From Monachos.net
This page documents the latest additions and changes to the whole of the Monachos.net web site. Please check this page frequently to be kept abreast of the newest materials available.
Dates provided are: Church Calendar / Civil (New) Calendar. Read more on the issue of two calendars
Sunday, 25 February / 9 March 2008: Sunday of Forgiveness
Added 'Growth, death, and a fast toward perfection': The Monachos Lenten Message for 2008 to the collection of Lenten resources. This text is a reflection on the encounter with the resurrected Christ as the foundation of the ascesis of the Great Fast.
Saturday, 10 / 23 February 2008
Highlight materials for the current weekend, including the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Our resources for pre-Lent and Great Lent also include a new area in the Discussion Community, providing recipes without oil for use during the Fast - to which readers can contribute.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008 / 11 February 2008
Materials in our pre-Lent and Great Lent area have been thoroughly updated for 2008.
Tuesday, 19 December 2007 / 1 January 2008
We have placed on-line today a new translation of the Akathist of Thanksgiving - In Praise of God's Creation by Metropolitan Tryphon. This new translation is in traditional English style, and represents a remarkable reflection on the beauty and joy of creation by one who experienced tremendous suffering.
Tuesday, 11 / 24 December 2007
The rollout of the new layout and page design of the web site has taken place today. We hope readers and visitors will enjoy the new design scheme.
Wednesday, 6 / 19 December 2007 - Feast of St Nicholas
The Monachos.net Discussion Community has undergone a major upgrade, including a new look and many additional features.
If you've not yet explored this extensive interactive resource on the discussion of Orthodoxy through its patristic and monastic heritage, take a moment to visit the forum and explore the nearly 40,000 posts on focused themes and topics.
Saturday, 7 / 20 October 2007
Added the Letters of St Cornelius I, Pope of Rome (251-253) concerning the position of the Church towards those who lapse during times of persecution and troubles.
Added a new Study Area on the Pelagian Controversy - A new resource area on the early Christian disputes over grace, free will, and the potential for human perfection. This Study Area includes an introduction to the dispute, and coincides with the addition today of a series of source documents by and pertaining to Pelagius (c.370-c.442), the ascetic from Roman Britain who was the interlocutor of Augustine in their famous debate on grace and free will. The texts added include:
- Pelagius' Letters - a collection of correspondence between Pelagius and Augustine of Hippo, Pope Innocent I, and an unnamed presbyter
- Pelagius' On Nature - reconstructed fragments from the text sent by Pelagius to Augustine, which occasioned the latter's On Nature and Grace as a reply. In his original text, Pelagius explores the question of whether humanity could - as a possibility - live from birth to death without sin
- Pelagius' In Defense of the Freedom of the Will - reconstructed fragments of Pelagius' treatise dealing with free will and the grace of God
- Records from the ecclesiastical trial of Pelagius at Lydda, in AD 415 - records of the proceedings of the second and principal trial against Pelagius, at which he was found innocent of the charges of heresy brought against him
- Pelagius' Chapters - reconstructed sentences and contents from the lost book that Pelagius read at his trial at Lydda, and which were responded to there. These fragments drawn from quotations in Augustine and Jerome
- The Anathema written by Pelagius - the anathema Pelagius himself composed c. AD 418, condemning those things that had been charged against him.
Related to the above documents concerning Pelagius, and collected in the same new Study Area, we have also added a series of documents relating to Coelestius, one of Pelagius' followers. These include:
- Coelestius' The Defitions (so-called) - a reconstruction, from fragments in Augustine, of the so-called Definitions of Coelestius, on the possibility of life without sin. It was this volume that occasioned Augustine's Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness
- Records from Coelestius' trial at Carthage, AD 411/412 - the accusations put against Coelestius, and the portions of his trial at which they were considered in detail
- Fragments of the Unnamed Books of Coelestius - quoted in various sources and read at the council against Pelagius in AD 415
- Coelestius' written statement of belief - the written statement of belief handed to Pope Zosimas by Coelestius in AD 417, on the examination of which the pope found him free from heresy in his belief
Monday, 22 May / 4 June 2007
Added Constitution II, section 1, of the proceedings of the council of Lyons held in 1274, which discusses - amongst other things - the nature of the Filioque debate in that period, and relationships between the eastern and western churches.
