During my absence from this place I undertook to begin the ordering of my life. The most important thing was, of course, my irregular, or drifting, ecclesial status. Now, God be praised, after six or seven years, I am no longer drifting but a communicant member of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I was received by the Mystery of Baptism by the Reverend Father Andrew Phillips at the church of St John the Wonderworker in Colchester. I am overwhelmed, to heart's bursting in fact, by the ineffable grace and mercy of God, to whose glory and honour I shall devote the remainder of my life.
You may be wondering whether, as at Pentecost 2010 when I started this weblog, I shall return to writing. I may do so in time but it will not be here. Many of the controversies about which I once wrote no longer concern me, and, just as the Prodigal Son would not return to the field of swine, so I shall not return to the circular and positivist, indeed hopeless, arguments and delusions that plague so many.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Happy Whitsun!
I am delighted to see (read) you back, and am happy to see you settled in your Christian commitment in the Orthodox Church. May you be filled with God's deifying energies and the happiness of being where you were called. I remain Anglican (continuing) but I have always loved Russian philosophy and the spirituality of the "Way of a Pilgrim" and the recent film "The Island".
ReplyDeleteI think you will do well to open a new blog to reflect your new life and spirituality in a different tradition. I can perfectly understand that many of your previous concerns are no longer relevant, and you may have many new perspectives on the Fathers of the Church, monastic spirituality or even Russian philosophers like Berdyaev, Khomiakov and others.
Your new life will bring you many blessings as did my week of saying my Office by torchlight in my boat or Lauds to the first rays of sunshine before my fellow sailors arrived from the campsite. Keep simplicity and joy and don't worry about other people are up to.
Fr Anthony
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI have quietly followed your blog for the last two years or so. Having done so, let me say I am am happy for the peace which you seem to have acquired. As an Orthodox Christian on the other side of the pond, and one discerning in another sense, I can say that along with blessings, expect the silly nonsense that comes with any "institution". Nevertheless, I have come to find that God resides here, in different ways to every man. May the synaxis of His angelic army defend you from all evil and the silliness of this world in which we live. I hope to follow your future writing as well.
Many years!
ReplyDeletemay you be blessed in your journey forward.
ReplyDeleteA question, if I may.
ReplyDeletewhatever happened to the blogger "Ex Fide"?
Who can say? I heard that he abandoned the Church of England and went to live abroad. We lost contact then.
DeleteDear Patricius.
ReplyDeleteDelighted.
Ad Multos Annos.
The road is hard and devious.
You will survive.
Our Lady will guide you.
in Domino
David H