The Prayer of St. Ephraim of Syrian

O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair and lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy Servant.
Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.

The Lenten prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is based on the parable of the publican and the pharisee. The publican did not attempt to justify himself before God as did the Pharisee, but instead humbly cried, "God have mercy on me a sinner." This prayer is incorporated into many of the services of Great Lent and usually includes one or more full prostrations.

As we enter into Great Lent, please forgive me for how I may have offended you through my blog.

A vision of sin

In various posts I have attempted, with limited success, to articulate the notion that my sin effects and affects all of humanity, not only myself and those whom I directly sin against. Or, as Dostoevsky writes in the Brothers Karamazov, that I am "responsible for the sins of all men."

Rather than rehash a topic that is beyond my grasp, I'll instead point toward a recent post from Glory to God for All Things, Our Common Life, for further exploration if the subject is of interest.

Credit where credit is due

After the FFRF's shenanigans in recent months, it is refreshing to note differing perspectives within atheism. Musalaha finds the noteworthy article and discusses it here.

Full House of Metal

I feel that I should post this before Great Lent begins.

The Word magazine

We receive The Word magazine, the mostly monthly publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. In the October issue, I found the article "Christians and Jews under Islam" to be fascinating.

Based on a paper delivered at a symposium at the Antiochian Village by Dr. Najib Saliba, the article describes in detail the history of the Middle East as one that has been marked by primarily peaceful, not violent interaction between the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. In addition, these peaceful interactions came primarily during a near millenia of Islamic rule over Judaism and Christianity. Interesting, is it not? Saliba concludes:

I would like to emphasize that the treatment of the Christians and Jews by Muslim states, Arab or Ottoman, was far superior to the treatment Muslims and Jews received at the hands of Christian states, or Palestinians at the hands of the Jewish state of Israel.

One would need to read the entirety of Saliba's article to see the context and tone of the above quote. He seems to deal with this volatile subject in an even-handed manner that seeks to clarify and avoid generalizations and naivete.

My purpose here is to highlight an article that addresses what could be described as a willing ignorance on the part of western culture.

When finding oneself at the far end of the proverbial pendulum, it is easy to react in a manner that does not correct the problem but simply swings to the other side of said pendulum and in so doing, creates another set of problems. With his measured and informed stance, it is my opinion that Saliba's article brings us closer to the center (follow the magazine link to read the article, from October 2008, in its entirety).