Our Christian identity wants us to be strong, courageous, noble and direct. If we are pleasing to Christ it should not matter to us if the world considers us unworthy of its favor and appreciation. But it is virtual y certain that if we are truly pleasing to Christ there wil be no serious person who wil not appreciate our Christian attitude.
Of course, it is not easy to reach this degree of freedom. There is need for a responsible struggle, for fervent prayer, for an active sacramental life, and for corresponding spiritual community. I believe you wil agree that it is easy to be influenced by the nature of our conversations and occasional encounters with other people. It is natural in a world of lies and deceptions for some to be easily influenced. It is, therefore, most useful to cultivate beneficial friendships which wil support us in times of suffering, mourning and affliction.
The best company, however, is our friendship with Christ, especial y in times of prayer. He is indeed the friend who never betrays, but who is always betrayed.
st. John Chrysostom proceeds even deeper and remarks in his homily: “From indolence comes evil and from effort comes virtue. Virtuous people become better even when they find themselves living among those who would impede their right living and seek to draw them to their side. Christ has permitted evil persons to exist so that the good may become more virtuous.” The benefit, of course, is not derived from the evil, but from the courage and the effort to resist it. Let nothing, therefore, get in the way of spiritual progress. Let even the negative things become occasions for contrition and repentance.
Many are those, satiated with emptiness of the world, who seek to find a way out of the impasse. Are they afraid of, or do they simply ignore, Christianity? They fear the struggle of which the Gospel speaks, and ignore the redemptive essence of Christianity, which cannot be known and experienced painlessly. The fatigue and the indolence of contemporary men, their ignorance and hurry, leads them, unfortunately, to the prescriptions of other religions, often enough inspired by demons, or to the easy solutions of clever heretics animated by the deception and dangerous elements of error. My beloved brothers, the Masonic lodges, the temples of eastern religions, the auditoriums where “charismatic” Protestants preach, have increased in our country. The land of heroes and saints, the land enriched by the martyrs, our beloved Greece, has been reduces to a dangerous inn, offering hospitality to al manner of deceivers and unworthy characters, in the name of some vague notion of freedom, which undermines the foundations of the Nation, the Church, our tradition and our history. As we approach the year 2000, we find Greece unprepared to face the onslaught of Europe. Christ remains unknown even to the Christians. There is an urgent need to re-evangelize the Christians. There is need for intense effort and struggle.
The pain of the struggle is an indispensable element. Pain exists in our life to soften our stone hearts, to humble our pride, to make us prudent, to heal our souls. When we do not offer pain to ourselves, in the form of asceticism, or when we do not endure it, as with an il ness or some other problem, Christ comes discreetly to give us as much as we can bear and always for our spiritual edification.
If we only knew the beneficial power of pain, al the tribulations of life would be accepted as tests of healing for our soul. No temporal success can bring about real rest. Most people today do not have the necessary spiritual courage to undertake the journey upon the road of asceticism, required by the Gospel. This courage can only be given by Christ. Many times it is necessary to despair over the world in order to overcome it, and to receive the hop of our salvation from above. Starets Leo of the Optina Monastery used to say:
“Temptations are not stronger than the gifts of God. With the power of the Name of our Savior Jesus, who empowers us, everything is possible. The following truth is always applicable to the believer: If you have an ailing faith, even a speck of dust seems like a mountain. But if you have a strong and healthy faith you can lift up and remove whole mountains of temptations.” The blessed starets is absolutely right.
I recal a recent visit to our kalyvi on Mt. Athos by a professor of theology, who discussed with great facility such topics as the revision of the Gospel and the superfluousness of asceticism. He argued that, since the life of contemporary Christians in large cities is so suffocated by loneliness, anxiety, noise, pollution, fatigue, these in a sense can substitute for asceticism, and therefore fasting, lengthy services of worship, ascetic prostrations and vigils are no longer needed at al . I tried to follow his thoughts, to pay attention. I wanted to understand him. But I observed a certain impertinence and conceit in his words, not toward me, but toward the divine commandments of Sacred Tradition, which discreetly and constantly speak about the necessity of ascetic struggle in Christian life. This asceticism, of course, is to be practiced to the degree which is possible for each person living under various conditions and circumstances, and according to the blessing and guidance given by the spiritual father.
