tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57603204061645674812024-03-13T07:54:03.572-07:00Sea of SinI am not worthy, neither sufficient, to behold and gaze upon the height of Heaven.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-25797252546847798322011-06-09T13:02:00.000-07:002011-06-09T15:10:01.131-07:00Church architecture and catholic unity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F96ZKhVJm5I/TfE_viG2XSI/AAAAAAAAAMU/ViajpUvlz6E/s1600/frescoes.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 189px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F96ZKhVJm5I/TfE_viG2XSI/AAAAAAAAAMU/ViajpUvlz6E/s200/frescoes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616340296149654818" border="0" /></a>The renowned iconographer Leonid Ouspensky points out a noteworthy and apparently important aspect of Orthodox church design and its chief aim:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"In an Orthodox church, all efforts are aimed not at creating a place</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> that calls for 'solitary meditation, a turning inward, a prolonged private</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> conversation with one's own secrets' —but at including man in the</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> catholic unity of the Church so that in its entirety, earthly and heavenly,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> it may acknowledge and praise God "with one mouth and one heart." - </span><span>from Theology of the Icon, Volume II</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></blockquote>So we see here Ouspensky notes that the main focus of Orthodox church architectural design is for the purposes of the Liturgy, the common worship of the people. (Perhaps from this stems the typical absence of the confessionals and the private devotional chapels featured within the church structures of Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions?) This focus on the common experience, or better put, the catholic unity, is something I have noticed in the worship of the Divine Liturgy.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-31644340592138964192011-04-21T15:12:00.001-07:002011-04-21T15:12:25.402-07:00Religion of the Book?Some more thoughts on Sola Scriptura, and the notion of "the religion of the book." <br/><br/>"Christianity is not, properly speaking, a 'religion of the Book': it is a religion of the word (Parole)—but not uniquely nor principally of the word in written form. It is a religion of the Word (Verbe)—'not of a word, written and mute, but of a Word living and incarnate' (to quote St. Bernard). The Word of God is here and now, amongst us, 'which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled': the Word 'living and active', unique and personal, uniting and crystallizing all the words which bear it witness. Christianity is not 'the biblical religion': it is the religion of Jesus Christ." - Henry de Lubac. Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-64124205665766354662011-04-20T23:19:00.001-07:002011-04-21T13:30:20.136-07:00Contra "Biblical Religion"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41mj%2BJOcPyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41mj%2BJOcPyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"the heart of Christianity is the mystery of Christ, and the Scriptures are important as they unfold to us that mystery, and not in and for themselves." - Andrew Louth<br /><br />Louth here is not arguing that we should throw away our bibles, but rather that the interpretive principle of <span style="font-style: italic;">Sola Scriptura</span> goes against tradition. From <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discerning-Mystery-Theology-Clarendon-Paperbacks/dp/0198261969/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1303414887&sr=8-5">"Discerning the Mystery, an Essay on the Nature of Theology</a>." The chapter on the "Recovery of Allegory" alone is worth the whole book.<br /><br />One may be indifferent to the concept of Christianity as a Biblical Religion, or dismiss this as the obsession of ivory tower theologians (like, "who cares?"), however it is more important as it may at first appear. For classic Christianity the Scriptures are not the final arbiter, the all in all that interprets itself, the yardstick by which all else is measured. It is rather a treasury, understood and used within the community of believers, within a larger consensus of interpretation. Understood to stand on its own, interpreting itself, a la <span style="font-style: italic;">Sola Scriptura</span>, it pushes aside the interpretation of the Fathers to favor an Enlightenment approach to truth, namely that truth can be found and understood independently from tradition. Christianity thus unanchored from the<span style="font-style: italic;"> consensus patrum</span> becomes something different altogether, its claims of being "biblical" notwithstanding.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-15556337334316468892011-03-11T16:00:00.000-08:002011-03-11T16:22:58.663-08:00The Miracle of Divine/Human Cooperation and the Miracle of Icons.Here's an image, a "visible" of human participation in the Divine, of cooperation, of union. But there is more than we can see in this image, there is the reality it points us towards, the "invisible".<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The icon summons</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://jonathanscorner.com/icons/glykophilousa_theotokos_icon.gif"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 407px;" src="http://jonathanscorner.com/icons/glykophilousa_theotokos_icon.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"> the gaze to surpass itself by never freezing on a visible, since the visible only presents itself here in view of the invisible. The gaze can never rest or settle if it looks it on an icon; it always must rebound upon the invisible, in order to go back in it up the infinite stream of the invisible. In this sense, the icon makes visible only by giving rise to an infinite gaze." </span> Jean-Luc Marion, "God Without Being"Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-46522050659610552052011-02-25T15:32:00.000-08:002011-02-25T15:59:21.951-08:00To Be Divine In The Way That He Is Human<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.letsbuyit.com/filer/images/uk/products/original/153/53/thinking-through-faith-new-perspectives-from-orthodox-christian-scholars-zacchaeus-venture-15353464.jpeg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 262px;" src="http://static.letsbuyit.com/filer/images/uk/products/original/153/53/thinking-through-faith-new-perspectives-from-orthodox-christian-scholars-zacchaeus-venture-15353464.