Life in Christ frees us to build intimacy with integrity
Blog posts: thoughts, reflections, transcripts of podcasts
by St Thalassios the Libyan
Christ, Master of all, free us from all these destructive passions and the thoughts born of them.
For Thy sake we came into being, so that we might delight in the paradise which Thou hast planted and in which Thou hast placed us.
We brought our present disgrace upon ourselves, preferring destruction to the delights of blessedness.
We have paid for this, for we have exchanged eternal life for death.
… [ read more ]
Marriage is a universal characteristic of human culture. In fact, as soon as the difference between the sexes came into existence (Gen 2:21-23), the “one flesh” union of their coming back together is already in view (Gen 2:24). This is not to say that every human person should be married in the earthly sense, but that there is an archetypal aspect to marriage which goes to the heart of what it means to be a… [ read more ]
Based on St Maximos the Confessor’s Four Hundred Texts on Love, and the parallel passage in St Thalassios the Libyan, the diagram (click the image for a larger version) shows the concupiscent, intellectual, and irascible passions in terms of self-love – the luxuriating, self-obsessive, and acquisitive.
Also found in the Philokalia are writings on the passions by St John of Damascusm who likewise categorized the passions as intellectual (intelligent), irascible (incensive) and concupiscent (desiring), providing lists and… [ read more ]
