#church fathers

[religious-extremist]

The envious devil has three traps that steal joy and peace from man: regret for the past, anxiety about the future and ingratitude for the present.

+ St. Anthony the Great (4th century)

[thecatholicbozo]

"And pray ye without ceasing on behalf of other men. For there is in them hope of repentance that they may attain to God. See, then, that they be instructed in your works, if in no other way. Be ye meek in response to their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting: to their blasphemies return your prayers; in contrast to their error, be ye steadfast in the faith; and for their cruelty, manifest your gentleness. While we take care not to imitate their conduct, let us be found their brethren in all true kindness; and let us seek to be followers of the Lord (who ever more unjustly treated, more destitute, more condemned?), that so no plant of the devil may be found in you, but ye may remain in all holiness and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both with respect to the flesh and spirit."

-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians

[apilgrimpassingby]

Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown, which were wrought in silence by God. How, then, was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult, because He meditated the abolition of death.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, c.110 AD, Epistle to the Ephesians chapter 19

Merry Christmas y'all!

[rhianna]

Saracens & Turks worshipped Fortune

[orthodoxadventure]

Not everything within the Church dates from Apostolic times. This does not mean that something has been revealed which was 'unknown' to the Apostles; nor does it mean that which is of a later date is less important and convincing. Everything was given and revealed fully from the beginning. On the day of Pentecost Revelation was completed, and will admit no further completion till the Day of Judgement and its last fulfilment. Revelation has not been widened, and even knowledge has not increased. The Church knows Christ now no more than it knew Him at the time of the Apostles. But it testifies to greater things. In its definitions it always unchangeably describes the same thing, but in the unchanged image ever new features become visible. But it knows the truth not less and not otherwise than it knew it in the time of old. The identity of experience is loyalty to tradition. Loyalty to tradition did not prevent the Fathers of the Church from 'creating new names' (as St Gregory Nazianzen says) when it was necessary for the protection of the unchangeable faith.

--  Archpriest Georges Florovsky

[apesoformythoughts]

“If someone who is born of God does not sin, how is it that we who have been born of water and the Spirit, and thus of God, do in fact commit sins? The answer is that the phrase ‘born of God’ has two different meanings. According to the first of these, God has given the grace of sonship with all power to those who have been born again. According to the second, the God who has thus given birth is working in us to bring us to perfection. By faith we are born again in principle, but God still has to get to work on us in order to refashion us according to his likeness.”

— St. Maximus the Confessor

[catholicmemoirs]

Living a Contemplative life as Mother

I woke up early and went down the rabbit hole of my less than ideal morning routine of grabbing my phone, checking emails and going wherever it may lead me on the internet.

I first found this Sunday sermon from Bishop Barron in my inbox:

Which then led me to find guidance from my Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (San Francisco) and came upon an interesting article of a pharmacist turned Dominican nun. Her story was amazing but her words struck me deeply:

"Cling to the rosary instead of your phone."

This further led me to follow a link to the order she had joined and I watched a video of their order: 

Although cloistered life as a nun is lovely, my calling as a mother is where I am now. Maybe someday when the kids are older, my debts paid and my husband passes, I can consider joining a religious order, but more feasible would be finding a third order that suits me.

The video had comments of someone's recommendation on living a contemplative life as a mother: 

1. Lectio Divina

2. Holy Hour

3. Wake up early for prayer

4. Hidden penances for people: fasting, mortifications, etc.

I thought this was helpful! So I pulled my prayer book from my prayer desk and read morning prayers. All of them. And will work on following these steps to a contemplative life as a mom.

[jurakan]

The Saint Who Met Mythological Creatures

Alright, so! @wolfprincess17! I originally didn’t plan to talk about him this week, but his Feast Day was this week, so Today You Learned about the encounters between Saint Anthony of Egypt and Greek mythological creatures!

Saint Anthony of Egypt, or Saint Anthony the Great, is one of the early saints and a father of the monastic movement. One thing he did was go out into the desert to go be a hermit, much in the same way that Jesus did for forty days in the Gospels. One of the popular bits about his story is that like Jesus, Anthony experienced temptations in the desert, where weird visions and demons and shiz came and bothered him. Weirdly, these stories aren’t something that came hundreds of years later–one of his contemporaries, Saint Athanasius, mentioned them.

Huh.

Anyhow, it’s a popular subject in art– @ms-ninja-crab has a bit from one of those paintings as her icon. Anyway, among the crazy things reported to have happened in his desert wanderings, there are encounters with Greek mythological creatures: a centaur, and a satyr. 

