Please keep "talking to yourself" and thank you for letting the rest of us listen in. Blessings from Belfast.

As a non-Christian on my own spiritual journey, I am very touched by your post. I am grateful to know that you and the people who resonate with this video are out there, thinking, feeling and being in the ache of our times, perhaps on our own, but not alone.

This was perfect. In every possible way. It was human, authentic and also complete. I knew I needed something. To help me start my first lent. But I didn't know what. Until now. This is what I needed. Again and again, you say the right thing. Just keep doing you. Do your version of it. The world needs your version of it. God bless! ❤

As soon as I saw your title I immediately thought of this passage from Letter IV of Tomberg's Meditations On the Tarot: Europe is haunted by the shadow of the Emperor. One senses his absence just as vividly as in former times one sensed his presence. Because the emptiness of the wound speaks, that which we miss knows how to make us sense it. Napoleon, eye-witness to the French Revolution, understood the direction which Europe had taken - the direction towards the complete destruction of hierarchy. And he sensed the shadow of the Emperor. He knew what had to be restored in Europe, which was not the royal throne of France- because kings cannot exist for long without the Emperor- but rather the imperial throne of Europe. So he decided to fill the gap himself. He made himself Emperor and he made his brothers kings. But it was to the sword that he took recourse. Instead of ruling by the sceptre - the globe bearing the cross - he made the decision to rule by the sword. But. "all who take up the sword perish by the sword" (Matthew xxvi, 52). Hitler also had the delirium of desire to occupy the empty place of the Emperor. He believed he could establish the "thousand-year empire" of tyranny by means of the sword. But again -"all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword". No, the post of the Emperor does not belong any longer either to those who desire it or to the choice of the people. It is reserved to the choice of heaven alone. It has become occult. And the crown, the sceptre, the throne, the coat-of-arms of the Emperor are to be found in the catacombs... in the catacombs - this means to say: under absolute protection I then, listened to the video and realized, yes you had the same intuition as Tomberg. Once Christ has been revealed, nothing else can possibly fill the throne. This of course has both a microcosmic and macrocosmic meaning.

Thank you, i also had a very difficult first day of lent. We're moving toward a catastrophe that turns out to be a triumph. Hopefully, but as you sai, just walking the path. Krishnamurti's dialogues echo what you say, from 50 years back, lamenting the spiritual and cultural state of the world and the journey to self as the absolute and only way to goodness and restoration. Lent is about that journey to self, as you say.

brilliant channelling. very helpful and I'm glad to find your astute humble ramblings...!!

You are a comforting inn in a horrible storm, Paul. Cheers.

Interestingly, I started intermittent fasting again after a break of many years, yesterday march 18th. I was sort of pleased with myself since I've been thinking about it for a while, without being able to commit to it due to life being stressful at the moment. Yesterday I felt committed and confident that I will be able to keep it up for the foreseeable future. While watching this video I had to google it, and I'm really surprised to learn that lent (orthodox) starts at March 18th. A meaningful coincidence for me, at least.

God bless you, man.

Thank you for this sincere gift, Paul. Wishing you strength for the journey.

Half of me groans when Lent begins, and the other half takes a big sigh of deep relief. Thank God. ☦️

Very beautiful message. Thank you. Necessary for our times.

Thank you so much for your Lenten message! We will take the journey together! Good strength, dear Paul! Good strength!! God have mercy!! ❤️☦️🙏

It is great to hear from you you again. You whipped up a righteous storm and then disappeared. That is not a complaint, I'm just rejoicing that you came back to share your thoughts. Everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not, can feel the breath of history on their necks. Much like the early years of the 20th century, the pressures are mounting and chaos is looming. People are grabbing at everything, except God, and finding no solace. It may take us to endure a time of great suffering before we submit to the true reality of existence. As a father, that is horrifying, but the "stable" era I was brought up in was not really so peaceful or stable at all. Add in the arrival of AI, in a society that has yet to digest the internet, and any future historian would have to close the book and fix a stiff drink. Finding one's footing is almost impossible when the ground endlessly shifts beneath us. God waits for us all

Thank you for sharing, Paul. Always nice to hear a friendly voice saying wise things. A blessed Lent to you and your family.

