Here’s something to add to the last post. It was the patristic reading for the evening worship service greeting the ecumenical participants:
Imagine a circle marked out on the ground. Suppose this is the world, and that the centre of the circle is God. Leading from the edge of the circle to its centre are a number of lines, and these represent the paths of ways of life that humankind can follow. In their desire to come closer to God, the saints move along these lines toward the middle of the circle so that the further they advance towards the middle of the circle the nearer they approach to both God and one another. The closer they come to God the closer they come to one another; and the closer they come to each other, the closer they come to God.
Such is the nature of love. The nearer we draw to God in love for him, the more we are united together by love for our neighbor; and the greater our union with our neighbor, the greater is our union with God.
- St. Dorotheus of Gaza (6th century)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment