John Main 1926-1982
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Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018
Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 Conforming to General Convention 2018 1 Preface Christians have since ancient times honored men and women whose lives represent heroic commitment to Christ and who have borne witness to their faith even at the cost of their lives. Such witnesses, by the grace of God, live in every age. The criteria used in the selection of those to be commemorated in the Episcopal Church are set out below and represent a growing consensus among provinces of the Anglican Communion also engaged in enriching their calendars. What we celebrate in the lives of the saints is the presence of Christ expressing itself in and through particular lives lived in the midst of specific historical circumstances. In the saints we are not dealing primarily with absolutes of perfection but human lives, in all their diversity, open to the motions of the Holy Spirit. Many a holy life, when carefully examined, will reveal flaws or the bias of a particular moment in history or ecclesial perspective. It should encourage us to realize that the saints, like us, are first and foremost redeemed sinners in whom the risen Christ’s words to St. Paul come to fulfillment, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The “lesser feasts” provide opportunities for optional observance. They are not intended to replace the fundamental celebration of Sunday and major Holy Days. As the Standing Liturgical Commission and the General Convention add or delete names from the calendar, successive editions of this volume will be published, each edition bearing in the title the date of the General Convention to which it is a response. -
To Clarify Mission of Laity
Seeschanges in catechism to clarify missionof laity By WALTERr . ABBOTT,S.J, Well knott'u tor lris actiye interest in the la1, apostolate I'novcmol)t, the 6[-.ye;rt'-old prtlatc attt'actetl attcntion last vcar rvhcu hc callctl a tnect- inS ol tlte lrlot'ttttcc laity hrs peoplc rvelc Caltlinal (lia- (lttttttcil's filst conlo Let'cato. Alchbislrop of -,scssiottttrli'or to tltc itt o|tlcl', as lte put Ilologrla i ,\r'chlrisllop [)ttt'icltr lrclici, Sct'rctar.1'(icnt'r.al ol thc it, to hi.rve,,lull knorvlcrigc" ul rii,'eopre's(r*si'cs Iillillli.,i,,il'i"li',..;').i,;..8:,lil\l tuf N1'cri. Kenr-a; Ilussian-lloln 'litular I)1'zantinc Rite Bishop An- tlt'ci Katkoff ol Nauplia; Auxil- ialv Bislrop,lcan Ilupp of I'alis; llisltr.rp Flrnilio (luano o[ Lilolno. autl trvo othet' Italiatr prclates- Attxiliarl Bishop 14nlico Ilarto- lctti of I-uecl an<l Auxiliarl' Rish- Desclibing titt: pt'ttct'ss ol colll' up .\ntonio ..\rrgioni oI I]rsa. Intttricntion llctrvctrtt lrtopltl atttl , rr.rorrHr.ie enuAnv Itisltop as a cotttittttitrg tltto. Ilc s. re6t- "thc _1"l_11-" __ _ saitl pcople hitt'e a t'igltt ltt spenk to their bislrop. for ltrr is , " the ir' [atltct'. TTATOR AC TIIE IlE tr.lEI\i 7" ARCHBISHOP ["hlit sartl ltc folcsau, tlta{ thctc n'ould havc (o Lo chlttgcs irr tht: catccltisnt itl order to set [()fth the llasit tltc' ologl' o{ llrc (llrurch logalrlitlg tlttl New spirit of charity lolc ol tlrc laitt in lattgtragc tltat u'o'rlrl rrtcct lltc t:xpectaliotts o[ llt(' pcol)lc. -
Russian Orthodoxy and Women's Spirituality In
RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY AND WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA* Christine D. Worobec On 8 November 1885, the feast day of Archangel Michael, the Abbess Taisiia had a mystical experience in the midst of a church service dedicated to the tonsuring of sisters at Leushino. The women’s religious community of Leushino had recently been ele vated to the status of a monastery.1 Conducting an all-women’s choir on that special day, the abbess became exhilarated by the beautiful refrain of the Cherubikon hymn, “Let us lay aside all earthly cares,” and envisioned Christ surrounded by angels above the iconostasis. She later wrote, “Something was happening, but what it was I am unable to tell, although I saw and heard every thing. It was not something of this world. From the beginning of the vision, I seemed to fall into ecstatic rapture Tears were stream ing down my face. I realized that everyone was looking at me in astonishment, and even fear....”2 Five years later, a newspaper columnistwitnessedasceneinachurch in the Smolensk village of Egor'-Bunakovo in which a woman began to scream in the midst of the singing of the Cherubikon. He described “a horrible in *This book chapter is dedicated to the memory of Brenda Meehan, who pioneered the study of Russian Orthodox women religious in the modern period. 1 The Russian language does not have a separate word such as “convent” or nunnery” to distinguish women’s from men’s monastic institutions. 2 Abbess Thaisia, 194; quoted in Meehan, Holy Women o f Russia, 126. Tapestry of Russian Christianity: Studies in History and Culture. -
Shenoute Paper Draft