Sunday, 14 / 27 May 2007 (Trinity - Pentecost)
Added the text of Richer of Rheims (10th c.), History of France: 'My Journey to Chartres', with an evocative portrayal of life in the middle ages. Also added a small selection of the sayings of Amma Syncletica, one of the desert mothers of the fourth century AD.
Tuesday, 28 March / 10 April 2007 (Bright Tuesday)
Added a Paschal hymn attributed to St Ephrem the Syrian to the Patristics Library.
Tuesday, 14 / 27 February 2007
Added an important set of admonitions concerning monks in Syria by Bishop Rabbula of Urhai, including extensive introductory and expository material.
Also added a brief prose defense of his life by Sedelius Scotus (his poetic Apologia pro vita sua).
From the more eastern milieu, we have added two texts related to Sharbil of Edessa: The Acts of Sharbil, recounting his life and deeds; and a prayer for the intercession of St Sharbil.
Added also the remarkable 'Potter Songs' of Simeon the Potter of Gesir - a collection of nine hymns on theological themes and Church feasts, translated from the Syriac.
Monday, 13 / 26 February 2007
Added St Athanasius of Alexandria's Defense for his flight, on the nature of his own flight from his persecutors, and on the broader question of whether flight from persecution is defensible for a Christian.
Added Clement of Alexandria's Who is the rich man that shall be saved? - a reflection on the relationship of salvation to poverty and wealth.
Also added Jerome's account of the life of St Paul of Thebes, who was revealed to Anthony the Great of Egypt as his predecessor in the ascetical life of the desert.
Added Maximus the Confessor's Letter to Marinus, on the question of the Filioque.
Also added the Life of St Onophrius, as recounted by St Paphnutius.
Added The Life and Passion of St Cyprian by Pontius the Deacon.
Also added a poem At the Colosseum by Amphilocius of Iconium, translated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, on the state of soul of those who observed the persecutorial shows. We have also added a portion of another poem by this same Amphilocius, On the Canon of Scripture, which gives a fourth-century account of the canon of the New Testament.
Added the complete collection of the 'False Decretals' - an important collection of pseudepigraphical documents from the ninth century, purporting to be a collection of letters from various popes that were of great influence in the development of canon law.
Also added the Trebnic prayer of St Symeon the New Theologian.
Added Sozomen the historian's Address to Emperor Theodosius, a proposal for an ecclesiastical history.
Sunday, 12 / 25 February 2007
Added several texts by Cyril of Alexandria: Canons from the Synod in Trullo; Homily 1 on Luke 2.4-8; Against the Synousiasts; and Against Julian. Also added Gregory Palamas, Homily on the Dormition.
Sunday, 5 / 18 February 2007
Added two sets of texts by the sainted emperor Constantine I ('Constantine the Great'), which are pivotal documents in church history, relating to the granting of freedom and permissions to the Christians: firstly, the 'edict of Milan' from the year 313, together with Galerius' edict of toleration from 311. Secondly, a collection of edicts on freedoms for the Christians, defining their new state in the Empire.
Friday, 3 / 16 February 2007
Added this year's Lenten meditation: 'A time to feast and a time to fast', by Archpriest David Moser - a reflection on the nature of fasting and its relationship to the spirit of celebration in the Church. This document has been added to the large collection of Lenten resources on the web site.
Also added a new document to the Patristics Library: Dionysius of Alexandria, Letters to Popes Stephen and Xystus - a collection of short third-century documents on the question of baptism / re-baptism of heretics, and on their entry into the Church.
