And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:30-32

    Just a few years back, a group of earnest young men and women, some of them former punks, created a 'zine for seekers of truth. The hand photo-copied pages were filled with drawings and Icons of Early Christian Saints and Martyrs, and accounts of their lives and struggles, as well as those of more recent times. Also included were writings from the hearts of young God-seekers today - poetry and accounts of personal struggles for truth. It was titled Death to the World, a 7th century term used by St. Isaac the Syrian for ascetic practice - the cutting off of the passions. While the 'zine is no longer published - some of the young men and women have become monks and nuns, and others are serving God in other walks of life - we present here a few excerpts which we have found particularly inspiring. We hope to add more soon.


- DEATH TO THE WORLD -
Children of the Burning Heart

    DEATH TO THE WORLD is a zine to inspire Truth-seeking and soul-searching amidst the modern age of nihilism and despair, promoting the ancient principles of the last true rebellion -- being dead to this world and alive to the other world.

What do we mean by: "DEATH TO THE WORLD"?
    "The world is the general name for all passions. When we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special names, we call them passions. The passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasures from which comes sexual passion, love of honor gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothing and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancor and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions cease to be active, there the world is dead....
    Someone has said of the Saints that while alive they were dead; for though living in the flesh, they did not live for the flesh. See for which of these passions you are alive. Then you will know how far you are alive to the world, and how far you are dead to it." --St. Isaac the Syrian, 7th Century

"Something had always kept me looking for the 'hardcore', no compromising Christianity, because I knew down inside that, if Jesus Christ is God, then Christianity had to be the most radical belief in the world."




 






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