A journal of byzantine digressionS
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Sonnet XVI: Harrow
Alone by Abraham he watching standsAnd turns to John the Cousin as they smileIsaiah grins at Moses laughing whileJudith and Esther wait in garland bands Now righteous pagans rise to hear the trialLao tzu has joined him and Gautama tooThe final stanzas of hells songs are throughAnd yawning gapes the maw of death most vile…
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Solar Wind
EACH STAR HAS A field of energy that is going both outward and inward. The outward energy we call a “wind” because it is unseen and “blowing” outward from the star: it is the light, itself, actually. If you can see the star you are “in” the wind from that star. Our star, Sol, being…
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Consider What You Say
From the letter of Blessed Humbert of Romans On Regular Observance (Opera de Vita Regulari). This is the alternative Second Reading for the Office of Readings on the Memorial of Bl Mannes, the brother of St Dominic (18 August). This is from the Daily Office propers of the Order of Preachers. A brother should never…
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Almah Parthenos
IN ISAIAH 7:14 the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the Prophet says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (AV) and people bicker a lot about the word “virgin” there: the Hebrew – according to the Masoretic…
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Sanctify Time
MY FIRST INTRODUCTION to the Divine Office was at a very “low” Episcopal parish which did Morning Prayer three Sundays a month. For the longest time I didn’t think of it as anything other than a liturgical version of the “Hymn Sandwich” common in other Protestant communities. This was true, but not in the way…
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They are our brothers
There is a two-year cycle of Patristic Readings for the Office of Readings. It is not yet in the Liturgy of the Hours, but you can use it in the Universalis app, for example. The post below is the Patristic reading from the Monday of the 16th Week in Year 1. From a discourse of…
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To be Normal Again
YOU ARE ALL Arresting love and I cannot turn away from your light. The closer I get the more all other loves are revealed to be either actually you or not worthy of my attention at all. And the light burns my eyes. Certainly the burning is only the darkness falling away, yes, I know.…
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An Integralism of Liberation
Wherein we discuss Aquinas, Ignatius, freedom, a real integralism, and truth. YOU MAY REMEMBER The parable of the foolish (rich) man, which came up in the readings recently in the US: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which…
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Whose Side Are You On?
YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT life seems to be polarizing right now: socially, politically, and religiously. Everyone needs to be on a side and you’d better be on the right side as well. Generally, of course, the right side is my side. We are seeing this in all areas: if you don’t agree with me,…
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Yeah. That’s Not You
VEDIC ANTHROPOLOGY responds to the question of Divine Transcendence vs Immanence by way of the Mahāvākyas, the Great Sayings of the Upanishads. These are four in number and they highlight the lack of division between self (which is an illusion) and the universal consciousness. The wiki sums this up with, “They all express the insight…
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Sheer Poetry
The reason, however, why the philosopher may be likened to the poet is this: both are concerned with the marvelous. – St Thomas Aquinas WHEN THIS QUOTE Surfaced in my Twitter timeline this morning, there was first an urgent recourse to Google. The reader is strongly advised to Google any random quotation: so many float…
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Cheap Thomism
When I first converted to Orthodoxy, entering the Church in 2002, I asked Fr Victor Sokolov (Memory Eternal!) to bless my apartment. Upon arrival, he did a sort of brief inspection of my space including a long perusal of my bookshelves. At that time my library was much larger than it now is, containing the…
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St Louis & Adelphopoiesis
By way of Introduction: this paper was for Church History with Dr Kevin Clarke. The assignment was to imagine I was teaching RCIA at a parish named for a “controversial” saint. A member of the class raises an objection to that saint, how do I respond? Further, the same person feels that (pick a common…
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The Mystery of Reality
This is part of a series of posts on the invocations of the Jesus Psalter. There is a menu of these posts at the bottom. The invocations will be considered thematically. Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, grant me grace to remember my deathJesu, Jesu, Jesu, send me here my purgatory BE CAREFUL what you pray for, the…
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7LW: Father
This is the final post in a series on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord from the cross. There is a menu and a posting schedule at the bottom of this post. Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. WITH GOD AS OUR Father brothers all are we.” That’s a line from the…
Orthoparadoxy 