A Syriac Orthodox Chant for the Dead for All Hallow’s Eve

 

Beautiful and haunting, and appropriate for the day.

Quote for the Week

 

The holy Fathers came together and spoke of what would happen in the last generation, and one of them especially, called Squirion, said:  We now fulfill the commandments of God.  Then the Fathers asked him:  What about those who will come after us?  He replied:  Perhaps half of them will keep the commandments of God and will seek the eternal God.  And the Fathers asked:  Those who come after these, what shall they do?  He replied and said:  The men of that generation will not have the works of God’s commandments and will forget His precepts.  At that time wickedness will overflow and the charity of many will grow cold.  And there shall come on them a terrible testing.  Those who are found worthy in this testing will be better than we are and better than our fathers.  They shall be happier and more perfectly proven in virtue.

–The Wisdom of the Desert, Saying LXVIII, translated by Thomas Merton

Some Celtic Saints for Today

 

 

From here, courtesy of the Yahoo!  Christian Druids discussion group.

Celtic and Old English Saints 17 September

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* St. Brogan-Cloen of Rostuirc
* St. Socrates and St. Stephen of Wales
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September 17 is, according to some sources, the feastday of Saint
Brogan-Cloen, Abbot of Rostuirc. He is the second of the authors who
composed a hymn to Saint Brigid to be commemorated this month. The account  of his life below has been taken from O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints:

St. Brogan Cloen, Abbot of Rostuirc, in Ossory. [Seventh Century.]

Although by some, the present saint has been identified with a St. Brogan,
of Maethail-Bhrogain in Waterford , or Brocan the Scribe commemorated in the
Feilire of Oengus at the 8th of July yet is he to be distinguished, as the
author of an Irish Poem, in which are celebrated the life and virtues of the
great St. Brigid. It is possible the attribute of being a scribe, with the
accidental synonym applying to both, may have produced such an impression.
The Bollandists, apparently calling his cultus in question, still introduce
their notices of Broganus, at the 17th of September. This saint is also
called Bercan, Brechan, Brecan and Brocan. In Latin, his name is usually
written Berchanus, Broganus or Broccanus.

On this day, in the Feilire of St. Oengus, there is a festival for Bracan or
Broccan, of Ruiss or Roiss Tuircc. In a scholion appended, this place is
indicated as being in Mag Raigne in Ossory ; and, by the commentator, he is
said to have been connected with Cluain Imorchuir, for which a mysterious
derivation is given. We find, at the 17th of September, this entry, “Broecan
Rois tuiric,” in the Martyrology of Tallagh. According to the Calendar of
Cashel and Marianus O’Gorman, he is venerated on this same day. St. Brogan
Cloen was born, it has been supposed, about the close of the sixth or
beginning of the seventh century.

I Have Sinned, but It Wasn’t My Fault

As part of my series on the Bible, I’ve been doing a sort of sub-series on dualism.  In the comments section of the last post on dualism, Hector, with whom I’ve had cordial discussions on several blogs, left a thoughtful comment that made me realize I’d been a bit loose in something I said there.  I thought I’d respond to the comment when I had a chance, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized my response would be more appropriately given in a full-length post, not least because it touches on some issues that have lain dormant as I’ve been blogging theology this last year, but which would do well to be discussed explicitly.

Hector and I agreed that Christianity cannot be characterized as “pacifist” or as completely prohibiting capital punishment or just wars–in theory, at least–and that nevertheless it has made too extensive use of those practices.  Perhaps my case was worded more strongly towards a pacifist perspective, and Hector rightly pointed out that the tradition doesn’t really support that, with even passages in the New Testament capable of being put forth in support of the idea that there is no banning of war or capital punishment in all cases.  On thinking about this, I realized that what I had had in mind, but failed to express, was my framework.  This is what confused the matter, and this is what I will try to articulate more clearly. 

Quote for the Week

The body is a slave, the soul a sovereign, and therefore it is due to Divine mercy when the body is worn out by illness:  for thereby the passions are weakened, and a man comes to himself:  indeed, bodily illness itself is sometimes caused by the passions.

St. Seraphim of Sarov, quoted in Little Russian Philokalia, Vol. I

Somewhat consoling for those of us with chronic health problems.