In, but not of the world

Within Scripture, the cornerstone of our Holy Tradition, as well as in other modes that God has revealed Himself and His will for us, the faithful are repeatedly reminded of the reality that we are in the world, but not of the world.  Even so, we are empowered by God to choose our homeland, either the kingdom of this world, or the Kingdom of Heaven.  For as Bishop Nikolai of blessed memory explains: “Man is presented with a choice in this life: the kingdom of this world or the Kingdom of Heaven. God puts no pressure on this choice, but each man chooses freely.”

For Father Paisios of blessed memory, the choice is simple.  We ought to wisely choose to desire spiritual joy, hence, the Kingdom of Heaven.  He explains to an inquirer: 
Satisfying the worldly desires of the heart does not bring us spiritual joy; it only brings anxiety.  Worldly joy brings anxiety to spiritual people.  Worldly joy is not a permanent, true joy; it is a temporary joy, a joy of the moment.  It is material and not spiritual.  But material delights cannot “fill” the human soul.  In fact, they fill it with trash.  When we experience spiritual joy, we will no longer desire the pleasures of material things.  When I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding thy glory.  Worldly joy does not comfort the spiritual person.  It only gives him fatigue.  If you place a spiritual person in a worldly home he will not be comfortable.  Even a secular person does not really find rest there; he only thinks he does.  In fact, he only feels an external, superficial enjoyment.  In reality, in his heart, he is not pleased; he suffers. 

In a similar voice, but instead to the people of Serbia, the Elder Thaddeus taught that we must choose to serve God rather than be smitten with the enticements of this world.  “We are too engrossed in things of this world and thus become spiritually impoverished, because one cannot sit on two chairs.  One cannot drink both from the Cup of the Savior and from the cup of adversary.  We must decide whom we will serve: God or the things of this world.  One cannot serve God and mammon.” 

“True Christians…” according to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk choose to serve God, so much so, that they:

live in this world as travelers, pilgrims, and sojourners, and they look ever toward the heavenly homeland with faith and with the eyes of the soul, and they strive to reach it.  You should also be a pilgrim and sojourner in this world and constantly look toward that homeland and strive to obtain it, and so the world with its enticements and lusts will become abhorrent to you.  Whoever seeks eternal blessedness and desires it and strives to reach it will despise everything temporal, lest while seeking the temporal he be deprived of the eternal. 

Bishop Nikolai likewise taught: “While you are on earth, regard yourself as a guest of the Host, that is, of Christ.  A good host merits a good guest.  All the saints knew this truth and so ordered their lives.  Therefore the immortal Host rewarded them with eternal life.”

How does this affect our time in the world?  Saint Seraphim of Sarov answers this question by referencing St. Antioch:

If says the same teacher, we live in an alien city and our city is far from this city, and if we know our city: then why do we tarry in an alien city and prepare for ourselves a field and a dwelling in it?  And how shall we sing a song to the Lord in an alien land?  This world is the dominion of another, i.e., the prince of this world. 

If, as he says, this world is in the dominion of another, then we must be weary as to being overly attached to any worldly so as to remain committed to and in communion with Christ.  St. John of Kronstadt:

Remember that by every sin, by every attachment to anything worldly, by every displeasure and animosity towards your neighbor, by anything carnal, you offend the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of peace and love, the Spirit who draws us from things earthly to things heavenly, from the visible to the invisible, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the temporal to the eternal, from sin to holiness, from vice to virtue. 

The Elder Paisios further explains:

In the spiritual life, we are related in the flesh to Adam and in the spirit to Christ.  Those who live spiritually experience this spiritual kinship.  They think the same way and have the same aims and goals…  When someone ceases to live spiritually, he ceases to have a relationship with the other who continues to live spiritually.  This separation is self-imposed; he is not distanced by the other.  The more someone lives according to God, the more closely he can approach Him; and the more he distances himself from a godly life, the more he is isolated from Him.

Choosing to commit ourselves to Christ and to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, I close with a practical counsel of St. John of Kronstadt:

If you read worldly magazines and newspapers, and derive some profit from them, as a citizen, as a Christian, a member of a family, then you ought still more and still oftener to read the Gospel, and the writings of the fathers; for it would be sinful in a Christian who reads worldly writings not to read divinely inspired ones.  If you follow the events of the outer world, do not lose sight of your inner world, your own soul: it is nearer and dearer to you.  To read only worldly magazines and newspapers means to live only with one side of the soul, and not with the whole soul, or to live only by the flesh, and not by the spirit.  Everything worldly will come to an end in the world itself.  And the world passeth away, but he that does the will of God abides forever.

A Rule of Prayer

Why is it necessary to pray at home, and to attend divine service at the Church?  Well, why is it necessary for you to eat and drink, to take exercise, or to work, every day?  In order to support the life of the body and strengthen it.  So also it is absolutely necessary to pray in order to support the life of the soul, to strengthen the soul, which is sick with sin, and to cleanse it, just as you employ some kinds of food and drink to cleanse the body.  If you do not pray, you behave unadvisedly and most unwisely, supporting, gratifying and strengthening your body in every way, but neglecting your soul.

Saint John of Krondstat, like other faithful and God-pleasing men and women of our Christian Family, not only emphasized the importance of prayer, but also lived a life dedicated to prayer.  If we wish to advance in our understandings and disciplines of prayer like St. John, we must then look to the teachings and lives of this and other saints, as we also maintain balance between communal and personal prayer.  Essentially, we must commit ourselves to craft, mature, and then sustain a rule of prayer.  Simply, this is how we grow in Christ, becoming better Christians.  The Elder Ephiphanios of blessed memory was once asked,  “How will be become better, Elder?  We remain constantly in the same things.”  The Elder answered: “My child, practice much prayer and then you will see the improvement.  How should we do it?  There is no magic wand for us to tap and have Christian progress come automatically.”  Progress comes through a discipline of prayer. 

