christian-monks

"It is clear that there are as many different languages as peoples in this island. The Scots, however, and the Welsh, in so far as they have not intermixed with other nations, have retained the purity of their native speech, unless perhaps the Scots took something in speech from living together with the Picts, with whom they once dwelt as allies. The Flemish who live in the west of Wales have abandoned their barbarous speech, and speak Saxon well enough. Likewise the English although in the beginning they had a language of three branches, namely southern, midland, and northern, as coming from three Germanic peoples, nevertheless as a result of mixture, first with the Danes and then Normans, by a corruption of their language in many respects, they now incorporate strange bleatings and babblings. There are two main causes for their present debasement of the native language, one, that children in the schools against the practice of other nations are compelled since the coming of the Normans to abandon their own tongue and to construe into French, and, secondly, that children of the nobility are taught French from the cradle and rattle."

"Scholars have long noted that Angelico’s vision of Hell did not emerge from a vacuum. …His Hell is not the feverish grotesquerie of later Northern painters, nor the architectural labyrinth of Dante’s nine circles. Instead, it is a carefully staged moral drama, Dominican in its clarity, theological in its logic, and yet unmistakably shaped by the imaginative vocabulary of both Dante and ."

"The Prophet Ezekiel too had predicted the miraculous manner of that birth, calling Mary figuratively the Gate of the Lord, the gate, namely, through which the Lord entered the world. For he says, The gate which looks towards the East shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall pass through it, and it shall be closed. What could be said with such evident reference to the inviolate preservation of the Virgin’s condition? That Gate of Virginity was closed; through it the Lord God of Israel entered; through it He came forth from the Virgin’s womb into this world; and the Virgin-state being preserved inviolate, the gate of the Virgin remained closed forever."

"My faith, indeed, was sufficiently proved when the heretics persecuted me. I was at that time sojourning in the church of Alexandria, and underwent imprisonment and exile which was then the penalty of faithfulness; yet for the sake of any who may wish to put my faith to the test, or to hear and learn what it is I will declare it. I believe that the Trinity is of one nature and godhead, of one and the same power and substance; so that between the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost there is no diversity at all, except that the one is the Father, the second the Son, and the third the Holy Ghost. There is a Trinity of real and living Persons, a unity of nature and substance."

"This is that holy Church which is without spot or wrinkle. For many others have gathered together Churches, as Marcion, and Valentinus, and Ebion, and Manichæus, and Arius, and all the other heretics. ... But of this Church which keeps the faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit says in the Canticles, "My dove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one.""

"Hear, therefore, how the Apostle would teach us obedience by the Cross of Christ: Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking upon Him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. As, then, a consummate master teaches both by example and precept, so Christ taught the obedience, which good men are to render even at the cost of death, by Himself first dying in rendering it."

"I am next informed that some stir has been made on the question of the nature of the soul… For myself, I declare in the presence of God that, after reading each of these opinions, I am up to the present moment unable to hold any of them as certain and absolute; the determination of the truth in this question I leave to God and to any to whom it shall please him to reveal it. My profession on this point is therefore, first, that these several opinions are those which I have found in books, but, secondly, that I as yet remain in ignorance on the subject, except so far as this, that the Church delivers it as an article of faith that God is the creator of souls as well as of bodies."

"It is written that when the side of Jesus was pierced "He shed thereout blood and water." This has a mystical meaning. For Himself had said, "Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water." ... Yet it might be understood also as prefiguring the twofold grace of baptism, one that which is given by the baptism of water, the other that which is sought through martyrdom in the outpouring of blood, for both are called baptism."

"As for me, I declare in Christ’s name that I never held, nor ever will hold, any other faith but that which I have set forth above, that is, the faith which is held by the Church of Rome, by that of Alexandria, and by my own church of Aquileia; and which is also preached at Jerusalem; and if there is any one who believes otherwise, whoever he may be, let him be Anathema. But those who through mere ill will and malice engender dissensions and offenses among their brethren, and cause them to stumble, shall give account of it in the day of judgment."

"But, further, as to the resurrection of our own flesh, I believe that it will be in its integrity and perfection; it will be this very flesh in which we now live. We do not hold, as is slanderously reported by some men, that another flesh will rise instead of this; but this very flesh, without the loss of a single member, without the cutting off of any single part of the body; none whatever of all its properties will be absent except its corruptibility. It is this which is promised by the holy Apostle concerning the body: It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. This is the doctrine which has been handed down to me by those from whom I received holy baptism in the Church of Aquileia; and I think that it is the same which the Apostolic See has by long usage handed down and taught."