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I ran across this great passage in which Fr. Behr in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881413283">Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars"</a> takes an interesting and refreshing approach to previously well covered ground:<br /><br /><blockquote>In one way or another, all the various heresies against which the Fathers fought attempted to dissolve the apparent paradox of Christ: <span style="font-weight: bold;">what it is to be God through how he lived and died</span> (or rather, died and lived, for his death enabled the disciples to understand what he did before) <span style="font-weight: bold;">as a human being</span>. The Docetists denied that he was truly human, claiming that he only appeared to be such. Arius denied that he was truly divine, for how could one who is as divine as the Father suffer in such a manner? Diodore, Theodore, and Nestorius, though affirming his full humanity in a manner palatable to today's taste, do so at the expense of separating his divinity from his humanity: Christ no longer shows us <span style="font-weight: bold;">what it is to be divine in the way that he is human</span>, and so we remain, once again, separated from God.</blockquote><br /><br />Is this at all meaningful to us, divinity in humanity, to be God through how he died and lived as a human being? If so, in what way? The "Divine as human" is what strikes me here.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-32223175531088107962011-01-05T12:09:00.000-08:002011-01-05T12:43:28.123-08:00Holy Theophany<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TSTVXQlXNvI/AAAAAAAAAKg/A-87ZwuBkTk/s1600/icon-theophany-the-baptizm-of-christ-1515.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 172px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TSTVXQlXNvI/AAAAAAAAAKg/A-87ZwuBkTk/s200/icon-theophany-the-baptizm-of-christ-1515.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558802435647420146" /></a><br />Today, January 5, 2011, we are on the Eve of the Holy Theophany. This major feast is celebrated tonight and tomorrow. It is hard to understand for us, but it is considered a more important feast than Christmas (it is "ranked" only after Easter and Pentecost). This hymn explains it all:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">When You, O Lord, were baptized in the Jordan,<br />the worship of the Trinity was made manifest.<br />For the voice of the Father bore witness to You,<br />calling You His Beloved Son;<br />and the Spirit in the form of a dove<br />confirmed the truthfulness of His word.<br />O Christ our God, You have revealed Yourself<br />and have enlightened the world, glory to You</span><br /><br />Theophany has become one of my favorite feast days, the songs we will sing tonight bear this out for me. Amazingly rich in meaning. Here is another, one of the many we will sing tonight:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">What wonder, to look down in the river<br />and see the Maker of heaven and earth standing naked.<br />Like a servant at the hands of a servant<br />he accepts to be baptized for our salvation.<br />The choirs of angels are astounded,<br />overwhelmed with fear and joy.<br />With them we worship You; save us, O Lord!</span>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-82879825498978044682010-12-21T20:07:00.000-08:002010-12-21T23:37:08.802-08:00Dry leaves blown about aimlessly<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TRGpstwQKbI/AAAAAAAAAKU/SPGOCZoFXFk/s1600/broom-dry-leaves-storm-fly.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TRGpstwQKbI/AAAAAAAAAKU/SPGOCZoFXFk/s200/broom-dry-leaves-storm-fly.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553406401185851826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">OUR ENTIRE STRUGGLE in this life is aimed at discovering our 'deep heart' because that is the place where God manifests Himself. Above all, we aim to uproot the passion of pride within us, because this is the passion which buries the heart, leaving us feeling as if we no longer had a heart. 'Pride stops us from loving,' says St Silouan. Indeed, true love proceeds from humility, for the humble man has room in his heart for God and his fellow-men. As long as we are proud we will be separated from our heart; we will live only according to our little minds, totally missing the ultimate purpose of our coming into this life, and will end up as dry leaves blown about aimlessly by the wind. If, however, we succeed in finding our deep heart, then our mind will drop anchor not only in the heart, but also in the depths of heaven where our life is 'hid with Christ in God' . And God will come and make His abode in us.<br /><br />Archimandrite Zacharias in <span style="font-style: italic;">"Remember Thy First Love"</span><br /></span>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-27155921204125124672010-12-09T12:15:00.000-08:002010-12-11T00:33:38.089-08:00On Icons and Tradition.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TzorWGX-a9A/TPcOVjrl2ZI/AAAAAAAAGw0/x0K1rQWnXQo/s1600/GAH.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 227px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TzorWGX-a9A/TPcOVjrl2ZI/AAAAAAAAGw0/x0K1rQWnXQo/s1600/GAH.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>So <a href="http://pithlessthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/12/good-case-for-tradition.html">we ran into</a> this painting of Jesus which apart from scaring us a bit, raises what I think a few questions worthwhile considering.<br /><br />To the Orthodox the painting would obviously not qualify as an icon. But precisely why not? As one commenter aptly wrote, "'Decorative Jesus' can look like anything you want; it's only when you have to kiss an image that it gets personal." Very well. So it is suggested we look to Tradition to guide us, just as in theology, toward that which is believed to be true, right and faithful. (as an aside, would it not be harder to judge an image (icon) to be orthodox than it would doctrine?). Another commenter mentioned (I am paraphrasing) that individual opinion thus doesn't play a role in the church, that the church is a collective of sorts. Is that an accurate way to describe the issue? Do our opinions not count? Are our persons absorbed into a collective?