Apr 14, 2011

Ignatius of Antioch: He who possesses the word of Jesus is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his silence. There is nothing which is hid from God, but our very secrets are near to Him. Let us therefore do all things as those who have Him dwelling in us, that we may be His temples,...

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...

Mar 17, 2010

There was a monk from Rome who lived at Scetis near the church. Having lived twenty five years at Scetis, he had acquired the gift of insight and became famous. One of the great Egyptians heard about him and came to see him...

Feb 11, 2010

Few churchmen have been so maligned as Pelagius in the Christian West. For nearly 1,500 years, all that anyone has known of the British monk's theology has come from what his opponents said about him — and when one's opponents are as eminent as Augustine and Jerome, the chance of getting a fair hearing is not great. Consequently, it has been easy to lay all manner of pernicious heresies at Pelagius's doorstep.

Jan 23, 2010

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, St. Kosmas Aitolos foretold that a time would come when a person would have to travel for days to meet another person whom he could embrace as a brother. We are living in an age where this is already happening. Contemporary man, in his loneliness, experiences pathological anxiety, anguish and suffering. He is tormented and, in turn, torments others.

Jan 13, 2010

The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith...

Nov 4, 2009

The truth is that people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God. It is this fear that spurs them, even when they are endowed with all things, and it prevents them from ever freeing themselves from this sickly and toxic desire. They go on amassing wealth, loading themselves with a worthless burden — or rather, enclosing themselves, while still living, in a most absurd kind of tomb.

Jun 12, 2009

North African bishop Augustine of Hippo (354–430) had no skin in the game concerning the current origins controversies. He interpreted Scripture a thousand years before the Scientific Revolution, and 1,500 before Darwin's Origin of Species. Augustine didn't "accommodate" or "compromise" his biblical interpretation to fit new scientific theories. The important thing was to let Scripture speak for itself.

Apr 23, 2009

The Surprising Character of Early Christian Hope: The foundation of my argument for what happened at Easter is the reflection that the Jewish expectation of resurrection has undergone remarkable modifications or mutations within early Christianity, which can be plotted consistently right across the first two centuries. And these mutations are so striking, in an area of human experience where societies tend to be very conservative, that they force the historian, not least the would-be scientific historian, to ask, Why did they occur?

Dec 22, 2008

As pervasive as the term original sin has become, it may come as a surprise to some that it was unknown in both the Eastern and Western Church until Augustine (c. 354-430). The concept may have arisen in the writings of Tertullian, but the expression seems to have appeared first in Augustine’s works...