"The person who rehearses the Creed, making the sign of the cross upon his forehead, while he says the word, that each believer may know that his flesh, if he have kept it clean from sin, will be a vessel of honour, useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work; but, if defiled by sins, that it will be a vessel of wrath destined to destruction."

"I entreat you therefore, holy, venerable and saintly father, not to permit a storm of ill will to be raised against me because of this, nor to sanction the employment of partisanship and of calumny— weapons which ought never to be used in the Church of God. Where can simple faith and innocence be safe if they are not protected in the Church? I am not a defender or a champion of Origen; nor am I the first who has translated his works. Others before me had done the very same thing, and I did it, the last of many, at the request of my brethren. If an order is to be given that such translations are not to be made, such an order holds good for the future, not the past; but if those are to be blamed who have made these translations before any such order was given, the blame must begin with those who took the first step."

"He is born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin. Here a chaste ear and a pure mind is required. For you must understand that now a temple has been built within the secret recesses of a Virgin’s womb for Him of Whom erewhile you learned that He was born ineffably of the Father. And just as in the sanctification of the Holy Ghost no thought of imperfection is to be admitted, so in the Virgin-birth no defilement is to be imagined. For this birth was a new birth given to this world, and rightly new. For He Who is the only Son in heaven is by consequence the only Son on earth, and was uniquely born, born as no other ever was or can be."

"But before I begin to discuss the meaning of the words, I think it well to mention that in different Churches some additions are found in this article. This is not the case, however, in the Church of the city of Rome; the reason being, as I suppose, that, on the one hand, no heresy has had its origin there, and, on the other, that the ancient custom is there kept up, that those who are going to be baptized should rehearse the Creed publicly, that is, in the audience of the people; the consequence of which is that the ears of those who are already believers will not admit the addition of a single word."

"Our forefathers have handed down to us the tradition, that, after the Lord’s ascension, when, through the coming of the Holy Ghost, tongues of flame had settled upon each of the Apostles, that they might speak diverse languages, so that no race however foreign, no tongue however barbarous, might be inaccessible to them and beyond their reach, they were commanded by the Lord to go severally to the several nations to preach the word of God. Being on the eve therefore of departing from one another, they first mutually agreed upon a standard of their future preaching, lest haply, when separated, they might in any instance vary in the statements which they should make to those whom they should invite to believe in Christ. Being all therefore met together, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, they composed, as we have said, this brief formulary of their future preaching, each contributing his several sentence to one common summary: and they ordained that the rule thus framed should be given to those who believe."

"For the object of that mystery of the Incarnation which we expounded just now was that the divine virtue of the Son of God, as though it were a hook concealed beneath the form and fashion of human flesh...His flesh as a bait, His divinity underneath might catch him and hold him fast with its hook, through the shedding of His immaculate blood. For He alone Who knows no stain of sin hath destroyed the sins of all, of those, at least, who have marked the door-posts of their faith with His blood. As, therefore, if a fish seizes a baited hook, it not only does not take the bait off the hook, but is drawn out of the water to be itself food for others, so He Who had the power of death seized the body of Jesus in death, not being aware of the hook of Divinity inclosed within it, but having swallowed it he was caught forthwith, and the bars of hell being burst asunder, he was drawn forth as it were from the abyss to become food for others."

"Linus and Cletus were Bishops of the city of Rome before Clement. How then, some men ask, can Clement in his letter to James say that Peter passed over to him his position as a church-teacher. The explanation of this point, as I understand, is as follows. Linus and Cletus were, no doubt, Bishops in the city of Rome before Clement, but this was in Peter’s life-time; that is, they took charge of the episcopal work, while he discharged the duties of the apostolate. He is known to have done the same thing at Cæsarea; for there, he had at his side Zacchæus whom he had ordained as Bishop."

"When, therefore, the true Lord Jesus Christ shall come, He will sit and set up his throne of judgment. As also He says in the Gospel, He shall separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the Apostle writes, We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every man may receive the awards due to the body, according as he has done, whether they be good or evil. Moreover, the judgment will be not only for deeds, but for thoughts also, as the same Apostle says, Their thoughts mutually accusing or else excusing one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men."

