PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

St. Isaac on the Holy Eucharist, Fasting, and the Purity of a Heart No Longer Fed by the World “Blessed is he who has as nourishment the Bread which came down from Heaven and gave life to the world…” — St. Isaac the Syrian There is something fierce in Isaac that our softer religious age often does not know what to do with. He does not speak of fasting as dieting. He does not speak of abstinence as discipline for its own sake. He does not speak of the Holy Eucharist as pious c

When the Heart Turns Manna into Dust “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” — Psalm 78 There is a moment in the psalm that should make us uneasy. Not because it speaks of rebellion in some distant people, but because it speaks with such painful accuracy about us. God gives. And it is not enough. He opens the rock. Water flows. It is not enough. He rains down manna. Bread from heaven. It is not enough. He leads, protects, feeds, sustains. And still the murmur rises like a