What’s the story behind your nickname?
To my knowledge, I have never had a nickname. I have been called Father (that is, as a priest) in the past. But that was a relational term rather than a nickname.
Author: a solitary
All alone with Jesus
Proverbs
These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
Proverbs 6:16-19
- A proud look,
- A lying tongue,
- Hands that shed innocent blood,
- A heart that devises wicked plans,
- Feet that are swift in running to evil,
- A false witness who speaks lies,
- And one who sows discord among brethren.
strategies
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
Avoid people, focus on Jesus.
read more
What are your future travel plans?
I have absolutely no travel plans but I do have plans to read more. I like “where” I am at the moment. Yet there is always another book to read and a new author to explore.
St Mary Magdalene, patron of penitents
The 1928 Proposed BCP added St Mary Magdalene as a red letter feast day – that is, with first Evensong etc. So enjoy this clip from The Chosen.
for you
Depends on what I am doing and the time of the day. But I have one playlist to which I return most days: for you.
incognito: the hiddenness of the solitary life
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3)
The individual does not stop being a human being, take off finitude’s motley in order to be dressed in the abstract garb of the monastery; but nor does he mediate between the absolute τέλος and finitude. In immediacy the individual is rooted in the finite; when resignation has convinced itself that he has acquired the absolute orientation towards the absolute τέλος, … He is a stranger in the world of the finite, but does not define his difference from worldliness by an alien mode of dress (a contradiction, since it would define him as worldly); he is incognito, but his incognito consists precisely in looking just like everyone else.
Kierkegaard: Concluding Unscientific Postscript
the law and the solitary
Whereas Western canon law regarding hermits has been marked until recently by an extreme rigidity, Eastern monasticism is distinguished in this, as in other respects, by flexibility and variety. … Such matters cannot and should not be made the subject of detailed legislation; freedom must be left to the conscience of the individual, guided by the Holy Spirit and by his spiritual father. Canon law should not displace the personal relationship between the abba and his disciple.
Metropolitan Kallistos in Solitude and Communion: Papers on the Hermit Life
absolutely …
…a cat person. I have nothing against dogs – maybe a Great Dane – but I am simply a cat person.
public & individual
The performance of the liturgy, which the Orthodox Church sees as the fundamental reason for its existence, is a public event in which the words and gestures of the priest, familiar to all, are repeated before the eyes of the faithful; any variation or deviation can be recognised. The deep spiritual truths of the Faith, on the other hand, were communicated to individuals by spiritual fathers who had prepared themselves through long periods of solitude and prayer.
France, Peter. Hermits: The Insights of Solitude
this solitary life 