Mimetic Devotion and Dress in Some Monastic Portraits from the Monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit* Thelma K. Thomas For the monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit in Middle Egypt there is good archaeological documentation, a wealth of primary written sources mainly in the form of inscriptions, and a long history of scholarship illuminating both the site and the paintings at the center of this study.1 The archaeological site (figure 1) is extensive, and densely built. The many paintings, usually dated to the sixth and seventh centuries, survive in varying states of preservation from a range of functional contexts, however in this discussion I focus on * I am grateful to Hany Takla for inviting me to present a version of this article at the Twelfth St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies in July 2010. I owe thanks as well to Jenn Ball, Betsy Bolman, Jennifer Buoncuore, Mariachiara Giorda, Tom Mathews, and Maged Mikhail. Many of the issues considered here will be addressed more extensively in a book-length study, Dressing Souls, Making Monks: Monastic Habits of the Desert Fathers. 1 The main archaeological publications include: Jean Clédat, Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouit, Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, Memoires, vol. 12 (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, 1904); Jean Clédat, Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouit, Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, Memoires, vol. 39 (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1916); Jean Maspéro, “Fouilles executées à Baouit, Notes mises en ordre et éditées par Etienne Drioton,” Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, Memoires, vol. -
Meditation Finds a Sanctuary at Georgetown
Meditation finds a sanctuary at Georgetown WASHINGTON – In the oldest building on the campus of the United States’ oldest Catholic university, Christian meditation has found a place to take root. The structure – also the smallest building on the Georgetown University campus – is now home to a meditation center that had for two years before been based in a pair of adjoining row houses one block from campus. In the center, organized meditation is offered twice a day, although students, faculty and staff can walk into the building at all hours for some moments of silent meditation. “Ma-ra-na-tha,” counseled Benedictine Father Laurence Freeman, a native Briton, at one recent midday meditation session. He was instructing those present to say the ancient Greek invocation for “Come, Lord” to themselves, inside their heads slowly and evenly, without putting emphasis on any syllable. “The best way to learn is to practice,” Father Freeman said, as the meditation session had a few first-timers. Some sat in chairs, some sat on small pillows on the floor and a majority had their footwear off, as they meditated. The hum of an electrical unit – turned on to provide heat in the circa-1792 building – could not drown out the drone of jets taking off from an airport across the Potomac River from Georgetown, or all of the everyday hustle and bustle that goes with being on a college campus. Meditation, the priest asserted, is “simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.” Although anyone could meditate, not everyone does, said Father Freeman, noting that many Christians have lost touch with this ancient form of prayer. -
Women in the Mission of the Church Baker Academic, a Division of Baker Publishing Group © 2021 Used by Permission
WO M E N I N T H E MISSION OF THE CHURCH Their Opportunities and Obstacles throughout Christian History Leanne M. Dzubinski and Anneke H. Stasson K Leanne Dzubinski & Anneke Stasson, Women in the Mission of the Church Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group © 2021 Used by permission. _DzubinskiStasson_WomenMissionChurch_JH_wo.indd 3 1/27/21 3:29 PM CONTENTS Preface ix Introduction: Women in Ministry Is Not a Twentieth- Century Phenomenon 1 PART 1 WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN THE EARLY CHURCH 1. Patrons, Missionaries, Apostles, Widows, and Martyrs 13 2. Virgins, Scholars, Desert Mothers, and Deacons 35 PART 2 WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES 3. Mothers, Sisters, Empresses, and Queens 59 4. Medieval Nuns 83 5. Beguines and Mystics 105 PART 3 WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP SINCE THE REFORMATION 6. Women Preachers in America 125 7. Social Justice Activists 145 vii Leanne Dzubinski & Anneke Stasson, Women in the Mission of the Church Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group © 2021 Used by permission. _DzubinskiStasson_WomenMissionChurch_JH_wo.indd 7 1/27/21 3:29 PM viii Contents 8. Denominational Missionaries and Bible Women 161 9. Faith Missionaries, Evangelists, and Church Founders 183 Conclusion: Women’s Leadership in the Church 203 Bibliography 215 Index 233 Leanne Dzubinski & Anneke Stasson, Women in the Mission of the Church Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group © 2021 Used by permission. _DzubinskiStasson_WomenMissionChurch_JH_wo.indd 8 1/27/21 3:29 PM INTRODUCTION Women in Ministry Is Not a Twentieth- Century Phenomenon (Anneke) am sitting in a guesthouse at a monastery in Michigan. -
The Earliest Christian Monks Inhabited the Desert Land of the Middle East Starting at the End of the Second Century AD
