How to Survive an Economic Depression
The Orthodox Church has much experience with dealing with difficult times; some saints have complained that easy times robbed the Church of her grandeur. Here are some words on hard times.
Gentle Reader;
An intriguing book... found in questionable quarters
I have found a watershed moment after a friend gave me a copy of Elder Thaddeus's Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives. I don't know that everybody will have a watershed movement; perhaps others will understand its central point much more naturally than I do. But I am very grateful to be given the book.
Before going further, and talking about "work-mysticism", there are some hesitancies I would like to mention. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives bears the "warning label" of the St. Herman of Alaska brotherhood started by Fr. Seraphim (Rose). Let me blandly state that I have associated Fr. Seraphim's following with some harassment, and it has resonated with others when I've said Fr. Seraphim's following "tastes like Kool-Aid." Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, like other titles from that movement, is exotic to the Western reader, really too exotic, almost as if works were chosen on unconscious, tacit criteria that included appearing sufficiently exotic to a certain kind of Western convert, and bears the mark of a rebellion against the common things of the West where a more Orthodox response would be to be alienated from Western things without expending the energy to constantly fight it. It is also characteristic, though not universal, to read texts associated with Fr. Seraphim and get the feeling of a magic spell falling over me: after praying and being comfortable with the decision I read the "Nine Enneads" of Christ the Eternal Tao, but not more; my conscience felt almost like an instruction to "take two stiff drinks and stop cold."
One person who commented to me over email knew quite specifically that I was a member of ROCOR (quite probably the one Orthodox jurisdiction with the most nostalgia for nineteenth-century Russia), and tried to specifically make the point that nineteenth century Russia was no golden age. That much was not news to me; the priest who received me into the Church repeatedly emphasized, "There was never a golden age." He didn't mention nineteenth century Russia so much, but he talked about the Age of the Councils as being an Age when Ecumenical Councils were called because of how truly bad the problems and heresies were. But the other correspondent argued to me that nineteenth century Russia was a "Gnostic wonderland," with something for every idle curiosity, and in his opinion the worst century in Orthodox history, and this is a problem because Fr. Seraphim got his bearings in Orthodoxy mostly from nineteenth century Russia. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives tells of an elder who answered questions by speaking out of the Philokalia. I've read the Philokalia more than once, and the ascetical homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, and the Bible many times more, and everything that is interesting about Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives is something I have never picked up even a little from the Bible, St. Isaac, and the Philokalia. Perhaps I haven't read them enough, or grown enough, or something else enough, but I have not been able to pull a hint of Elder Thaddeus's main points in any of the older classics mentioned.
With all that stated, the book is a pearl.
Read more of Work-Mystic, posted Sunday 3 May 2015, the Fourth Sunday of Pascha.
This site is a showcase of creative works and writing by Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward that have been collected for a couple of decades. The sections of the site About (includes What's New?), Et Cetera, and an online library featuring Orthodox Books and More.
Orthodox Books and More: This collection includes Eastern Orthodox Christian theology, and literature. It is by far the largest section of this website, and possibly the most interesting.
The collection includes smaller sections of Orthodox theology, articles, assorted creations, journals, miscellaneous nonfiction, novels, Orthodox humor, satire, short stories, Socratic dialogue, and technology. If you're looking for a place to explore, why not begin with one of these links?
Books & eBooks: All the best works from this site are available in books and eBooks. And really, this is the kind of writing that works more nicely from a paperback or Kindle than the charming, romantic light of a fluorescent computer screen.
Et Cetera: A motley collection of artwork, games, humor, open source software, a role playing game, web services, and other miscellaneous works.
About: About the author Jonathan Hayward, and this site, which is his pride and joy. Includes a list of What's New?
As over a decade has gone by, Orthodox Books and More has grown to be much more than one section of the website among others. It has several sections of its own, and it has become the crowning jewel of the site, with a great many of its author's favorite works.
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St. John the Much-Suffering is a saint who fought industrial-strength sexual temptation for decades and WON in every sense of the term.
His life reads:
Venerable John the Long-Suffering of the Kiev Near Caves
Commemorated on July 18
St John the Much-Suffering pursued asceticism at the Kiev Caves Lavra, accepting many sorrows for the sake of virginity.
The ascetic recalled that from the time of his youth he had suffered much, tormented by fleshly lust, and nothing could deliver him from it, neither hunger nor thirst nor heavy chains. He then went into the cave where the relics of St Anthony rested, and he fervently prayed to the holy Abba. After a day and a night the much-suffering John heard a voice: "John! It is necessary for you to become a recluse, in order to weaken the vexation by silence and seclusion, and the Lord shall help you by the prayers of His monastic saints." The saint settled into the cave from that time, and only after thirty years did he conquer the fleshly passions.
Read more of St. John the Much-Suffering, posted Tuesday 30 June, MMXV.
This site represents a collection of thousands of pages over decades, and they have been on the web almost from the beginning. But however much they may be available on the web, they were meant to be curled up with.
There are many books drawn from this website, both in paperback and Kindle. Let's pick one example you might consider reading:
How to Survive an Economic Depression
The Orthodox Church has much experience with dealing with difficult times; some saints have complained that easy times robbed the Church of her grandeur. Here are some words on hard times.