Byzantium Archives - Page 2 of 2

Second Thursday of Pascha. Holy Mountain: A Universal Presence and a Heavenward Orientation (Part 1)

04/30/2020

By Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaias and Lavreotikis The spiritual influence of Mount Athos is indisputable and certainly stems from the fact that many men have attained holiness through their secret ascetic struggles there. In recent years many pilgrims have found peace of mind and repose on the Mountain, together with spiritual guidance and support. The higher one rises, scientists tell us, the weaker the force of gravity becomes, the less one feels the pull of

The Sixteenth Day of Christmas Advent. St. Andrew the First-called Apostle

11/30/2016

Saint Andrew the Apostle (Greek: ‘Ανδρέας, Andreas; early first century—mid to late first century AD), called in the Orthodox tradition Protokletos, or the First-called, is the brother of Peter the Apostle. The name “Andrew” (from Greek: “ανδρεία”, Andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him. The New Testament records that Andrew

A World-Wide Late Empire

03/04/2016

Every culture has its spiritual origin in a cult, from which little by little it becomes detached, until it is entirely cut off and self-contained, even perhaps the preserve of an elite. This ‘decadent’ phase of its history is often the time of its highest refinement, subtlety and consciousness. Wholeness and spontaneity give place to a nuanced awareness, a degree of scepticism, a tolerance of diversity, a dislike of sharp distinctions, a readiness to see

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part X): The Great Divorce

09/25/2015

By the Middle Ages, however, with the rise of humanism and rationalism, there were already the beginnings of a breach between Christianity and a self-sufficient humanity. In Byzantium, and spreading into Franciscan Italy, there was an attempt, supported by a theology of the transfiguration of the body and the earth, to transfigure the renaissance, to divinize humanism. But this last phase of Byzantine culture, which seemed so promising, was swamped by Asian influence, while Western

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part IX): Christendom and its Systems of Thought

09/16/2015

We must not forget that from its beginning Christianity came into contact with a whole range of prehistoric systems of thought, whose influence penetrated the Mediterranean world after Alexander’s expedition, when Greek and Asian civilizations met; sciences of inner reality and underlying causes, animist or pan-psychic beliefs about existence, in which humanity and the cosmos are at one. Indian yoga and Chinese medicine, which even threaten to undermine Marxist historical materialism, are modern examples of

The Fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453

05/29/2015

THE CAPTIVE CHURCH, by Aristeides Papadakis, Ph.D. In general, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was a great misfortune for Christianity. For Eastern Christendom it was nothing less than an unqualified disaster. As a result of the Ottoman conquest, the entire Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the Near East was suddenly isolated from the West. For the next four hundred years it would instead be confined within a hostile Islamic world, with which it had little in common religiously or culturally. Orthodox Russia alone escaped this fate. It is this geographical and intellectual

THE MEANING OF THE GREAT FAST (Part VI)

03/18/2015

By Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware The season of Lent, it should be noted, falls not in midwinter when the countryside is frozen and dead, but in spring when all things are returning to life. The English word ‘Lent’ originally had the meaning ‘springtime’; and in a text of fundamental importance the Triodion likewise describes the Great Fast as ‘springtime’: The springtime of the Fast has dawned, The flower of repentance has begun to

Fifth Wednesday after Pascha: Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

05/21/2014

The Church calls St Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and Britain. His mother was St Helen, a Christian of humble birth. At this time the immense Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern halves, governed by two independent emperors and their corulers called “Caesars.” Constantius Chlorus was Caesar in the

Archive

Second Thursday of Pascha. Holy Mountain: A Universal Presence and a Heavenward Orientation (Part 1)

The Sixteenth Day of Christmas Advent. St. Andrew the First-called Apostle

A World-Wide Late Empire

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part X): The Great Divorce

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part IX): Christendom and its Systems of Thought

The Fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453

THE MEANING OF THE GREAT FAST (Part VI)

Fifth Wednesday after Pascha: Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

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