tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post2181501124741841769..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: The Three Hierarchs & 'Hellenism'Aaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-80453454251422757442010-02-13T09:36:18.877-06:002010-02-13T09:36:18.877-06:00Thanks, Andreas. I'll be sure to check out you...Thanks, Andreas. I'll be sure to check out your notes on +Kallistos's lecture.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-44670018024427689972010-02-12T23:09:35.826-06:002010-02-12T23:09:35.826-06:00Aaron,
First, let me say that the troparion for ...Aaron, <br /><br />First, let me say that the troparion for the feast of the Three Hierarchs you included is one of my favorite.<br /><br />Second, right on. I think you hit the nail on the head here with this post. Being of the Greek Archdiocese of America, I see first hand this same mistaken identity that Greeks have when discussing these Fathers. The disconnect between the popular conception of the Three Hierarchs as being nothing more nor less than beacons of the greatness of Greece (i.e. classical learning), and the fact that they were astoundingly brilliant beacons of Christian Truth is truly lamentable. Yet, on the other hand, as you point out, we must not go too far in chastising this, because, in fact, they are also prime examples of what happens when the Church absorbs all that is good and beneficial from without and converts and transfigures it.<br /><br />Remember that lecture by Met. Kallistos I mentioned not too long ago? It was the other night, and I <a href="http://ekekraxa.blogspot.com/2010/02/evening-with-his-eminence-kallistos-of.html" rel="nofollow">posted my notes on my blog</a>. This is exactly the topic he discussed, and I think you'll find it buttresses what you brought up here.Andreas Houposhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02279848515954071078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-69306310712552137362010-02-12T16:07:50.302-06:002010-02-12T16:07:50.302-06:00Thank you for that, Matthew. Very nice!Thank you for that, Matthew. Very nice!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-56389137173617861802010-02-12T07:44:47.791-06:002010-02-12T07:44:47.791-06:00Apropos of today's feast, from what I know of ...Apropos of today's feast, from what I know of St. John Mavropous (and I don't know much so I'm open to correction), he had a very Christian approach to secular leaning. His prayers are still in our prayer books today, but before he was Metropolitan, he was a court poet and philosopher, who loved Plutarch and Plato, and was the teacher of Micheal Psellus. <br /><br />J. M. Hussey quotes the following poem in her book <i>Church & Learning in the Byzantine Empire</i> which I think is a nice poem on the proper perspective of books and learning:<br /><br />"And thus, O Logos, mayest Thou guide and bear me, constant, unshaken, unmoved, remaining within the bounds of moderation, living among books like a bee among flowers, nourishing myself on words like a grasshopper in the dew, content to live only in the present, demanding nothing save salvation, to which mayest Thou, O Saviour, swiftly bring me, lest I grow very weary of the present. For the longed for haven far excels the easy labour of even a fair voyage, and is the consummation of all toils. May I quickly reach this, O my Christ."Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06922659552731758823noreply@blogger.com