Thursday, 2 / 15 February 2007
Added excerpts concerning the holy fathers of Mt Sinai, by St Anastasius of Sinai. This extraordinary text contains Anastasius' recollections of the lives of the Sinaite fathers, much in the style of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Wednesday, 1 / 14 February 2007
Added the letter of St Anthusa, mother of St John Chrysostom, to her son - On Ideal Friendship. Apart from being an insightful witness to the theological relationship of Chrysostom to his mother, this epistle is also an important document on early views of Christian friendship.
Also added Clement of Alexandria's fragmentary Homily on the Prodigal Son - an exegesis of the Gospel parable by St Clement and a second, unknown, source.
Tuesday, 31 January / 13 February 2007
Added the complete Rule of St Pachomius to the patristics library. This is the full text of the longer Rule by Pachomius, remembered as the founder of the cenobitic monastic life. The rule offers practical organisational prescriptions for monastic living, and an insight into the early communal life of the desert monastics.
Sunday, 29 January / 11 February 2007 - Sunday of Last Judgement
Added the complete text of Justin the Martyr and Philosopher's First Apology, one of the more important examples of writing from the apologetic period of the mid-second century, containing his articulation of a number of Christian beliefs and practices in the framework of a defence aimed at the state. Text includes full footnote references.
Also added Tertullian of Carthage's On Baptism, a discussion of baptism as vehicle of the grace of the Spirit, including a detailed description of the baptismal rite known by Tertullian in the second and third centuries, with a commentary on its various elements.
Saturday, 28 January / 10 February 2007
Added a new collection of texts to the Patristics Library: Macarius of Egypt - Twenty-two spiritual homilies. This important collection of patristic homilies by St Macarius focusses on the nature of the soul and the state of humanity in prayer. Deeply ascetical in orientation, these spiritual homilies constitute an important witness to the understanding of the soul and prayer in the Christian desert fathers.
Sunday, 22 January / 4 February 2007 - Sunday of the Prodigal Son
Added four homilies on prayer by St Theophan the Recluse, delivered between 21st November and 20th December, 1864. These texts are in a new translation, and deal with the practical means of the attainment of prayer in its various levels.
Saturday, 14 / 27 January 2007
Opened the Great Lent and Pre-Lent Area for 2007, including resources for every week of the Fast and all the weeks of preparation. The pre-Lenten area includes reflections on the current weekend's Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, as well as a host of materials for the coming weeks, and a calendar of Lent 2007.
Tuesday, 3 / 16 January 2007
Re-vamped the Monachos.net Library Project area. The Monachos.net Patristics Library is now editable on-line by members of the project. If you are interested in helping to provide patristics texts on the internet, please see the Library Project pages for information on how you can help.
Sunday, 1 / 14 January 2007
Added the full text of Innocent of Alaska's The Way into the Kingdom of Heaven - a brief text that has become a classical introduction to Orthodox life, and is often used as a catechism of instruction in the faith.
Wednesday, 21 December 2006 / 3 January 2007
Added new texts to the Patristics Library: Letter of Nectarius of Calama to Augustine of Hippo; and the first 77 chapters of John Moschus' classic Spiritual Meadow, a travelogue of John's travels through the extent of the Byzantine Empire in the seventh century, and his impressions of the ascetics met during these travels.
Tuesday, 20 December 2006 / 2 January 2007
Added several new documents to the Patristics Master Library: From the writings of St Simeon Metaphrastes, Excerpts from the Life of St Nicholas; the Martyrdom of the Holy Confessors Shamuna, Guria and Habib; an Acrostic Poem translated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; and Simeon's famous Post-Communion Prayer. From the corpus of the 10th-century bishop Severus of Al'Ushmunain we've added extracts from his History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, including various prefaces by Severus and others; the Legend of Christ's Priesthood; the Life of the Apostle Mark, including the evangelisation of Egypt; the Life of Demetrios, patriarch in the time of Origen and one of the last famous married bishops; and the Life of Cyril of Alexandria, an important example of how the famous Alexandrian bishop was remembered in the tenth century.