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The Third Tuesday after Pascha. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Philokalia’s Approach to Salvation

The spiritual teaching of the Fathers of the Holy Mountain is grounded in the Eastern Church’s theological anthropology. The human being is a fundamental unity of body and soul and should be understood as an “embodied soul” or an “ensouled body.” The Eastern spiritual tradition takes our psychosomatic nature quite seriously, so that worship and prayer draw on our body and all its senses. Even the inward act of repentance is expressed outwardly with bows,

The Soul (Part II)

Does the Soul Exist? Since some people do not realize it quite clearly enough, it is necessary to demonstrate briefly that every human being has a rational soul. Some deny this truth, convinced that human beings consist only of their bodies. A good argument is the following. Only the human being manages to think of objects outside its own body and to meditate upon things it does not see. Furthermore, the human being reflects upon

The Philokalia’s Approach to Salvation

The spiritual teaching of the Fathers of the Holy Mountain is grounded in the Eastern Church’s theological anthropology. The human being is a fundamental unity of body and soul and should be understood as an “embodied soul” or an “ensouled body.” The Eastern spiritual tradition takes our psychosomatic nature quite seriously, so that worship and prayer draw on our body and all its senses. Even the inward act of repentance is expressed outwardly with bows,

From Image to Likeness (Part II)

In the Mother of God, the first created person who has entered the resplendence of the Kingdom in her earthly flesh, we see the two mysteries conjoined: that of the image restored in Christ and that of the likeness achieved by the Spirit and freedom. Nicholas Cabasilas said that God, as long as he had not found a mother, was like a king in exile, like a stranger without a city. Solely because a young