church fathers

St John Climacus on Mad Pride and Vainglory : Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 22-23
Ladder of Divine Ascent

St John Climacus on Mad Pride and Vainglory: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 22-23

08/12/2026 Bruce Strom 0

What is the difference between vainglory and pride? Today, vainglory is an archaic word that has not been replaced in common usage, so we usually consider them to be synonymous. Although St John Climacus concedes they are similar, except vainglory progresses to mad pride. He examines vainglory in Step 22, and mad pride in Step 23.
Let us compare the definitions:
Step 22.1. “Some like to distinguish vainglory from pride, and to give it a special place and chapter.” “The only difference between them” is like the difference “between a child and a man, between wheat and bread: for the one is the beginning and the other the end.”
Step 22.2. “With regard to its form, vainglory is a change of nature, a perversion of character, a note of blame. With regard to its quality, it is a dissipation of labors, a waste of sweat, a betrayal of treasure, a child of unbelief, the precursor of pride, shipwreck in harbor, an ant on the threshing floor which, though small, has designs upon all one’s labor and fruit. The ant waits for the gathering of the wheat, and vainglory for the gathering of the riches of virtue: for the one loves to steal and the other to squander.” […]

FDR’s Inaugural Address and St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, on Fear & Cowardice, Step 21
Ladder of Divine Ascent

FDR’s First Inaugural Address and St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, on Fear & Cowardice, Step 21

08/06/2026 Bruce Strom 0

The chapter on fear is both one of the shortest and one of the most puzzling chapters of St John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent. In part, that is because there are many flavors of fears that spring from our most basal fears: the fear of the dark, the distressing, the dangerous.
More common are those fears that cause us to hesitate. Perhaps we fear what others think of us when we champion the good others do not see. Perhaps we fear rejection and failure. Perhaps we fear that past failures will rob us of future success. Perhaps we fear to do good when we are not encouraged. […]

St John Climacus on Insensibility, Sleep, Prayer, and Vigil: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 18-20
Ladder of Divine Ascent

St John Climacus on Insensibility, Sleep, Prayer, and Vigil: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 18-20

07/10/2026 Bruce Strom 1

Father John Mack teaches us: “The labor of prayer is a labor with the thoughts. Our minds are far too lazy and undisciplined. Instead of directing our thoughts and controlling them, we allow them to run free, here and there, wherever they wish to go. So, during prayer, we find ourselves thinking about all kinds of other things.”
We are called to prayer during Divine Liturgy. Do we complain that the service is over an hour? Do we watch our watch rather than our soul? Are we attentive in prayer, are we attentive during Divine Liturgy, paying attention to our prayers, not letting our mind wander, trying not to let our mind wander? We are bidden by Jesus in his Agony of the Garden of Gethsemane to stay awake and pray. […]

St Moses the Black, Desert Church Father, Former Ancient Gang Leader
Early Church Writing

St Moses the Black, Desert Church Father, Former Ancient Gang Leader

05/31/2026 Bruce Strom 0

The old man said: ‘If we are on the watch to see our own faults, we shall not see those of our neighbor. It is folly for a man who has a dead person in his house to leave him there and go to weep over his neighbor’s dead. To die to one’s neighbor is this: To bear you won faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad.
Do no harm to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart to anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor.” […]

The Hymn Inspired by John I AM the Bread of Life
Hymns and Their Inspirations

The Hymn inspired by John, I Am the Bread of Life, with Commentary by Church Fathers and Reformed Preachers

05/27/2026 Bruce Strom 0

John Chrysostom teaches us: “Jesus calls this the true bread, not because the miracle of the manna was false, but because it was a type and not the very truth itself.” “After Jesus says, ‘Moses did not give,’ he does not say, ‘I give,’ but says that the Father, and not Moses, gives.”
“When they heard this, the people replied: ‘Give us this bread to eat.’ They still thought it was something material, and they yet expected to satisfy their appetites, and so they quickly ran to him. What does Christ do? Leading them on little by little, he says, ‘The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” […]

Psalm 137: Should We Bash the Babylonian Babies? Spiritual and Historical Interpretations
Biblical Interpretation

Psalm 137: Should We Bash the Babylonian Babies Against the Rocks? Spiritual and Historical Interpretations

05/07/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!
Origen was one of the first Church Fathers who interpreted this troublesome verse allegorically, as did St Ambrose, who catechized and baptized the young St Augustine. Origen teaches us that “the little ones of Babylon, which signifies confusion, are those troublesome sinful thoughts that arise in the soul, and one who subdues them by striking their heads against the firm and solid strength of reason and truth, is the person who ‘dashes the little ones against the stones;’ and he is therefore truly blessed.”[2] Likewise, St Ambrose comments that we should “dash all corrupt and filthy thoughts against Christ.” […]

Polycarp, Christian Martyrs, and Stoic Philosophers: Dying the Good Death
Epictetus and Rufus

Polycarp, Christian Martyrs, and Stoic Philosophers: Dying the Good Death

03/24/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Did the Christian martyrdoms and the Stoic view towards suicide both reflect the ancient Greek and Roman concern that the virtuous person should die the good death, facing death with courage, not fearing death?
What we are not concerned with is whether the Christian views towards martyrdom affected the Stoic views of suicide, or the reverse, or vice versa. How one influenced the other is both impractical to conjecture and impossible to prove.
We cannot assume that all Stoic philosophers enthusiastically condoned suicide. In the City of God, St Augustine opposed suicide in all cases. The Stoic Seneca obsessed about suicide because he spent his last few retirement years wondering when the evil Emperor Nero would send his sword-wielding soldiers to his estate to insist that he commit suicide. Like St Augustine, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus opposed suicide in most circumstances. […]

Psalm 71: Encouraging Us In Our Old Age
Biblical Interpretation

Psalm 71: Encouraging Us In Our Old Age

03/11/2026 Bruce Strom 4

John Calvin speculates that David composed Psalm 71 after experiencing the trauma of losing the life of his son Absalom during his rebellion against him, which was sparked by the favoritism Davis showed towards his newly resented wife, Bathsheba. “The particular reference which David makes to his old age renders this conjecture not improbable.”
If so, this psalm should be a comfort to those who old age is lonelier due to mistakes, miscalculations or misfortunes occurring many years earlier. […]

Psalms 40 and 70: Deliver Both Young and Old from Suffering and Trials
Biblical Interpretation

Psalms 40 and 70: Deliver Both Young and Old from Suffering and Trials

03/10/2026 Bruce Strom 0

St Ambrose rejoices: “Christ has heard the prayer of his own servants and has brought us out from the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. We were drowning there; our whole flesh was clinging to the mire, trapped in the whirlpool of our sins. Our soul was powerless to save itself; fallen and ruined as it was by the multiplicity and dreadfulness of our offenses.”
St Ambrose continues: “Christ came to save us from the pit and slime of this world, from the mud and mire of this earth, from this body doomed to death.” “May that rock, which follows those who thirst, confirm the weak and unsteady; may that water never be lacking to those who long for it; and may that firm foundation never be wanting to those in danger of falling.” […]

Epictetus, Eminent Roman Stoic Philosopher, on Living Well, Dying Well, and Opposing Suicide
Aging

Epictetus, Eminent Roman Stoic Philosopher, on Living Well, Dying Well, and Opposing Suicide

10/11/2025 Bruce Strom 3

Is it wise to complain? Epictetus observes: “If someone dies young, he blames the gods because he is being taken before his time. If someone lingers on into extreme old age, he too blames the gods.” “Despite this, at the approach of death, he wants to stay alive; he sends for the doctors and begs him to do all he can.” “It is quite remarkable to see how people want neither to live nor to die.”
“Is health good and illness bad? No, man. What, then? Health managed well is good, but when badly managed, it is bad.”
Epictetus points out: “If you look at yourself in isolation, it is natural for you to live to an old age, to be rich, to be healthy. But if you look at yourself as a human being and as part of some whole, for the sake of that whole, it may be appropriate for you to be ill, or risk your life at sea, or be poor, or die young. Why get angry then?” “What is a human being? A part of a city made up of gods and human beings,” “a small copy of the universal city.” […]