Within the Metropolis of San Francisco, His Eminence has asked us, the clergy and the laity, to commit ourselves to a rule of prayer.  “You ask about a prayer rule,” writes St. Theophan the Recluse.     

Yes, it is good to have a prayer rule on account of our weakness so that on the one hand we do not give in to laziness, and on the other hand we restrain our enthusiasm to its proper measure. The greatest practitioners of prayer kept a prayer rule. They would always begin with established prayers, and if during the course of these a prayer started on its own, they would put aside the others and pray that prayer. If this is what the great practitioners of prayer did, all the more reason for us to do so. Without established prayers, we would not know how to pray at all. Without them, we would be left entirely without prayer.

When are we to pray?  Ideally, in accordance with the Apostle Paul, we would pray without ceasing and offer up glory to God before, during and after every task.  At the very minimum however, we ought to create a rule of prayer in both the morning in the evening. 

“I would consider the morning and evening prayers as set out in the prayer books to be entirely sufficient for you” explains St. John of Krondstat:

Just try each time to carry them out with full attention and corresponding feelings. To be more successful at this, spend a little of your free time at reading over all the prayers separately. Think them over and feel them, so that when you recite them at your prayer rule, you will know the holy thoughts and feelings that are contained in them. Prayer does not mean that we just recite prayers, but that we assimilate their content within ourselves, and pronounce them as if they came from our minds and hearts.

With regards to our morning prayers, Saint Symeon of Thessaloniki suggests: “So then, all of us – clergy, monastics, and laity – should think of the Lord first, as soon as we rise from sleep, calling Christ to mind and offering this prayer as a commemoration, as first fruits and sacrifice to him, before every other concern.”  Similarly, St. John of Kronstadt notes: “The only means by which you can spend the day in perfect holiness, and peace, and without sin, is most sincere prayer as soon as you rise from sleep in the morning.  It will bring Christ into your heart, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and will thus strengthen your soul against any evil; but it will still be necessary for you carefully to guard your heart.”

When the sun sets, and we prepare to close the day, we are likewise reminded by St. John to pray:
Never sleep before saying evening prayers, lest your heart become gross from ill-times sleep, and lest the enemy should hinder it by a stony insensibility during prayer.  Be sober, be vigilant.  Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation.  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man comes.  Watch therefore; for you know not when the master of the house comes – at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crow, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.  And what I say unto you I say unto all –Watch. 

Committing to prayer in the morning and in the evening, we should also set a realistic length of time for prayer.  Saint Theophan writes:

…Set a definite length of time for prayer—- a quarter of an hour, a half, or a whole hour (whatever is appropriate for you level of prayer), and regulate your vigil so that the clock striking on the half hour or the hour signals the need of prayers. When you begin prayer, do not concern yourself with the number of prayers to be read, but only lift your heart and mind to the Lord in prayer, and continue in a worthy manner for the time set aside.

In this light, the morning and evening prayers compiled by the Metropolis are not only foundational but also realistic for most of us, as they are concise, truly no more than 5 or 10 minutes in length, which allows time for the reading of Scripture and a thoughtful reflection upon the Saints commemorated this day.  Saint John explains:

At the end of your morning and evening prayers call upon the saints, so that seeing every virtue realized in them, you may yourself imitate every virtue.  Learn from the patriarchs childlike faith and obedience to the Lord, from the prophets and apostles zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of the men, from the holy bishops zeal to preach the word of God, from the martyrs and confessors firmness before the infidel and godless, from the ascetics to crucify your own flesh and its lusts, and from the unmercenary ones not to love profit, and freely to help the needy. 

To practice what I have preached, we close with a morning prayer of Metropolitan Philaret:
  
Lord, give me the strength to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely on Your holy will. Reveal Your will to me every hour of the day. Bless my dealings with all people. Teach me to treat all people who come to me throughout the day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unexpected events, let me not forget that all are sent by you. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me the physical strength to bear the labors of this day. Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray in me. Amen.

The Domestic Church

When in the ancient city of Capernaum, situated on the Sea of Galilee, pilgrims visit a Roman church built in close proximity to a synagogue that dates back to the time of Christ.  This particular Roman Church is built upon an earlier Byzantine Church, which is built upon an earlier structure that had been expanded from its original floor plan, a home.  This home was in fact the home of the Apostle Peter, the home in which the Lord healed Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with fever.

Although the archeology of this site confirms that the home was the site of worship for the first Christians, Scripture also provides insight into the use of the home as a gathering place for the Lord’s disciples and those whom they would baptize.  On the occasion of Pentecost, where were the disciples gathered in one accord?  As in this instance of the Mystical Supper, they were gathered in a home.  In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, St. Luke writes of those first Christians who continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship, they continued daily with one accord in the temple and broke bread from house to house, eating food with gladness and simplicity.  And, when writing to the Corinthians, Saint Paul sends greetings to the faithful from a domestic church when he writes: “The churches of Asia greets you.  Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartedly in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”

Although we are almost two thousand years from the establishment of the first Christian communities, as in the beginning, the Christian home remains a microcosm of the Church.  Within the patristic tradition, the home is often referred to as the domestic Church most commonly by St. John Chrysostom.  As a small Church, the individual or the family, both which gather in the communion of the saints, must be established firmly on the unshakable Rock, which is Christ.  When this occurs, that is when “…a home [is] filled with prayer,” according to Sister Magdalen in her writing, Orthodox Tradition and Family Life in Living Orthodoxy in the Modern World, “God is ‘tasted’, prayer is as natural as breathing, and Holy Tradition is passed to the next generation less by preaching than by life and example.”

