Deep Things of God
- Mar 13
- 5 min read
“Reading and meditating daily on Holy Scripture is a practice greatly commended by the Church Fathers. “And we, too…should devote ourselves to [the Scriptures] and meditate on them so constantly that through our persistence a longing for God is impressed upon our hearts…Reading Scripture regularly leads us deeper into the ways of Lord, so that we may acquire His perspective on the activities of the world. Scripture provides a light to our minds amidst the swirl of popular opinion, trends, and fads…Grounding in Scripture will always draw God’s servant closer to Him. Let us empower ourselves with this most effective knowledge (Jn 16:1, 13).” (Dynamis 6/16/2021, Saint Peter of Damascus)
“And when we read attentively, there’s the feeling that we’re hearing the Savior speak, following Him, and practically seeing all of it, although we don’t force ourselves to any figurative perception. The Gospel must be read simply, that is, attentively. We don’t need any thoughts, any reasonings, any interpretations of our own—we need to read attentively. You understand the Gospel not when you can talk about it in detail, ornately and subtly, but when one or another Gospel phrase reaches your heart with all its vital power…Holy Scripture, especially the Gospel, must be understood with the heart. We have to go deeper into reading just as we go deeper into prayer. From such careful repeated reading, those truths that seem simple and even primitive to us gradually reach our hearts.” (Schema-Archimandrite Avraam Reidman)
“Dionysius takes this word “teleute” to describe the sacraments as they work in us to complete and bring to “perfection” the fullness of their intention within us. He places this in a classical framework…Purification, Illumination, Theosis. First, the sacrament grants “perfection” (completeness) to those who are being purified…Second, it illuminates with teaching those who have been purified…Third, it initiates into completion those who have been illumined. This is, to a certain extent, a description of the catechumenate, but can be extended to describe the whole process of the Christian life. It is a life-long liturgy (of which Pascha and the rite of Baptism are the most singular example) as we move deeper into union with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“…the vow of stability is the seed of true Christian love. In a world where even the closest human relationships all too often seem to have become more or less disposable, the monastic makes a solemn promise before God to remain in the same community, with the same people, until the day he or she dies. To live — all day every day — shoulder to shoulder with people whom we did not choose (and whom we may not even like) is not always a small or easy thing. But it is a path to a love far deeper and truer and more meaningful than even the closest worldly friendship can attain: it is a path to the love of Christ, to a love capable of seeing and serving and knowing the image of God in every single person that we meet. It is a path that our rootless, lonely, and atomized age needs now more than ever. Not everyone is called to the monastic life, and the monastic vows are of course not meant for those living in the world. But the virtues enshrined in the monastic vows are simply the virtues preached by Christ in the Gospels, belonging equally to every Christian.” (Hieromonk Gabriel)
“We often hear that creation teaches us about God—and this is true—but the reality is much deeper than that. Creation not only teaches us, not only reveals God to us, but it allows—in fact, requires—that we participate in the life of God, either for good or for ill.” (Andrew Williams)
“Reading Scripture regularly leads us deeper into the ways of Lord, so that we may acquire His perspective on the activities of the world. Scripture provides a light to our minds amidst the swirl of popular opinion, trends, and fads.” (Dynamis 5/23/2018)
“What Scripture teaches us again and again is that the way of salvation, God's commandments, His will, even the most deep matters of who God is, are not far off and distant such that one has to go on a journey to find them. Nor are they so obscure and difficult that only the extremely well educated can understand them. Nor are they obtained through some mystic ritual of initiation done in the secret chambers for the elite.” (Father Stephen De Young)
“The mindset within our modern culture is one of constant progress, of striving to be something other than what we are. The classical pattern within the Church does the opposite – it moves towards a deeper and deeper realization of the truth of our being.” (Father Stephen Freeeman)
“You and I and all human beings have a deep longing for something more than we can find within ourselves. God made us that way…It is indeed a beautiful and wondrous world into which God has placed us. Many seek the answer to that deep longing within themselves in that world, or within that part of the world that is themselves, for the ultimate meaning of it all. They reject the concept that there is anything beyond or outside of the physical or material realm which we can see. Nevertheless, though they search and search for that which would satisfy the inner yearning within their heart for the meaning and purpose of it all, it is hidden from them (Eccl. 8:17). They cannot fathom what God has done in creating the universe and themselves because he is the answer to that quest, and they have eliminated that answer from their universe.” (Michael Fackerell)
“The true wisdom, the true understanding of everything that is, is held by He who created everything that is, God the Father, and with His Son through Whom were created all things, and, … His Spirit who dwells within Him…the Son became Incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ in order to reveal these deep and mysterious truths to we human beings. Further, Christ made these revelations publicly, in the hearing of all, not in shadowy caves to a few select initiates, nor to only the most brilliant scholars who could comprehend some complex series of metaphysical arguments. Rather, He revealed the great hidden truths on which the world was founded, the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, through parables, through simple analogies to everyday human life, even the everyday human life of poor Mediterranean peasants to whom He primarily spoke.” (Father Stephen De Young)
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