Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac the Syrian Homily 4 paragraphs 23 and following: St. Isaac teaches us that true spiritual perception, when granted by grace, is marked not by outward signs of exaltation, but by tears, peace of the senses, and the silence of the body before the living God. Such tears are not emotional outbursts, but a baptism of compunction — torrents flowing from eyes opened to behold reality as it is in God. They cleanse the heart, heal the pass...
Aug 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 24
The Fathers are unyielding in their teaching: anger must never be given room in the heart. It is a passion rooted in pride, and when indulged, it blinds the soul, drives away the Holy Spirit, and turns one into a worshipper of rage as if it were an idol. Abba Poimen reminds us that it is not enough to endure the turmoil anger creates—we must learn to drive it out entirely. Left unchecked, anger deceives us with excuses and pretexts, but humility demolishes the very foundation of its power. Abba ...
Aug 19, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 202
St. Isaac’s counsel confronts the modern temptation toward self-promotion, verbal dominance, and the illusion of expertise. In a time when our culture prizes quick answers, visible influence, and a polished public persona, his words cut against the grain. He reminds us that the deepest authority is not rooted in rhetoric or clever disputation, but in the quiet radiance of a virtuous life. Humility, expressed in meek speech, modest bearing, restraint in judgment, and continual learning, guards th...
Aug 15, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 23
Synopsis Of Tonight’s Group on The Evergetinos Volume II Hypothesis XXXV Section A paragraphs 1-5: “One should never become angry or shout at anyone. An irascible man, even if he should raise the dead is not acceptable before God!” Such thoughts from the fathers already set the tone of this hypothesis and begin to challenge our sensibilities; the way that we deal with annoyances, direct attacks against ourselves or the faith or in a broader way the way the way we deal with violence in the world....
Aug 13, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 201
St Isaac the Syrian’s words strike with such power and seek to draw us away from what we desperately cling to as human beings - vainglory. Our focus upon ourselves, our particular needs and desires, makes us gather “abominable treasures“ for ourselves that defile our hearts. But more than defiling our hearts, such a vainglory prevents us from experiencing the love and mercy of God in all of its fullness. Thus, Saint Isaac does not hold back in emphasizing the need to purify the heart from all va...
Aug 08, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 8Ep. 22
Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Evergetinos Volume II Hypothesis XXXIV Sections A6-F Conclusion: When we come across the high standards of the desert fathers, especially if they are jarring to our own sensibilities, we can tend to not just to read their writings critically but to dismiss them as hyperbolic or extreme. Yet it is precisely the internal dis-ease that their writings create within us that brings us back to the heart of the gospel and what it means to be a Christian. What does it m...
Aug 05, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 200
In the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian, we see so beautifully the desert fathers emphasis on praxis; that is, how we concretely live out our faith in our day-to-day life and relationships. They knew that Christ can be lost to the mind and the heart not only through sin but also simply in the warp and wolf of day-to-day life. We surround ourselves with things that provide us with a sense of security and identity. This goes beyond material goods and includes our being driven by busyness and the...
Aug 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 8Ep. 328
The desert fathers were incredibly sensitive to the simple things in life that we often take for granted; the ways that we speak with others and treat them. In this sense, they were psychologically astute; realizing that in the warp and woof of day-to-day life, it is often the small things that affect relationships the most and so also a place where we are provoked to sin. We often describe these aspects of our life as normal or natural; that is, being human. Yet, even that which is good must be...
Aug 01, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 199
Renunciation: The word has certain connotations that are often tied to deprivation or unhappiness. What we find in the writings of the great ascetics, St. Isaac especially, is something quite different; the weaning of ourselves from the things that we are attached to in the world in order to become more attached to God, to what endures and fills the soul with consolation and strength. For example, we are called to embrace the practice of vigils, to rise during the night to pray and thereby humbl...
Jul 24, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 8Ep. 20
As we completed hypothesis 32 and considering the fathers’ teaching on contrition being a source of spiritual labor and protection, we made a segway into the most beautiful and compelling of stories found in the Evergetinos. The story captures why we must maintain a spirit of humility and contrition to the very end of our lives. Regardless of the depth of our love and mercy or our gratitude toward God and others for their care, the evil one through his relentless provocation can throw us back on...