The passing on of Holy Tradition or, put another way, the imparting of the fullness of the Faith, is Christian pedagogy at its purest and best.  When the family, chooses to understand the home as a center of learning through living the faith, or in the words of St. Benedict, the family chooses to make their home a “school for the Lord’s service,” the clergy and the faithful of the parish need only affirm and complement what is lived in the domestic church, rather than attempting to introduce God and His saints to an individual or individuals, who are all but unwelcomed houseguests.

Throughout the entire history of salvation, there are those individuals who so established their domestic churches, unto their salvation as well as unto those who came into their midst.  Saint John Chrysostom elevates one such example:

Consider Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and the three hundred and eighteen born in his house (Gen. 14:14). How the whole house was harmoniously knit together, how the whole was full of piety and fulfilled the Apostolic injunction….

He then reminds those in the fourth century Antioch:

When husband and wife and children and servants are all interested in the same things, great is the harmony of the house. Since where this is not the case, the whole is oftentimes overthrown and broken up by one bad servant; and that single one will often mar and utterly destroy the whole. [30]

Reflecting upon this Truth after a vibrant and spirit-filled ministry, Father Anthony M. Coniaris has concluded:

The most influential school in the world is not Oxford or Harvard or the Sorbonne or Yale or Cambridge. It is the home.  The question is not, “Is there a school under your roof?”  The real question is, “How good is the school under your roof? What are you teaching? What are you not teaching?” If the one hour a week spent in Church and Church School is to be effective, it must be supplemented in the greatest of all schools, the home, by dedicated Christian parents who, by family discussions, family prayer, a special family evening, family Bible reading, family devotions at the supper table, will give their children the greatest gift possible: the knowledge of the One, True God Christ Jesus Who will walk with them through life, strengthen them, heal them, guide them, and give meaning to their life, grant the peace of God and lead them ultimately to life eternal.

What does this home look like?  Father Paisios of blessed memory, although writing about the good use of the monastic cell, also provides those of us in the world with a beautiful description of the Christian dwelling, be it a simple room or a multitude of rooms.

It is worth the effort to make our cell (or our home) like a little church, with icons and whatever else helps us reverence it and provoke godliness in us.  It will then have the power to pull us in and to allow our thoughts to concentrate, so much during our prayer as during our spiritual duties in general which, having been given the disposition, we will do with joy.

The reason that Father Paisios suggests that the home ought be understood and also ornate like a church is because within the seclusion of our homes, our vices can too often run rampant.  St. John of Kronstadt explains: “Watch your vices, above all at home, where they appear freely, like moles in a safe place.  Outside our own home, some of our vices are usually screened by other more decorous ones, while at home there is no possibility of concealing these black moles that undermine the integrity of the soul.”

As was once said by St. John Chrysostom:

So it’s better to conclude our sermon at this point, exhorting you in your goodness to remember what has been said and keep it ever in your mind; when you go home from here, lay out with your meal a spiritual meal as well.  …In short, the household might become a church, so that the devil is driven off and the evil spirit, the enemy of our salvation, takes to flight; the grace of the Holy Spirit would rest there instead, and all peace and harmony surrounded the inhabitants.

Orthodoxy in conversation

“God requires these three things, which were bestowed in Holy Baptism, from every man: correct belief in soul. Truth on his tongue, and moderation in his body.”  This saying of an ancient father of the desert suggests that we are not saved on our own terms, but instead judged by God based on his requirements. This is why the faithful have been encouraged to:

Stand fast, brethren, in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in His love, in His passion, and in His Resurrection.  Come together in common, and individually, through grace, in one faith of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ His only-begotten Son, being under the guidance of the Comforter; in obedience to the bishop and the presbyters with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which prevents us from dying, but a cleansing remedy driving away evil, that we should live in God through Jesus Christ.

Although there are those who have heeded St. Clement’s charge, which he addressed to the Corinthians, there are those who have strayed from this ideal and/or were never introduced to the fullness of the Church.  This is because, to quote another desert father:

Today many people wishing for an excuse not to do what God asks of them find fault with the teaching of the Holy Church and reject correct Christian belief.  Instead, they choose to believe what they wish.  This is akin to a man not wishing to believe that he will die, simply because the notion does not comfort him.  Not only will he fail to prepare for death, as one ought to do, but he will inevitably find himself in the snare of death.  Correct belief is not based on what we wish were true, but on truth itself!

How much error in belief or foolishness exists today that must be confronted by the Orthodox?  Father Epiphanios of the Holy Hermitage of the Graceful Mother of God in Trizina of blessed memory writes, “For all the foolishness to be refuted, which is written against Christianity, the mountains would have to be minds, the trees, pen holders, the sea, ink, and the fields, paper!”

Why is there so much disbelief?  The same elder suggests: “Sin is that which prevents us from believing.  Not logic.  Fr this reason, if you tell an unbeliever to live for six months according to the ethics of the Gospel, and he does it, he will become a believer without even realizing it.”

Reflecting upon these words, the question that we must then ask ourselves is “How do we engage these individuals in Christ?”  Put another way, “What is Orthodoxy like in conversation?”

St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, endures all things.  Love never ends” (I Cor 13:4-8).  With these words as a starting point, we engage one another in love, regardless if one is Orthodox in belief or in practice. Such a love for all people was found in the twentieth century Holy Russian Elder, Isidore of the Gethsemane Hermitage, of blessed memory.  A writing on his life documents that:

Showing love for people – the rich and the poor, the learned and the simple, officials and non officials, the righteous (if such people indeed exist) and the sinners, the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox, as well as non-Christians and even heathens – was for Fr. Isidore just as necessary as breathing…”

Although living some 16 centuries before Elder Isidore, St. John Chrysostom directs the faithful to go to great, loving lengths to bring those who have strayed back to the Church.

We undertake a long run fight full of indulgence and sweetness in order to remove the heretics from death to the life, helping them to stand up.  We are fighting not against the heretics but chiefly against heresy.  Not against a man, but against errors.  Myself, I am engaged in fighting heretics, but my intention is not against these men I fight, but striving to remove from them the error and heal the rottenness.

