“Several years ago, my father died as he had done most things throughout his life: without preparation and without consulting anyone. He simply went to bed one night, yielded his brain to a monstrous blood clot, and was found the next morning lying amidst the sheets like his own stone monument. “It was hard for…
Conformism, meanwhile, is a preference to act in the same way as others in one’s community. The urge to conform is a profound part of the human psyche and one that can lead us to take actions we know to be harmful. When we add conformism to the model, what we see is the emergence…
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brother Karamazov, pages 48-49 Richard Pevear, (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky, (Translator) Yes, it’s clearly what I have said before. But judgmentalism, irrational emotionalism, and ego prevailed.
A priest says that the “problem between Constantinople and Moscow [and the remainder of the local Orthodox Churches] is a concern of the priests and not the laity,” The priest is wrong. The problem is one of “apostolicity (the Holy Apostolic Priesthood and the Holy Mysteries) being compromised by Constantinople” by its communing with schismatics…
Valuing manners over morals is not Christian, much less Orthodox Christian. She or he who holds manners above morals and Orthodox expectations is vain and selfish. Valuing manners over morals will not get you into heaven.
A lie is a delusion of the mind, while evil is a delusion of the will. The sign by which one is distinguished from the other is the judgment of God Himself … that which he teaches a man: Truth is that which leads a man to will the good. But whatever contradicts this is…
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28 When Job lost all his wealth, when he lost his sons, everything seemed to militate against him, but since he loved the Lord, the evils that befell…
“A general “law of least effort” applies to cognitive as well as physical exertion. The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven…
newcriterion.com · by Gary Saul Morson Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s three-volume opus, The Gulag Archipelago, which some have called the most important masterpiece of the twentieth century, is subtitled: “An Experiment in Literary Investigation.” Consider how odd that is. No Westerner would call such a work “literary,” lest someone discount its documentary value. Literature is one thing,…
Innsbruck’s evening stirs the heart of man In obvious winter, the river Calmingly seeking to soothe life’s fears Pastel buildings comfortingly lit Mountains reaching to heaven invite Lights embedded in cliffs on high call The bridge upholding the Cross and Lord Majesty in heart and beauty stir! Yet against the holy sacrifice In defiance, a…