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St. Gregory the Theologian, St.
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Let us seek to discover the
things of heaven through the sweat of our efforts, rather than by mere talk, for
at the hour of death it is deeds, not words, that must be displayed. · St. John Climacus Unless a man sets himself at
utterly at nought, he cannot speak of the majesty of God. · St. Diadochos of
Photiki Even if we should have
mounted to the very pinnacle of virtue, let us consider ourselves last of
all. · Humility is constant
forgetfulness of one's achievements. · St. John Climacus He who has once placed his
hope in God no longer is concerned over himself. · St. Paisius Velichkovsky The Law, in its imperfection
says: 'Attend to yourself' (Deut. 4:9). The Lord, in His perfection, tells us
to correct our brother, saying, 'If your brother sins against you, etc.'
(Matt. · St. John Climacus The single-phrased Jesus
Prayer bridles unruly thought. · St. Ilias the Presbyter In spite of all [Tsarina
Alexandra’s] efforts, she never succeeded in being merely amiable and
acquiring the art which consists of flitting gracefully but superficially
over all manner of subjects. The fact is that the Tsarina was nothing if not
sincere. Every word from her lips was the true expression of her real
feelings, Finding herself misunderstood, she quickly drew back into her
shell. Her natural pride was wounded. She appeared less and less at the
ceremonies and receptions she regarded as an intolerable nuisance. She
adopted a habit of distant reserve which was taken for haughtiness and
contempt. But those who came in contact with her in moments of distress knew
what a sensitive spirit, what a longing for affection, was concealed behind
that apparent coldness. She had accepted her new religion with entire
sincerity, and found it a great source of comfort in hours of trouble and
anguish; but above all, it was the affection of her family which nourished
her love, and she was never really happy except when she was with them. – Pierre Gilliard Thirteen Years at the “The LORD bless thee and keep thee. The LORD make his
face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The LORD lift up the light
of his countenance upon thee and grant thee peace” (Numbers 6).
If you should think of me in
my unworthiness, offer my name in prayer. – the unworthy |
The Ascetic
Character of Holy Scripture As you have heard me say to you, now and then, Orthodox ‘spirituality’ is not of a theoretical type, but is in the entire tradition of the Fathers rooted in practice, whether in the silent prayers of the Hesychasts or in the charitable labours of St. Basil. And the source and character of our piety in practice is ascetic. The hours we pray are monastic hours. The Jesus Prayer, simplest, seemingly, of all prayers, learned at the very beginning and by young children, is a monastic prayer with a deep ascetic practice behind it, though we are instructed not to add to it any ascetic feats without the clear direction of a spiritual director. One looks at the Orthodox keeping of time, celebrating the seasons by following the path of Our Lord’s life, venerating daily the various heroes who have gone before on that journey, and alternately feasting or fasting, and the ascetic character of our whole worship is unmistakable. When we receive Holy Confession, we confess the same kinds of passions struggled against by monks. When we receive Holy Communion, we strive, as they do, to see God. There is no disparity between their lives and ours; we are all seeking the same thing, celibate or married, monastic or in the world. In fact, the monks are the light of laymen, as angels are the light of monks. Likewise, we have discussed, as we would expect, the
ascetic character of Holy Scripture. Celtic Prayers I’ve spoken to you occasionally concerning the need for
prayer at all times and in all activities, whether preparing supper or
traveling or preparing for any work. This tradition is visible in the many
prayers for such occasions in the prayer books for laymen, in the Russian Book of Needs, and in the various
priestly blessings for everything from traveling to blessing a house. As an
example, I have referred to the pieties of the Celts, Orthodox before the
centurions came to convert or martyr them by the sword. Whether from pious
customs of the Russians, the Serbs, the Greeks, or those of any pious people,
we stand to learn much that can transform the inner man by transforming his
outward veneration. These devotions should
never be lightly dismissed as merely ‘ethnic’ or conservative (a political
notion) or ‘peasant’ practices, though indeed we can learn likewise from many
pious ethnics, conservatives, and peasants, even in all our assumed Western
education and cultured refinement. If we cannot, then how shall we learn from
a Tax Collector, a Fisherman, a Samaritan, indeed a Carpenter and a Jew? Nor must we allow
ourselves to accord a totality to our own local attitudes or national culture
here in the West, falling into the very pitfall we might presume upon our
brethren of other lands, among whom are countless Saints and churches as
flowers of diverse spiritual meadows. If we have assumed that ours is a more
or less generic environment, that may be more from a poverty of piety than
from a particularly Western brand of it, and we would be arrogant in the
extreme if we casually shunned the habits those who planted and led us as
spiritual parents -- who do, it must be observed, hail from other places and
also other times. If I flee from pieties because they smack of particular
nationalities, then I have truly fallen prey to the heresy of phyletism. The question is never
whether piety is presumably “Russian” or “Serbian” or what have you, but
whether or not I give the fullest possible expression of reverence, of
veneration, of worship, and what I can learn in humility from others. Any
time I adopt for myself a rule, or am assigned one by my spiritual director,
it will have originated in the practice of actual persons, who have a
history, an ethnicity, a nationality. Piety which is disconnected from the
human race on the one hand and individual human persons on the other, which
is merely a theoretical contemplation, cannot be Orthodox piety. If we cannot
say “following the tradition of the holy fathers…” on the one hand, or “as I
have learned from those who led me” on the other, then we must question whether
the object of piety is indeed the personal God-man, Jesus Christ, who entered
history as a very specific person, the Seed of David. If we must invent a
national piety from scratch, we will be far from Christ. I’m suggesting we ask
ourselves, of the venerable pieties of all Orthodox, sanctified by the
practice of Saints, what we may learn and how we may find a home for them in
our lives. In what form can we integrate their wisdom as praxis? Look on the ancient prayers in this letter without fear
that they are from a ‘foreign’ culture, but ask what men of all cultures may
teach us concerning our common journey, our one reason for being, our
universal and shared goal, if we have understood anything of the faith – I
mean our union with God. In all things, it has been my impression that all
the fathers, all the saints, and all of orthodoxy has but one teaching and
one purpose, our union with God. We know no other point or end of our
knowledge. For this we strive to overcome the passions and to see God. In particular, we find
in the Celts a constant prayer. In one sense, not one particular prayer but a
constant praying in and for all matters, even the mundane. In another sense,
it is always one particular prayer, in that the Holy Trinity, and Christ in
particular is that prayer. Christ beside me. Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ within
me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ to the right of me. Christ to
the left of me. Christ in my lying, my sitting, my rising. Christ in heart of
all who know me. Christ on tongue of all who meet me. Christ in eye of all
who see me. Christ in ear of all who hear me (Breastplate of St. Patrick).
A Brief Summary of
the Economy I was asked, recently, to summarize what is meant by the Economy. It is not possible for me to give it even a full outline, here or anywhere else, and certainly not to explore all its implications here. But I will attempt to speak of it with as much brevity as truth and substance may permit. I will try to do it some modicum of justice. God is unknowable. Man can neither reach Him nor speak of Him. His divine Essence cannot be compared to any essence, has no analogy, and cannot be contained in created human concepts. Man can know God only in a dim way by revelation – the revealing of God’s uncreated Energies by the divine Persons. The unfolding of the divine economy, God’s activity toward his creation, has culminated in a total and all-encompassing event, a personal event, a Person, to make possible true knowledge through true communion. We speak of Christ, who is God incarnate. God has become man, so that man might genuinely know God in the only way possible, in that man and God become one, while remaining at the once utterly distinct. Christ, the God-man, one person who is two natures, God and man, makes possible union with God, having accomplished and become the union of the two natures for all. He summed up in His own person all of man and all of God, all of nature and the divine, all creation and the Creator, deifying all things. Now, in Christ, union of man and God is possible for each individual person, and so knowledge of the unknowable God – never knowledge of God’s essence, but personal knowledge and full knowledge, available only in communion with Him. Through theosis (deification) in Christ, man and indeed all creation is restored to God the Creator. This requires for each person, participation at that personal level, a synergy of God and man. The fullness of union is not possible without the will of each person. If the inviolate will of each person were overcome, the image of God in him would be destroyed. But now, the union of each person’s will with God’s will, the union of his flesh with that of the Incarnate God, makes possible the fullness of union of each person, while preserving both God and man -- not the swallowing up of an individual in God, but perfect union and distinction. In this way, man may know God without being destroyed, may be consumed without being lost or indistinct. So salvation – this theosis – was accomplished first by the initial work of God toward man, and is accomplished now by the joint work of man and God in uniting individual persons to Christ. It is not ‘personal salvation’, such that God is a god in general, subject to whatever fancies the individual mind may invent, nor is it a ‘salvation in general’, such that individual activity is irrelevant. It is salvation through union and distinction, the beyond-transcendent God and mortal man made immortal by grace. |
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