The earliest Christian monks inhabited the desert land of the Middle East starting at the end of the second century AD. Known as the “Desert Fathers”, they left everything in search of knowing Jesus Christ. They wanted to commit themselves totally (body, soul, mind, and will) to being a disciple of the Lord Jesus with a profound holy zeal moving them to become ever more like Christ. These monks practiced integrity of character in order to remain in the state of constant humility that comes from knowing that they were loved by God. These monks sought most of all to experience union with God in the quiet of the desert and in the silence of their hearts. Here are some stories of these holy men. There once came thieves into an old monk’s cell, and they said to him, “Whatever you have in your cell, we have come to take.” And the monk said, “Take whatever you see, my sons.” So they took whatever they could find in the cell, and went away. But they forgot a little bag that was hidden in the cell. So the old monk picked the bag up, and followed after them, shouting and saying “My sons, you forgot this: take it.” But the robbers, marveling at the patience of the old monk, brought everything back into his cell, and they all did penance, saying one to another, “Truly, this is a man of God.” One of the elders used to say of Lazarus the pauper (see Luke 16:19, 3), “He is not found to have practiced a single virtue. -
SYNAXARION, COPTO-ARABIC, List of Saints Used in the Coptic Church
(CE:2171b-2190a) SYNAXARION, COPTO-ARABIC, list of saints used in the Coptic church. [This entry consists of two articles, Editions of the Synaxarion and The List of Saints.] Editions of the Synaxarion This book, which has become a liturgical book, is very important for the history of the Coptic church. It appears in two forms: the recension from Lower Egypt, which is the quasi-official book of the Coptic church from Alexandria to Aswan, and the recension from Upper Egypt. Egypt has long preserved this separation into two Egypts, Upper and Lower, and this division was translated into daily life through different usages, and in particular through different religious books. This book is the result of various endeavors, of which the Synaxarion itself speaks, for it mentions different usages here or there. It poses several questions that we cannot answer with any certainty: Who compiled the Synaxarion, and who was the first to take the initiative? Who made the final revision, and where was it done? It seems evident that the intention was to compile this book for the Coptic church in imitation of the Greek list of saints, and that the author or authors drew their inspiration from that work, for several notices are obviously taken from the Synaxarion called that of Constantinople. The reader may have recourse to several editions or translations, each of which has its advantages and its disadvantages. Let us take them in chronological order. The oldest translation (German) is that of the great German Arabist F. Wüstenfeld, who produced the edition with a German translation of part of al-Maqrizi's Khitat, concerning the Coptic church, under the title Macrizi's Geschichte der Copten (Göttingen, 1845). -
The Teachings of St. Anthony the Great
The Teachings of St. Anthony the Great from the Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers St. Herman Orthodox Church Littleton, Colorado 16 1. When the holy Abba Anthony lived in the desert 37.He also said, “Nine monks fell away after many he was beset by akedia, and attacked by many labors and were obsessed with spiritual pride, sinful thoughts. He said to God, “Lord, I want to for they put their trust in their own works and be saved, but these thoughts do not leave me being deceived they di not give due heed to the alone; what shall I do in mine affliction? commandment that says, „Ask your father and How can I be saved? A short while afterwards, he will tell you‟ (Deuteronomy 32:7).” when he got up to go out, Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his work, getting up from 38.And he said this, “If he is able to, a monk ought his work to pray, then sitting down and plaiting a to tell his elders confidently how many steps he rope, then getting up again to pray. It was an takes and how many drops of water he drinks in angel of the Lord sent to correct and reassure his cell, in case he is in error about it.” him. He heard the angel saying to him, “Do this and you will be saved.” At these words, Anthony was filled with joy and courage. He did this, and he was saved. 2. When the same Abba Anthony thought about the depth of the judgments of God, he asked, “Lord, how is it that some die when they are young, while others drag on to extreme old age? Why are there those who are poor and those who are rich? Why do wicked men prosper and why are the just in need?” He heard a voice answering him, “Anthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are according to the judgment of God, and it is not to your advantage to know anything about them.” [see Deuteronomy 29:29] 2 15 34.Abba Anthony once went to visit Abba Amoun 3. -
August 2021 Sunday/Duminică Monday/Luni Tuesday/Marţi Wednesday/Miercuri Thursday/Joi Friday/Vineri Saturday/Sâmbătă 2018
