PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

On Waiting Between What Was and What May Never Be “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” — Job 1:21 There are days when I do not feel like holding onto any identity at all. I have spent much of my life straining toward things that seemed beautiful and holy. Priesthood, religious life, study, prayer, ascetic labor, teaching, writing, spiritual friendship. There was always the sense that one could become something more faithful, more wort

St. Paul of Thebes and a Disciple “There comes a time when the servant of God no longer lives by what he does, but by what he is willing to lose.” — saying attributed to the desert tradition surrounding Paul of Thebes (Feast Jan.15) Disciple: Father Paul, the years feel heavy in my bones. What once burned with clarity now feels stripped bare. I have served at the altar for decades, yet I feel as though my name is being taken from me. Not through scandal. Not through failure.

What Silence and Prayer Demand of a Priest’s Life Silence is not a mood the priest enters when time allows. It is a discipline that shapes his entire way of living. To speak of silence without allowing it to order one’s life is to speak abstractly. The Desert Fathers never did this. For them, silence had weight because it demanded decisions. For the priest, silence means guarding the inner man before guarding the calendar. It requires intentional limits on speech, engagement,