Further to recent discussions of the proper form of layout for Maronite churches, I chanced across the splendidly illustrated and recent book by Nicholas N. Patricios, The Sacred Architecture of […]
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Author: Fr Yuhanna Azize
The Practice of Unceasing Prayer
Introduction In an earlier posting, I mentioned that, in 1954, Kadloubovsky and Palmer had published a second volume of extracts from the Philokalia. Its full title is Early Fathers from […]
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Hatred
Meaning and Etymology First, what does the word mean? The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary says that the root, ”hate,” has the primary meaning of “to hold in very strong dislike,” […]
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Sentimentality: A Disease of the Feeling
Sentimentality is a disease. Orage said that it is “an escape of emotional gas but not through the centre for which it was intended” (Gurdjieff’s Emissary, 455). That is, the […]
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St Isaac (23 August)
The feast of St Isaac of Monteluco (died c. 550) is celebrated on 23 August. He is often confused with St Isaac of Nineveh (died c. 700). Both are also […]
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Amis and “A Different Christianity”
I recently came across a reference to Robin Amis’ book A Different Christianity: Early Christian Esotericism and Modern Thought, published in 1995 by the State University of New York Press. […]
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Beguilement in Nicephorus
In his treatise on sobriety, Nicephorus the Solitary says that the method which he will teach has the happy effect of “leading him who practises it, without labour or sweat, […]
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Nicephorus on Renouncing the World and its Illusions
Kadloubovsky and Palmer open their selection, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart (1951) with a text by Nicephorus the Solitary known as “On Sobriety,” or, to provide […]
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The Feast of the Shoonoyo (Assumption)
In the Maronite tradition, which is a Syriac tradition, we celebrate on 15 August each year, what in that language is called 3eedo shoonoyo. This is known in English as […]
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From Ouspensky to the Philokalia
The Philokalia is really a miniature library. The manuscripts which comprise it were originally written in Greek. Although the texts are mostly far older, the present-day collection was compiled by […]
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