There are numerous examples of loving the man and hating the heresy found throughout the centuries.  One most significant example, which predates St. John’s teaching, is Dionysios of Alexandria. 

In 251, Novation, a distinguished presbyter in Rome, came in to conflict with Cornelius, the Bishop of Rome.  Their difference was the problem of those would had offered sacrifices during the persecution of Decius (249-251); how should they be treated since sacrifice to pagan idols was considered a mortal sin?  Cornelius was indulgent to human weakness and accepted their reconciliation upon proofs of their true repentance.  Novation not only refused such an approach, but also even rose up against the leniency of the bishop, thus creating a radical group, competing in some way with the official ecclesiastical body.  The situation worsened and nearly to the point if an openly schismatic church hostile to any re-admission to ecclesiastical communion, thus challenging the charitable policy practiced by Cornelius. 

At this critical time, Dionysios of Alexandria (247-265), motivated by brotherly feelings, intervenes.  This was the practice of mutual solidarity between sister Churches, when a bishop was expected to offer his good offices; he then writes to Novatian a very short letter pleading for reconciliation and a return to peace.  Dionysios, a disciple or Origen, an outstanding ecclesiastical writer and peacemaker, in a most reconciliatory style asks the rebel presbyter to restore the broken communion with his bishop, as is also attested by Eusebios the historian.  What impresses us in this context is that Dionysios calls Novatian “brother” – adelphos, considering him in spite of all a valid brother in Christ.  The whole text in its shortness reveals Christian feeling and wisdom (p. 85).

In a prayerful spirit, we then engage the heterodox, that is, non-Orthodox, in dialogue as…children of God.  We do not hate the sinners or the heterodox, but the sin and heresy.  In the spirit of the Fathers, we embrace them as brothers and sisters, realize that they are weak and erring, and in turn act indulgent and charitable, seeking sincere opportunity for sincere dialogue and reconciliation. Reflecting upon such a blessed approach to all of God’s children, Fr. Seraphim Rose proclaimed: “How much hope there is for those who do not trust in themselves too much and are not overly-critical of others! And how little hope for those whose orientation is the opposite!”

Nourishing the soul

“My soul thirsts for God, the living God; when can I go meet with God.”  These words of Psalm 42, attributed to the Prophet and King David Psalm, although brief, communicate a longing for God that ought to be the desire and longing of each and every Christian soul.

A thirsting soul is to be nourished, else it, like the physical body, will wither and die.  Bishop Nikolai of blessed memory explains: “A soul can become famished to death” when it is not fed spiritual food.  Saint John of Kronstadt in like manner writes: “The body, as it is only the temporal garment of the soul, is perishable, and its life is not the true life of man.  The true life is the spiritual life.  If you destroy man’s garment, he himself yet lives; so also after the death and decaying of the body the soul is yet alive.  Let us then care principally for the soul, that it may be saved.”  This is why we must have great concern for the health and life of the soul.  For as the Elder Paisios of blessed memory has written, “…the value of one soul is infinite!  This is why the salvation of one soul is an extremely important matter!”

Saint John encourages each of us to examine the health of the soul:

Do you pay enough regard to the state of your soul? – Whether it is in good health?  Whether its life is vigorous?  And if its present temporal life is happy, then is its eternal life, its eternal happiness, ensured?  Is it ensured, for instance, by faith? Is there in your soul a lively faith in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Church?  Do you practice good works, meekness, humility, gentleness, love of truth and honesty, abstinence, chastity, mercy, patience, obedience, industry, and other such virtues?  If you do not, then all your labor is useless.  The soul perhaps, does many things worthy of wonder, but it will itself be lost.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Clement of Alexandria therefore reminds the faithful: “Just as our body needs a physician when it is sick, so, too, when we are weak, our soul needs the Educator to cure its ills.  Only then does it need the Teacher to guide it and develop its capacity to know, once it is made pure and capable of retaining the revelation of the Word.”

The Physician of our souls, the Educator, the Teacher is none other than Christ. For this reason, the Elder Paisios has likewise concluded that “Real, genuine joy and delight can only be found in Christ. If you unite with Him through prayer, your soul will find fulfillment.”

Uniting ourselves with Christ in prayer, we are also directed to feed on Him and be nourished by Him as He is the food for our souls. Bishop Nikolai wisely leads us to the chalice to receive Christ.  He writes:  “Let us feed our souls with Christ.  There is no more nourishing bread than He, nor sweeter drink than He in Holy Communion.”

Complementing our frequent Communion, we are also to nourish ourselves with Christ through the reading of the Word.  Saint Seraphim of Sarov explains:

One should nourish the soul with the word of God: for the word of God, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, is angelic bread, by which are nourished souls that hunger for God.  Most of all one should occupy oneself with reading the New Testament and the Psalter, which one should do standing up.  From this there occurs an enlightenment in the mind, which is changed by a Divine change.

One should habituate oneself in this way so that the mind might as it were swim in the Lord’s law; it is under the guidance of this law that one should direct one’s life. 

It is very profitable to occupy oneself with reading the word of God in solitude, and to read the whole Bible intelligently.  For one such occupation alone, apart from good deeds, the Lord will not leave a person without His mercy, but will fill him with the gift of understanding. 

And when a man nourishes his soul with the word of God, there is realized [in him] an understanding of what is good and what is evil. 

The reading of the word of God should be performed in solitude, in order that the whole mind of the reader might be plunged into the truths of the Holy Scripture and that from this he might receive warmth, which in solitude produces tears; from these a man s wholly warmed and is filled with spiritual gifts, which rejoice the mind and heart more than any word. 

One should likewise nourish the soul also with knowledge of Church: how she has been preserved from the beginning up to the present, what she has endured in one or another time; but one should know this not so as to desire to direct people, but in case one should encounter powerful opposition. 

Most of all one should do this strictly for oneself, so as to acquire peace of soul, according to the teaching of the Psalmist: Great peace have those who love Thy law, O Lord. 

We can’t receive the Eucharist too often nor can we read Scripture too frequently.  For this reason, Bishop Nikolai concludes: “Oh teacher of truth, do not be afraid of repeating again and again; of teaching by repetition and reminding.  Truth is good for the soul.  You have eaten bread today and the day before, month by month, and you will go on eating it to strengthen your body.  Feed your soul as well with truth, yesterday, today and tomorrow.” 

As we nourish the soul with none other than Christ Himself, St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain exhorts us to remain vigilant: “Watch yourself with all diligence, lest the enemy steal near and rob you, depriving you of this great treasure, which is inner peace and stillness of soul. The enemy strives to destroy the peace of the soul, because he knows that when the soul is in turmoil it is more easily led to evil. But you must guard your peace.”

Remaining vigilant, we are to also to remain thankful to God who nourishes our souls and bodies through His Word.  I close with a prayer of thanksgiving, attributed to St. Basil the Great:

O Master, Christ our God, King of the Ages, Maker of all things:  I thank You for all the good things You have given me, especially for the communion with Your most pure and life-creating Mysteries.  I pray You, O gracious Lover of Man: preserve me under Your protection, beneath the shadow of your wings.  Enable me, even to my last breath, to partake worthily and with a pure conscience of Your holy things, for the remission of sins and unto life eternal.  For You are the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Holiness, the Giver of all Good; to You we ascribe glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages.  Amen.

Orthopraxia: Living a life in Christ

One of the differences between the eloquent philosophy of the Greeks and the faith of Christians is that the Greeks’ philosophy can be clearly expressed in words and understood through reading.  But the Christian faith cannot be fully grasped in this way.  For the learning of the Faith, the example of its teacher, Jesus, is indispensible, and both reading and practice of what is read are necessary.  The truths of Christian faith are better understood by practice. 

These words of Bishop Nikolai of blessed memory communicate the importance of not simply reading about the Faith, but living the Orthodox Christian Faith.  Maintaining a correct faith is of course a blessing beyond measure, but it will be of little worth if one does not manifest a love for God and all of His Creation.  For as Saint John Chrysostom preached:  “Though a man believe rightly on the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, yet if he lead not a right life, his faith will avail nothing towards his salvation.” 

This is why Father Paisios of blessed memory taught the faithful to:

“Love Christ, be humble, do your duty, and Christ Himself will reveal your virtue to others.”  [He continues his explanation by noting that] Virtue has a rule of its own by which it will reveal a person wherever he may be.  Even if one should conceal himself, or even pretend to be a fool for Christ’s sake, virtue will definitely be revealed, even at a later time, and the stored treasure, revealed all together at last, will again help many souls; perhaps then even more.

God does reveal the virtue of some to not a few, but to the whole of Creation when He sees fit.  The saints in each generation, all of whom we call to mind on this Sunday of All Saints, provide living examples of virtue for imitation and serve as living proof that God’s likeness can be realized in practice.  Reflecting upon the virtue of the saints, those who are first and foremost holy in the sight of God and then revealed to us, Aristides the early Christian writer concludes: 

Christians walk in all humility and kindness and lying is not found among them, and they truly love one another.  They despise not the widow, and grieve not the orphan.  Those who have, distribute liberally to those who have nothing.  If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him as if it were their own brother, for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh but after the Spirit and in God.  If any of their own passes away from this life, and another believer sees it, he provides for the burial of the poor man.  If they hear that any one of their own is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of the believers provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they deliver him.  And if there is any among them who is poor and needy and des not have an abundance of necessities they fast two or three days that they may supply the need with available food.

Regardless of the region of the world or the years in which these holy men and women lived, as recipients of God’s Grace they choose to cooperate with the Lord, living virtuously, unto salvation.  Choosing wisely with our free will is absolutely necessary as Bishop of Gerasimos of Abydos of blessed memory explains:

Even though sanctification is God’s gift, free man is called to cooperate with divine grace and to make that free sanctification his own.  First of all, he has to recognize his weaknesses and believe that Christ is the source of his sanctification.  Secondly, he has to live a virtuous, spiritual and sacramental life in order to be united personally with Christ.  With the help of God, he checks his weaknesses and allows the Holy Spirit to direct his life according to the will of God; to form in his soul the image of Christ which helps him to become an imitator of Christ.  That was the goal Adam had to attain.

In another instance, when reflecting upon the importance of living in Christ, Bishop Gerasimos concludes:

Practicing love is life and must be expressed, practiced.  First of all, it must be expressed as practical love toward our neighbor in his daily needs.  One cannot say that he believes in the Christ of love and remain unmoved before the misfortune of his neighbor…Without practical love, faith is dead, non-existent, perhaps even satanic.  “Even the demons believe…and shudder” (Jm 2: 19), but they do not have love.

What are we to do if we fall short in expressing love, or in more general terms, living our Christian faith? St. Tikon of Zadonsk suggests:

In order to correct yourself and become a true Christian, that is Christ’s, set the holy life of Christ before the eyes of your soul, and look upon it often and imitate its example…  Beloved Christian!  You must go by the safe way if you wish to enter surely into eternal life.  What is the safe way?  Live in this world according to the example of the life of Christ.  Then live thus, and you shall be saved. 

Saint John of Kronstadt likewise provides this instruction to the faithful:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  How are we to seek first the kingdom of God?  In the following manner: let us suppose that you wish to go somewhere on any temporal business; before doing so, first pray to the Lord that he may correct the ways of your heart, and then also the present way of your body, or that he may direct the way of your life in accordance with his commandments; desire this with all your heart, and often renew this prayer.  The Lord, noting your sincere desire and endeavor to walk in accordance with his commandments, will, by degrees, correct all your ways. 

To those who preach in the Church, clergy as well as those who bear the more contemporary title of theologian, the early Christian writer Lactantius reminds us, “The things you teach cannot have any weight unless you be the first to practice them.”  In more recent years, Father Paisios taught:

Our goal is to live in an Orthodox way, not simply to speak or to write in an Orthodox way.  This is why, you see, a sermon does not inform, does not change the life of a person, no matter how good it is, unless the preacher is actually living the faith…. It’s relatively easy to think [or to speak] in an Orthodox way; to live the Orthodox way of life requires effort. 

Regardless of whether one is ordained to the deaconate, priesthood, or episcopacy or is simply a member of the royal priesthood of Christ, a distinction that each of us bears by virtue of our baptism, we are all called to live in Christ.  I therefore close with the words of Saint John of Kronstadt who offers a poetic and timeless testament as to the blessings afforded each of us by God when we choose to practice our Orthodox faith:  
  
If you love your neighbor, then all heaven will love you; if you are united in spirit with your fellow-creatures, then you will be united with God and all the company in heaven; if you are merciful to your neighbor, then God and all the angels and saints will be merciful to you; if you pray for others then all heaven will intercede for you.  The Lord our God is holy; be holy yourself also.

Correct Belief

A young abbot was counseled in this way by a holy man.  Today many people wishing for an excuse not to do what God asks of them find fault with the teaching of the Holy Church and reject correct Christian belief.  Instead, they choose to believe what they wish.  This is akin to a man not wishing to believe that he will die, simply because the notion does not comfort him.  Not only will he fail to prepare for death, as one ought to do, but he will inevitably find himself in the snare of death.  Correct belief is not based on what we wish were true, but on truth itself. 

This story, taken from the ancient fathers of the desert, emphasizes the need for our Orthodoxy, that is the true correct faith and the true glorification, as Christians. “This combinations suggests to us,” writes Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, “the truth that a true faith leads to the true glorification of the Trinitarian God.  If the faith about God is erroneous, then the glorification of God will be erroneous.”  His words are in the spirit of St. Gregory Palamas, “those who are of the Church of Christ are of the truth; and those who are not of the truth are also not of the Church of Christ.”

Belief is therefore founded not in opinion, but in doctrine, in Truth.  Saint Justin Popovich explained:

In Christianity truth is not a philosophical concept nor is it a theory, a teaching, or a system, but rather, it is the living theanthropic hypostasis - the historical Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Before Christ men could only conjecture about the Truth since they did not possess it. With Christ as the incarnate divine Logos the eternally complete divine Truth enters into the world. For this reason the Gospel says: “Truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

For this reason, Saint Kosmas Aitolos taught that “Real knowledge has been given to men by God as a grace preceding the fullness of grace; it teaches those who partake of it to believe above all in the Giver.”

Doctrine has been therefore been compared to the plans of a building.  If the plans are sound, the building, if correctly built, will be sound.  Bad plans will cause an unsound building. The reason for this is that an error in doctrine threatens to confuse the purpose of the sacrifice of Christ and our means of approaching Christ, making salvation difficult if not impossible.  Saint Symeon the New Theologian continues this building analogy when writing:

The roof of any house stands upon the foundations and the rest of the structure. The foundations themselves are laid in order to carry the roof. This is both useful and necessary, for the roof cannot stand without the foundations and the foundations are absolutely useless without the roof - no help to any living creature. In the same way the grace of God is preserved by the practice of the commandments, and the observance of these commandments is laid down like foundations through the gift of God. The grace of the Spirit cannot remain with us without the practice of the commandments, but the practice of the commandments is of no help or advantage to us without the grace of God.

Another father of the desert has therefore taught: “God requires these three things, which were bestowed in Holy Baptism, from every man: correct belief in soul, truth on his tongue, and moderation in his body.” 

St. Cyprian is credited with having said, “No human being can take God as his Father unless he takes the Church as his mother. ”  It is for this reason that Father John of Kronstadt prayed, “May Christians attach themselves wholly, with all their hearts, to the Church of Christ, that in her they may be firmly established unto the end of their days on earth.  May they all be zealous to fulfill her commandments and ordinances, and in her may they obtain eternal salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Thankfully, our mother, regardless of our Orthodox tradition, that is, the particular patriarchal see to which we are attached, affords us Truth via Holy Tradition.  “The Church, the house of God…” according to St. Basil of Caesarea, “is built upon the foundations of the faith of the apostle and prophets.” The faith of the apostles and prophets is then passed and entrusted to the faithful of each generation.  The Apostolic Constitutions attributed to St. Augustine explains:

The Holy Spirit worked in all the saints from the beginning of the world, and was afterwards sent to the Apostles by the Father…and after the Apostles to all believers in the holy catholic church.

This passing of truth via the Holy Spirit is Holy Tradition.  Bishop Nikolai of blessed memory explains that Holy Tradition is “…the experience of the saints in the spiritual sphere, an experience grown immense in close to two thousand years, the experience of thousands upon thousands of holy men and women an incredibly rich storehouse of wisdom and an immense heap of proofs of every truth of Holy Scripture.”  Like those who have gone before us, we are then, to paraphrase St. Paul in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, to “stand fast and hold the traditions which we have been taught, whether by word, or epistle.”

How can we discern in love the Orthodoxy of someone’s belief?  One of the desert fathers has simply said: “Show me how a person worships and I will tell you what he believes.” Unfortunately, both inside and outside the Church, there are those who modify worship as well as their understandings of our mother, the Church, which should be of great concern. The reason for our concern is expressed in the words of a contemporary Orthodox author:

[These adaptations have] the effect in the long run, of leading people to suppose that the ills of the Church and the world can be solved by better organization and administration, more lively services, modern hymns and so on- anything but repentance and forgiveness.  Each year brings a new translation of the Bible, a new liturgy, a new way of doing things – and all because last year’s new solutions have not worked.  The fact that the ills of the Church and the world are the result of sin and that the cure of sin is the sacrifice of Christ is not part of the consideration of the problem and its solution (Upon this Rock, D. Dale, 27).

