Reading Scripture in the Kingdom

monkreading

 

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (Joh 3:6)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (Joh 6:63)

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. (1Co 15:50)

The convenience of math is its reliability and predictability. No matter how brilliant or dull one might be, one and one are two. The most evil person on the planet and the greatest saint still have the same sums. If an evil man has one apple and steals another, he has two. If the saint has two apples and gives one away, he has one. This, if you will, is the principle of “flesh and blood.” It requires nothing of us. Math is not an inherently transformative science.

But there are other things out there. Five loaves and two fish, divided by 5,000 should not constitute sufficient meals. But, in the hands of Christ the dinner-math collapses. Five and two equal 5,000 plus. The Kingdom of God has just this transcendent aspect. The disciples, those who witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 were on the cusp of change. They did not yet understand what was taking place, but the contradictions were piling up. The impossibility of what they saw from day-to-day, the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, Christ walking on the water, speaking to wind and sea and getting results, water becoming wine, were all building to a critical mass that exploded in their lives with the resurrection of Christ and his “opening of their understanding (nous).”

The transformation that took place within the disciples cannot be exaggerated. A band of relatively uneducated fishermen, tax collectors and the like, become the teachers of an utterly seamless garment of Scriptural interpretation that was completely without precedent. The writings of St. Paul and others give clear evidence that within less than 20 years, the full hermeneutic of the paschal reading of Scripture was in place. No evolutionary process can account for such a development. The New Testament itself is evidence of the resurrection of Christ.

But what we see is not a work of dictation. The apostles wrote and taught out of the abundance of their hearts, having been transformed from fishermen into mystical visionaries of the Kingdom of God. They themselves are purposeful contradictions, no less than water becoming wine. Later teachers would bring that vision into dialog with Hellenistic culture, but they would not see deeper into the Kingdom itself.

What was the mind that could see Christ in the Passover Lamb? Indeed, what was the mind that could see Christ’s death and resurrection as a fulfillment of Passover itself? Beneath the letter of the Old Testament, beneath the surface of its poetry, its historical stories, its prophetic works, the primitive Church discerned Christ Himself and the shape of the story which we now know as the gospel.

The shape of the gospel story is not derived from the Old Testament. It is discerned within the Old Testament, after the resurrection of Christ and His subsequent teaching. St. Irenaeus in the 2nd century specifically references the shape of the gospel story and calls it the “Apostolic Hypothesis.” It is the framework and fundamental understanding of the work of Christ.

For example, that “Christ died for our sins,” is not obvious. It can be discerned in the Old Testament if one comes to understand, for example, that the “Servant Songs” in Isaiah are actually referencing Christ. Again, this was in no way obvious. However, that Christ “died for our sins” is a specific part of the Apostolic Hypothesis. It is cited as a “tradition” in 1 Cor. 15 (“that which was delivered [traditioned] to me”). When that tradition is accepted and “received” (more about this in a moment), then passages like the Servant Songs begin to open up and yield their deeper meaning.

When a gospel writer shares a story about Christ and adds, “This was done that the saying in Isaiah might be fulfilled…,” we are reading the tradition in its operation. But the passages in Isaiah do not themselves give a clue for their interpretation. That clue, the “Apostolic Hypothesis,” must come first before the others can be seen.

The giving of this tradition is described in Luke 24:44-48:

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding [nous], that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. “And you are witnesses of these things. (Luk 24:44-48)

It is important to see that this new insight into the Scriptures is described as a noetic event. It is not described as technique or style of interpretation that is taught and learned. It is specifically referred to as a change of the nous. In the same manner, the continued understanding of the gospel is, properly, a noetic exercise.

That noetic perception is the common thread of the liturgical texts and hymns of the Orthodox faith. The liturgical life of the Church has a two-fold purpose: the worship of God and the spiritual formation of the people of God. As cited earlier, there must be a movement from “flesh and blood” to “spirit and life.” It is this spiritual transfiguration that is operative in the life of the Church.

This is the same reason that I have written against popular notions of morality. The Christian life does not consist of flesh and blood struggling to behave better. Rather, it is the transformation of flesh and blood into spirit and life. Only a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17) sees and understands and lives the new life of the resurrected Christ.

This spiritual ability to see beneath the letter and perceive the truth continues in the life of the Church, unabated. It is particularly evident in the dogmatic formulations of subsequent centuries. Only a nous, properly illumined, could learn to profess the Trinity in the fullness of its mystery. The same is true of Christ’s God/Manhood and the nature of our salvation through the Divine Union.

But these habits of the transformed heart have been diminished and replaced over the centuries in many parts of the Christian world. The doctrinal formulations have become dry statements that sound merely antique. The new language of morality and psychology have largely displaced true noetic perception of the truth. The result is a Christianity that, though often using the terms of the Fathers, gives them completely different meanings. It becomes nothing more than a system of interpretation, not actually requiring God Himself at all.

Classical Christianity is not passé, it has simply been replaced by a new religion that borrows its terms and redefines them. It is like the contemporary Christians who take up bread and wine (or their banal substitutes) and engage in some form of ritual partaking, nevertheless professing all the while that, at most, a psychological event has taken place. The language of “Body and Blood,” though invoked in their ceremonies, are (they are quick to tell us) “merely symbolic.” There is no paradox, no contradiction, no depth to be discerned – only the emptiness of modern psychology.

