storge Archives - Saint Sophia

Words of Love (Part II)

02/16/2022

[There are] many kinds of love that characterize our lives and our relationships. How is agape, the unconditional love to which we are all called, related to the loyalty of philia or the warmth and affection of family life (storge)? What are some of the concrete ways we can cultivate agape for God and neighbor? And who is our ‘neighbor’ anyway? Does eros have a positive role to play in one’s spiritual life? How about the love of animals, or the love for

Words of Love (Part I)

02/15/2022

How can you possibly define love? Aside from love being undefinable, English-speakers face the added difficulty of having only one word for love. We often use the name of love in vain. We hear the verse “God is love” and the next minute we say how we ‘love’ our favorite breakfast foods. This naturally leads to a fair amount of confusion and prevents us from honing in on love’s true meaning. To clear this confusion, we

The Four Loves

09/13/2016

There are many different kinds of love. Ancient Greeks had multiple distinct words for what we try to cover with our single word “love”; these include philia (friendship), eros (passion), storge (familial love), and agape (infinite or divine love). I sometimes fear that our paucity of words reveals an actual narrowness of experience. For Paul, agape love is the Great Love that is larger than you. It is the Great Self, the God Self. It’s

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part IV)

03/05/2015

Agape In terms of our love for one another, all four forms of love are good. But our love towards our fellow human beings is rooted in our love for God. Love for man in Christianity is not humanitarianism, which sees man as the supreme good and goal of life. Our love towards one another can often be distorted and sinful. Philia, eros, and storge, while in themselves good, can be perverted and exaggerated. This

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part III)

03/04/2015

There are four different Greek words for love: agape (brotherly love), eros (sexual love), philia (friendship), and storge (compassion). The word usually used for Christian love—love for God and our fellow human beings—is agape. However, the other three words can also be applied to Christian love. Philia There is an interesting passage in the Gospel (John 21:15-17) when Christ asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” and Peter replies, “You know I love You.”

Archive

Words of Love (Part II)

Words of Love (Part I)

The Four Loves

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part IV)

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part III)

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