George Maloney, SJ

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bpbasilphx said:
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So was he originally Roman Catholic, then Byzantine, then Orthodox? Why did he become Orthodox? I**

**I’ve seen this happen more than once before–a Latin Catholic gets interested in Byzantine spirituality, and the momentum propels him on into Orthodoxy.
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It is true that this happens, I myself might be a case in point.

The process took less than seven years for me. It is as if once one begins to learn about eastern spirituality it draws one in, like an irresistible pull.

But with father George I would argue that this was not something that can be called ‘momentum’. This man spent many decades as a Catholic priest with faculties in the Byzantine Russian liturgical tradition. That Irish kid naturally had to learn first, at the Russicum and elsewhere, then he taught generations of Catholics about eastern spirituality, and building up eastern Catholicism. So he plateaued for probably four decades (or more) secure in his position.

This conversion seems much more like an informed move he had seriously contemplated for a long, long time.
 
sometimes, catholic becomes orthodox, orthodox becomes catholic, even some orthodox becoming protestant, why? its a mystery!
bpbasilphx said:
**
So was he originally Roman Catholic, then Byzantine, then Orthodox? Why did he become Orthodox? I**

**I’ve seen this happen more than once before–a Latin Catholic gets interested in Byzantine spirituality, and the momentum propels him on into Orthodoxy.

Archbishop Joseph Raya was, among other things, a priest in Birmingham, Alabama and Melkite Bishop of Nazareth. He translated two major liturgical works: Byzantine Missal for Sundays and Feast Days**, and then 10 years later the much revised, expanded, and improved Byzantine Daily Worship He also wrote many other books in other languages.

He died in retirement at Madonna House in Combermere, Canada.

He was one of the so-called Cairo Circle, a group of Melkite clergy (most of whom became bishops) who sought to reclaim the true Orthodox spirituality of the Melkite Church.
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Father George like Professor Jarislav Pelikan entered Communion with the Orthodox Church late in life. We know more about Pelikan’s “conversion” than Maloney’s. In part, the reason we know more about Pelikan’s journey in faith is that he wrote more about it than Maloney wrote about his own.

I have considered Father George’s relative silence to have been respectful, considering his lifelong commitments as a priest in the Church of Rome. Wisdom would have it that a spiritual leader in another historic apostolic Communion would keep silence about his own journey in order to contain scandal caused by gossip. Gossip is a form of murder because it often bears character assasination.

However, God saw fit to draw Father George through declining health to repose in Christ not long after Orthodox chrismation. Memory eternal to Father George. Through the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us.
 
Diak said:
You can’t always judge by the printers - Shambhala, one of the most “New Age” printers around, actually produced a good version of the * Way of the Pilgrim*.

Shambhala also printed a newer edition of *Prayer of the Heart: Writings from the Philokalia * which is essentially a newer English translation of the old Dobrotolubiye of St. Paissy Velychkovsky.
FDRLB
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Yes indeed. But the Jesus Prayer itself is now, unfortunately, used by new agers and one can pay for courses on how to say it taught by all sorts of people interested in the new age thing. Perhaps Shambhala published the Way of the Pilgrim from within this perspective - I don’t know.

Alex
 
Frioannus
Where can I read more about pelikan’s spiritual journey?
 
FrIoannis said:
Father George like Professor Jarislav Pelikan entered Communion with the Orthodox Church late in life. We know more about Pelikan’s “conversion” than Maloney’s. In part, the reason we know more about Pelikan’s journey in faith is that he wrote more about it than Maloney wrote about his own.

I have considered Father George’s relative silence to have been respectful, considering his lifelong commitments as a priest in the Church of Rome. Wisdom would have it that a spiritual leader in another historic apostolic Communion would keep silence about his own journey in order to contain scandal caused by gossip. Gossip is a form of murder because it often bears character assasination.

However, God saw fit to draw Father George through declining health to repose in Christ not long after Orthodox chrismation. Memory eternal to Father George. Through the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us.
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AMEN!
Gossip is a form of murder because it often bears character assasination.
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Wow, Fr. Loannis, that is a powerful statement. I have never heard it said like that before. What an awesome tool, to stop people in their tracks when we hear gossip. Thank you!

I have been reading lately, Fr. Maloney’s book, That Your Joy May Be Complete I have found it in a free downloadable format here. It takes a bit to get through the first chapter, because he is trying to explain why he is writing it, but then it gets really good. [Link removed at poster’s request.]
 
I haven’t posted on CAF in months, probably almost a year actually, and this is the only thread I still get notifications on every now and then. Just wanted to pop in and say thank you, Pani Rose, for that Maloney link. Will go there tonight.

And hi to all you guys and gals. Hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you’ll have a extraordinarily good 2011 .
 
FickleFreckled said:
I haven’t posted on CAF in months, probably almost a year actually, and this is the only thread I still get notifications on every now and then. Just wanted to pop in and say thank you, Pani Rose, for that Maloney link. Will go there tonight.

