[AMI] Reflections on the Human Condition, Faith, and the Search for Truth ~Blaise Pascal's Thoughts (Pensées)

 

Blaise Pascal’s Thoughts on "The Man Who Found God" is a philosophical abstract that explores the search for God and the limitations of human understanding. The author criticizes philosophers who attempt to prove the existence of God through rational arguments based on nature. They argue that such proofs are ineffective for those lacking faith and grace, and that only through Jesus Christ can one truly partake in God. The abstract discusses the dissatisfaction and unhappiness of atheists, emphasizing their inability to comprehend the truth or even doubt it. It delves into the human desire for happiness and the futile attempts to find it without faith in God. The author argues that true happiness can only be found in something infinite and unchanging, which is the Lord God. The abstract also touches on various philosophical sects and their perspectives on the highest good. It criticizes philosophers who believe in God but fail to recognize Jesus Christ, highlighting their desire for universal love and reverence without genuinely loving and honoring God. The abstract further examines Pyrrhonism and its role in questioning and curing vainglory. It also ponders on the nature of humanity and the vast difference between humans, God, and animals, suggesting that humans have strayed from their original place and are in a restless state of searching. Overall, the abstract explores the limitations of human understanding and the necessity of faith in the search for God and true happiness.

Rev. Antony Pechersky [of the Caves] (983—1073) [Englished] died 950 years ago on May 7/20 [23JUL, 15SEP, 11OCT]

 

Rev. Antony Pechersky [of the Caves] (983—1073) died 946 years ago today { May 7/20 } [23JUL, 15SEP, 11OCT]

October 11 - Cathedral of the Reverend Fathers of the Kyiv Caves, in the Near Caves (St. Antony) resting.

Antony of the Caves (983-1073) - the founder of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, occupies a special place in the assembly of ancient Russian saints and is revered by the Russian Church as "the head of all Russian monks", since the Pechersk monastery founded by him on the Kyiv mountains for many centuries served as the center and school of ancient Russian monasticism and enlightenment for all Rus'. The Near (Antony's) caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra are named after Antony.

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Between "clarification" and "covering": the situation of the image in the poetry of Ephraim the Syrian - Prof. Sergey S. Averintsev

Professor Sergey Sergeevich Averintsev

[Poets]

 

 Poets

 

Content

annotation

A little personal

Two thousand years with Virgil

Between "clarification" and "covering": the situation of the image in the poetry of Ephraim the Syrian

The luxury of pattern and the depth of the heart: the poetry of Grigor Narekatsi

Derzhavin's poetry

Reflections on Zhukovsky's translations

Consistency of symbols in the poetry of Vyacheslav Ivanov

The fate and message of Osip Mandelstam

The poetry of Clemens Brentano

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, or The Surprise of Sanity

Hermann Hesse

Literature

 

Between "clarification" and "covering":

the situation of the image in the poetry of

Ephraim the Syrian 8

Alas, our contemporary does not seem to remember very clearly the very existence of classical Syriac literature, which survived its golden age in the 4th-5th centuries. “The Syrians – did they write in Arabic?” - sometimes you have to hear from people who are not at all ignorant. Neither textbooks nor reference books are in a hurry to help grief 9 .

And this is a pity, because literature in Syriac, the offspring of the Aramaic language tree, created over a strictly measured historical period, when the onslaught of Hellenism lost strength, and the onslaught of Islam had not yet gained strength, is not just the subject of one of the disciplines of Semitology, not a local phenomenon that can only be praised for its originality, but a historical and literary fact of a worldwide scale. The lines connecting in time biblical antiquity with the Christian, and even Muslim, Middle Ages, and in space - Iran and everything that lies to the east of Iran, with Byzantium and Western Europe, pass through the Syrian-speaking zone, intersect in it, form their own lines in it. vital knots. In the first millennium of our chronology, the Syrian influence was felt from Ireland 10 to China 11. This is not the place to talk about this in any detail. Let us just recall two circumstances: firstly, it was the Syrians who were the first to create durable forms of the Christian hymn for Byzantium, and therefore for all countries that Byzantium influenced 12 ; secondly, it was from the Syrians that the Moslem East received the tradition of Aristotelianism, which in a roundabout way, through the Arabs, returned to the West and fertilized high scholasticism 13 . The importance of both cannot be overestimated. And one more brief reminder, concerning not world, but domestic culture. What do ancient Russian literature, together with Russian folklore, owe to Syrian authors (and especially to Ephraim the Sirin ) 14, in a few words you can’t say; but even in our literature of the last century, which seemed to have departed so far from these sources, it is impossible not to recall Pushkin, who transcribed into verse the prayer of the same Ephrem the Syrian 15 , and Dostoevsky, a reader of another Syrian author, Isaac of Nineveh 16 .

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St. Theophan the Myrrh-streaming, Bishop of Soleas, ArchBp. of Cyprus

 

St. Theophan the Myrrh-streaming

Saint Theophan the Myrrh-streaming
Bishop of Soleas, Archbishop of Cyprus

Feast Date:	17/05/2023
Holiday type:	Fixed. It is celebrated on May 17 every year.
Saints who celebrate:	Saint Theophan the Myrrh-streaming Bishop of Soleas, Archbishop of Cyprus (? - 1550)
Last update:	06/05/2010 14:53

Apolytikion
Redemption from the self-sacrificing, Father, almighty, while humiliating the world, you immediately died and rushed to the Mesa Potamos Monastery, where in the pains of others you found a source of sanctification; for, Theophan Father, think of us your servants and infuse with divine myrrh.

Kontakion
Oh Myrrh-streamer, the scents of the divine Spirit, and as the creator of miracles all scents, you provide abundantly to the honored ones; but for those who are alone, there is no one who is excellent, a guide of our generation to perfection, that we may cry: Hail Father Theophan.

The House
Abandoned with awe in your memory, Father, gathered to me, in hymns we grow old with longing for the warmth of your life all the septs and grace for grace we receive from you;

Hail, bright treasury of virtue,

Hail, container of God's understanding.

Hail, unfathomable depth,

Hail, unsurpassed height of perfection.

Hail, the myrrh of divine grace, who emanates marvelously,

Hail, type of resurrection, your tabernacle is glorious.

Hail, you who walk the path of immortality,

Hail, you who show the sign of incorruption.

Hail, the boast of Prodromos Monastery,

Hail, the one-way cry of life.

Hail, warm protector of the island of Cyprus,

Hail, our mediator to the Creator;

Hail Father Theophan.

Seat
Immerse yourself as a treasure in your sorrows, enriching with joy, erasing the poverty of passions and awarding the hope of life, in joy we warmly cry out to you: O Father, beseech Christ God to keep our lives in peace.