Pray for the Terrorists

Pray for the Terrorists.

Pray that their hearts may be softened and they may come to repentance.

There are those among us who pray for demons; how much more so should we pray for our fellow humanity who, bearing the likeness of God in the Incarnation, have forgotten their divine calling and have become subject to passions.

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

As for those who have died in recent violence against their fellow man, let us pray for their souls. 

The burden they carry with them before the Throne of God Almighty is immense.

They were drunk on delusion but are now sober in despair.

Pray for the young men and women who are seduced into believing they must commit atrocities to gain favour with God. 

Wounds such as these are not healed by retribution but with forgiveness.

"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

Pray for the Terrorists 

Fluctuat Nec Mergitur - Tossed [by the waves] but not sunk
Motto of City of Paris

On the Soul and Love.

Glory to you O Lord, glory to you.

And God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him.
Male and female created he them. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. - Creation of man according to Genesis, words from the libretto to Haydn's Oration 'The Creation'.

The human person is a glorious thing. No simple construction, phenomenally intricate in its formation and harmony with itself. Such complexity magnifies the continuing pursuit of understanding. Reason being a divinely inspired gift granted, nay, imbued in us as essential to our entity. The human person is a glorious thing. 

Remarkable the human person is, unceasing inquiry is a lifetime's ambition, and yet, to know one's self is a difficult task. If it weren't for mirrors we would seldom see a clear reflection of ourselves, and yet even this reflection is not objective in itself for it must be seen not only with the eyes but with the mind. A man of meagre build may wake one day and quite reasonably look at himself in the mirror and behold a hideous mess, monstrous proportions, and wish not to look any longer out of disgust. Yet that which he looks on is not 'true', it is perceived. Even still, the perception is true for it cannot be measured against any other if it were not for the co-operation of other minds.

What is it that serves as a mirror to our souls? 

I would suggest that theology would be a good place to start. (Theology being the act of prayer and contemplation upon the divine, the all embracing splendour of bounteous God.)

It is an all too common sentiment to consider one's self in comparison, as apart from, below from God. To use the majesty of God to punish one's self for one's own failings. To resolve to follow a self-prepared ascetic path in the hope of purification and attainment of divine favour made manifest in a safe assurance of salvation.

It may not surprise you reader, that I do not hold firm to such thought patterns within the Christian mind. We find in God our source of strength, hope, beauty, and all virtues. How can this bounty of blessings combined with the loving will of the Father to dispense all these treasures, be cause for deprecation of the self?

Receive with joy, return with thanksgiving.

If the eye of the soul does not see clearly for fault of sin (the definition of sin will require another post), it would be unhelpful to punish the eye with force till it resolves to see clearly. How can something as delicate as the eye undergo harsh 'therapy' and yet have hope of restoring its clarity?

The soul is, as the eye, a most beautiful and delicate thing, marvellous in its complexity, beauteous in its operation, harmonious in its proportion. It is a wondrous thing. And yet there are many who suggest that a good means of aiding the soul in recovering its sight of God is to punish it, to fast harshly, to enter into penance and recant of any luxury or vain delight.

Let us never lose sight of the loving kindness of God in such things. Love forms the soul, love restores and sustains it. Sin is not a condemnable thing which attaches itself as would a parasite (though what the ancient fathers would call ‘passions’ would fit this description), sin is that which draws one's mind away from the contemplation of the divine, it causes the mind to lose sight of wonder and to interpret things as mundane or even evil. Glory be to God for all things. There are yet certain things and actions which lead one into such sin/distraction, and out of the wisdom of spiritual direction, one can be faithfully directed against the 'unhelpful'.

§25. Divine knowledge, once it is awakened in us, teaches us that the perceptive faculty natural to our soul is single, but that it is split into two distinct modes of operation as a result of Adam's disobedience. This single and simple perceptive faculty is implanted in the soul by the Holy Spirit ; but no one can realize this singleness of perception except those who have willingly abandoned the delights of this corruptible life in the hope of enjoying those of eternity, and who have caused every appetite of the bodily senses to wither away through self-control. Only in such men does the intellect, because of its freedom from worldly care, act with its full vigour so that it is capable of perceiving ineffably the goodness of God. Then, according to the measure of its own progress, the intellect communicates its joy to the body too, rejoicing endlessly in the song of love and praise: 'My heart has trusted in Him and I am helped; my flesh flowers again, and with all my being I will sing His praise' (Ps. 28:7. LXX). The joy which then fills both soul and body is a true recalling of the life without corruption.- Diadochos of Photiki (5th Cent.), 'On Spiritual Knowledge'.