St. Maximos the Confessor likens such adaptations of the Faith to betrayal.  “Betrayal refers not only to the Revelation, the revealed truth, but also to the salvation of man.  If a man has a different teaching about God and man’s salvation, then he can never attain deification.”  He likens those who adapt tradition to men with “a two-edged sword and a sharpened razor…they slaughter souls and consign them to…a pit of darkness.”

In closing, our prayer must be that we remain one, and that our brothers and sisters in Christ, who have strayed, return to the fold.  As we therefore offer our prayers for the reconciliation of all to the Truth, Tertullian encourages the faithful to:

Maintain your respect for Tradition, whoever you may judge to have started the Tradition; be concerned not about it’s author but about its authority, and especially the authority of well-established usage.  Revere such usage, that you may not want for an interpreter to explain the reason behind it.  And if God gives you one, what you will learn from hi is not whether you ought to observe established custom, but why. 

Ultimately, let us heed the words of St. Paul of Obnor: “Have unfeigned love among yourselves, keep the tradition, and may the God of peace be with you and confirm you in love.” Amen.

Love

Saint Anthony, once exclaimed, “Now I no longer fear God, I love him, for love casts out fear.”  “Love” according to Bishop Nikolai of blessed memory, “…is joy, strength, peace and fortitude, and it anoints the human heart with these qualities.  The love of God, like a fragrant oil, is shed up on our hearts in no other way than by the Holy Spirit.”  If we desire to transition from the fear of God to the love of God as did the great ascetic father and this blessed bishop of the Church, we must contemplate as did Saint John of Kronstadt:  “How can we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our strength, and all our thoughts?”  He concludes:

With all our heart means undividedly, not sharing our love between God and the world, or between God and creatures.  If, for instance, you pray, pray with an undivided heart, not allowing yourself to be distracted; by wholly in God, in his love, with all your should—that is, do not love him with only part of your soul; not only with your mind, without your heart and will sharing in your love with all your strength, not with half your strength, or slightly.  When you have to fulfill any commandment, fulfill it with zeal, unto sweat and blood, unto laying down your life for it, if necessary, and not slothfully, indolently and unwillingly. 

With such a pure and complete love – heart, mind and soul - for God, it’s only natural that the heart will grow and encompass more and more in a love.  On the other hand, the more we lapse into sin, the heart shrinks to such an extent that we are unable to truly love another.  Father Paisios of blessed memory explains:  “The purer the heart becomes, the larger it becomes; consequently it is able to find room for more and more loved ones; the more sinful it is, the more it contracts; consequently it is able to find room for fewer and fewer loved ones – it is limited by a false love: self-love. “

This is illustrated in a story of a certain brother of the desert who asked an old man saying, “Tell me, Father, wherefore is it that the monks travail in discipline and yet receive not such grace as the ancient Fathers had?”  And the old man said to him, “Their was love so great that each man set his neighbor on high: but now love has grown cold and the whole world is set in malice, and each does pull down his neighbor to the lower room, and for this reason we come short of grace.”

Advancing us from the desert to the parish, Saint John of Kronstadt suggests that love for one another has even been removed from worship.  “We stand before the altar of love, before the very presence of Love Incarnate himself; and we have no love for each other! Is it not strange? And worse, we do not even worry about it, do not care about it.  But love will not come of itself—we must strive for with earnest efforts.” 

What do we do if our love is weakened?  When asked this question by a brother,  Abba Dorotheos answered: “the fact that you are weak in the love for your brothers is because you accept thoughts that come to you from suspicions and because you trust in your own heart.  It is also because you do not want to put up with anything that is against your free will.  Therefore, firstly you must not trust your suspicious at all, with the help of God and you must try with all your strength, to humble yourself in front of your brothers and cut out your own will.  If one of them abuses or afflicts you, pray fervently for him, as the Father said, as your benefactor and the leader of your voluptuousness.  As you do this, your anger is lessened since, evidently, according to the holy Fathers, the bridle of anger is love.  Before all else, ask God to grant you vigilance and wisdom so as to know His will, what is good, pleases Him and is perfect.  Also pray to Him for power to be ready to do every good.

Thankfully, Elder Thaddeus of Vitvnica reminds us:

The Lord is always waiting for us to unite ourselves with Him in love, but instead we drift further and further away from Him.  We know that there can be no life without love.  This means that there is no life without God, for God is Love.  But His love is not according to the understanding of this world.  The love that the world gives us consists of suffering and enslavement because the spirit of evil interferes with it.  There is a little bit of love, but mostly it is just enslavement.  The spirits of evil try to enslave us so that we become tied to certain people or things, in order to prevent our hearts from going out to God, the Source of life and love.  For they know that if our hearts unite with Him, then they cannot come close to us.  The man who is given Grace and who is united with God’s love is also protected by this Divine love, and the evil spirits cannot come close to him. 

This is then the task before each and every Christian; we are to labor to attain Grace through love so as to be united with Christ and one another.  Thankfully, as Father Paisios of blessed memory explains, we are strengthen in this undertaking by the Church: “The way of the Church is love…The Church sees everything with forbearance and seeks to help each person, no matter what he may have done, no matter how sinful he may be.”

In accordance with St. John of Krondstat, as members of the Body of Christ we should:
Love every man as yourself—that is, do not wish him anything that you do not wish for yourself; think, feel, for him, just as you would think and feel for your own self; do not wish to see in him anything that you do not wish to see in yourself; do not let your memory cherish any evil done to you by others, just as you would wish that the evil done by yourself should be forgotten by others; do not deliberately imagine in yourself or in other anything wicked or impure; believe other to be as well-disposed as yourself, unless you see clearly that they are ill-disposed; do unto them as you would to yourself, and not otherwise, and you will find in your heart great peace and blessedness.  He that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him.

