Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Some thoughts on unity.

Keep these thoughts in mind as we strive to embrace and live in unity with our Orthodox siblings, fellow Christians, Buddhists, friends and enemies.

The Coptic monk Matthew the Poor says this about unity:
"If we are not together it is a.) because we are seeking it before we have surrendered our whole heart and whole soul and our whole mind to God, and b) because we are seeking it outside ourselves; that is to say, we are trying to realize it as a matter for discussion and not within ourselves."

"The unity of men is an ideal that surpasses human strength if it is sought at a divine level. It flows, as a necessity, as an inevitable and direct consequence from the union of God with man."

"Unity is truth and truth inspires and inspiration first lodges itself in the heart and only htne in the understanding."

3 comments:

Matthew Francis said...

Reminds me a little of this quote:

"One reaches a point when it becomes clear that there is nothing to understand, that all complexities are imagined, that it is all a sort of fog we raise to cover up our sins and to avoid having to face them. The problems of contemporary consciousness, of young people, are often rubbish. There are two sources of sin: flesh and pride. And people are often trying to cover them up with complexities so that they look nice and deep (‘He has great problems…’).

…The truth is much simpler: flesh and pride. They are the true keys to problems and difficulties, the root of endless discussion, the whispers during the dullest confessions, of all the introspection and morbid self-indulgence.

- From "The Journals of Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Enthymemosis said...

yes indeed. that's one of my favourites bits from Fr. Alexander Schmemann's journals.

Jenny said...

I loved the quotes from Matthew the Poor. Thank you!