Absolutely central to the way in which the Fathers understand the nature of humanity is the notion that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. This is drawn from Genesis of the Old Testament. This thought … Continue reading
Category Archives: Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers
In Eastern Christian spirituality, as expressed by the Greek Fathers, the human being as a person is of decisive importance. This does not mean that Christian spirituality is individualistic. The human person is always seen in a social context. It … Continue reading
Central to the Christology endorsed by the early councils was the vision of Christ as both the eternal Logos and the “New Adam,” who established the unity of humanity with himself as the divine model according to whose image human … Continue reading
Hopefully, my readers will begin to see how all of the various topics that I cover in the Eastern Herald begin to merge into a fuller understanding of God’s actions with humankind. In the last issue of this article, I … Continue reading
To continue our thought about the Eucharistic action in Christological terms, we say that the Spirit of God anoints all the faithful within the communion of the Body of Christ (i.e., the Church), which they have joined through personal acts … Continue reading
I suspect that at times this article probably becomes rather obtuse, especially when attempting to deal with all the debates that went on about the nature of Christ. This article is about Christ as Savior in the thinking of the … Continue reading
Eastern Eucharistic piety stands in vivid contrast to the late Medieval Latin practice of the veneration of the Host, an expression, on the level of spirituality, of the doctrine of transubstantiation. In the East, no philosophical terminology was applied specifically … Continue reading
As I shared in the last issue, participation in the Eucharist was defined by the Fathers in Christological terms – as being “in Christ”. Being “in Christ” however, does not involve personal or “hypostatic” identification with the Logos, because the … Continue reading
Central to the Christology endorsed by the early councils was the vision of Christ as both the eternal LOGOS (Word) and the “New Adam,” who restored the unity of the whole humanity with himself as the divine model according to … Continue reading
In the last issue I began sharing the thoughts of the Fathers on Christ’s Humanity and our ability to depict Him in iconography. Christ is the image of the Father. Therefore, if we image Christ we, in effect, also image … Continue reading