He that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him.  Imagining the experience of God indwelling in His Creation, Bishop Nikolai writes: “Once Christ enters by faith into the heart of man, that man experiences the inexpressible taste of the love of Christ.  He creates us from love, takes flesh from love, endures shame and death from love, and from love opens the heavens and reveals the deathless glory that has been prepared for us.” 

For St. Seraphim of Sarov, if Christ enters into the heart to such an extent, man in a sense, ceases to exist.  “He who has perfect love exists in this life as if he did not exist.  For he considers himself a stranger to the visible, patiently awaiting the invisible.  He has been completely changed into love of God and has forgotten every other love.”  Moreover, “He who truly loves God considers himself a pilgrim and a stranger on this earth; for in his yearning toward God with a soul and mind, he contemplates him alone.”  Amen.

The aim of the Christian life

One day, Motovilov was walking in a field with the Elder, Saint Seraphim, near the Sarov Monastery.  The Elder sat him down and said,

The Lord has revealed to me that in your childhood you had a great desire to know the aim of our Christian life, and that you continually asked many great spiritual persons about it but no one has given you a precise answer.  They said to you, ‘Go to church, pray to God, do the commandments of God, do good-that is the aim of the Christian life.’  Some were even indignant with you for being occupied with curiosity displeasing to God and said to you:  ‘Do not seek things which are beyond you.’  But they did not speak as they should.  And now poor Seraphim will explain to you in what this aim really consists.

“Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be I themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensible means of reaching this end.  The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.  As for fast, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only the means of acquiring the Holy Spirit.  But mark, my dear, only the good deed done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the holy Spirit.  All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this life.”:

Who is the Holy Spirit?  Accordingly the Holy Spirit is God!  Saint Nikolai writes: “Regarding God the Holy Spirit, it has been revealed to us that He proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son (John 15:26).  His proceeding from the Father means that He is of one being with the Father; His being sent by the Son, to continue the Son’s work, means that He is equal to the Son.”  Hence we affirm and proclaim this revealed Truth in the Nicene – Constantinopolitan Creed: “And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father who together with the Son is worship and glorified….”

The Holy Spirit is as St. Maximos the Confessor poetically taught in the 7th century:

…present unconditionally in all things, in that He embraces all things, provides for all, and vivifies the natural seeds within them. He is present in a specific way in all who are under the Law, in that He shows them where they have broken the commandments and enlightens them about the promise given concerning Christ. In all who are Christians He is present also in yet another way in that He makes them sons of God.  But in none is He fully present as the author of wisdom except in those who have understanding, and who by their holy way of life have made themselves fit to receive His indwelling and deifying presence. For everyone who does not carry out the divine will, even though he is a believer, has a heart which, being a workshop of evil thoughts, lacks understanding, and a body which, being always entangled in the defilements of the passions, is mortgaged to sin.’

It is for this reason that Saint Nikolai reminds us: “Just as we pray every day for our daily bread, God is willing every day to send us the Holy Spirit, but He seeks from us that we pray every day, for Him to be sent to us.  He comes to us and leaves according to our good works and our patience.  According to the situation in which you find yourself, He will instruct you, advise you and direct you in what you must think, say and do.” 

In addition to extending the invitation to the Spirit, Fr. Paisios of blessed memory also suggests that we possess “…a fighting spirit, humility, philotimo, nobility, and sacrifice.”  Essentially, we“…burnish the wires… [to] become good conductor[s], and then the Grace of God will be transmitted to provide the divine light of Grace.  Otherwise, the system is short-circuited and Grace cannot enter.  The basic thing is for man to take care not to lose the Grace of God, so as to have divine enlightenment.  For, everything is in vain if there is no divine enlightenment.”  As Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia read the second Psalm as a prayer to God to enlighten those who were going to conferences, the Elder Paisios would frequently pray: “’May God enlighten all leaders of the world; enlighten all the hierarchs and Fathers of the Church to receive the Holy Spirit, so as to e able to help the people of the world.’  For even if one was enlightened and other became at least receptive, imagine what great good could be achieved…the person who has divine enlightenment can see things very clearly; he is well informed without doubts and can positively help others without becoming weary.”

His words are reminiscent of those once spoken by the fifth century Saint, Diadochos of Photiki.  “When the soul has reached self-understanding, it produces from within a certain feeling of warmth for God…The feeling of warmth which the Holy Spirit engenders in the heart is completely peaceful and enduring. It awakes in all parts of the soul a longing for God; its heat does not need to be fanned by anything outside the heart, but through the heart it makes the whole man rejoice with a boundless love.”  In turn, the man functions in an entirely pure manner, which places him at peace with God, himself, his environment, as well as those who come into his midst.

Although we may have many worries in a parish, in a family or simply in life, the greatest concern should be the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, which remains the true aim of the Christian life.  This is beautifully illustrated with the words of Archimandrite Touma, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Silouan the Athonite Douma:

Our concern is the Church as idea, as institution, as an organization, as a teaching. Our concern is the services and the choir, the social and cultural groups and the religious instruction and church-tourism and so forth. It is not that these questions aren’t sometimes important. But there is one thing needful: the purification of the heart and the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. This is a deviation from the essence of the matter that keeps those who are considered believers—most pastors and flock equally—pagans, worshipping themselves, seeking their own glory.

To continue his line of thought, let us then not be concerned as Orthodox Christians with what we perceive as own power and own reputation and our honor. Let us not be satisfied with only the outward form of the worship of God. Instead of simply altering some practices, keeping some obligations and giving lip service, let us change the heart, offering as a frequent, heartfelt and contrite prayer: “Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all things, come and abide in us, cleanse us of every stain and save our souls Gracious One.”