When he was looking for another desert Hermit, Paul of Thebes, Anthony came across a centaur. Anthony asked for directions, at which point the centaur tried speaking to him, but Anthony couldn’t understand the gibberish coming out of the creature’s mouth. The centaur pointed in the direction of Paul, and then ran off.

[Jacopo Palma il Giovane’s image of the event.]

Later on, he runs into a half-man, half-goat creature, and this one does speak Anthony’s language. The creature says he’s a satyr, and a mortal creature, of a race mistakenly worshiped by humans mistaking them for a god. The satyr asks Anthony to pray for him and his people, because he heard of the Lord Jesus saved the world. Anthony then takes some time to criticize the people of Alexandria, Egypt, because so many of them worship idols, whereas this nonhuman creature in the desert honors the Lord God. 

Then the satyr also runs off.

What the heck do we make of these stories?

The common explanation is: they’re demons sent to confuse or scare Saint Anthony. Satyrs/fauns were often seen as demons of the wild places by the Jewish people when they were introduced to them in the Hellenistic and Roman world (because, y’know, lustful goat people hanging out in the wilderness just sounds demonic). Except… these creatures don’t act like demons. The centaur seems a surprise, but Saint Anthony isn’t tempted or scared by him; the guy seems weirdly helpful considering the language barrier. And the satyr praises Jesus, which is not something you’d expect from a demon.

A kind of metaphor, then? But for what? And it’s also worth noting that Saint Jerome didn’t see this as a metaphor–in recounting the story in The Life of Paul the First Hermit, Jerome makes a point to assure readers that satyrs are totally real, guys–one showed up in Alexandria one day, and the body’s still around! You can see it! Or something.

I don’t know what to tell you, guys. I’d like to believe that it’s a way to say that even nonhuman beings are welcome to be saved and welcomed into the Christian religion, because that’s an interesting idea. At the same time, it’s so odd and out there, that people are still arguing what this story’s supposed to mean. Most people don’t take it as a literal recounting of events, I think, which is, y’know, fair. 

But it’s fricking weird.

[seekingtheosis]

Understanding Formal Creed Statements: Its Need in Early Christianity

Explore the need for formal creed statements in early Christianity, addressing false teachings like Gnosticism, Docetism, and Arianism to preserve the true faith of the Church.

In the name of God the Father, Christ Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit, One True God. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus In the previous blog, where we introduced the topic of the Statement of Faith, we learned how the early Christian statement of faith, encapsulated in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, played a pivotal role in defining and uniting Christian belief across…

[musingongoodness]

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Burnout as Christian is really important topic!

[orthodoxydaily]

Sunday, July 30, 2023: the orthodox Church celebrated the Church's Fathers who, guided by the Holy Spirit, preserved and defined the "right worship" of one God in the Trinity. Which is now called the Christian Orthodox faith

[whats-in-a-sentence]

All Englishwomen lived in a society that accepted without question the judgement of the ancient Greeks and the wisdom of the church fathers: that women were 'naturally' inferior to men, physically, mentally and spiritually.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[thecatholicbozo]

"A Christian has not power over himself, but must always be ready for the service of God. Now, this work is both God's and yours, when ye shall have completed it to His glory. For I trust that, through grace, ye are prepared for every good work pertaining to God."

-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Polycarp

[ephphathax]

There are lots of misconceptions about the Catholic Church, but reading the Church Fathers, reading the Catechism, looking at how the Catholic Church goes back to the time of Christ and learning about the lives of the saints help us understand the true Catholic Church and its unique deposit of the Faith better.

[rhianna]

St. Augustine and The Wheel of Providence

[orthodoxadventure]

The Fathers

The definitions of the Councils must be studied in the wider context of the Fathers. but as with Local Councils, so with the Fathers, the judgement of the Church is selective: individual writers have at times fallen into error and at times contradict one another. Patristic wheat needs to be distinguished from Patristic chaff. An Orthodox must not simply know and quote the Fathers, he must enter into the spirit of the Fathers and acquire a 'Patristic mind'. He must treat the Fathers not merely as relics from the past, but as living witnesses and contemporaries.

The Orthodox Church has never attempted to define exactly who the Fathers are, still less to classify them in order of importance. But it has a particular reverence for the writers of the fourth century, and especially for those whom it terms 'the Three Great Hierarchs', Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, and John Chrysostom. In the eyes of Orthodoxy the 'Age of the Fathers' did not come to an end in the fifth century, for many later writers are also 'Fathers' - Maximus, John of Damascus, Theodore of Studium, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, Mark of Ephesus. Indeed, it is dangerous to look on 'the Fathers' as a closed cycle of writings belonging wholly to the past, for might not our own age produce a new Basil or Athansius? To say that there can be no more Fathers is to suggest that the Holy Spirit has deserted the Church.

-- Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church