Nathan Duffy > Recent Status Updates

"Though marriage has many functions, its procreative function can not be voluntarily avoided. Those who wish to avoid children because they are cumbersome and steal one's leisure time ought to *avoid marriage itself*." - Fr. Josiah drawing on Clement of Alexandria.

"Before the [20th] century, the well-meaning could still delude themselves that 'Liberalism' and 'humanism', 'science' and 'progress', the Revolution itself and the whole path of modern thought were something positive and even, in some vague sense, had 'God' on their side. It is quite clear now that the Revolution and God can have nothing to do with each other."

"The army of the enemies of God is recruited as much from the many who passively accept the [modern nihilistic] position in the rear guard as from the few active enthusiasts who occupy the front ranks."

"No one lives but by the light of some revelation, be it a true or a false one, whether it serve to enlighten or obscure. He who will not live by the Christian Revelation must live by a false revelation, and all false revelations lead to the Abyss." - Fr. Seraphim Rose

"Many times I have found my prayer to be lifeless and dry because I approached it with an unrepentant heart. Prayer was then my production, my construction, my false edifice; and like the tower of Shinar before it, the Lord in His mercy destroyed my vain attempt to gain the Kingdom through arrogance and pride."

"To 'create' Christianity for ourselves is always to destroy Christianity."

"[T]o seek the Kingdom is not to dismiss the world: it is to reclaim the only orientation that can redeem it."

"The chains of [man's] bondage and the shackles of his slavery have become so commonplace, so 'normal', that they are no longer seen. The passions have become such familiar and commonplace enemies that man loses sight of their true character, their oppressive nature, and even starts to consider them friends."

Excellent book. Chapter 7 dragged a bit as it seemed to relate to experiences of prayer that monastics & ascetics achieve that are so far removed from my meager prayer life. This made it a bit of a trudge, but that aside, the text was fantastic.

Stellar thus far. Met. Hilarion guides us through Isaac's thought with copious amounts of quotes, while shaping Isaac's unsystematized style into a more traditional form.