C. S. Matthew, MMXIII 

Love & Time - a debt to Staniloae. (part I)

Dumitru Stăniloae, 1903-93

Glory to you O Lord, glory to you.

The principal text which I am using primarily in this series of posts is Dumitru Stăniloae's "Eternity and Time", a pamphlet of thirteen pages and available from the Convent of the Incarnation, a link to a place of purchase is provided at the end of this post.

The person of Fr. Stăniloae

Dumitru Stăniloae was a prominent theologian of the twentieth century. He was a priest of the Romanian Orthodox church and it was in this climate that he worked his theological contributions. Romania is unique among Orthodox countries in that it is encircled by Latin Catholic countries, and this geographical positioning has informed the historical development of Romanian theological inquiry. 'Romania represents what Fr. Dumitru terms "oriental Latinity."' (Met. Kallistos foreword to Stăniloae D., 1994, p. ix).

Stăniloae frequently cites the Patristics of the Church, particularly Saints Gregory Palamas and Maximus the Confessor. Working in what has been termed a 'neo-Patristic synthesis', Stăniloae sought not to hearken back to a golden age of theology but rather, to illustrate the life of the Church as being expressed and understood through the witness of the greater body of Christ as an eschatological singing of theological praise before the throne. Living theologians today contribute to this great song of praise and using terminology revealed and taught by elders in the faith, are able to express in contemporary terms the magnificence of God's love for His creation. There is nothing old in the Patristic view of Theology for it is through the Holy Spirit that 'all things are made new'.

Stăniloae expresses beautifully in his largely untranslated works into English, the role of humanity in relation to the creation which we are dependent on, but also on which we minister to and offer in solemn thanksgiving to our gracious provider, God. Prayer which is to say, the desired communion of the children of God with their Father God, is the basis on which faith, living faith, is founded. 

The only genuine theology is that summed up by Evagrios of Pontos in a phrase which Fr. Dumitru likes to quote: "If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly, you are a theologian." (ibid. p. xiv)

It is Time

It is time, always, to be called to repentance.  Never is there a moment when a return to God and his holy institutes is forbidden or even hinted at being 'incorrect', if there were, it would truly be a human construct and would not be in accord with the divine will. God wills to be with us always, to eternity, for as we are made in His image, we partake in a mystical sense, His Spirit, mixing it, or acting in co-operation with it, in a mystical way with our human spirit which is what makes us that most marvelous creature, the lord of creation. 

Every moment of consciousness, of divine contemplation, is a prayer to God. To keep God always before one's mind is a great gift and a source of joy and courage.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem : let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth : yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem in my mirth. - Psalm 137:5-6 (Coverdale/BCP)

The fear of eternal damnation and hell-fire is a frequent theme in Christian thought. The flame which burns but never consumes, the pains which toil but never expire. The real terror is not solely in the sensation but made most horrid in the duration. 

I have long held the belief that Hell is a place not necessarily of physical torment, nor is it a 'place' per-se, but rather, that it is a state of non-being. It is an existence without being, and this is because it is the fulfillment of the will of the individual to establish a 'life' without relation to the giver of life. It is a love which is directed as a relationship between no parts but itself, and this establishes itself in loneliness. How can you have love if it is not shared?

Time for Stăniloae is a measurement of that distance between the giver of the gift to the receiver, and the offering back of that gift to the giver. It is that sense of anticipation, of longing, of waiting for the recognition of the gift which is given. To give a person a gift is to await a thanksgiving, the granting of thanks is an acknowledgement of appreciation for the gift.
Love is something to be shared, the moment it is not reciprocated it loses its nature as love. Fortunately Christians have the institution of the Church to encourage them back into the dynamic of loving through the medium of effective preaching, sacramental ministry, and private as well as intercessory prayer.
Until the next post on this topic I shall end with this quote:

Love is the gift of oneself to another, and the waiting for the full return of that gift from the other in response. Only in a complete and immediate response to the offer of love is love fully realised and full communion attained between the two. The interval of waiting for the response is time. As such, time represents a spiritual distance between persons, while eternity is beyond all distance or separation. (Stăniloae, 2001, p. 3)

To be continued.

Click here to be directed to a stockist where "Eternity and Time" may be purchased.

Stăniloae, D., 1994, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology; the Experience of God Vol.I, Holy Cross, Brookline, MA

Stăniloae, D., 2001, Eternity and Time, SLG Press, Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford