Undusted Texts

Quotes from St. Seraphim of Sarov on the fire of God: "God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. And so, if we feel in our hearts coldness, which is from the devil—for the devil is cold—then let us call upon the Lord, and He will come and warm our hearts with perfect love not only for Him, but for our neighbor as well. And from the presence of warmth the coldness of the hater of good will be driven away."  "For our God is a fire which consumes everything unclean, and no one who is defiled in flesh or spirit can enter into communion with Him." "Everything to do with the church is like an inner fire enkindling us, and looking after it is the best work of all. The humblest job, be it only to clean the floor of the house of God, is a nobler work than all the others."  "The heart boils, being kindled by Divine fire, only when there is living water in it; but when this is poured out, it grows cold and a man freezes....

The ideal of "spiritual childhood" is one that I do not know much about, but I am slowly encountering it more, especially through my wife's devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  Thus I found it interesting when I ran across this ideal in an early Church Father, St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 - c. 215).  The below passage is from his work Ὁ Παιδαγωγός ( The Paedagogue , or The Instructor ), a work revolving around the idea of Christ as our Paedagogue: we are the children that Christ is instructing.  This is just one section of the fascinating extended metaphor running through the work of how all Christians are as children to God.  To read the rest of the work, visit New Advent , where this translation can be found. "In contradistinction, therefore, to the older people, the new people are called young, having learned the new blessings; and we have the exuberance of life's morning prime in this youth which knows no old age, in which we are always growing to m...