<br /><br />Icons and in particular icons of Christ are not new to controversy. What is it that an Icon of Christ depicts - does it depict Christ 's humanity, or Christ's divinity? We can't describe His divinity (which by definition is uncontainable and indescribable), nor His humanity apart from His divinity - the two natures are inseparable, Christian theology is quite clear about that. Also, why is it that the Orthodox church decided that as far as depicting Christ, symbolism (such as a lamb) is not acceptable? Whatever the answers, one thing is clear, the meaning and justification for icons is closely related to theology.<br /><br />So, back to the present painting purporting to depict Christ. Besides not being to our particular taste, what's wrong with it?Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-72857053702104647062010-11-23T20:39:00.000-08:002010-11-23T20:51:49.588-08:00Infinity and Beyond.<blockquote>"People never cease to project on to God their individual and collective obsessions, so that they can appropriate and make use of him. But they ought to understand that God cannot be apprehended from without, as if he were an object, for with him there is no outside nor can the Creator be set side by side with the creature."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">- Olivier Clement<br /></div></blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TOyZwY0TDmI/AAAAAAAAAKM/h0hIjHfHCpo/s1600/Pictures%2B014.jpg"><br /></a><blockquote>"Most people are enclosed in their mortal bodies like a snail in its shell, curled up in their obsessions after the manner of hedgehogs. They form their notion of God's blessedness taking themselves for a model. "<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">- St. Clement of Alexandria<br /></div><br /><br /><br />"Every concept formed by the intellect in an attempt to comprehend and circumscribe the divine nature can succeed only in fashioning an idol, not in making God known."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">- St. Gregory of Nyssa<br /></div></blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote>"The infinite is without doubt something of God, but not God himself, who is infinitely beyond even that." </blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><blockquote>- St. Maximus the Confessor</blockquote><br /></div>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-46333927134913479302010-11-17T12:08:00.000-08:002010-11-17T12:16:53.787-08:00On Christian Fasting<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TOQ25lakEsI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/WaeKWHd5bso/s1600/Pictures%2B015.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TOQ25lakEsI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/WaeKWHd5bso/s200/Pictures%2B015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540613804496523970" border="0" /></a>Father Stephen Freeman has a terrific and timely post up on fasting:<br /><br />"Fasting is not dieting. Fasting is not about keeping a Christian version of kosher. Fasting is about hunger and humility (which is increased as we allow ourselves to become weak). Fasting is about allowing our heart to break."<br /><br />"Christianity as a religion – as a theoretical system of explanations regarding heaven and hell, reward and punishment, is simply Christianity that has been distorted from its true form. Either we know the living God or we have nothing. Either we eat His flesh and drink His blood or we have no life in us. The rejection of Hesychasm is the source of all heresy."<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/the-nativity-fast-why-we-fast/">whole article here</a>.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-51915613573425974482010-11-16T11:06:00.000-08:002010-11-16T12:05:45.807-08:00Preview & Anticipation of God's Will.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.orthodox.net/ikons/theotokos-sweet-kissing.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 233px;" src="http://www.orthodox.net/ikons/theotokos-sweet-kissing.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We are quickly approaching one of the major feast days - the Presentation of the Theotokos celebrated on November 21/December 4. (The feast is also called the "Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple" or the "Feast of the Entrance".) I would like to share some of the hymns we will be singing this coming Saturday (as well on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/event.php?eid=140157979369553&index=1">Dec. 4 in San Diego</a>) and a brief reflection or two.<br /><br />It's quite interesting to note the vivid "language imagery" that is used, as this feast is seen as a "preview of the good will of God" and a certain "anticipation" - this feast is seen as part and parcel of the Gospel events. It would seem fitting that this feast is celebrated during the Nativity fast as a certain preview and anticipation of that which is to come.<br /><br /><dl><dd>Today is the preview of the good will of God, </dd><dd>Of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. </dd><dd>The Virgin appears in the temple of God, </dd><dd>In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. </dd><dd>Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, </dd><dd>O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation. </dd></dl><br />Never shy of paradoxes, in this Kontakion we see the Temple and abode of heaven brought to the temple:<br /><dl><dd>The most pure Temple of the Savior; </dd><dd>The precious Chamber and Virgin; </dd><dd>The sacred Treasure of the glory of God, </dd><dd>Is presented today to the house of the Lord. </dd><dd>She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, </dd><dd>Therefore, the angels of God praise her: </dd><dd>"Truly this woman is the abode of heaven." </dd></dl>Here she is referred to as the "precious Chamber" and the "sacred Treasure". The Mother of God is also often called "more spacious than the heavens" as she bore Him whom heaven could not contain.<br /><br /><blockquote>Today, let us dance, O faithful,<br />singing to the Lord in psalms and hymns<br />and honoring His sanctified Tabernacle, the living Ark,<br />that contained the Word Who cannot be contained;<br />for in wondrous fashion she is offered to the Lord<br />as a young child in the flesh,<br />and Zachariah, the great High Priest, joyfully receives her<br />as the dwelling place of God.</blockquote><br />These are only a few of the hymns we will be singing. Lots of deep things on which to ponder and to reflect. Blessed feast to all!Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-17571974529201368662010-11-10T11:29:00.001-08:002010-11-10T12:54:36.558-08:00Why God Allows Wicked Bishops<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TNryzkwlwmI/AAAAAAAAAJk/wMxA7BtHSQo/s1600/Pictures%2B011.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O82UO0AW8Fw/TNryzkwlwmI/AAAAAAAAAJk/wMxA7BtHSQo/s200/Pictures%2B011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538005659660173922" border="0" /></a><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><span style="font-style: italic;">"This coming Saturday, with God's permission, the thirteenth of November, is the feast of St. John Chrysostom .</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He was a good shepherd who was sent by the Good Shepherd. The Lord God provides us with special shepherds so that we may be comforted and strengthened, and so that we may learn. But not always. However, the true shepherd here in any case remains the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who said he will be with us every day until the end of the ages, He is the same one who is and was and will remain the Shepherd of His flock. Regardless of the identities of the shepherds who guide the flock of Christ, Jesus remains personally the eternal Shepherd who cares for all His flock individually, both through His shepherds and apart from them. There are shepherds from above who when they watch us, we see the Good Shepherd who is above and here at once. There are also shepherds who are not from above and are not headed upwards, who are chosen by people's passions and behave according to their own passions. Those also guide Christ's flock in His name by His permission, even if they are closer to being hired servants or wolves than shepherds. They obstruct the work of Jesus for a time, but they are unable to derail it. Whatever bad things they do against the work of God, the Good Shepherd will cause them to be for the good of those who seek the face of their Lord, whatever it may be, through ways that we know and through other ways that we do not know. But the question remains: why does the Lord God permit people such as these to govern his sheep and his flock?! Here is precisely where is hidden the mystery of evil harnessed in the service of the mystery of salvation."</span><br /></span></span><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><br /></span></span><blockquote><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">From Fr. Touma's "The Mystery of Sin in the Mystery of Salvation." translated by Samn! Read the<a href="http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2010/11/fr-touma-bitar-on-why-god-allows-wicked.html"> whole article here</a>. </span></span></blockquote><br />A very timely and timeless message, for indeed evil remains with us for a time; for now it remains a mystery of sorts attempting to pull all of creation towards its non-being. Christ makes it clear in the parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matt 13:24-30; 36-43) that for now evil is among us, even side by side His elect, until the very end of time. St. Paul reminds us of one possible reason for this: "there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you" (1 Corinthians 11:19). We see here a process at work, a process of manifestation and of revelation. St. John the Theologian explains, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but <i>they went out</i> that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." (1 John 2:19). This is not at all easy and not at all clear nor always self-evident to us; however, we do know it is - or rather it can be if we so choose - for our salvation, the Mystery of Salvation, thanks be to our Good Shepherd who Himself visited and has plundered Hades for our sakes.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-41522144886079817722010-11-01T21:34:00.000-07:002010-11-08T17:34:13.293-08:00The Complement of Christ's Humanity<blockquote>The first Eve was taken out of Adam: she was a person who, at the moment of her creation by God, took unto herself the nature of Adam, to be his complement. We find an inverse relationship in the case of the New Eve: through her the Son of God became the "Last Adam", by taking onto Himself human nature. Adam was before Eve; the Last Adam was after the New Eve. However we cannot say that the humanity assumed by Christ in the womb of the Holy Virgin was a complement of the humanity of his Mother. It is, in fact, the humanity of a divine Person, that of the "man of heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47,48). The human nature of the Mother of God belongs to a created person, who is the offspring of the "man of earth". It is not the Mother of God, but her Son, who is the head of the new humanity, "the head over all things for the Church, which is his body" (Ephesians 1:22-23). The Church is the complement of his humanity. Therefore it is through her Son, and in His Church, that the Mother of God could attain the perfection reserved for those who bear the image of the "man of heaven".<br /><br />from Vladimir Lossky <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Image-Likeness-God-Vladimir-Lossky/dp/0913836133/">In the Image and Likeness of God</a></blockquote> "The Church is the complement of His humanity" - it is our humanity Christ assumed and in Him we are seated in Heaven; moreover the Church is also the complement of Christ's humanity, the fulfillment of His humanity as was foreshadowed by Eve's complement to Adam.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-49611965278494724492010-10-28T19:08:00.000-07:002010-10-30T09:31:11.797-07:00The Imperishable Life of Jesus Christ<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l6%2BAM2OeL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l6%2BAM2OeL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The hope for change...does not then come from inspired programs, but from inspired clergy, that is, when the clergy are truly aspiring to become useful vessels of God. The fate of the Church lies primarily in <span style="font-weight: bold;">who</span> the clergy are becoming rather than <span style="font-weight: bold;">what</span> they do."