I really enjoy these short videos. It is like listening to a wise friend or relative. Keep posting them as you are able. Fr. Dn. Joseph

Thankyou for your wisdom brother. Go ahead with no fear and the hand of God by your side. Praise God.

The piper bangs the drum They thought that they were dancing in time to a melody pure and divine yet the more that they turned and they spun did they dance to the beat of the drum At first it was just to and fro for the piper was paid to play slow with a tune that the people could hum unaware to the sound of the drum And once far away from the town from a bridge did the piper climb down re emerging from where he had gone in exchange for his flute was a drum And it rattled and gently rolled grew more fervent and ever more bold an indication of what was to come so much louder the beat of the drum Now no longer a rabble or crowd but an army of stealth and unbowed headed back to the place they came from as their boots marched in time with the drum Now the town it lies quiet and still as if dying or seriously ill for no longer does it dance and have fun but falls deaf to the beat of the drum And the ghosts remain haunted in their silence whilst on the streets grows the spectre of violence for the town paid the terrible sum for not heeding the beat of the drum Kehoesongs copyright reserved ©️

Thank you, indeed there will be a body in that tomb, and then there will no body!

Thanks Paul. Best wishes for Lent and Pascha, and happy belated St. Patrick’s day! I’m Roman Catholic, so I’m looking at the end of Lent soon, but I’ll keep you in my prayers. Thanks for the book recommendation I’ll see what I can do.

The walk we take so reluctantly, with a heart full of uncertainties and trepidation.... and hope! Thank you for voicing thoughts and feelings that so many of us have but lack the ability to express so clearly.

May God bless your fasting days ☦

A helpful start of Lent meditation. Many points and observations which speak to the void we find ourselves in. Your neighbour's fireside observation resonates with me. As a protestant your orthodox description of the journey into the cave toward the paschal lamb was compelling. I too find a sort of fumbling at the start of the season and recognise, as you do, the accuser's role in it. Thank you for your poem and poetry comments and recommendation. God bless you, Paul. What you share is greatly valued.❤

I find it hard not to fall into despair right now and your writing and these talks are really helpful although I know not my path forward … there are only glimpses and it’s a comfort to be reminded of that piece of ‘if you walk towards God he walks towards you’ I am paying attention and open to that though I have abandoned most all formal spiritual practice and the traditions I have been involved in ….. they seem empty and arid … and came to a Divine Liturgy but now feeling perhaps my place is somewhere within my own tradition of Anglicanism …. . Thank you for your wisdom and humility

I have no religion but am blessed with connection to a deep spiritual well-spring. Your words resonate with me in the depths of that well. Thank you.

Love these verbal updates, like hearing from an old friend

It's long been a temptation to find 'societal' fixes to society's descent. The only thing that works, however, is trying to fix ourselves.

Same here: I was just wandering around my 2 rooms apartment in Bucharest, doing nothing... sitting, walking, reading online, reading offline, trying to avoid kitchen, checking the clock from time to time, praying a little.. waiting for the 6 pm. to attend the St. Andrew.s Canon.. Anyway, it does feel like inside a tomb these days... You`ve put it very beautifully.

Perhaps Lent provides an opportunity to take a break from those preoccupations with the 'state of the culture' and retreat to the personal, the local, the immediate etc, knowing that you are at least deeper within and closer to your still very much alive Christian culture. And pray harder and feel more closer to that, ready to re-emerge and take on those bigger questions hopefully with more strength and insight. Just a thought, Paul.

I strangely felt comforted by this post. And sad. I am with you… thanks Paul. 🕊️ Ps… you may as well try to get to sainthood in 40 days… ⚪️… u never know!

Thanks Paul, I have never reached out to you, but started with a couple of your novels a few years back. I subscribe to your free newsletter and enjoy your work. God bless you, brother.

Thankyou Paul for that talk. I was feeling exactly like you. Not able to concentrate, vaguely worried and concerned about the state of the things and not hopeful, and not able to focus. But now I know that by Easter I will be ready for the world again. Hopeful that in the end, the good will prevail, even if it doesn't look like it.

