The devil’s ill-logic

It is as if, at a session of a course of justice, the devil should be addressed as follows: ‘Granted that you destroyed all because you found them guilty of sin; but why did you destroy Christ? Is it not very evident that you did so unjustly? Well then, through Him the whole world will [...]

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The land of the pharaohs

Neither the sun, with its multitude of stars, is not as glowing as much as the wilderness of Egypt with all of its monks.St. John Chrysostom

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The corruption of children

Children are not an occasional acquirement; we are responsible for their salvation: The negligence of children is the greatest of all sins as it leads to extreme impiety: There is no excuse for us if our children are corrupt.St. John Chrysostom

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Nail my flesh

Let us crucify our member through abstinence; and as it is written, let us be vigilant in prayer, living after the example of Him who suffered; by His passion, putting to death the passions.Irmos of Matins, Wednesday, First week of Lent Nail my flesh with the fear of you, O Christ, Who nailed the sin [...]

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On the Nativity

‘Spiritual light,’ sometimes combined with spiritual ‘warmth’ and ‘fragrance,’ is in fact the reasonable intuition we have been seeking, the intuition that includes the series of its own groundings. It is perfect beauty as the synthesis of absolute concrete givenness and absolute reasonable justifiedness. Spiritual light is the light of the Trihypostatic Divinity Itself, the [...]

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The simplicity of belief

If thou believest, suffer all things; if thou dost not suffer, thou dost not believe.St. John Chrysostom

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The glue that is art

For if the sun does not strike us with wonder, from its being customary, much more do works of art fail, and we only look at them like things of clay. … He instituted arts, that our present state of existence might be held together by them, not that we should separate ourselves from spiritual [...]

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A lesson from the lesser

Camels and mules behave more decently than some people at wedding receptions!St. John Chrysostom

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Stay out of the dust…

For since what God giveth transcends reasoning entirely, it is but reason that we need faith. But the man that thinks meanly of it, and is contemptuous and vainglorious, will not effect anything at all. Let heretics hearken to the voice of the Spirit, for such is the nature of reasonings. They are like some [...]

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St. John refutes predestination and such

But perhaps someone will say, If all that the Father gives, and whomever He shall draw comes to You, if none can come to You except it be given from above, then those to whom the Father does not give are free from any blame or charges. These are mere words and pretences. For we [...]

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Countless reasonings

For since what God giveth transcends reasoning entirely, it is but reason that we need faith. But the man that thinks meanly of it, and is contemptuous and vainglorious, will not effect anything at all. Let heretics hearken to the voice of the Spirit, for such is the nature of reasonings. They are like some [...]

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St. John brings the smack down.

…it was when by eyeing too curiously, thou didst admire and become enamored, that thou receivedst the shaft.St. John Chrysostom

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The battle against "Death"

How irrational then to wish to return to our former youth, and gladly to give everything for the sake of this, that we might become younger, and yet when it is ours to receive a youth that knows no old age, a youth too, which, joined with great riches, hath far more of spirit, to [...]

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St. John-the first straight-edger?

…we must make the attack with minds in vigor, that they may be able to give exact attention.St. John Chrysostom

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Forgetfulness: the curse of human nature

…see, I pray you, after such signs had been wrought, what evils within a short space ensue. Such is human nature: it soon forgets. Or, do ye not remember what has been the case among ourselves? Did not God last year shake our whole city? Did not all run to baptism? Did not whoremongers and [...]

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Math is your friend

“Proof” positiveLogic’s loaded gun Christian Faith is mighty not only when it agrees with sensory reasoning and sensory logic but when, and especially when, it contradicts sensory reasoning and sensory logic. St. Nikolaj (Velimirovic) A “new god” is clearly required by modern man, a god more closely fashioned after the pattern of such central modern [...]

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