</span><br /><br />Here is a worthwhile read about a modern-day church scandal which is in the process of being turned around for the glory of God. Nothing flashy mind you. No big programs, clever methods or exalted committees. This is an account rather of how one man's dedication to follow the commands of Christ is transforming the life of a city. This is a story about how the authentic holiness of a simple monk turned bishop (Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis and Preveza) became contagious and a veritable evangelistic tour de force. There are some universal lessons to be had from this account.<br /><br />Even though Stephen Lloyd-Moffett initially started out his decade long study to discover a practical model for spiritual transformation, in the process he came to question the very validity of developing such a model. To his surprise he discovered that Bishop Meletios never set out to develop or use a program. Instead, through his own example, he restored the integrity of his priests; he set out to restore the church experience to its spiritual, aesthetic and traditional glory; and he labored to educate the people and re-establish monasticism.<br /><br />As surely as Metropolitan Meletios did not use a "model" or program, Stephen Lloyd-Moffett did however analyze his encounter with Bishop Meletios and the people of Preveza in what he calls this "dynamic process in which the ancient faith finds its home in the modern world", and presents these notable principles.<br /><br /><ol><li>The Church is and must remain "of God" and not "of man". Programs and designs are based on human arrogance, a desire to play God. "The purpose of the leaders of the Church should be to act as a conduit or vessel of the divine, not a marketing arm of God."</li><li>The bishop and clergy must lead and witness by their own example. "the hope of the Church is found in each of its representatives living within the imperishable Life of Christ"<br /></li><li>The Church must be universal in scope and uniting in action. Christ died for all people and therefore the Church is to remain independent from political affiliation and entanglements.<br /></li><li>The Church must cultivate the external elements of faith in parallel to the internal elements. Authentic faith in Christ will influence the external elements of our life.<br /></li><li>The Church should integrate monastics into the community. Monastics serve as an inspiration to others by means of their holiness and complete dedication to Christ.</li></ol><br />The value of this book is in its refreshing approach it offers to the common struggles the Church faces in the modern world. We must change while remaining unchanged; we must shine while embracing obscurity. The power of true, authentic spirituality is the very power of God in our midst.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Our hope does not lie in trendy charismatic revivals, clever programs, or well designed worldly motivators. Our hope is not placed in a human institution. Our hope is in God. As long as the true nature of the Church is not forgotten, we will never lose hope and fall into despair no matter what the circumstances we face. Yet this hope is predicated upon an understanding of the Church as the mystical vessel of God's grace and will. It is not an institution we run, but a mystery in which we dwell. Only then will we be energized by the imperishable Life of Jesus Christ.</span>"<br /><br />May we all be energized by the imperishable Life of Christ indeed. There is much work to do, much transformation needed. First and foremost by and in me. May God in His ineffable mercy grant it so.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Ashes-Spiritual-Transformation-Community/dp/0881413410/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288317974&sr=8-2"><br /></a><h1 class="parseasinTitle" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Ashes-Spiritual-Transformation-Community/dp/0881413410/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288317974&sr=8-2"><span id="btAsinTitle" style="">Beauty for Ashes: The Spiritual Transformation of a Modern Greek Community</span></a></span></h1>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-89010970245676200862010-10-15T21:21:00.000-07:002010-10-29T11:17:17.957-07:00Words of Wisdom from the Abbot of the Monastery of HamatouraEvery day, we ask ourselves, do we know the Lord’s will? Do we love the Lord’s will? Do we do it with yearning and love? For example, the monk who first comes to the monastery, no matter what he read about monasticism or self-sacrifice and the spiritual life and service, he read it from a distance. So very quickly he is surprised once he is in the monastery that he is not able to be obedient, for example, that he cannot sacrifice. If he is hasty, he does not stand firm and does not bear fruit and he leaves himself to boredom and despair, and departs. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The one who knows himself perfectly, that he cannot be obedient, that he cannot be humble, that he does not possess true virtues, in his patience and his harmony with monastery’s order and discipline, becomes holy because he acquires these virtues with patience and he bears good fruit. Then, when he talks to you about discipline, you can understand something.</span> If he talks to you before having gained experience, before having reached this point of brokenness, sacrifice, and obedience in all humility, he cannot talk to you because all you hear out of his mouth is gibberish and incomprehensible words, since they do not spring from experience. For this reason it says: they bear fruit with patience, that is that they persist in this every day. Virtue does not come so quickly and we do not quickly become great saints, because it’s not magic and it’s not just a button that we push. It takes the whole life and sacrifice until death in order to bear good fruit.<br /><br />Read the whole thing <a href="http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2010/10/fr-pandeleimon-farah-on-icons.html">Notes on Arab Orthodoxy</a>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-12904512294164104782010-10-07T17:09:00.000-07:002010-10-07T17:11:34.450-07:00On Union with God"Beatitude consists not in knowing something about God but in having Him within us."