Douglas Murray’s The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity and Islam (Bloomsbury, 2017) is an intelligent, stimulating and important book. It really is about the “strange death” of a continent: […]
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Altars and Alterations (Part II)
Further to recent discussions of the proper form of layout for Maronite churches, I chanced across the splendidly illustrated and recent book by Nicholas N. Patricios, The Sacred Architecture of […]
Read moreHatred
Meaning and Etymology First, what does the word mean? The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary says that the root, ”hate,” has the primary meaning of “to hold in very strong dislike,” […]
Read moreSentimentality: A Disease of the Feeling
Sentimentality is a disease. Orage said that it is “an escape of emotional gas but not through the centre for which it was intended” (Gurdjieff’s Emissary, 455). That is, the […]
Read moreSt Isaac (23 August)
The feast of St Isaac of Monteluco (died c. 550) is celebrated on 23 August. He is often confused with St Isaac of Nineveh (died c. 700). Both are also […]
Read moreBeguilement in Nicephorus
In his treatise on sobriety, Nicephorus the Solitary says that the method which he will teach has the happy effect of “leading him who practises it, without labour or sweat, […]
Read moreNicephorus on Renouncing the World and its Illusions
Kadloubovsky and Palmer open their selection, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart (1951) with a text by Nicephorus the Solitary known as “On Sobriety,” or, to provide […]
Read moreFrom Ouspensky to the Philokalia
The Philokalia is really a miniature library. The manuscripts which comprise it were originally written in Greek. Although the texts are mostly far older, the present-day collection was compiled by […]
Read moreJacob of Sarug and the Work
When Orage said that “Jesus Christ” used this method (Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York, 13), he was not defining or limiting Jesus: rather, he was drawing a connection between Gurdjieff’s […]
Read moreThe Odes of Solomon: Ode 4
The Fourth Ode of Solomon is enigmatic, and has been studied more than most of the others. I will not go into the history of the study of this Ode, […]
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