Welcome to our August newsletter.

This month we present first two articles on aspects of sainthood, followed by a study on Christian initiation.

• Our first text is by Martin Lings, who takes the reader by the hand to disclose the metaphysical depths and symbolic associations of the “Archetypes of Devotional Homage”, including hero-worship and other forms of devotion.

The celestial archetype of fraternity and friendship is the communion of equals or near equals, between prophet and prophet, sage and sage, and between peers within other constellations of Spirits who are drawn together by their parity.

• Next, in his article “‘For He is Our Peace’: Thomas Aquinas on Christ as Cause of Peace in the City of the Saints”, Matthew A. Tapie sheds light on the foundational gift of peace bestowed by Christ, both on its individual and social aspects, like that of civic peace in times of war.

Christ’s gift of peace in John 14:27, for Aquinas, refers not only to the perfect state to be enjoyed in heaven but also to a true-but-imperfect ecclesial peace possessed by the saints now.

• We close our selection with a comparative study by Marco Pallis, “The Veil of the Temple: A Study of Christian Initiation.” With characteristic insight and breadth of scope, the author brings together Buddhist and Christian Orthodox Sources to probe the depths of contemplative life.

The two elements, bread and wine, figuring in the rite correspond, as many are aware, to the two great “dimensions” of spiritual life, “the exterior” and “the interior,” and therefore also to the two natures of Christ, human and divine, the realization of which the Eucharist is above all designed to bring about. When the bread is broken, the sacrifice is accomplished.