"I affirm, moreover, a judgment to come, in which judgment every man is to receive the due meed of his bodily life, according to that which he has done, whether good or evil. And, if in the case of men the reward is to be according to their works, how much more will this be so in the case of the devil, who is the universal cause of sin? Of the devil himself our belief is that which is written in the Gospel, namely, that both he and all his angels, will receive as their portion the eternal fire, and with him those who do his works, that is, who become the accusers of their brethren. If then any one denies that the devil is to be subjected to the eternal fires, may he have his part with him in the eternal fire, so that he may know by experience the fact which he now denies."

"I love cooking not because I want to please or be flattered but because I love the people I am cooking for."

"I rose and stretched out my hands and I prayed, and suddenly a man of light came to me, the one who had come to me the first time. And when he came, he stood over me and he strengthened me as he had done the first time. In short, seventeen days passed while I journeyed in this manner. Suddenly I looked in the distance. I saw a man coming who was completely fire, his hair spread out over his body like a leopard’s. Indeed, he was naked, and leaves from a plant covered his shameful parts. Now when he came close to me, I climbed up on a mountain ledge, thinking that he was a mountain man. Now when he came closer, he threw himself under the mountain ledge in the shade because he was exhausted and because of his hunger and thirst. Indeed, he was in grave danger of dying. He raised his eyes to the mountain ledge and called to me, saying, “Paphnutius, come down to me, man of God. I, too, am a man of the desert, like yourself. I live in this desert on account of God.”"

"My name is Onnophrius, and for sixty years I have lived in this solitary place and desert. I walk in the mountains like the wild beasts, and I live on the plants and trees, and I have not seen anyone I know."

"I did not go to culinary schools nor do I have a cooking diploma. However, I learned close to the Elders how to fry an onion over low heat, because, as they would say, the slower and more delicate an onion is, as fried it turns golden brown, the more delicious the meal will be. I learned that at the end of the cooking process, all meals require patience and perseverance, when over a charcoal fire we wait for the remaining liquids of the food to be absorbed."

"Hadji-Georgis had had profuse, guileless love for everyone. He had always been peaceful, long-suffering, and forgiving. He had had a big heart, which is why it had been able to hold all things and all people exactly as they were. He had somehow become incorporeal. By having lived the Angelic life, he had become an angel and flown to the Heavens because he had not held onto anything, neither passions of the soul, nor material items. He had cast them all aside, which is also why he had soared to great heights."

"Gloria Patri Domino, Natoque qui a mortuis Surrexit, ac Paraclito, In saeculorum saecula. Amen."

"Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentes tuorum visita, Imple superna gratia, Quae tu creasti pectora. Qui Paraclitus diceris, Donum Dei altissimi Fons vivus, ignis, caritas, Et spiritalis unctio."

"Tu septiformis munere, Dexterae Dei tu digitus, Tu rite promissum Patris, Sermone ditans guttura."

"Accende lumen sensibus: Infunde amorem cordibus: Infirma nostri corporis Virtute firmans perpeti."

"Holy breath breathes deeply setting earth and water ablaze false self’s face burns away God-given life endures"

"限りなき なみだの海に 消えず 立たなむ 茂人"

"Falling leaf’s voice listen the Unborn Sphere"

"In every religion it is the same—each one is unique. Shakyamuni Buddha and Dogen Zenji and others—each is unique. The sutra—the canonical Scripture—in other traditions is another kind of revelation. Don’t compare! Don’t say, “I am superior.” Learn other mystical currents. We should adore by Spirit and bare reality. Don’t condemn! Don’t compare!"

"It is true, even in Buddhism, there is pain, vain talk about ‘enlightenment’ as though enlightenment were a uniform one could put on. And then there is the problem of the koan. Buddhists and Western followers of Buddhism are attached to the koan because they lack any real sign of tradition. If they do not have sub-currents it is better for them to disappear. The koan is the occasion to cut us off. “If you have faith, you can move mountains” (Matthew 17:20) is a koan. It cuts through! The bonzes do not know the reason for the koan. Therefore the bonzes cannot satisfy. A flower can be a koan. A great master, Gutei, made a koan of his finger."

"He was unlike anyone whom I had ever met before, a Zen master, a Buddhist who had met Jesus, a Dominican friar, and a Catholic priest. Yet I felt utterly at home with him, touched at the core of my being."

"The Buddha-Jesus statue at Takamori Soan symbolizes the dynamic of eternal salvation so well. Buddha, in a sense, is the Lord of this world. There is a story about Buddha saying at his birth, “I alone am the honored one in the heavens and on earth” (Chinese 天上天下唯我独尊). Jesus is the Son of the Holy Other, the Father, who is not contained in this universe, but is its Creator. Jesus is sent to live among us in this world as a channel for eternal salvation. Buddha, gazing upon the child, Jesus, is holding incarnate Love, coming from the Holy Other as His Only Son. Buddha represents this world, yearning for salvation."