August 2021 Sunday/Duminică Monday/Luni Tuesday/Marţi Wednesday/Miercuri Thursday/Joi Friday/Vineri Saturday/Sâmbătă 2018 1 Common Abstinence 2 Common Abstinence 3 Common Abstinence 4 Common Abstinence 5 Dispensation/Hârti 6 Common Abstinence 7 Beginning of the Dormition Fast. Translation of the Relics Ven. Father Isaac, Dalmatus Seven Holy Youths of Forefeast of the TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR Ven. Dometius, martyr. 10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST of the Protomartyr & Faustus. Ephesus. Ven. Eudochia, Transfiguration, Eusignius, LORD JESUS CHRIST. Epistle 2 Stephen. martyr. Martyr; Fabian, Pope Peter 1:10-19; Gospel Matt Tone 1, Res. Gospel 10, Epistle 1 Cor. 17:1-9. Blessing of the first 4: 9 – 15, Gospel Matt. 17: 14-21. fruits of the vine. Following week readings – 11th week after Pentecost. 8 Common Abstinence 9 Common Abstinence 10 Common Abstinence 11 Common Abstinence 12 Common Abstinence 13 Common Abstinence 14 11th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Euplus, deacon and martyr. Photius and Anicetus, Leavetaking of Holy Prophet Micheas. Martyrs Transfiguration. Translation of Tone 2, Res. Gospel 11, Epistle 1 Cor. Apostle Matthias. Lawrence, archdeacon and Forefeast of the Dormition of the Relics of St. Maximos 9: 2 – 12, Gospel Matt. 18: 23-35. martyr. the Mother of God. Following week readings – 12th Confessor. Dormition fast ends. week after Pentecost. 15 16 17 Common Abstinence 18 19 Common Abstinence 20 21 12th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Translation of the Holy Myron, martyr. Florus and Laurus, martyrs Andrew the General and Samuel, prophet. Apostle Thaddeus. Bassa, martyr. +DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF Icon of our Lord, Not Companions, Martyrs Made by Human Hands GOD. -
In the Heart of the Desert: the Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
World Wisdom In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, by Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, brings to life the timeless message of the founders of Christian Monasticism. Seeking God through silence and prayer, these fourth and fifth century Christian ascetics still have much to teach us about the nature of the human soul. The words of spiritual counsel (Apophthegmata, from the original Greek), reflect the imprint of eternity and with the insightful commentary of Rev. John Chryssavgis, the ancient teachings of these early Fathers and Mothers are drawn into sharp focus and made more relevant for the contemporary reader. In the Heart of the Desert portrays several key figures of the early Christian monastic communities in the stark deserts of Egypt and Syria. This book, unlike many earlier studies, also includes one of the Desert Mothers, Amma Syncletica. In addition, for the first time in English, Rev. Dr. Chryssavgis offers a translation of the fifth-century text, the Reflections of Abba Zosimas, which played an important part in the development of the sayings of the Desert Fathers. The words of these early Christian monks have influenced the lives of numerous people over many centuries, from Saint Augustine to Thomas Merton, and continue to offer their compelling stories and ideas to people today. What is being said about In the Heart of the Desert? “A beautiful and sensitive account of the lives and spirituality of the early Christian desert monastics. Chryssavgis’ treatment of these strange, compelling figures is marked by an uncommon depth of understanding; under his discerning gaze, the world of the desert monastics comes alive for the reader. -
PREFACE “We Are Coming out of the Desert” — St
PREFACE “We are Coming Out of the Desert” — St. Anthony of Beaconsfield In one sense this present book is a complement to my previous title The Tumbler of God: Chesterton as Mystic.1 In that book I attempted to demonstrate that one of the main sources of G.K. Chesterton’s sense of joy and wonder was a genuine mystical grace that enabled him to experience everything coming forth at every moment from the creative hand of God. For those not very familiar with Chesterton, or who have a rather superficial knowledge of his writings, they could have the impression that he didn’t see any evil in the world. However, to correct such a notion, I want to emphasize in this book his belief in, and pugnacious battle with, the devil. Of course, he also believed in the evil present in the human heart, and in the “problem of evil” which philosophers try to explain. These last two have been treated in Mark Knight’s Chesterton and Evil,2 and we will be considering some of his insights below. My emphasis is explicitly on Satan. In my research for this book I have often found that treatment of the devil in major works about Chesterton often lacking. For 1 In Canada, The Tumbler of God (Justin Press: Ottawa, Ontario, 2012). Outside Canada (Angelico Press: Brooklyn, New York, 2013). 2 Mark Knight, Chesterton and Evil (Fordham University Press: New York, 2004). xvii xviii Jousting with the Devil example, we have all profited very much from Aidan Nichols’ G.K. Chesterton, Theologian;3 and an increasing number of people will delight in Ian Ker’s recent biography, G.K.