Jul 22, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 6Ep. 198
Saint Isaac the Syrian begins this homily with the words: “The soul that loves God finds rest only in God.“ This thought permeates all that is to follow. Our weaning ourselves from our attachment to the things of the world and our own self-esteem and judgment opens our eyes to the love and freedom that is ours in Christ. To see this, Saint Isaac tells us, one must engage in the ascetic life; that is, we must discipline the body through vigils, prayer fasting and the like; cultivating the heart i...
Jul 17, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 8Ep. 19
The Desert Fathers make it very clear that in every element of our faith life we are being drawn into the mystery of God and the kingdom. Therefore, we must become comfortable with living in mystery; of being immersed in a reality that is beyond intellect and reason and comprehended solely through the gift of faith and the light that God bestow upon us. We often move very quickly to dissect what has been revealed to us by God, both for ourselves and others. Discussing matters of faith and readin...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 197
Links provided to the group: Outline: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/250d23a5-4286-ca11-aa97-511cb2db99e7/Phronema_Outline_2025.pdf Phronema in the Teachings of Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/bcb1bdd1-e77a-1f58-b90d-8070e0f7f9d5/Phronema_in_Teachings_of_Zacharias_Zacharou.pdf Quotes: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/e2d2937f-cb54-e3d1-e164-4fffc0d409da/Collection_of_Quotes_on_Phronema...
Jul 13, 2025•1 hr 58 min•Season 100Ep. 14
Perhaps there has been no greater or more beautiful exhortation written than Saint Isaac the Syrian’s homily on temptation. This may seem to be a rather bold statement, but Isaac’s words draw us into the very heart of a reality that even many men and women of faith do not see; that is, we are engaged in a spiritual warfare against the Evil One. Evil is not an abstraction or a story meant to instill fear as a means of control. Isaac speaks of it from the perspective of experience and like the oth...
Jul 13, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 18
The beauty of the writings of the fathers and in particular the lived experiences of the monks as described in the Evergetinos brings to life the spiritual life in an unparalleled fashion. They show us that there is no part of the spiritual life that can be seen outside the context of our relationship with God. In other words, there is no spiritual practice or discipline, no spiritual fruit or experience that does not begin and end with God and his grace. Contrition is love! It is rooted in the ...
Jul 08, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 196
Knowledge of God comes through the experience of God. When faith remains an abstraction, an idea, it is destined to remain lifeless and loses its capacity to transform and heal. It is the Lord Himself - He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life - who must teach us. Outside this path, we will lack all understanding. What we are called to contemplate is not simply what we can see with our eyes, perceive through our senses or conceive through our intellect. It is the mind of God, the mind of Chris...
Jul 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 17
When reading the fathers, it is as if we are swimming in the living waters of their faith and love for God. In this sense we are in a privileged position: we are able to catch a glimpse of what might otherwise be completely incomprehensible to us. Yet the warmth of the light of their faith is undeniable; for contrition is often understood and experienced as the coldest of realities, expressing only the poverty of our sin and the distance from God that it creates. When reading the fathers, howeve...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 195
Text of chat during the group: 00:15:43 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/7dc24fb1-6e46-0667-4ec1-01790064a60b/Thirst_for_God_Zacharou.pdf 00:16:31 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/7dc24fb1-6e46-0667-4ec1-01790064a60b/Thirst_for_God_Zacharou.pdf 00:16:48 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/506f6085-0052-3e6d-7e04-806ca4478091/Thirst_for_God_handout_of_quotes...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 100Ep. 13
Saint Isaac the Syrian asks the question that has been put forward for centuries - “how are we to pray?” In fact, our Lord himself was asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray as John the Baptizer taught his disciples. Within a few beautiful paragraphs Isaac opens up for us not only what we are to pray for but why. What Isaac would have us understand is that our prayer should be a reflection both of who God is and what he is revealed already in regard to his desires for us and a reflecti...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 8Ep. 16
As we listen to St. Isaac the Syrian in Homily Three his focus shifts from speaking of the necessary foundation to be laid in the spiritual life, purity of mind, to drawing us further to purity of heart. Purity of mind is established through the toils of the ascetic life, including vigils, fasting, prayer and meditation upon the scriptures, etc. One’s attraction to the life of virtue grows. However, Isaac warns us that as quickly as it is formed within us, it can be lost. A soul may allow into t...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 15