"Oshida told Father Trahan that what he had said was infinitely more precious than any word to indicate that he understood what Oshida wanted and needed to do. He left the superior’s room with a Deo gratias! (“Thanks be to God”) and a Tibi gratias! (“Thank you”) on his lips. He was overwhelmed by the deep sense that he had experienced the chikaryū (地下流), the “subterranean stream,” the current of faith flowing from the Unborn Sphere deeply beneath the world’s religions, traditions, and indigenous communities in the East and West, forming many different and distinct tributaries."

"Father James Campbell, an American Dominican, loved to tell of his meeting with Oshida. He had been a bomber pilot in the Second World War and repented of his collusion in this violence. He went to Japan to ask for forgiveness and there met Oshida. James expressed his sorrow at his sin; Oshida laughed and said that he had been in the anti-aircraft artillery and he repented that he had not shot down James! There followed laughter and the tumbling down of all barriers. Two people face-to-face, naked and unafraid."

"If the so-called “followers of Christ” today insist that their task in East-West dialogue means you compare yourselves to others, is this the sign of the New Horizon of bare reality? Each way should be unique, a unique way to the very him, to himself, not to man in general."

"There is the Voice seducing us, calling us to a leap of faith like the deer plunging over the precipice. The Unborn Sphere is everywhere, as is the Hand of God, the Source, the Absolute, out of which flow the streams of faith, the sound of every bell, and the fall of every flower and leaf. Tiny things, sparrows, know the Way of Heaven. There is synesthesia and the juxtaposition of the abstract and the concrete, water turned to bird and whispering fish, satori in the splitting of the moon in a moment of sadness, the poet born again, steeped in sin and the unspeakable mystery of baptismal washing in every tradition. Everywhere too is the cross and sacrament, gratitude for the holocaust of dust and ashes, the tornado-like union of life and death in resurrection."

"When Antony] entered the cave he saw the lifeless corpse in a kneeling position, its head erect and its hands stretched out toward heaven. At first he thought that Paul was still alive and so he knelt down beside him to pray, but when he heard no sighs from the praying man, as he usually did, he fell upon him in a tearful embrace, realizing that even as a corpse the holy man, by means of his reverent posture, was praying to God for whom all things live."

"... whilst discussions were still going on with the barons about the release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the ribauds and other persons servants and other persons, of low degree and unarmed, attacked the city without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement, crying 'to arms, to arms!', within the space of two or three hours they crossed the ditches and the walls and Béziers was taken. Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex, or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt ..."

"... dum tractatetur cum baronibus de liberatione illorum qui in civitate ipsa catholici censebantur, ribaldi et alii viles et inermes personæ, non exspectato mandato principum, in civitatem fecerunt insultum, et mirantibus nostris, cum clamaretur: Ad arma, ad arma, quasi sub duarum vel trium horarum spatio, transcensis fossatis ac muro, capta est civitas Biterrensis, nostrique non parcentes ordini, sexui, vel ætati, fere viginti millia hominum in ore gladii peremerunt; factaque hostium strage permaxima, spoliata est tota civitas et succensa ..."

"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."

"When they discovered, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics they said to the abbot "Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics." The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be Catholics, and after their departure, would return to their heresy, and is said to have replied "Kill them all for the Lord knoweth them that are His" and so countless number in that town were slain."

""Many possess a neptic prayer but they do not even realize it," a hermit used to say."

"When St. Akakios of Kafsokalyvia stood in prayer, he resembled a steadfast pillar; and when seated he was unaware of his body, as it were, because he was in an elevated state of being, filled with grace and divine, uncreated light."

"A monk used to say: "The prayer Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me; this is the foundation of monastic life.""

""We suffer because we have no love. Whoever does not love does not have peace, even if he was placed in Paradise," said an elder."

"A good and virtuous priestmonk from the holy Monastery of St. Paul reposed outside the Monastery while sitting on a small rock, blessing with his right hand."

"A cheeky young man said to an elder: "God does not exist. I don't believe that there is a God!" "Come closer," the monk said. "Don't you know that the cicada chirping now is talking about God? Can't you see this little kitten that I've got here, the fur it has? Not even Queen Frederika owned a coat like this." The young man was moved by the elder's words. The hardness of his unbelief left him."