Reverence

There is not much that makes me cry.
I cry sometimes when I read the scriptures, or the life of one of the martyrs of Christ.
I cry sometimes when I consider the grace that God has bestowed on me a sinner in granting me even one intimate friend in whom I can watch His Holy Spirit at work.
I cry when I find what seem like grapes in the wilderness or early fruit on the fig tree (Hosea 9:10), and that is what made me cry just now, for the honesty that He bestows on His servants that live in Him.

As usual, Romanós the thief is stealing truth again, excusing himself by quoting a song, “And as all the wise men say, Grab it, if it comes your way!” What does the following passage on the subject of reverence make you do? It made this unworthy thief cry, because honesty is the sharp knife that cuts “cleanly through each knot of tangled lore,” freeing the sons of earth from their captor, death.

This short passage is excerpted from The Preservation of Knowledge, which can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

Reverence

Reverence is in the heart of the reverent. The outward manifestation is culturally conditioned. My family was a very affectionate one. My mother and father and sister and I hugged often. This was our expression of love and unity as a family. My cousin (even though he was a close relation) thought this was weird. He thought my physical behavior wasn’t respectful of my father’s position.

The Orthodox bow to the scriptures (even onto the floor); they kiss, and cross themselves. These seem to us like ritualistic nonsense. But to them it is constant and appropriate expression of reverence.

I know Protestant scholars with copies of their Bible with notes scribbled everywhere.
The binding is broken, the pages soiled from use, even some pages torn or missing. They might have several copies, different translations. So they leave them around without much care. They toss them onto their bed, or into a suitcase. They throw them in the trash when they have begun to lose their integrity. (Pictured above, the marked up old bible of an Orthodox ‘scholar’ — not only Protestants write in their bibles!)

Which is more reverent? Neither. It is the heart that is or isn’t reverent. But the outward expressions can deceive our alien eyes.