“The inquiry is not necessary. For all the laws of Heaven and Earth able to prevent them from their crime, are unable to prevent men from their crimes." Dr. Johnson

The wounded surgeon plies the steel 

That questions the distempered part; 

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel 

The sharp compassion of the healer’s art

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Our only health is the disease

If we obey the dying nurse

Whose constant care is not to please

But to remind of our, and Adam’s curse,

And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow 

           worse.

The whole earth is our hospital 

Endowed by the ruined millionaire, 

Wherein, if we do well, we shall 

Die of the absolute paternal care 

That will not leave us, but prevents us 

          everywhere. 

The chill ascends from feet to knees, 

The fever sings in mental wires. 

If to be warmed, then I must freeze 

And quake in frigid purgatorial fires 

Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is 

       briars.

The dripping blood our only drink, 

The bloody flesh our only food: 

In spite of which we like to think 

That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood— 

Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.

T.S. Eliot, East Coker

“The inquiry is not necessary. For all the laws of Heaven and Earth able to prevent them from their crime, are unable to prevent men from their crimes."

Dr. Johnson

The Soothsayer: “And I saw a great sadness come over mankind. The best turned weary of their works. A doctrine appeared, a faith ran beside it: ‘All is empty, all is alike, all hath been!’ And from all hills there re-echoed: ‘All is empty, all is alike, all hath been!’ To be sure we have harvested: but why have all our fruits become rotten and brown? What was it fell last night from the evil moon? In vain was all our labour, poison hath our wine become, the evil eye hath singed yellow our fields and hearts. Arid have we all become; and fire falling upon us, then do we turn dust like ashes:—yea, the fire itself have we made aweary. All our fountains have dried up, even the sea hath receded. All the ground trieth to gape, but the depth will not swallow! ‘Alas! where is there still a sea in which one could be drowned?’ so soundeth our plaint—across shallow swamps. Verily, even for dying have we become too weary; now do we keep awake and live on—in sepulchres.” 

(from Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche)

I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days; 

  I fled Him, down the arches of the years; 

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways 

    Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears 

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.         

      Up vistaed hopes I sped; 

      And shot, precipitated, 

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears, 

  From those strong Feet that followed, followed after. 

      But with unhurrying chase,        

      And unperturbèd pace, 

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, 

      They beat—and a Voice beat 

      More instant than the Feet— 

‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’

First stanza, the Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson - 1893

Giotto, Crucifixion and Ascension 

Crucifixion

‘What it is to be God and what it is to be human remain the same, but the miracle is that each is now revealed together in one and, therefore, also through each other: mortality is not a property of God, creating life is not a property of humans, but Christ has brought both together, conquering death by His death and in this very act conferring life immortal…’’ 

Fr. John Behr

Isaiah 49:8-9

  Thus says the LORD: 

In a time of favor I have answered you;    

in a day of salvation I have helped you; 

  I will keep you and give you    

as a covenant to the people,

  to establish the land,    

to apportion the desolate heritages, 

saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’    

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

Trinity Icon, Andrei Rublëv (1370-1430)

Holy, Holy, Holy, 

Lord of Sabaoth. {Lord God Almighty}

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. 

Hosanna in the highest. 

Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

“All remembrance is ultimately the remembrance of Christ, all thanksgiving is finally thanksgiving for Christ. “In Him was life and that life was the light of men.” And in the light of the Eucharist we see that Christ is indeed the life and light of all that exists, and the glory that fills heaven and earth. There is nothing else to remember, nothing else to be thankful for, because in Him everything finds its being, its life, its end.”

Holy and most holy art Thou in 

Thy glorious majesty, 

Who hast so loved the world 

That Thou gavest 

Thine only-begotten Son, 

That whosoever believeth on Him 

Should not perish but have everlasting life, 

Who, when He had come 

And had performed all that was appointed for our sakes, 

In the night on which he was given up, 

or In which, rather, 

He did give Himself 

For the life of the world, 

Took bread in His holy and pure and sinless hands 

And when He had given thanks, and blessed it, and sanctified it, 

He gave it to His holy disciples, saying: 

Take, eat, this is my Body which is broken for you 

For the remission of sins. 

And in like manner, after supper

He took the cup, saying: Drink ye all of this: 

this is my Blood of the New Testament, 

Which is shed for you, and for many 

For the remission of sins. 

“As we stand before God, there is nothing else we can remember and bring with us and offer to God but this self-offering of Christ, because in it all thanksgiving, all remembrance, all offering—that is, the whole life of man and of the world—were fulfilled. And so:”

Remembering this commandment of salvation, 

And all those things which for our sakes were brought to pass, 

The Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, 

The Ascension into Heaven, the Sitting on the right hand, 

The Second and glorious Advent— 

Thine own of thine own we offer unto Thee, 

In behalf of all and for all.…

from FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD 

Sacraments and Orthodoxy

 by ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN