heart Archives - Saint Sophia

Providence and the Guarded Heart

01/23/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 12, 2017 Imagine that you have been sentenced to seven years in a labor camp. The Church is weak, often riddled with spies, while the state proclaims that it is building a better world through its brutal efforts. Many of the laws specifically target the Church and activities within its normal life. Already in your lifetime, you have known thousands who have been executed for nothing more than faith in

Saving Knowledge

11/04/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 28, 2016 I have often used the example of riding a bicycle as an image of knowing God. There’s no difficulty learning how to ride if you don’t mind falling off for a while. But no matter how many years you have ridden, you cannot describe for someone else how you know what you know. But you know it. I also suspect that if you thought too much about riding a bicycle while you were riding

A Noetic Life

09/19/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 28, 2016 Eskimos really do have over 50 words for snow. In total, there are around 180 words for snow and ice. There is “aqilokoq” for “softly falling snow” and “piegnartoq” for “the snow [that is] good for driving a sled.” There is also “utuqaq,” which means, “ice that lasts year after year” and “siguliaksraq,” the patchwork layer of crystals that forms as the sea begins to freeze; and “auniq,” ice that

The Sixth Monday of Great Lent: The Healthy Shame at the Heart’s Core

04/11/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 20, 2017 Imagine: A large crowd has assembled and you know that something special has been planned. Unknown to you, however, is the fact that the something special is for and about you. At a given moment, you are called forward. A short speech detailing some extraordinary thing you have done is given. You had not thought anyone would notice, and you did not expect them to. However, you are being

The Third Thursday of Great Lent: Who is Unaware of the Stream? One Heart that Seems Two

03/24/2022

Who is Unaware of the Stream? You would be a blasphemer if you were to say that every believer receives and possesses the Spirit without knowing or recognizing the fact. Yes, you would! You would be accusing Christ of lying when he said: ‘The water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ and again: ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ [John

The Third Tuesday of Great Lent: Growing in the Divine Likeness

03/22/2022

Today…more from Tilden Edwards as he emphasizes the importance of lowering the mind into the heart in order to grow in likeness to God. My interpretation of the early Christian desert elders’ over-encouragement of allowing the mind to sink into the heart is that the mind needs to bathe in the contemplative heart’s more naked availability to the gracious Presence, from whence the mind’s fundamental spiritual insights emerge. As our spiritual journey proceeds in grace,

The Change We Should Believe In

09/17/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 25, 2016 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Co 3:18) Among the many losses within modern Christianity has been the place of transformation. Nineteenth-century revival movements and theology emphasized a single experience that was associated with salvation. Those who concerned

Alone. One Person at a Time.

08/31/2021

Alone When God seems absent By Abbot Tryphon, January 26, 2020 We all have those moments in our lives when we feel as though God is absent, even perhaps nonexistent. Those times leave us feeling alone and abandoned, as though we are lost in an empty stadium. We feel as though we are on a boat that has been set adrift without an engine, floating further from shore, and heading to an uncertain future. Such

Fearing Love

08/26/2021

If we fear to love we will remain dead By Abbot Tryphon, December 15, 2019 There are those who fear commitment for fear of loss. They fear the other will either leave them, or be lost in death, so they remain aloof from any possible relationship. Some put on a facade of indifference, for fear of rejection, depriving themselves of any possible happiness. In fear of possible loss, they become the ultimate losers, for the

Bringing Happiness to Others. True Love.

08/19/2021

Bringing Happiness to Others Being happy ourselves we are more likely to bring about happiness in others By Abbot Tryphon, December 11, 2019 Gratitude is an affirmation of goodness, for in our being grateful we affirm that there are good things in the world, and good people that are part of our lives. Our being grateful does not mean that everything in life is perfect, but it does mean that we look at life as

Tags

Providence and the Guarded Heart

Saving Knowledge

A Noetic Life

The Sixth Monday of Great Lent: The Healthy Shame at the Heart’s Core

The Third Thursday of Great Lent: Who is Unaware of the Stream? One Heart that Seems Two

The Third Tuesday of Great Lent: Growing in the Divine Likeness

The Change We Should Believe In

Alone. One Person at a Time.

Fearing Love

Bringing Happiness to Others. True Love.

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