Contrition is love! To many this will seem to be an absurdity, but when we look not only to the writings of the fathers, but to the life of Christ himself something far more beautiful begins to emerge. Contrition, in order for it to be genuine and not to lead to despair, must be tied to a depth of love that does not allow for any other response from the heart than to weep. One of the perfect examples came tonight through the teaching of Abba Poimen. “On one occasion, as he was returning to Egypt...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 194
One of the amazing things about reading the lives in the teachings of the desert fathers is that we begin to see that we are part of the body of Christ and among the many who have sought to make the spiritual journey over the centuries. We aren’t Christians in isolation. This means not only that we hold and believe the same truths about the faith that have been revealed to us but also that we seek to embrace in all of its fullness the life and the love of that Christ has made possible for us. We...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 193
Saint Isaac for Syrian proves himself once more to be one of the most beautiful and poetic of teachers. He describes for us the nature of the human person and the fragmentation that has taken place because of sin. On the level of the flesh, the body has certain needs and will seek to satisfy them. Yet, sin often brings a disorder to this desire as well as a weakness of will. In other words, we can begin to seek to satisfy the flesh in a sinful fashion and in a way contrary not only to Divine rev...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 14
“Contrition is his very name!” This is how the authors describe a monk who not only is contrite of heart, but who also lives always in this state. What becomes clear in the writings and experience of the desert fathers is that contrition is the source of consolation. The capacity to see one’s sin, though painful, is also the path to healing. It draws us to God and creates a thirst in our heart that only he can satisfy. We might wonder how we, living in the world, can maintain the same state. It ...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 192
Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis (right belief and right practice) are intimately tied together. All of the fathers and, in particular, Saint Isaac the Syrian want us to understand that our perception of revelation, who God is to us and what we have become in his Son through the Paschal mystery, and how we live our life are inseparable. God has revealed himself to us in a unique and distinctive fashion, and has made known to us our dignity and destiny in Christ. Therefore, having a clear understanding ...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 8Ep. 13
The loss of the spirit of contrition can take place whenever our hearts become hardened; when we grow sluggish in the spiritual life or our attention shifts off of our own sin and need for God‘s mercy and is redirected towards the things of the world or to the sins of others. The desert fathers pull back the veil on the human heart and reveal the motivation for our actions and thoughts. We often become very skilled at satisfying our morbid delight for seeing others weaknesses and their natural f...
Jun 03, 2025•57 min•Season 6Ep. 191
Upon reading the beginning of this homily, one clearly gets the sense that Saint Isaac the Syrian wants our understanding of the spiritual life, who we are as human beings, and a relationship with God (who has created us in His image and likeness), to be set on a foundation that is unshakable. One must love Isaac for the effort! He is giving us eyes to see. He began by presenting us with an image of a soul who truly abides in her nature, and so comes to penetrate into and understand the wisdom o...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 12
At the end of many of these groups, my only thought is that the beauty of the writings of the fathers is exquisite. Often when reading them one is both pierced to the heart, but also raised up and consoled. This is surprisingly so in this hypothesis on contrition. None of the fathers’ writings appear to be an abstraction, but rather their words reverberate with the pain and the love of those who experienced the struggle with sin. One comes to know not only the weight and burden of sin, but a kin...
May 20, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 190
What is it that forms and shapes us the most as human beings? What affects the way that we perceive reality and gives form to the thoughts that we have throughout the course of a day? Do we have any awareness of an interior life or are we simply drawn along by the flow of external realities; demands, responsibilities or forms of entertainment? According to the Fathers and Saint Isaac the Syrian, we are in a constant state of receptivity through our senses. Part of being a human being is that we ...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 11
In their discussion of the struggle with the passions and in particular those associated with the bodily appetites and what we experienced through the senses, the fathers do not neglect to show us the effect that our thoughts and our lack of watchfulness can have upon the unconscious. Certain images and ideas will emerge from our dreams and often take on a form that can be agitating or of a subject matter that is disturbing spiritually. The fathers want us to understand that we are not morally c...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 189