As I turned my head toward the window in the room where we were talking, I could see the cel where the life of st. Arsenios the Cappadocian had been written. His biographer, among other things, has written the following: “Fr. Arsenios proclaimed Orthodoxy appropriately with his Orthodox way of life. He literal y melted down his body in ascetic endeavors because of the warmth of his love for God, and he transformed souls by the divine grace which emanated from him. He had a strong faith and he healed many, both believers and unbelievers. He had few words, many miracles. He experienced much and hid much. Inside his apparently rough shel , he kept his sweet spiritual fruit. He was a very austere Father for himself, but very paternal y loving to his children. He did not strike them with the law to discipline them, but rather with the love of honor ( philotimo), with the meaning of the law. As a liturgical celebrant of the Most High, he did not touch the earth, and as a concelebrant he was truly resplendent upon the earth.” If we truly humble ourselves before Christ, we shal indeed be liberated from the bondage of the passions. We must descent before we can ascend. This fal into the abyss is an indication of our trust in God.
In the Person of Christ, God Himself comes to lift us and to raise us up to heaven. Disil usioned by the powerful of this world, we choose rather to have Christ as the Lord of our life, and life receives a new propensity and duration. The more painful this spiritual regeneration and the journey which leads to it, the greater the grace and the blessings it provides. Without suffering no one can attain a life in Christ. When the tribulations cease and the grace of peace arrives, we shal surely be grateful and consider blessed those days of grief, which now are seen as the most fruitful.
CHRIST AND THE EVIL IN THE WORLD
A considerable number of people justify their unbelief or their disbelief by pointing to the presence of extensive and senseless suffering in the world. They consider it proof of the absence of God or, at least, the absence of His compassion. The deaths of countless children from famine or il ness, innocent victims, automobile accidents with entire families kil ed, and so many other similar events of suffering, leave people in doubt. Of course, a satisfactory answer can only be given to someone who is sincerely and appropriately predisposed. God who respects with absolute integrity the historical life of mankind does not interfere arbitrarily to overthrow it. God is helpless, we may say, to save those who under any circumstance simply do not want to be saved, and who knowingly and consciously have utterly rejected God. God points to the ways of perdition and to salvation, and al ows man to choose freely. God's involvement in the evil of the world is simply non-existent. God is creator only of the good. The results of the rebel ion, the impudence, the insults and the pride of man bring about this intensification of evil, which victimizes even the innocent. Also, it often happens, as is wel known, that in an external y fearful and inexplicable, sudden and violent accident, there is hidden the providence of God, even for those who are unjustly lost, as wel as for those around them. Usual y the concessions for such great suffering are given for general repentance. Divine providence never ceases to be active above and beyond al of these accidents. For the believer al of these things are clear and easy to comprehend.
Jesus Christ permits and al ows pain to come for a time into the life of man, and it is He who removes it and redeems man. The duration of pain corresponds to the degree of repentance. Christ Himself suffered; He feels compassion for us, and He understands us. Christ is the One sent to us to redeem us from pain and suffering. The great and sacred symbol of the ineffable pain of Christ is the Cross. The wood of dishonor, the painful crucifixion became a source of healing and redemption, the central aspect of the Gospel, the point of foolishness for the Greeks, the point of scandal for the Jews. Christ came to give light and life and the people preferred darkness. And now they attempt to justify their position by insulting the Church and the clergy, and by rationalizing their moral and spiritual indolence. Like the Gerasenes of the Gospel story, such people pretend to be of noble disposition and they ask Christ to bypass them and to leave them alone in their deadness. Even worse are those who, with the deceptive mask of art, seek to present Christ the savior as having shameful carnal desires, at the time of His sacrifice for the life of the whole world (N. Kanzantzakis). It is an awful shame, irreverence and sin.
