CONTRA FATUM

"It is better for a man to be silent and be [a Christian], than to talk and not to be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. There is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things which He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his silence." (Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians, short version, ANF I, ch. XV, p. 93)

In danish we have an idiom which literally means “to create oneself” 1 but in daily use means being childish, losing one’s head or simply being mad. With a modern view on human nature this seems to be non-sensical. Do we not create ourselves constantly—isn’t that the meaning of life? In times where the greatest political challenge by many is believed to be the ”creation” of “economic growth,” and where “personal identity” is a product we create out of nothing in order to sell ourselves on the job market or in the social life, a negative answer to this question seems to contradict every tenet of common sense. But then again, isn’t it mad to think that we actually “create” our own selves ex nihilo—or anything at all for that matter? Answering questions such as these are important for understanding and countering the prevalent ideology of growth, or productivism. One (traditional) explanation for the power of the ideology of economic growth, is that branding and commer...

” Having noted in the aforementioned psalm (4,8), therefore, that the goal (τέλος) of virtue is peace, rest, and the abode which is simple and unmingled with the passions, which is attained on the basis of the hope of participating in God ( τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας) , that which is contrary to this was pointed out there by means of silence .” (In Ins., GNO 36-37)

“it amounts to the same, whether we speak of God as unsusceptible of evil, or whether we call Him good; whether we confess that He is immortal, or say that He ever liveth. For we understand no difference in the sense of these terms, but we signify one and the same thing by both, though the one may seem to convey the notion of affirmation, and the other of negation.” -->(CE 2, NPNF, p. 263)

“[...]when we see the execrable character of evil, we grasp His own unalterable pureness as regards this: when we consider death's dissolution to be the worst of ills, we give the name of Immortal and Indissoluble at once to Him Who is removed from every conception of that kind” ( CE 2 477, NPNF, p. 298)

"Now we declare that Virginity is man's ''fellow-worker'' and helper in the achieving the aim of this lofty passion. In other sciences men have devised certain practical methods for cultivating the particular subject; and so, I take it, virginity is the practical method in the science of the Divine life, furnishing men with the power of assimilating themselves with spiritual natures." (De Vir., NPNF, p. 550)

“[...]a man who eliminates such a disease from man's life and unites the members of the same race by peace and goodwill, truly performs a work of Divine power; for he banishes the evils of human nature and introduces instead a share in what is good.” (Beat. p. 164)