The Gnosis of Philo – Part 2

Philo of Alexandria:
I. (1) There was once a time when, devoting my leisure to philosophy and to the contemplation of the world and the things in it, I reaped the fruit of excellent, and desirable, and blessed intellectual feelings, being always living among the divine oracles and doctrines, on which I fed incessantly and insatiably, [...]

The Gnosis of Philo

From Philo of Alexandria:
(34) I am not ashamed to relate what has happened to me myself, which I know from having experienced it ten thousand times. Sometimes, when I have desired to come to my usual employment of writing on the doctrines of philosophy, though I have known accurately what it was proper to set [...]

St. Gregory Palamas’s Sermon on the Transfiguration

On the Transfiguration
St Gregory Palamas, (Γρηγόριος Παλαμάς) Archbishop of Thessalonica (1296 – 1359)
For an explanation of the present Feast and understanding of its truth,it is necessary for us to turn to the very start of today’s reading from the Gospel: “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John his brother, and led [...]

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Prayer is the light of the soul

From a homily Pseudo-Chrysostom
Prayer is the light of the soul
The highest good is prayer and conversation with God, because it means that we are in God’s company and in union with him. When light enters our bodily eyes our eyesight is sharpened; when a soul is intent on God, God’s inextinguishable light shines into it [...]

Origen on the ‘eyes of the soul’

Origen on the ‘eyes of the soul’
Contra Celsum 7.39
Chapter XXXIX.
He [i.e., Celsus, the critic of Christianity whose work Origen refutes] also applies to us that epithet “carnal” or “flesh-indulging,” “although,” as we are wont to say, “we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know Him no more,”91 and although we [...]

Gnosis comes from Jesus Christ – 1Cr 1 (KJV)

1Cr 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
1Cr 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge;
knowledge = gnosei (gnōsis) [Strong's G1108]
via Blue Letter Bible – 1Cr 1 (KJV).
1. Gnosis is a grace.
2. [...]

The Gnosis of St Thérèse de Lisieux

The Gnosis of St Thérèse de Lisieux
For October 1 2008
Summary: One can view St Thérèse de Lisieux as a gnostic — and, in a manner of speaking, an ‘alchemist’. A true alchemist seeks not gold, but happiness, and love is the key to true happiness.
Today the Roman Catholic Church is privileged to commemorate the [...]