Abbot Meletios

Today...

I spent nearly eight hours today sitting under the teaching of Abbot Meletios of Saint John's Monastery in Manton, California. Here is a brief letter from Father Meletios on the web page of the monastery: http://www.monasteryofstjohn.org/monastery.htm. His "lectures" today were a simple sharing of his thoughts and wisdom gained in a life of practice in the Orthodox Faith. We ripped the lid off of some deep theological questions, not the least of which is the Orthodox idea of the "deification" of man - theosis - that is the aim and expectation of every Orthodox Christian. This deserves a much fuller explanation, as to a Western-minded soul such as myself, the idea of this thin space where "the line between where you end and God begins becomes fuzzy" is almost outrageous. But let me say this: to explain again to you the idea of theosis is one thing; sitting in the room with this man talking about it is quite another. His spirit ignited talking about the glory and mystery of communion, of Eucharist. I wish I could put even a bit of that radiant joy into my discussion. His discussion was firmly grounded in the experience of theosis; it was not merely an academic discussion. It was personal. Jesus Christ really is at the Center of the Orthodox faith. I bore witness to that today in the simple, but beatifully complex person of Archimandrite Meletios.

The talk was so utterly emotionally/physically/intellectually/spiritually exhausting for me, the Catacumen, that as soon as I got back to Raphael House, I fell asleep and woke up four hours later. I'm now on my way to play board games with Cory and Cora at Cory's apartment. A holy pursuit all in itself.

Goodnight. And Peace be with you.