Al those who attempt to explain everything with finite logic make a serious mistake, distort the image of God they bear within themselves, and are troubled by the heavy anxiety of rationalism, which brings about a wearisome boredom. The same fate is suffered by the captives of unbridled imagination, who are even considered successful writers. Christ, who united divinity and humanity, the God-Man, is the Light (Jn. 7.17), the Truth (Jn. 14.16), Love (Jn. 8.31) and Wisdom (1 Cor. 2.7). he answers our questions and provides solutions. Christ who is above and beyond reason is rejected by those who are irrational. They choose to leave Him upon the Cross and to continue cursing Him with works of “art.” It is a terribly tragic thing that is happening in the world. The world prefers little pleasures and ephemeral honors instead of eternal glory. One wonders: what makes us so cowardly and foolish – to refuse an abundant eternity for a poor temporality? What makes us so faint-hearted that we ignore our divine cal ing?
Only steadfast faith in Christ can make us victorious over the worldly spirit. It was Christ who first overcame the world, and His victory is our victory, but this should never give us cause for pride. The greatest victory is to overcome sin. Such victors are not at al few, in the Church of the past and of the present. The labors of battle for this victory become insignificant when one contemplates that he joins and is numbered among those who have entered the eternal kingdom of God.
CHRIST AND HIS VISITATIONS INTO OUR LIFE
Christ returns frequently into our life if we ask Him and permit Him. And He comes primarily as a physician, to heal. His visitations are usual y personal and of a mystical nature. Christ never does miraculous deeds for the purpose of impression and enthusiasm, in a spectacular and public manner. Most of the miracles of the Lord were done among a limited number of spectators, and at certain times only with the sick person.
Christ has no desire to convince anyone in an oppressive manner, to create commotion and disturbance, or to win delirious followers. The miracles are signs of the love of God for suffering man, and they are done within the sacred realm of faith, of silence and of quietude. So many miracles are done daily in life, and people see them but do not “see” them, they hear them and do not “hear” them, because they do not possess the eyes and the ears of faith. Others mock, doubt, ridicule, speak with irony and boastfulness, reaping nothing but the fruits of their doubt. They continue to exile Christ from their life. During His entire life on earth Christ was persecuted, and He is used to it. True Christians also were and are persecuted, not understood; for they are children of Christ and not born of this world, and this is the reason why the world hates them.
There is a psychological interpretation of the commotion caused by that crowd of people bent on insulting the Church and its founder. They strike out so as not be struck and censured themselves. But the voice of conscience cannot be lul ed so easily. And even if there are mistaken representatives of the Church, this does not mean that I am permitted to abandon the Church and deny Christ. The insidious powers of darkness and the heretics are working very systematical y toward this goal – increasing scandals and creating new ones. Thoughtless people then can follow them readily.
Dostoevsky, the friend of truth and great author, writes: “There is nothing more good, more profound, more sympathetic, more rational, more noble and more perfect than Christ. .If someone could prove to us that Christ is far from the truth and the truth far from Christ, I would definitely prefer to remain with Christ rather than the truth.” The friend of Dostoevsky and great theologian of our century, Fr. Justin Popovic, continues in the same vein: “Without our sweetest Lord Jesus not only this brief span of earthly life is terrible and without meaning, but even more so the infinite and endless immortality. Where death exists there can be no real joy. In other words, where Christ is not present, there can be no real joy. In the delirium of sin, in the inebriation of sinful pleasures, people proclaim many things to be the joy of life, al of which are insignificant and foolish. And everything that separates man from Christ is truly insignificant and foolish, everything that does not bring about for him the holiness and immortality of Christ.”
The blessed elder Avvakum of the Great Lavra Monastey used to say: “I have emptied myself for Christ! I have nothing but Christ! Nothing but Christ and joy. Poverty is beautiful because it makes one light and buoyant. One must be empty for Christ to enter. When Christ is with me joy is within me. .” The learned monk Gerasimos of St. Paul Monastery wrote the following: “I cannot find appropriate words to thank our Lord, who rescued me from the vanity of this world, even though I have yet to respond accordingly to the great beneficence of the Al -holy God.”
The daily thought of the Elder Athanasios of the Iveron Monastery was this: “What gift can man offer to Christ in return for His love toward us? And more general y, how can the entire universe thank the Son of Mary? There is nothing worthy of Christ, unless we could have another Christ similar in everything to the One born in Bethlehem, whom the whole creation could offer to him.” St. Silouan of Mt. Athos also writes: “On the first year of my life in the monastery my soul came to know the Lord in the Holy Spirit. The Lord loves us so dearly! I learned this from the Holy Spirit, given to me by the Lord in His great mercy. I have grown old and am preparing for death, and for the sake of the people I am writing this truth. The Spirit of Christ, given to me by the Lord, desires that al be saved, that al may come to know God. The Lord gave paradise to the thief, and He wil give paradise to every sinner. I was worse than a wretched dog because of my sins, but I began to ask forgiveness from God. And He gave me not only forgiveness but also the Holy Spirit, and with the Holy Spirit I came to know God Himself. Do you see what manner of love God has for us? And who could possibly describe such compassion? O my beloved brother, I fal down upon my knees and beg you: believe in God!”
The poor writer of these lines is simply transmitting the spiritual wealth and Orthodox beauty of Mt.
Athos to a people thirsting for it, in spite of their present vicissitudes. He is carrying out wil ingly the obligation of porter and repeats once again: Without an Orthodox anthropology, without true interpersonal relationships, we cannot have an Orthodox theology, we can never be christocentric, formed in the likeness of Christ, and speaking of Christ as the Life of the world.
These introductory thoughts are concluded with hope for our essential re-connection with Christ, the life of the world. In place of an epilogue please accept the prayer which is read everyday at the First Hour: O Christ, the true light,
Which enlightens and sanctifies every person
Coming into the world,
Shine upon us the light of Your face,
That we may see in this light the unapproachable light.
And guide us in our life
To observe Your commandments,
Through the intercessions of Your immaculate Mother
And of al Your Saints. Amen.
The Holy Spirit in the Life of the Faithful
MONASTICISM: “GIVE BLOOD AND RECEIVE SPIRIT”
St. Makarios of Egypt once reported that Father Logginos said to Father Akakios: “The soul realizes that it has received the Holy Spirit when the passions cease to act upon us. Give blood and receive spirit!” Only those who have given blood through asceticism can express something about the mystery of sanctification both in monasticism and in the Orthodox spiritual tradition in general. The way of sanctification is the fruit of self-offering to God, and intense personal struggle with the synergy of divine grace. Monasticism, moreover, is an ecclesiastical institution, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, a gift to the Church, and only the person imbued with Christ can understand and interpret its inner nature.
The Holy Spirit il umines and inspires the way of asceticism. The relationship of the Holy Spirit with monks and the faithful is a subject of great interest in the life of the Church and in the practice of theology. As one of the ways of sanctification, monasticism emphasizes the presence of the Holy Spirit in the contemporary life of the Church, and of monks in particular. The presence of the Holy Spirit, made ful y conscious, creates the appropriate sensitivity of the soul and offers the best renewal, both of the inner and external person.
The liberation of man from the bondage of sin was realized in Christ once, for al . Our living connection with the Holy Spirit gives the absolute certainty and personal conviction of this supreme victory. It is the dwel ing of the Holy Spirit in the pure heart that makes this unquestionable victory of the past an essential y active element of the present and the future.
The saints live and move in Christ by living constantly the blessed freedom which He gave when he destroyed the bonds of death. From the Al -holy Theotokos, St. John the Forerunner, St. John the Theologian, St. Paul and St. Symeon the New Theologian, al the way to St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Silouan of Mt. Athos and the present people of God, known and unknown by name, the Holy Spirit can be seen as an essential presence in the basic christological elements of their lives, from which purification, il umination and deification flow. It is the Holy Spirit, ever the same, that enriches, renews and enlivens the experiences of the saints throughout the ages, and informs the faithful that they are indeed in Christ and Christ is in them.
St. Gregory Palamas refers to the Al -holy Theotokos as the first monastic, dedicated in the temple of God from her third year of life, who became the Mother of God by divine wil and because of her humility, purity and simplicity. This is what the Church teaches, always guided by the Holy Spirit. The position of Panaghia in the Church defines the relationship of al monastics to her Son. In their humility and purity, in their asceticism and obedience, the monastics become bearers of God ( theotokoi). This is why monks and nuns, in their struggle, have the Blessed Theotokos as their prototype. This is why they have great reverence for her. This is why Mt. Athos has been named “The Garden of the Panaghia.” This is why the whole of Greece is distinguished by its warm and genuine affection for the Theotokos, as indicated by the presence of her innumerable miraculous icons throughout the country.
