{"id":1928,"date":"2017-04-06T16:28:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T20:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/?p=1928"},"modified":"2017-04-07T09:19:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T13:19:57","slug":"premonition-on-the-holy-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/premonition-on-the-holy-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Premonition on the Holy Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago, poet and literature professor Scott Cairns ran headlong into his midlife crisis. Cairns realized his spiritual life was advancing slowly and time was running out. For this this Baptist turned Eastern Orthodox, a desperate need to seek out prayer led him to Mount Athos\u2014the Holy Mountain.<\/p>\n

Originally published in 2007, Short Trip to the Edge<\/i><\/a>\u00a0is the\u00a0narrative of Scott’s spiritual journey to the mystical peninsula of Mt. Athos. With twenty monasteries and thirteen sketes scattered across its sloping terrain, the Holy Mountain was the perfect place for seeking out and discovering the stillness of a true prayer life.<\/p>\n

Scott revisits Mt. Athos in the poem\u00a0Premonition on the Holy Mountain: Remembering Brett Foster.\u00a0<\/em>Enter the katholikon, embrace the “dark hours,” join the host of silent witnesses and bide your time in peace as we prepare our hearts for Holy Week.<\/p>\n

Read an excerpt of Short Trip to the Edge<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PremonitionIn Vatopaidi\u2019s dark katholikon
\nthe liturgy has just begun, though we
\nthree pilgrims have stood propped in our stasidi
\nfor, lo, three dark hours already. The Psalms,
\nthe Midnight Hours, the Matins\u2014all have filled
\nour drowsy heads with Greek as we have drifted
\nin and out of what seems very like a dream.
\nIt seems a dance, it seems a slow, a ceaseless
\nprayer, and, when I close my eyes, I feel
\nthat I am also dancing with a crowd
\nof silent witnesses. It is a taste\u2014
\none might suppose\u2014of what one finds interred:
\nembraced, asleep, and biding time in peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Just now, three tall thin monks float into view
\nto set lit tapers to the oil lamps,
\nand we awaken to the call announcing
\n“Bless\u00e9d is the kingdom of the Father,
\nof the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.\u201d
\nI turn to see my friend. He has fully
\nwakened now, his face aglow, his face aflame,
\nhis lovely spirit singing Bless\u00e9d is the name.<\/p>\n

Other titles\u00a0by Scott Cairns:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Slow-Pilgrim\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Compass-of-Affection\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago, poet and literature professor Scott Cairns ran headlong into his midlife crisis. Cairns realized his spiritual life was advancing slowly and time was running out. For this this Baptist turned Eastern Orthodox, a desperate need to seek out … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paraclete-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}