Monakhos

God is one
God is inside of us
God is life
God is love
God is suffering
God is the universe
Both that which we see,
and that which is invisible,
To our eyes and minds.

Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!

I have been reading about the Orthodox church a lot recently. In my reading I came across a group of people known as the Hesychasts that, from what I have read, really set the mystical tradition in the Orthodox church on its feet. A key teaching of the Hesychasts that was later written about my many church fathers in the Philokalia was the Jesus prayer. While it probably started as simply uttering the name of Jesus, it quickly progressed to the full phrase “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!”

As one practices the prayer and becomes familiar with it, he or she can practice saying it silently. After that is mastered the individual should practice visualizing the heart, beating the words of the prayer. During inhalation say “Lord Jesus Christ.” On exhalation say “Have mercy on me.”

I have been practicing this Orthodox form of meditation for about a week now. While I have not devoted myself fully to it (as the hermit in The Way of a Pilgrim did saying it tens of thousands of times a day, I have still been able to see an impact in my life while reciting the prayer. The Jesus prayer brings with it a peace and calm, similar to what I experience in regular medition, except easier to practice while I am working or driving.

The Bible is filled with references to the prayer of the heart and commands to pray at all times. The Jesus prayer was (and is still) an Orthodox response on how to achieve what is described in these verses. When the prayer of the heart (the Jesus prayer) is fully mastered, it is as if the heart prays freely even while the rest of the body is performing other tasks, such as work or even sleeping.

If you are interested in reading more about the Jesus prayer, I would recommend Olga Savin’s translation of The Way of a Pilgrim. I read the abridged version, but it appears that it is out of print now. To read more about the Orthdox church, I would recommend Timothy (Kallistos) Ware’s The Orthodox Church.

I feel like everyone who’s anyone has posted at least once on The Gospel of Judas. I just finished reading the book myself, and thought I would write a little review. It is a little late for such posts, but I have been busy and actually wanted to finish the book (which is quite short) and the commentaries attached with it (each is longer than the gospel itself) and reflect a little bit on my reactions. However, I am sure that nearly everyone is tired of seeing the same posts over and over with a minor history lesson, quick blurb about Sethian Gnostics, and then some various quotes from the work; especially the verse where Jesus tells Judas that Judas that he will assist Jesus by letting his spirit out of his body. So this review will be a little different. I hope to point out some things that have not been emphasized quite as much.

I said that I would not post a history or anything, but I think I may have lied. The Gospel of Judas was written before 180 AD, as it was referenced in Iraneus’ Against Heresies written that year. Presumably, it must have been written about 20 years before this, so as to have been able to make an impact and pose a threat to the sect of Christianity that would become orthodox. The only known copy of The Gospel of Judas was found in Egypt in the late 1970s. While it was not believed to be too badly damaged at the time, the next twenty years proved to be a trial for the Coptic manuscript. When it was recovered, it took nearly five years to recover and translate the text. Still large portions are missing and the remains that are not missing are nearly impossible to read. That is it for the history lesson, if you want more, read somewhere else. I have more important topics to discuss.

After reading The Gospel of Judas, one can see why the book was deemed as heresy by those who became Orthodox Christianity. The contents attack nearly everything Orthdoxy believes. Only some have a spark of the divine. The gods in charge of this world are rebels and traitors who snatch souls from the supreme God’s dominion and trap them in human bodies. Some bodies on earth trap divine souls that will be released again after their tenure on earth; other bodies have lesser souls that do not survive. It is an interesting cosmology, but it seems more like a reaction against Orthodox Christianity than an innovative truth. Much of it the philosophy is reminiscent of the Pythagorean thought portrayed in Plato’s Phaedo.

Would I recommend the book? Not really. It is interesting to read a work that has been hidden for so long, and it would be good for someone who is into studying gnosticism. For everyone else, I would say the book’s worth is limited. It is just too damaged and too obscure to really be beneficial for casual study or to find practical application. The commentaries are great and very interesting for everyone, but I am not sure that they really are much better or extensive as Elaine Pagel’s The Gnostic Gospels. If you want the history, I would buy that book. If you want a good gnostic work, buy The Gospel of Thomas by Jean-Yves Leloup. Of course if you are a book geek like me, you will probably want to buy it just to pad your bookshelf. It does look really nice up there with my other apocryphal books. Basically, it is up to you. Just don’t expect a lot of revelation to come to you from reading it. It may happen to someone, but I can’t imagine it.

If you are interested and in the area:

Location: Tabernacle Church of Norfolk Atrium (7000 Granby Street Norfolk, Virginia 23505)
Dress: Semi-formal
Menu: Free coffee, desert, and popcorn
RSVP to: rachel at currentpictures dot org
Keynote speaker: Norm Mintle, Associate Dean of Communication School; Regent University

Featuring:

• Pastor Erwin McManus (“Barbarian Way”, “Uprising”, “Chasing Daylight”)
• Producer Mark Joseph (“Passion of the Christ”; “Chronicles of Narnia”)
• Researcher David Kinnaman (VP, Barna Group)
• Screenwriter Craig Detweiler (“Extreme Days”)
• Author James Lanteaux (author of god.net and god.com)

There is no absolute truth, all truth is relative
There is no relative truth, all truth is absolute

(This just struck me this afternoon and I have been pondering it the rest of the evening.)