This week the Orthodox cycle of saints included not one but two of my favorites: Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom. Both were Archbishops of Constantinople back in one of my favorite centuries: the fourth. The fourth century was the time of the biggest arguments about the biggest issues, and so became the time of […]
Celebrating the Birth of Jesus with His Mother
During Advent I went one Wednesday night to St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh. I was surprised to hear a service that was new to me: Not the ordinary Vespers, but the “Advent Paraklesis.” As in so much of Orthodox worship, the hymns carry a huge freight of theology. As always there is much […]
On Memory and Creative Work (The Writer’s Inner Life)
These are bitter cold days in Pittsburgh where I live. At this latitude these are also short days; among the shortest of the year, with either gray gloom or low glaring winter sun. It can be hard to simply be. Add in the busyness of the ramp-up to Christmas and it can be very hard to […]
NaNoWriMo Dreams (The Writer’s Inner Life)
Last week I told you I’d set myself a new writing challenge: I signed up for NaNoWriMo — that’s NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, November, when thousands of people commit to writing a 50,000 first draft of a novel in 30 days. Well, it is October 31, so I have not written a word, but I’ve […]
Setting Yourself a Challenge (The Writer’s Inner Life)
Consider these two really odd “Sayings of the Desert Fathers.” Both are from the chapter on “Self-Control” in Benedicta Ward’s translation. They said of one hermit that he sometimes longed to eat a cucumber. So he took one and hung it in front of him where he could see it. He was not overcome by […]
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