Like the Theotokos, a monk attains perfection in quietude. The need to be removed from the world becomes, in the final analysis, a gain for the world; monastic seclusion is undertaken on behalf of the world. It is not isolation of difficult persons. Rather, true monastic isolation is undertaken freely by those seeking personal perfection through sacrifices and struggles, as a contribution to the suffering world.
St. John the Forerunner, last of the Old Testament prophets and the first witness of the New Testament, is a fragrant flower of the desert, another prototype of monastics, and the protection of monastic orders. The name of St. John the Forerunner in Greek means one who is a gift from God. ( Theodoretos). True monastics are gifts from God to the Church and the world, for whose arrival many have labored in prayer.
Elizabeth, guided by the Holy Spirit, gave a good interpretation of what she felt when visited by her cousin the Panaghia (Lk. 1.39-45). As far as the world is concerned, monastics appear as foolishness, and are appreciated and received only by those who would obey the invitations of the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul, who speaks clearly about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his tremendous letters, St. John the Theologian, the virgin friend of the Lord, Evangelist and guardian of the Theotokos, St. Symeon the poet and hymn writer, the Starets of the north, St. Seraphim of Sarov, overshadowed by the light of the Holy Spirit, who said that the gradual and certain acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the purpose of our spiritual life, St. Silouan of Mt. Athos, who declared that the Holy Spirit teaches us to love everyone – these and many, many others shed light on the way of monastics and the faithful.
The saints bow before the al -powerful Holy Spirit and learn by fixing their gaze on God, as if by a supernatural magnetism. They are inspired, they are taught, they are informed, and they receive the peace sought by the most profound being, by the inner-most recesses of the heart. It is the Holy Spirit which gives meaning to al of existence. As friends of the Holy Spirit, the saints give themselves completely to God, keeping nothing, not even the slightest morsel, for themselves. They obey most wil ingly and identify their wil with the wil of God, with His truth and His love. As friends of the saints, the monastics follow faithful y in their footsteps, while the faithful laity, guided by the light of the monks, which, according to St. John of the Ladder, they receive from the angels, in turn follow them.
Unlike the world which is usual y external, selfish, and carnal, the monk is disciplined daily to crucify the flesh with self-renunciation and a wil ing deprivation of every carnal pleasure. Thus, cutting off the self-centered wil , he can accept and love poverty as a liberation that ennobles and enriches him. The Gospel is clearly a way of poverty, renunciation, giving and sacrifice. Of course, the Gospel is also a proclamation of joy, but this joy blooms after discrete effort and abandonment of everything superfluous under responsible spiritual guidance. At the time of his or her monastic tonsure, the monastic vows to observe the three virtues –
obedience, chastity, poverty – for life.
St. Silouan of Mt. Athos says this about obedience: “The prototype of obedience is Christ Himself who obeyed the heavenly Father completely and to the end. The obedient person sees evil but evil does not touch his soul, precisely because the grace of the Holy Spirit is with him. The Holy Spirit loves very much the soul of the obedient person, and this is why it wil not be long before such a soul comes to know the Lord.” The grace of the holy Spirit enters into the soul of the obedient person unhindered, giving him peace and joy. Ascetic effort without obedience results in vanity. Obedience protects the monk from pride. The gift of prayer and the grace of the Holy Spirit are given in return for obedience. This is why it is often said that obedience is greater than fasting and even prayer itself.
Chastity, which is pleasing to God, is not limited only to the purity of the body, which does not express an offering of love. Such virginity is spiritual y infertile. True chastity is a revelation of the total surrender of the monastic to God. This is an angelic, an eschatological condition. Chastity is connected and cultivated in an ascetic atmosphere and state of mind, which presupposes effort, and is followed by the consolation of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. Certainly, this consolation is not the purpose of chastity, but merely an aid toward the union with God. Chastity is an expression of great love for Christ. It is the oil which was missing from the foolish virgins of the Gospel. St. Cassian writes to Castor that St. Basil the Great once said: “I have no wife, and yet I am nonetheless chaste.”
