News

St. Silouan Retreat with Paul Ladouceur at St. Mary of Egypt:
Oct 23, 2009

LTS students were involved in a retreat at St. Mary of Egypt Refuge on October 23-25. The students, along other participants from around Ontario, where treated to a meditation on the life and teachings of St. Silouan the Anthonite by Paul Ladouceur – professor at Sherbrooke University, author and lecturer.

St. Silouan has a story of the transformitive power of God and the importance of love, particularly brotherly love in a Christian life. His most famous phrase, "Keep your mind in hell, and despair not", was discussed in depth. This near-contemporary saint would have remained unknown if it wasn't for a book of his teachings written by his disciple Father Sophrony.

The participants were led by Fr. John Jillions for the first ever liturgy in the new chapel at the Refuge. Participants used spare time for fellowship, prayer and exploring the beautiful grounds of the Refuge.

First Saturday Seminar with John Kapsalis at Lived Thelogy School:
Nov 28, 2009

A Saturday Seminar was held at Lourmel House of the Lived Theology School on Saturday, Nov 28. There were 8 people in attendance including the students and others involved in various ways with the school and St. John the Compassionate Mission. John Kapsalis, Professor of New Testament at Toronto Theological Academy lectured on the topic, "Led by the Hand of God, Poverty in the Orthodox Tradition and the Call to Radical Devotion ".

John Kapsalis focused on the Scriptures and what they say about poverty. He emphasized the importance of not idealizing the poor but rather showed that it is a question of an attitude to money. Service to the poor is a Scriptural requirement and there are numerous examples of such service in both the New and Old Testaments. Christian generosity made a huge impression on the Roman world as it was given to everyone in need and not only to those who were in the Christian community. John Kapsalis emphasized that giving to others is a natural part of who God is. There were also discussions on idealizations of poverty and how parishes and individuals can apply these Scriptural principles. The participants prayed, fellowshipped and ate together.

St. Mary of Egypt Refuge Hosts Breathlines Retreat:
Dec 4-6, 2009

"You'd better stop at Tim Horton's on the way. It's tradition."

This is the warning I received from the whole van of retreat-ers as we barreled down the Don Valley Parkway on our way to St. Mary of Egypt Refuge. They then discussed what action they would take, should I choose to ignore the warning. Five minutes later, all but one were asleep and softly snoring.

Traffic was quick and three hours later we found ourselves at the Refuge (with a satisfactory stop at Timmy's in Port Hope).

Our weekend was a good one. Laurie Edwards lead us in a day of Breathlines painting. Breathlines is a meditative art form during which the painter focuses on nothing other than his/her exhalation, blindly painting a line with each breath, then searching for a story or depiction in the lines created, and developing it further. Laurie has lead similar Breathlines sessions for the indigenous people of Northern Saskatchewan and many other places. Our painting sessions were complemented by hot drinks, quiet, contemplative prayer, hikes, Christmas carols, and a beautiful snowfall on our last day.

I can safely say that all 12 retreat participants strengthened existing friendships and built new ones, and had a peaceful and enjoyable weekend.

Second Saturday Seminar with Prof. Mary Marrocco at
Lived Theology School: Dec 12, 2009

Healing and Wholeness in St. Mary of Egypt and the Early Fathers

One of Mary Marrocco's favorite subjects to study and discuss is the Patristic texts, that is, the writings of the early church fathers and mothers. She brought with her texts of St. Irenaeus of Lyons and St. Gregory of Nyssa's "Life of Macrina", his work on his sister Macrina.

St. Irenaeus lived "a stone's throw" from the time of Christ himself, only a couple hundred years following. In a He held a rather different view of the healing of humanity, and, in a nutshell, that is: what is humanity in it's glory? and how are we going to get there? So different from "how am I going to fix your problems?"

Little would be known of St. Macrina had it not been for her brother St. Gregory of Nyssa who recognized her virtue and penned her hagiography. She was saintly as a child, was engaged to be married but when her husband-to-be died before the wedding, would take no other suitor, saying she wanted to be faithful to him. She was very close to her mother, it is said never leaving her side, and eventually persuaded her mother to live very simply despite their wealth, and treat their servants as equals.

Much, much more can be said and ruminated upon when considering these patristic texts. We are thankful to Mary Marrocco for spending the day contemplating these saints with us.

October 1st 2009    

LTS opened it's doors to our first students from Western Canada. Very quickly they have settled in to a routine of prayer, service, study and community life. A series of theological workshops have been setup and will be made available to outside students and others who are interested. No day seems to be the same and there seems to be no time to get bored. Our students are also involved in shaping the structure and the new relationship between the LTS School and the Mission. We still welcome applications.

Unlike the "weekend, do good for the poor", that can end up feeling like spiritual tourism, the students of LTS have this unique opportunity in North America to gain a "Wisdom of the heart", without which no real ministry with the poor is effective. This "Wisdom" cannot be learned by a crash course on "helping the poor". You have to live for sometime in community with them in order to begin to understand. We are happy that youth in Orthodox North America are realizing this and are giving their time, mind and money towards gaining this wisdom.

 JANUARY 7th 2009 - LTS has a new home!

The Lived Theology School now has its own community house located near St. John the Compassionate Mission. We will have room for up to 8 students. Applications for this year are still very welcome. Please pass on the word to anyone you think could be interested in this opportunity to live and learn Orthodox mission in the inner-city.

For those in the Toronto area - help with furnishing the house would be very welcome. We need everything (except a kitchen)!

Inquiries about LTS and the house should be made to the Intern Director, Sub-deacon Pawel, at livedtheologyschool@yahoo.ca or voice mail 1 at 1-416-466-1357, fax: 1-416-466-3517.

 JANUARY 1st 2009

An easy way to help LTS. Make it your resolution for 2009 to link www.livedtheologyschool.org to your parish or church website. Let us know and we will return the compliment.

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