I gave up lent for Lent... Boom tiss.

To be frank I think those of us born into this fragmented and alienated modernity have a moral duty to immerse ourselves in tradition and raise our children in a more rooted understanding of themselves and their place in nature. We all have our existential doubts and Mr Kingsnorth is right we can never fully resurrect a previous dispensation but we all have to make a choice at the end of the day - maybe it just takes a bit more courage and obstinacy in a post-modern context.

This is a good and sobering Lenten message. Best to you and yours, and joyous fast.

how lovely to see you in "person" wonderful

Thanks Paul

Beautiful, prophetic stuff, brother. See you on the other side of Lent.

Thank You Paul. Please keep talking to us all. God bless You. Georges (Ghent)

The empty throne void brings to mind the 70 years of soviet madness, the 400 years of Ottoman domination, iconoclasm, and so forth. These cycles appear unavoidable yet we so want to avoid them. But of course! What sane person would run toward such persecution? And yet, so many of the early martyrs did that very thing and are venerated as saints for it - NOT crazy by Christian estimation. So my notion of crazy is challenged by this conundrum. It's paradoxical: a mystery.

I read the poem you suggested "St Patricks Breastplate", I then read the first portion again out loud to my wife & found myself very moved by it. Thankyou Paul.

as someone very clever described about our current situation, we're seeing the "digital Jinn" enter and occupy new spaces

Here. We. Go!

Thank you Paul for your message , God bless you

Remarkable insights into our current culture, the spiritual malaise and Lent's hints at a spiritual way forward. With appreciation for a fellow Godward Soul.

Thank you Paul. While Ive been following your writing and interviews the past 2 years, I hope to be able to join your substack this spring. My adult son and I came into Orthodoxy in 2020 also. I too get knocked off my feet, 4 years now, typically a few days prior to and the first days of Lent, so I appreciated your saying it is hard for you too. I value both your poetic heart and your unflinching realness. Also, I know you would not care to be someone who pumps out a few videos a week, but perhaps you'd consider 2-3 times a month? I would like to hear you talk about, and maybe read from, Unseen Warfare edited by St. Theophan the Recluse. Just a thought! May God bless you and your family as we all journey this Lent together. --- Nanne

Thank you Paul.

Thank you for the message on being warrior and pariah at the same time ❤🙏 🍄

I’m going to buy it👍🏻👌🏻

Tahnk you Paul. I love your Lent`s reflection. Please, share more of these.

Thank you Paul. Just started following you and look forward to hearing more from you. God bless you and your loved ones

That was most … enjoyable, luminous etc… Random

First day of Lent a demon stole the candles from my icon corner. Cheers.

Thank you for sharing this! I valued these thoughts and insights shared with humility.

Great. Interesting to see society as a being with a spirtual reality and a center.

Thank you, Paul. This was encouraging.

Thank you, Paul.

Lovely. Blessings, brother.

Thanks, Paul. Keep these coming, please. If you want confirmation of stones tumbling apart, just look across to South Africa. We have National elections in two months' time. A political mess that was unimaginable 30 years ago, when the future looked ao bright.

Excellent thoughts, really enjoy these videos!

Nice to listen in here. God bless

theres a throne in every culture, in every human heart - its a question that alarms the unaware

A very helpful commentary, as are all your talks, especially in an age where the press of a button or the click of a mouse is expected to produce 'the answer' - definitive, of course!

Hi Paul, just re-listening. Have you heard of well dressings? They came about in the 6th century so I think they are Orthodox. They still do them in the north of England and when I was a child Mum took me to one near Sheffield (where she grew up) there’s a website for them I think we should bring them back because there’s such a thing as (biological) living water as well as Christs and wells are a source of this.🩷

Thankful I don't have to fast 🙏 underweight and trying my best to gain! Good luck to you.

Hope you have a good one.

❤ Small s saint. The OG Saint Paul referred to all Christians that way.

Excellent. Thank you. Sounds like Eucatastrophe (as per Tolkien). Exciting times.

I find your video here to be pretty succinct and helpful. Idk if it’s the thing to do to speak on every little thing lest you get dragged into the weeds over the internet but I know I find your perspective sobering.

I'm far from a practicing Christian, but I am convinced that a spiritual journey or investigation is absolutely necessary in these times. Like many, who haven't found a spiritual home it is hard to know where the path even begins. I'm very grateful for your writings and talks. If someone wanted to practice Lent, I wonder if instructions on how to do this can be found somewhere? Cheers.

Write another novel, Paul. Don't force it. But when a novel comes, write it. That's where you are truly beautiful and good and true.

To the doubters, the only thing that can be is the best thing possible.

Yes, to all that you've said, with one small caveat. We don't walk this journey simply (or even primarily) as individuals. Jesus didn't set things up that way. And our view of the way of Christ is so often individualized. The Church, as divided and ridiculous as it is, is what we're given to journey with us; whether we're part of a tiny rural church of 15 or a large urban church of hundreds (or perhaps even thousands .... although I'm deeply suspicious of megachurches, for lots of reasons). I think the church, right across denominations, is being disciplined, pruned, and humbled, in this time, in order for it to recognize its own folly, and turn again to its One Hope, the Living God made known to us in Jesus Christ, as it is empowered by the Holy Spirit. In short, the Church is being called to return to its first love. What gives me hope is that I see this focus taking hold in surprising arms of the Church, and it's resulting in a rediscovery of the ancient ways as well as the discovery of some new ways, with all of them grounded in a renewed Christology. However, we're still in the desert time, and still on the way to Jerusalem, there surprising things always happen.

This isn’t at all unusual Paul… And yet it’s Biblical: God just has it in for yet another thankless culture and empire that has long since turned its selfish back on Him - and on Israel… This is headed where we know it all surely must - and we must show backbone and resolve as Christians, and fear only God. You are doing good things, brother - keep walking the path - remain in Christ, forever - into freedom and into Glory…And He will never let you go. We are watchmen - and it may not be pretty - but consider the prize! It is the eternal triumph (already won!) that must now be enacted through tragedy (as per the prophesies), all the way through to 3.5 years of terrible tribulation unfortunately, in order for the inevitable Glory of the full miraculous Homecoming. Be strong into the pit of Lent. Shoulder the cross - and feel the weight turn into a light burden… Man, it’ll carry you soon enough - it’ll turn into wings…! (… What was that line of Auden - something about your arch neurosis turning into your guardian angel?) Anyway - please keep going… for the sake of your family and friends. Peace.

Why I'm thinking money, science, reason, technology etc can't fill our spiritual hole is because they aren't aims of themselves, they are potentialities for something not an end and that is why religion, specifically Christianity is necessary.

'This is probably not a new situation', yep 100%, your church is Romanian I believe, I was reminded just the other day that on top of killing one third of the population of Gaul, Julius Cesear wiped Dacia off the map so completely it was renamed 'Romania', so it was 'ever thus' I fear, at least in terms of the struggle, but at least it would appear that 'new ways back to light' can be glimpsed, not least by your own conversion

Wow lay people observing the monastic fast. Thats impressive. How was your lent?

my sweet summer child the way you perceive the outer world and its matters is a direct reflection of your own inner world, your "woe is the state of the world" is (i)telling(i). hope this helps

Easy to join the doom band . We have to beat down those thoughts they are so fashionable. We have answers in our faith . We lament our sins to the Lord and endure with cheerful suffering because life is a gift.

This was excellent, thankyou. Do you have a mailing list besides substack? (To receive updates about your future books, etc?)

Grace and Peace to you Amigo, good strength ⛲ for the journey! ☀️ 🌊 🗝️ ❤️‍🩹 🎶 📖 We never pray alone.... O'Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me the sinner. 🔔🕯️📿 All Holy Trinity have mercy on us. 🌴☦️ 🌙 Most Holy Theotokos save us! 🌐✨🧭Blessed Journey to His empty tomb, 2024 Anno Domini ⚓🕊️ ⛪ Semper Fortis, Semper Supra! 😌

Things coming apart? How's this for breaking news from the West... Wellington City Council (yes, in New Zealand) is looking into the feasibility of broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer on the streets of that fair city. Pray for us.

