Undusted Texts

The Filioque is a phrase added to the Nicene Creed in Western Christianity. The original text of the Nicene Creed (really, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) states that the Holy Spirit is “τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον,” “the One out of the Father proceeding.” In the currently-used Latin text, it is stated that the Holy Spirit is “Qui ex Patre Filioque procedit,” “Who out of the Father and the Son proceeds.” Originally, the Latin did not have the “and the Son” ( Filioque ); the phrase appeared in other creeds beginning around the 5th century, and it began to be added to the Nicene Creed in the 8th century. It was added to combat a heresy related to Arianism that had sprung up in the West, especially among the Goths, a heresy that denied the consubstantiality of all three Persons of the Trinity. The phrase also fit in with the Latin theological tradition and the way it discussed the Holy Spirit’s relation to the Father and the Son. In the East, however, the theological trad...

Each Wednesday during the school year, I pray a Rosary with a spiritual brotherhood I am a member of, a Rosary that is often prayed during a procession led by an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa.  This past week, as I prayed with my rosary in my right hand and my komboskini around my left wrist, I thought of the sublime combination of traditions. On one hand, we were praying the Rosary, the traditional Marian prayer revealed to St. Dominic.  With this prayer, we fervently beseeched the intercession of Our Lady, the Mother of God, as we meditated upon the mysteries of the life of Our Lord.  On the other hand (quite literally), my komboskini wrapped around my wrist reminded me to constantly remember Jesus Christ and to pray unceasingly the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.  The Rosary is a traditional devotion of the Western Church, and the Jesus Prayer prayed on a komboskini is a traditional devotion of the Eastern Church....

Χριστος ανεστι!  It is well-known that the Second Vatican Council declared that Gregorian chant is "specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services" (SC 116).  This does not mean that other types of music are completely banned from the liturgy (as some, including myself at times, try to claim), but it does mean that there is no place for completely doing away with Gregorian chant. Why is Gregorian chant so suited to the liturgy?  For one, it was specifically created for the liturgy.  Its original purpose is for the glorification of God through the divine rites.  It is a music set apart.  Second, it keeps the liturgical texts prominent.  The chant involves simple music which serves to highlight the text rather than hiding it in auditory flourishes.  This is keeping with Pope St. Pius X's description of sacred music: "Since its principal office is to clothe with ...

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, C.R.'s Il combattimento spirituale ( The Spiritual Combat ) is one of the classic works of Catholic spirituality regarding spiritual warfare.  The author was a member of the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence, better known as the Theatines, who lived between 1530 and 1610, publishing this work, his most famous, in 1589.  For centuries, this work has been an ascetic classic in the Western Church: one great devotee of the work was St. Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Church, who carried it in his pocket for 20 years. The work's popularity did not stop in the Western Church, though: it migrated to the East, making this classic one revered by both lungs of the Church, West and East.  Nicodemus the Hagiorite (Hagiorite means "of the Holy Mountain," that is, Mount Athos in Greece), a Greek Orthodox saint of the 18th century, came across this text and was enamored by it.  Seeing its potential for spiritual growth among the Orth...