And hi to all you guys and gals. Hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you’ll have a extraordinarily good 2011 .
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That’s cool! I had not posted on here in a long time either, doubt if I did much last year. But, I was looking for info for someone and came upon this thread. Funny, it was started in 2008. I think all too often we forget that God’s gives us great joy, if we are willing to accept it. That to me is one of his major tools for evangelizing, sharing the joy of the Lord with people.
 
Interesting, Pani Rose, how we both ended up on the same thread within 30 minutes of each other. I’m the one who started the thread originally and had completely forgotten. I didn’t get a chance to get to your link last night, hope to do so this weekend. And now my books are out of storage! No time to read, but it’s a move in the right direction…! 😃
 
Oh, dear. My virus scan found a Trojan imbedded in that online book and denied access completely. It said it couldn’t be quarantined. That sounds serious, folks. Pani, might want to run a scan on your files.
 
OH my! I didn’t try to download it because I have the book. I never thought about a virus being there. I wonder if I can delete the link?
 
Pani, if anyone reads as far as my post before opening the link, they’ll see there’s a problem. Did you try editing? I don’t know if you can still do it or not. I’ll click on the little triangle that lets the mods know there’s a problem w/a post and maybe they can delete it.
 
Diak said:
You can’t always judge by the printers - Shambhala, one of the most “New Age” printers around, actually produced a good version of the * Way of the Pilgrim*.

Shambhala also printed a newer edition of *Prayer of the Heart: Writings from the Philokalia * which is essentially a newer English translation of the old Dobrotolubiye of St. Paissy Velychkovsky.
FDRLB
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Shambhala also published a good edition of Thomas Merton’s No Man is an Island - and unlike some Roman Catholic publishing houses they weren’t afraid to print a big fat “Nihil Obstat” and “Imprimatur” on the front page. Sophia Perennis et Universalis, another non-Christian religious publishing house of questionable orientation, also publishes good books by Roman Catholics with the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur.

I do like some of Fr. Maloney’s writings - his Theology of Uncreated Energies (though it isn’t nearly as helpful as something like the Hagioritic Tome), and his History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453, but in general I think he takes a bombastic, inflated tone without saying a whole lot - much like the kinds of books he’s usually published alongside with. For example, if you want to read about St. Symeon the New Theologian, you’d probably profit a lot more by reading the book by Archbishop Vassily Krivocheine than Maloney’s The Mystic of Fire and Light. Nothing heretical in Maloney, but he’s too superficially impressed with the mystical-sounding language of the East to really delve deeply into the heart of our spirituality.
 
I was just searching for a Thomas Merton forum and saw Fr. George Maloney’s name and it triggered my memory of attending a three day retreat of his in Santa Cruz, CA with the Good Shepard Prayer Community in the late 70’s. My new wife and I at the time [35 years married now] were young and Fr. Maloney took a real interest in us. We talked over dinner and he gave us really good advice. When he had confessions, people were lined up outside for hours. We waited. He was very kind, deeply spiritual and his teachings were more like a prayer that drew you closer to Christ. I bought a book of his and he signed it for me. I still have it in storage and now I’m going to get it out and read it again for lent as soon as I finish my Seeds of Contemplation book by Thomas Merton. It is really a great book too, more like a prayer than reading.

God Bless
 
I just want to let people know that my father, Fr. John Zboyovski, studied under Fr. George for many years. Fr. George lived with us in Candler, NC after he moved from CA. When Father George passed away, he left all his writings, teaching, and manuscripts to my father (He also has audio recordings of many of his retreats that he held throught the country). Please contact him if you are looking for any specific writings…he has so much information that it is overwhelming and has found it difficult to organize it to share it with others. stjoseph-standrew.org/ Hope that will shed additional light on Father George, his background, and his writings.
 
zboyjm00, how blessed you are!

I haven’t posted on CAF in a year or two, but still get notification of a couple of threads; your post is the first one I’ve felt compelled to come out of the woodwork for. Thank you so much for the information and the link.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!
zboyjm00 said:
I just want to let people know that my father, Fr. John Zboyovski, studied under Fr. George for many years. Fr. George lived with us in Candler, NC after he moved from CA. When Father George passed away, he left all his writings, teaching, and manuscripts to my father (He also has audio recordings of many of his retreats that he held throught the country). Please contact him if you are looking for any specific writings…he has so much information that it is overwhelming and has found it difficult to organize it to share it with others. stjoseph-standrew.org/ Hope that will shed additional light on Father George, his background, and his writings.
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Welcome to CAF, Eastern Catholicism section! Hope to see much more of you here. 🙂

Diak mentioned your father at the start of this thread. Thanks for this more personal sense of that connection you provide for us.

It’s also a reminder that Diak was a very active poster and has not posted in a long time…
 
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