Try stay positive and don’t let the kids hear you talk about these things too often!

I wonder if Mr.Kingsnorth has ever read Dante?

My fasting is meat, salt, butter and water. It’s not a fast if the food your eating makes you snap at your family and friends. The brain needs cholesterol.

"the state of the British poetry scene..." please elaborate.

I’ve started unfollowing a lot of ‘culture war’ figures on KZfaq. Not because I no longer agree with them but because watching political stuff is so depressing and demoralising that it was stopping my movement forward with any real sense of hope. I came off twitter a fortnight ago and although that doesn’t change anything going on in the wider world at least I feel way less stressed and more focused on my own personal challenges which are many currently. And at the end of the day, what do I have in my power to change anything? All we can do is ‘tidy our own rooms’, fix the things we can fix around us and pray for the best possible outcomes. 🙏

You’ll probably not see this for 40 days, but the Holy Spirit knows timing well, it’s simply one of his tools and so that’s not a worry. I’m wondering if you have interacted much with the writing and ideas of our brother, neurobiologist Curt Thompson. His wheelhouse is the intersection of Christianity and interpersonal neurobiology and his current conversations around Christians simply creating little Eden outposts wherever they are reminds me of you and your Eden outpost Homestead in Ireland and the work you’re doing they both physically, academically, and spiritually. This isn’t to say your homestead is perfect, or without sin, simply that it’s composed of individuals, different individuals…male, female, young and old, living in community with their Creator, people intentionally created differently and still choosing intentionally to live in community together in a dance with each other and their Creator. and your Eden of a community is continually reaching out and pushing back the darkness. Curt’s concept of and implementation around Confessional Communities feels like strong forays into our western civilization’s post-enlightenment world’s darkness.

The question: When was the throne at the heart of 'Christianity' ever occupied by the Nazarene rather than men polishing our own dysfunctional egos and so it appears it continues to this day.

Hi Paul. Have you read any of James Tabor’s work? It’s recently blown everything apart from me after a 5 year journey toward Christianity.

I dont know how youtubers can stomach the comments.

Check out the book, "The Jesus Papers"!! It was written by the same man who wrote, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". In it we find out Jesus was alive in 45 A.D. had purchased a piece of land outside of Alexandria!! This author found in Roman records that this Jesus was the same one tried & acquitted by Pontus Pilate! So, there we have it, Jesus was never crucified so all our "religion" has been based on a lie.....but Belief Systems are all that seem to matter.....facts do not!! I am a Grandmother of 79 years & spent over 70 years within the Christian Community & what I saw & experienced pushed me to start questioning things at age 70!! I had to find out what the heck was wrong with this system that caused so much pain & confusion in so many lives!!

Why do you observe this made up ritualistic behaviour merely on this allocated time? In a retrocausal reality in which space/time dilation of past/present/future are illusions of human perception of its basic sense-making mechanism, all of Yeshua's actions from birth to death are happening in the simultaneous now and so why does not make any difference to merely ritually "remember" it in this allocated time period and only this time period? "He who has found a corpse has found the world, of that corpse, the world is not worthy" - Gospel of Thomas. What does it matter what you eat?, its muck and dead septic matter produced by the satanic cannibalistic ecosystem of this hellish existence to sustain your biotic organism partially living death machine prison vessel of your soul. Neither have too much or too little. Fasting for "spiritual growth" is an egocentric neuromyth constructed by very very ignorant insecure people not knowing what you deny in yourself you will seek from others to fill that void as that is the way the selfish flesh vampirism works. "Do not give alms because you will cause evil to your spirits" - Gospel of Thomas. So much totalizing universalizing language you are using, live and let live "let the dead bury their own dead". So what if the monsters come into the spiritual void?, its what has self-selected and naturally occurs from the darwinian nature of this creation of your "god" yahweh has set in motion from within his schizophrenic mind of his upper and lower nature at war with one another. Why cry over spilt milk? Discern accordingly.

Thank you. Yes, carry the cross with humility. Voluntarily....in Christ.