Happy Name Day to me!

See last year's post celebrating St Victor of Damascus...here

A Prayer of St Philaret of Moscow

Lord, I do not know what to beg of Thee; Thou alone knowest what is needful for me. Thou lovest me more than I know how to love Thee. O Father, give to Thy slave that for which I do not know how to beg. I do not dare to ask for either a cross or a consolation; I am only standing before Thee with my heart open to Thee. Thou seest my needs which I do not even know; see and deal with me according to Thy mercy. Purge and heal me, humble and raise me; I am in awe before Thee and I am silent before Thy will and Thine unfathomable ways for me. I bring myself as a sacrifice to Thee. Teach me to pray. Pray Thyself within me. Amen. (In giving spiritual instruction, Elder Michael of Valaam used to order that this prayer of St Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, be prayed every day.)

Which Church Father Are You?

You’re St. Melito of Sardis! You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

The Vatican Dogma - Bulgakov

"At present the Vatican dogma is the central problem for the reunion of the church—if the Lord ever re­veals to the world this miracle of His mercy. Earlier, at the epoch of the councils of Lyons and of Florence the chief subject of dogmatic disagreement was the dogma about the Holy Spirit, the filioque clause; questions of papal primacy, of using leavened or un­leavened bread for the Eucharist, of purgatory and a few others were of secondary importance. In our time, the question about the Holy Spirit has not of course lost either its importance or its difficulty, but in fact, in the believers’ minds, it has ceased to be an impedimentum dirimens (to use V. V. Bolotov’s term) and admits of calm theological discussion, such e.g. as took place in conferring with the Old Catholics. The question about the unleavened bread and the differences between the Eastern and Western liturgies, the signi­ficance of which was at one time exaggerated out of all proportion, has also almost lost its importance. Even the question of purgatory and of the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception (in so far as it is dissoci­ated from that of papal infallibility) is comparatively of secondary importance. "But all these particular disagreements are blotted out by one that is fundamental: by papacy grown strong during the centuries of schism and established as a dog­ma at the Vatican. This is the basic and decisive diver­gence between East and West. Catholicism identified itself with papacy and takes its stand upon it; Orthodoxy cannot under any circumstances accept papacy which it regards as a heresy in the doctrine about the church, although it can and should recognize the primacy of the Roman See and honour it as of old. We are thus brought to a deadlock: until Catholicism ceases to be papistry and renounces the Vatican dogma (if only through a new and more exact definition of it)—and this requires a kind of geological cataclysm—there is no way to union with it. But what is impossible to man is possible to God, and all we can do is to trust to Provi­dence which leads us, rules the destinies of the Church, and does that which with men is impossible." Father Sergei Bulgakov (1929) - Link to entire article

Paul VI on Christian Unity

"The difficulties in establishing a genuine union between the different Christian denominations are so great as to paralyze any human hope that it can be historically achieved. The breaks that have occurred have ossified, solidified and become institutionalized to such an extent as to make it utopian to attempt to reconstruct a body dependent on Christ as head, and which is, in St Paul's words, well structured. ... The problem of Christian unity seems insoluble, especially because it is a real unity that is sought. One cannot accept any and every illegitimate pluralistic interpretation of the sacred word 'unity.' This need for a genuine unity, when faced with the concrete historical conditions of the various Christian denominations, seems to disappoint any ecumenical hopes: history never goes backward." From a speech given in January 1978

Romano Amerio on Ecumenism

"To think that a reconciliation of opposing doctrines can be brought about by pragmatic negotiation is characteristic of worldly minds; it ill becomes philosophers and men of faith." Iota Unum (1985)