The monastic virtue of poverty provides great ease, freedom and a sense of not being bound by the demands of matter. These, together with quietude and silence, give us a foretaste of the future age, a transition into the kingdom of God; they permit us to move freely, to converse with God.
Monastic persons, because of their virtue of poverty, become “passionate lovers of God,” according to St. John of the Ladder, “high-flying eagles,” according to St. Ephraim the Syrian, and “communicants of the Holy Spirit,” according to St. Athanasios the Great. The whole person is able to turn to God. Such a person lives, moves and exists for God. He is in communion with God, and every other bond, friendship and love which may diminish, blunt, or even slightly impede this total dependence upon his central focus, his Lord and God, is abolish. When such communion with God is realized, the faithful monastic becomes deified by divine grace and by participation in the divine nature, as iron which fal s in the fire itself becomes fire, according to both St. John Chrysostom and St. Symeon the New Theologian.
THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF THE FAITHFUL COMMUNITY
Here it must be emphasized that this relationship with God, of the saints and the monastics who follow them, as wel as of the laity who possess an “inner monasticism,” is not limited merely to a constant orientation toward God, however profound. It is also extended to another dimension and condition, which indicates and explains that the Holy Spirit is actively present to delineate and il ustrate the union of man with God in the Holy Spirit. And, of course, the stance of the faithful in this struggle for the ascent of virtues and for meeting with God is by no means static, passive, passionless. It is not the stance of a spectator but, rather, a living relationship where one's personal talent, love, heroism, daring, persistence, sacrifice, freedom, and humility are constantly judged and severely tested.
A monastic community, and particularly one which is truly communal ( koinobetic), can become an upper room of Pentecost. If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are imparted to each baptized faithful, they are certainly imparted no less to each struggling monastic. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant for al the monastics. The gift is hidden only from those who harbor animosity. As on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit makes it possible for the faithful person to experience the gift of unity in al of his or her days. The many are one body in Christ. Individuals become persons who understand each other and who are mutual y reciprocal, interpenetrating each other, without confusing personalities into an impersonal crow. The first Christian community had everything in common, and the multitude of believers possessed a common mind, a singular soul. This too is the sign which marks every authentic monastic community in Christ, every ecclesiastical parish, every Christian family.
The direct activity of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox community is revealed by the presence of the spiritual father, the Spirit-bearing elder. The Holy Spirit has given to the elder, after many years of ascetic effort, obedience and prayer, the gift of discretion, even of discernment and vision, to guide souls. In the lives of the saints we often see the gift of healing of souls, accompanied by bodily health, which follow intense prayer.
One true elder can replace thousands of books and offer essential help to invigorate a soul. He gives what he himself has received from the Holy Spirit, as St. Seraphim of Sarov used to say. A man who accepts no spiritual guidance is a proud man, self-condemned to constant suffering and deprivation.
In his prayer life the faithful person stands before God as a conquered victor. He stands not as one who is emaciated, utterly exhausted and humiliated in the wrong sense, but as one who, n the sacrifices and the toils of the intense day and night struggle of anticipation, has indeed found the “pristine beauty” without the
“wrinkles of blame;” he is one who has found the delight of paradise before the fal , the innocence of childhood blessed by the Lord. He is the one who for years endured the heat of the day and the chil of the night, upon the pil ar, upon the rock, upon the tree, in the cave, in the dens of the earth, isolated and in silence, anchorite and transient who burns and abandons his shelters ( kavsokalyvitis). He is the person who has spent his intel igence trying to find ways to please God, who has never tired of seeking to see God “face to face,” as David the psalmist put it. He stood alone in the endless winters of the steppes, the virgin forest of the north, the arid desert of the east, the rough plains of the west, the dangers of the south. The storms at sea, the storms on land, the difficulties of the times did not in any way terrify or discourage him until he had found “a place of rest.” “Having nothing yet possessing everything,” as St. Paul the Apostle expres