<br /><br />- St. Gregory of NyssaApophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-71397442254015620232010-10-03T17:06:00.000-07:002010-10-03T19:26:04.445-07:00Apophatic Theology: the End of Knowledge?It would seem that the apophatic or negative approach to theology would be the end of knowledge, or else a slide into nonsense, nihilism or gnostic subjectivism. The basis of the negative approach after all is the acknowledgment that its subject is that which is by nature inaccessible, beyond comprehension, beyond intellection. This would seem to make it entirely useless as far as the acquisition of objective knowledge. Yet, paradoxically, far from being esoteric or an aberration it is understood to be, and indeed has been, a normative approach by the Eastern Orthodox church from her beginnings. How can this be? How can the apophatic approach then be beneficial to theology, and indeed to the Christian life?<br /><br />Vladimir Lossky sees this paradox and the implied apophatic attitude as part and parcel of Christian revelation:<br /><br />"the transcendent God becomes immanent in the world, but in the very immanence of His economy, which leads to the incarnation and death on the cross, He reveals Himself as transcendent, as ontologically independent from all created being."<br /><br />An apophatic approach then would hardly be optional. God is revealed as beyond our being, beyond being, beyond concept, time, space, thought and understanding. A positive approach (kataphatic theology) then, which affirms God is good, light, just, merciful etc., brings us to a certain point but ultimately falls short. Lossky posits that negative theology offers an "apprehension of supreme ignorance" and a mystical knowledge superior to the intellect, so here we start to see the usefulness of apophaticism:<br /><br />"The negative way of the knowledge of God is an ascendant undertaking of the mind that progressively eliminates all positive attributes of the object it wishes to attain, in order to culminate finally in a kind of apprehension of supreme ignorance of Him who cannot be an object of knowledge."<br /><br />So we can speak of knowledge, however it is a knowledge beyond our intellect. But would this not give way to gnosticism as a path to secret, deeper knowledge, or to provide subjectivism fertile ground? Not so if this mystical knowledge is not contrary to the rest of Christian revelation:<br /><br /><blockquote>Just as iconographic "antinaturalistic" apophaticism is not iconoclasm, so also the antirationalistic negative way is not gnosimachian: it cannot result in the suppression of theological thought without detriment to the essential fact of Christianity: the incarnation of the Word, the central event of revelation, which makes iconography as well as theology possible.</blockquote><br /><br />Apophatic theology then is not the end of knowledge but a very necessary method to allows us to go beyond created being, indeed beyond ourselves. And that, to me, seems to be a good thing. Quotes are from Vladimir Lossky's <span style="font-style: italic;">"In the Image and Likeness of God"</span>. A related post with interesting comments in the combox can be found at <a href="http://energeticprocession.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/theology/">Energetic Procession</a>.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-90065181417084313492010-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:002010-10-01T09:41:06.456-07:00Where there is no love, nothing bears fruit and nothing leavens.Thanks to the tireless labor of translation by Samn! over at <a href="http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com">Notes on Arab Orthodoxy</a> once again a terrific article by Archimandrite Touma is ours to partake. Archimandrite Touma is Abbot of the Monastery of St. Silouan the Athonite in Douma, Lebanon.<br /><br />"Most of the problems that believers have encountered across history, as compared to non-believers, are on account of the disappearance of divine love among them. Why did Constantinople fall? Because in general the love of God was no longer active among the people. Why do groups of believers rise up against each other and break communion among themselves? Primarily because of a lack of love. Why did the Lord God permit the emergence of Islam? Because the divine love between us and among us had faded and some of us rose up against each other and so Islam was a great chastisement! Why do some Muslims consider the Christians among us to be crusaders and thus their enemies? Because the Crusaders, in the name of Christ, abandoned the love of Jesus and went to war, maiming and destroying. Why did novel teachings and heresies spread here and there? Naturally, because the Devil is at work, but also because at time because of a lack of love in us we do not properly embrace people and guide them, and so they take offence and go into error. The Lord’s last commandment in the Gospel of Matthew was: “Go and make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19). Why have the believers, or those who are considered to be believers, not succeeded in making disciples of all nations after two thousand years, when the Holy Spirit was given in the Church to the world, but to the contrary a very large portion of them have abandoned the Faith? Because they left their first love (Revelation 2:4) and to a large extent behaved in the spirit like pharisaical Jews. From where did disbelief and worldliness enter the world? From the hardness of hearts of a great many Christians and their disbelief in the faith of the Gospel. From where comes blasphemy against the name of Jesus? From the Devil who does not have the love of Jesus in him and from his workers among the non-Christians, but especially from his workers among those who are called Christians who no longer have the love of Jesus in them and they bear false witness against Him in the spirit. <span style="font-weight:bold;">There is much talk of theology today: books, libraries, institutes, studies, all the media, internet sites…. But there is only a little of the Spirit! Many personalities but little spirituality! Why? Because the love of Jesus has faded in our hearts and they have grown cold. Where there is no love, nothing bears fruit and nothing leavens.