:: St. Stephen's Musings ::

:: Thursday, April 17, 2003 ::

Silence for 11 Days: A Short Break From Blogging

A few anecdotes on silence for you to ponder:

"Several philosophers once visited one of the holy elders, and after he had offered a prayer he remained silent, praying, and paying no attention to them. They besought him, saying, "Say something to us, father," but he held his peace. They said to him, "This is what we came for, to hear you say something and to benefit from it." The old man said to them, "You spend your money to learn how to speak. I left the world to learn how to keep silent." They were filled with amazement on hearing this and went their way edified."

Fr. Thomas Hopko once told a seminary class "if you can't ever keep silent, then you should never speak--for you will never have anything to say."

Theophilus of holy memory, bishop of Alexandria, journeyed to Scetis and the brethren coming together said to abba Pambo, "Say a word or two to the bishop, that his soul may be edified in this place." The old man replied, "If he is not edified by my silence, there is no hope that he will be edified by my words."

With Holy Week fast approaching, I have decided to take a short break from blogging. I will not be posting new entries from (western) Good Friday 4/18 through Bright Monday 4/28.

I will be back on Tuesday 4/29 in regular posting mode. There are several issues I have in the wings that I wish to bring up for discussion and I am sure that the events of Holy Week will give me much to write about as well.

I will leave myself the small loophole that if something monumental comes up or if there is something that can't wait, I'll put it up on the blog. I also will continue to follow the 50 or so blogs I read on a daily basis. (Hey, not posting on mine for 11 days is hard enough of an askesis at this point!)

May all of my Catholic and Protestant readers have a blessed Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Sunday. For my Orthodox friends and readers, may you have a fruitful and glorious Holy Week and Pascha!

Christ is Risen!

:: Karl :: 4:00:00 PM [Link] ::