s i l o u a n

Don’t assume you are good soil

Posted by Silouan on Nov 1, 2011

I'm reading Matthew 13 tonight. In one parable Christ describes people who hear about the Kingdom and genuinely, joyfully believe -- but they fail to bear fruit and persevere to the end. In the next parable He says that not everybody in the church is His, but we won't see who's who until the final Judgment...

Where Two or Three Are Gathered in My Name

Posted by Silouan on Sep 8, 2011

An encounter with Life in a Soviet death camp. During one of the winters, a young man was assigned to Father Arseny's barracks. Still young, he did not fully understand what lay ahead of him...

Pascha in Jerusalem: 375AD

Posted by Silouan on Apr 20, 2011

In the latter half of the fourth century, a nun named Egeria, from what is now Spain, went on a pilgrimage to the sites of Biblical history in Egypt and Palestine. Here she recounts the Holy Week from Palm Sunday to the feast of the Resurrection.

The Confession of Saint Patrick

Posted by Silouan on Mar 17, 2011

Patrick in his own words.
There is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things...

The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis

Posted by Silouan on Feb 23, 2011

In 1859 Benjamin Jowett argued that "Scripture has one meaning-the meaning which it had in the mind of the Prophet or Evangelist who first uttered or wrote, to the hearers or readers who first received it." But is that hermeneutical theory true?

Isaac of Syria on Humility

Posted by Silouan on Feb 21, 2011

Humility is the raiment of the Godhead. The Word who became human clothed himself in it, and he spoke to us in our body. Everyone who has been clothed with humility has truly been made like unto Him...

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St Silouan on accusing

Posted by Silouan on Jan 27, 2012

"You are silent, Father Silouan. That means you side with him..."

<i>The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian,</i> Revised Second Edition

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, Revised Second Edition

Posted by Silouan on Jan 12, 2012

Good news! Holy Transfiguraton Monastery has published a new edition of The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian. I’d like to describe the differences between the two editions...

Basil on traditions

Posted by Silouan on Dec 27, 2011

“Of the beliefs and practices which are preserved in the Church, some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force.”

What Happened Before the Big Bang? The New Philosophy of Cosmology

Posted by Silouan on Jan 25, 2012

This is what Einstein was upset about... Quantum mechanics was merely a calculational technique that was not well understood as a physical theory.

St Silouan on accusing

Jan 27, 2012

"You are silent, Father Silouan. That means you side with him..."

Posted in Blog | Tags: community, humility, Saint Silouan | 0 comments

Jan 25, 2012

“Why do I deserve such honor, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy!” (Luke 1:39-45)

Posted in Blog | Tags: abortion, community, Frederica Mathewes-Greene, mothers | 0 comments

How the Septuagint was originally received by the Jews

Jan 24, 2012

The Hellenistic Jewish literature is the best evidence of the influence exercised by Greek thought upon the "people of the book." The first urgent need of the Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible...

Posted in Blog | Tags: history, Judaism, scripture | 0 comments

Study, knowledge, and spiritual practice

Jan 24, 2012

A brother once went out on a pilgrimage from the monastery of Abba Poemen, and came to a hermit, who lived in love towards all and received many visitors...

Posted in Blog | Tags: fathers, humility, struggle | 0 comments

Not a wizards’ duel despite all signs to the contrary

Jan 21, 2012

A Romanian bishop, right, and a Serbian priest bless the water, marking the Orthodox feast of Theophany on the river Nera, between the two countries of Serbia, left bank, and Romania, near the village of Vračev Gaj, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. AP / Darko Vojinovic (via Byzantine,...

Posted in Blog | Tags: blessing, Theophany, wizards | 1 comment

Jan 19, 2012

We are saved by grace through faith. There is no act, not even the act of faith, not even praying the “Sinner’s Prayer” with utmost sincerity, that can save us. Only God saves...

Posted in Blog | Tags: religion | 0 comments

Jan 12, 2012

Good news! Holy Transfiguraton Monastery has published a new edition of The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian. I’d like to describe the differences between the two editions...

Posted in What I'm Reading | Tags: books, Isaac the Syrian, monasticism, watchfulness | 0 comments