</span> Labor, however shining its appearance, however profound and fresh and valuable it may be, where there is not divine love, the Devil makes for himself a place to live! To a people who have come to sanctify knowledge without faith active through love in the Church except formally, I will recall the words of the Apostle Paul: “If I have all knowledge… but I do not have love, then I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). <span style="font-weight:bold;">I will also say that the richest library of knowledge about God in existence is the Devil’s library! There is nothing more expansive than the Devil’s archives! There, there is everything that can be known about God, but without the Spirit of God and without love!</span>"<br /><br />Read the whole thing <a href="http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2010/10/fr-touma-bitar-great-annihilation.html">here.</a>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-71669174372414305492010-09-30T20:44:00.000-07:002010-09-30T21:10:59.990-07:00The Appearing and Disappearing GodDoes God hide?<br /><br />I don't think I am alone in wondering how and why it is that God seems to appear and disappear - at times to be close and at other times to be quite distant. St. Simeon the New Theologian relates his experience:<br /><br /><blockquote>I have often seen the light, sometimes it has appeared to me within myself, when my soul possessed peace and silence, sometimes it has appeared only at a distance, and at times it was even hidden completely. Then I experienced great affliction, believing that I would never see it again. But from the moment when I began to shed tears, when I bore witness to a complete detachment from everything, and to an absolute humility and obedience, the Light appeared once again, like the sun which dissipates the thickness of the clouds and reveals itself little by little, bringing joy. Therefore thou, Unspeakable, Invisible, Untouchable One, moving all things, <span style="font-weight:bold;">revealing thyself and hiding thyself at every hour, thou hast disappeared and appeared before me</span> day and night.</blockquote><br /><br />So it would seem that God is involved in some sort of elaborate game of hide and seek. But is this so, does God hide Himself from us? Is He playing games with us? It certainly does seem like that. But St. Simeon has more to say as he continues relating his experience:<br /><br /><blockquote>Slowly thou hast dispelled the darkness which was in me, thou hast dissipated the cloud which covered me, thou hast opened my spiritual hearing, thou hast purified the pupil of the eye of my spirit. Finally having formed me according to thy will, thou hast revealed thyself to my shining soul, becoming invisible to me once more. And suddenly thou didst appear as another sun, O ineffable divine condenscension... <span style="font-weight:bold;">O thou, who hast no place to hide thyself; for thou hast never hidden thyself from sight, never hast thou despised any one, but rather it is we who have hidden ourselves, unwilling to approach Thee.</span></blockquote><br /><br />So it is not that God disappears but rather that it is we who are like Adam and Eve, shunning our Creator. Is this a game? No,I suggest we ought to understand this as a healing process, as life long path to restoration, towards healing, towards beholding the Light. It is we who are blind, who are sick and need to come to learn to see our Physician who awaits us, who never left nor hid Himself.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-5021778673618922972010-09-16T15:37:00.000-07:002010-09-16T16:05:00.190-07:00Tree should be healed by a TreeThere is a great hymn we sang for the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross. Here it is mentioned that Adam by means of a Tree was deceived, but that healing also came by means of a Tree. Quite profound:<br /><br /><blockquote>Come, all you nations,<br />let us fall down in worship before the blessed Tree,<br />by which eternal justice has come to pass!<br />For he who deceived Adam by a Tree<br />is caught by the lure of the Cross;<br />and he who held under his tyranny the creature endowed by God with <br /> royal dignity<br />is brought down in a headlong fall.<br />The serpent's venom is washed away by the blood of God,<br />and the curse of just condemnation is undone<br />when the Just One is condemned by an unjust judgment.<br />For it was fitting that the Tree should be healed by a Tree,<br />and that by the Passion of the passionless God <br />what was wrought on the Tree should destroy the passions of man,<br /> who was condemned.<br />But glory to Your dread dispensation for our sakes, O Christ the King,<br />through which You have saved us all<br />since You are good and the Lover of mankind! </blockquote><br /><br />Fr. Stephen has a great post about this <a href="http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/the-tree-heals-the-tree/">very subject</a>.Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-52666800434329201102010-09-13T14:18:00.000-07:002010-09-13T14:20:12.902-07:00Gospel, Earthly and Heavenly Things<blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;"> “The Gospels do not speak of earthly things, but of heavenly things, teaching us a different life and polity, new riches and poverty, unprecedented freedom and bondage, another kind of life and death, a<br />different world and other - not like Plato, who contrived that ridiculous Republic of his, nor like Zeno and the other politicians, philosophers, and lawmakers. For all of them had the following common attribute: they revealed that the evil spirit secretly inspired their souls. Our own conscience which protests proves that all their ideas<br />were demonic devices, and all their teachings contrary to nature”</span> </blockquote>(St. John Chrysostom, Homily I on the Gospel According to St. Matthew).Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-16735253676982934332010-09-12T19:37:00.000-07:002010-09-13T14:17:53.776-07:00Purity, Theology and True IntelligenceSome further reflections on the subject of knowledge, faith and some thoughts as to what comes from what. I have used knowledge and theology in a specific sense, not as it is commonly understood. I ran into this interesting passage by Alexander Kalimoros:<br /><br /><blockquote>Knowledge is the vision of God and of His creation in a heart purified by divine grace and the struggles and prayers of man. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.<br /><br />Truth is not a series of definitions, but God Himself, “Who appeared<br />concretely in the person of Christ, Who said: “I am the Truth”.<br />Certainty is not a matter of intellectual harmony; it is a deep<br />assurance of the heart. It comes to man after inner vision and is<br />accompanied by the warmth of divine grace. Intellectual harmony, which is the outcome of a logical ordering of things, is never accompanied by this assurance.<br /><br />The only way to knowledge is purity of heart. It alone permits the<br />indwelling of the Holy Trinity in man. In this way alone is God and<br />His whole creation known, without being conceptualized. He is known as He really is without becoming comprehensible and without being diminished in order to fit into the stiffing limits of the human intellect. Thus the mind (nous) of man, living and uncomprehending, comes into union with the living and incomprehensible God. Knowledge is the living contact of man with the Creator and His creation, in mutual love.<br /></blockquote>We see the same sentiments in Vladimir Lossky, for whom theology is communion, not primarily academic pursuit. "A theology that constitutes itself into a system is always dangerous. It imprisons in the enclosed sphere of thought the reality to which it must open thought." He then goes on to explain the relationship between faith and knowledge:<br /><br /><blockquote>Christian faith...is adherence to a presence which confers certitude, in such a way that certitude here is first...What one quests is already present, precedes us, makes possible our question itself."Through faith, we comprehend (we think), how the ages have been produced" (Hebrews 11:3) <b> Thus faith allows us to think, it gives us true intelligence.</b> Knowledge is given to us by faith, that is to say, by our participatory adherence to the presence of Him Who reveals Himself.</blockquote>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-81546356431526342702010-09-10T11:11:00.000-07:002010-09-10T12:22:48.398-07:00Epistemology and ReasonEarlier today via email I had a discussion with an acquaintance about a statement I made that theology comes after repentance, understanding and knowledge (illumination) comes after communion. It is not the other way around, i.e. theology first and then repentance, or communion with God after understanding God. Theology is a gift from God, it is indeed communion with God. This clashes with our modern, western accepted modes of thinking about how we come to know what we know. <br /><br />It is an important distinction, for often it would seem to us that indeed it is the other way around - first I know, then I believe; out of theologizing comes communion with God. Evidence for this, or so the argument goes, is that some sort of knowledge (the existence and love of God for instance) is needed to believe in God. And this is certainly so, but my argument is that this "knowledge" is but a very general knowledge at best, often nothing more than mere intuition. Such as we can see with the Ethopian who did not understand the scriptures and had to be instructed - truly what knowledge did he have? This common knowledge may be a vague intuition, a draw of the heart towards God, a whisper of a calling to turn towards God, a desire for closeness with God. So I hold that repentance comes before illumination and that right belief comes from right communion. The Ethopian communed with the Apostle, and illumination followed. We see this time and again in other examples. Moses meets God and receives understanding after his separation and ascend on Mt. Sinai. Saul of Tarsus receives his sight after repentance; communion with God precedes illumination, Saul becomes Paul the theologizer <span style="font-style:italic;">par excellence</span>. (as an aside, we can see an ontological change in these individuals - they have been truly changed)<br /><br />From a western, protestant perspective (such as from which I came), it is very difficult to come to terms with this. We like to figure all of it out first, and <span style="font-style:italic;">then</span> give our consent <span style="font-style:italic;">if</span> God meets our requirements (whatever those may be). Such are not the ways of God.<br /><br />Since we have inherited this western approach to truth (to life, to meaning, to salvation etc.), I think it is important to make this clarification. I know many people who are struggling with this. Sure we should study and reason, but who do we commune with, whose authority will we accept? What is a sure foundation to be the basis for knowledge, and how are we to acquire it? Is the experience of God a possibility?Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-17049525725920668272010-09-08T22:35:00.000-07:002010-09-08T22:45:47.863-07:00A Barren Field Gives Birth to Fertile GroundToday we celebrate the Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Sts Joachim and Anna.<br /><br /><i>O Joachim and Anna, holy couple, <br />from your barrenness a holy root has sprung. <br />From her shone Christ our God, the Savior of the world. <br />You have gone to dwell in the heavenly mansions, <br />to join the most pure Virgin, your daughter. <br />You dance with the Angels as you pray for the world.<br />We gather this day to praise in song your righteousness.<br />Through all-holy Mary, the child of God, <br />you became the ancestors to Christ.<br />Intercede with Him to save our souls! </i>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5760320406164567481.post-66960171996206185462010-09-08T20:33:00.000-07:002010-09-08T21:09:21.720-07:00History Revised - Those Noble-Minded BereansJohn at Notes From a Common Place Book has a very interesting post up.<br /><br />By way of his recent travels he shares his experience as a member of the Church of Christ. It does not cease to amaze me how one's doctrinal position can distort history, the present and perhaps even the future.<br /><br />Read it here <a href="http://notesfromacommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2010/09/2010-travel-notes-16-those-noble-minded.html">Notes from a Common-place Book: 2010 Travel Notes #16: Those Noble-Minded Bereans</a>Apophatically Speakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com0