint indicates that the identity of each thing that exists is a dimension or facet of the “big L” Logos, Christ Himself. Let us repeat, these logoi are not “things” themselves but the particular love with which Christ condescends to each created thing, so that each bit of creation will see in Ch

“There’s a lot of fear circulating these days. Fear in the secular realm, and fear, I think, in the Christian too. We are cowed by the violence and brutality of a fallen world. We’re drawing in, we’re identifying what we’re against. That’s natural. We were made for safety and joy, and the wild danger and grief of the world is not natural. And in a way it is necessary: I am not saying that evil must not be countered or truth spoken. But I think we are in danger of slipping int

“As we look to the scriptures, with the crucified and exalted Christ as our starting point, we can, only now, recognize that the world...

“If we look inside ourselves and try to see our tendencies, we will easily notice that we already have a developed habit of condemning...

“…sin lies in the direction of the will…A person sins when he looks upon his life as if it belonged only to him…It is necessary for...

“To avoid being a stumbling block to anyone, we need to learn meekness and humility. ‘But whosoever will be great among you, let him be...

“One of my students came to seminary when he was already middle-aged, after considerable success in the world. This student was later...

“Life itself is a form of ascesis. People just don’t recognize it, and lose heart.”…The fact [life], is ascetic in nature means it...