Tag Archives: Christian

Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 23

81. Four things make a soul cut itself off from sin: fear of judgment, hope of future reward, love of God and, lastly, the prompting of conscience. There is a growth or progression in the path St. Maximos outlines. It seems to me that far too many Christians are trapped in one or both of [...]
Posted in St. Maximos the Confessor | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Four Hundred Texts on Love 19

70. You have not yet acquired perfect love if your regard for people is still swayed by their characters – for example, if, for some particular reason, you love one person and hate another, or if for the same reason you sometimes love and sometimes hate the same person. We can always find a reason [...]
Posted in St. Maximos the Confessor | Also tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Four Hundred Texts on Love 12

43.  If a man desires something, he makes every effort to attain it. But of all things which are good and desirable the divine is incomparably the best and the most desirable. How assiduous, then, we should be in order to attain what is of its very nature good and desirable. As something of a [...]
Posted in St. Maximos the Confessor | Also tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Does It Mean To Be Alive?

I almost always enjoy listening to Fr. Thomas Hopko, but I’ve especially liked his podcast series on The Names of Jesus. Names remain important today. The names by which I am known certainly describe me in the minds of others. But in the ancient world, the power of names was much more widely recognized than [...]
Posted in Faith | Also tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On the Incarnation of the Word 8 – The Word Became Flesh

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Having described the breadth and depth of the problem, Athanasius turns again to God’s response. As you read Athanasius and my own thoughts, also rest in [...]
Posted in Incarnation of the Word | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the Incarnation of the Word 6 – God’s Goodness

God’s goodness is the phrase I hear echoing in this chapter of Athanasius’ treatise. For it were not worthy of God’s goodness that the things He had made should waste away, because of the deceit practised on men by the devil. Especially it was unseemly to the last degree that God’s handicraft among men should [...]
Posted in Incarnation of the Word | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Baptists, Eucharist, and History 17 – St. Cyprian of Carthage to St. Cornelius of Rome

Now we move right to the middle of the third century with St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage. Today, we’ll look at his letter to St. Cornelius, Bishop of Rome. (As an interesting side note that I’m not sure many Protestants know, the Latin papa (or pappa) meaning ‘father’ is the word that Romans in particular [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baptists, Eucharist, and History 16 – Tertullian

I hesitate to include Tertullian in my series. He is not, strictly speaking, a Father of the Church since he is not recognized as a saint and actually ended his life as a schismatic. I tend to tread carefully and mostly stick to the recognized Fathers. That’s why you won’t see me referring to Origen [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Baptists, Eucharist, and History 15 – Irenaeus on Christ’s True Flesh

We’re going to examine most of Chapter II, Book V, Against Heresies in today’s post. Before we start, I will note that Irenaeus is refuting a specific group of those who held that our corruptible flesh is incapable of incorruption and resurrection. This was likely one of the gnostic groups, but I’m struck by the [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Baptists, Eucharist, and History 14 – Irenaeus Concerning Sacrifices and Oblations

Today we’ll look at a small excerpt I’ve chosen from Book IV, Chapter XVIII of Against Heresies. If you have not read the full work, some of the things he says may not make much sense. Remember, the primary purpose of this writing was to refute specific heresies and heretical groups — thus the title. [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment