PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

When Christ Becomes More Real Than the World “Within me there is no fire, but only water living and speaking in me, and saying to me from within, ‘Come to the Father.’” — St. Ignatius of Antioch There are certain texts that leave us inspired. There are others that leave us exposed. This letter of Ignatius does not comfort me. It judges me. Not because Ignatius condemns anyone. He does not. His words are too full of Christ for that. Rather, his love reveals the poverty of my o

The School of Disillusionment and the Freedom of Christ “The better you treat them, the worse they become. I am more and more trained in discipleship by their ill usage of me.” — St. Ignatius of Antioch There are certain passages in the Fathers that are so fierce we are tempted to place them behind glass. We admire them. We quote them. We call them heroic. Then we quietly move on before they ask anything of us. This passage from Ignatius is one of them. Most of us can underst