Mere psychology cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

But mere psychology is indeed the tool of most contemporary treatments of Scripture. Whether the empty historical analysis of biblical criticism, or the various schemes of so-called literalism, all employ discursive reason (hence psychology) to explain what can only be known noetically. The literalist will assert that Isaiah’s Suffering Servant is indeed, Christ. But he has no reason for saying so apart from some reference in the New Testament. He does not see it, nor discern it, but says it like a parrot. And then he will turn his discursive reason away from these divinely revealed mysteries in order to inveigh on how the Old Testament teaches God’s vengeance and His demands of a necessary justice. In neither case has he “seen” anything or “known” anything in the manner of the Apostolic Church, much less in the manner of the noetic fathers. As often as not, the modern literalist will actually disdain “allegory” and its variations when those variations are themselves the very tools of the fundamental dogmas of the faith, used even by Christ Himself.

The noetic life that inherits the Kingdom (that which is birthed in us at Baptism) both hears the wind and sees where it comes from. It enters the gates of hell and walks in paradise. It mines the treasures buried in the field of the Scriptures. Inheriting the Kingdom is a patient work of noetic transformation received through the integral life of the Tradition. This is the true abundant life promised in Christ and given through the Spirit in the Church.

 

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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58 responses to “Reading Scripture in the Kingdom”

  1. Randall Avatar
    Randall

    Thank, Father! This helps as I begin teaching catechumens about Scripture in the Church.

  2. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Randall,
    If I could put this into a succinct point – ultimately the reading of Scripture is not about acquiring information. It is much more like learning to receive the Eucharist. There is a process of discernment, of perception. One of the best studies of Scripture would be to take one of the Liturgies (St. Basil is a feast) and track down its Scripture references. That’s pretty clear for the New Testament. Reading the OT is much more difficult.

    An interesting read is St. Gregory of Nyssa’s The Life of Moses. It is an eye-opener. His example is not necessarily a model, but an example of the kind of thing you run across in a number of the Fathers. Most people, if they have any experience of Scripture, read it in a purely historical manner (which is completely natural to us modern folk). It’s good to read something as surprising as Nyssa just to see the range of thought found in the Fathers.

  3. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    The transformative aspect in the reading of the scripture through the Orthodox tradition is an awesome truth. When I was not yet a Christian I regularly read Psalms and certain passages in the OT. But after my conversion, it is as you say, we become ‘marinated’ in the scriptures in the Liturgy. Our life comes to Life. Noetic life builds without our awareness, the seed that breaks open in the soil.

  4. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    I have a Jewish Bible (Tanakh) complete with commentary and analysis upstairs. I began working through it some years ago while still a Protestant looking for insights into the Christian Old Testament. While I did discover some real theological and spiritual gems in the commentary, for obvious reasons when it came to Messianic references it left me very cold indeed. It wasn´t until after experiencing the resurrection of Christ (I think) that the apostles began seeing Christ in the Hebrew Scriptures as Christ was truly meant to be seen. Without this revelation, I assume they would have also been left cold.

    Fr. Stephen wrote:

    “Classical Christianity is not passé, it has simply been replaced by a new religion that borrows its terms and redefines them.”

    There is so much borrowing in the Protestant world of Classical Christianity; so much borrowing and so much redefinition, but still so many who have yet to come home. I know a Protestant preacher in the midwest of America who is basically Orthodox in spirit and thought, who is teaching the Fathers to his disciples, who displays large pictures of icons during the services, etc., but when asked why he does not simply become Orthodox, he says he is called to pastor the church he is currently pastoring. ???

    I share this not to judge the pastor, but simply to highlight my concerns regarding “borrowing” and “redefining”.

  5. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    test

  6. Paul Hughes Avatar

    Really good stuff, Father. And you were at least 10 years ahead of the ‘hotness’ of the enchantment ‘trend’ … ha! as if you care about trends. ; )

    Thinking and talking with friends about it, I saw [finally and of course] how what’s said ‘popularly’ is often just surface stuff and the depth and foundations of it began long ago, for the problem, and even farther back for the ‘solution’ … which is really just life.

    So stuff has started to coalesce for me around that ancient integration of physical + non- … actual actions with real stuff that enact/incarnate/participate in th’eternal.

    That’s partly how this piece is touching down, anyway.

    Cheers,
    Paul Hughes

  7. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    First off, I won’t judge what another man is doing in this regard. I will say, that though I had read many Orthodox books (and even written my thesis on the theology of icons, etc.) nothing ultimately compared with the simple common experience of the Divine Liturgy, week in and week out. That, and the hymnography of Matins and Vespers, etc. You simply marinate in it and it has an effect that is qualitatively different from the acquisition of information.

  8. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Thank you, Fr. Stephen. This reminds me of the difference between a real artist and someone who is just technically proficient–it’s something you can feel palpably but there are often no words for it.

    Also, do you or anyone in this community happen to know a Orthodox Church in the Philadelphia area? Preferably in the southwest suburbs, but open to anything in the area. Thank you!

  9. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Paul,
    I’m not sure that most of the people talking about enchantment are fully cognizant of what’s going on. The world is as “enchanted” as it’s ever been. Culture has shifted and changed, but the actual world is unchanged.

    But, it’s not a bad conversation to have.

  10. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Fr. Stephen said:

    “You simply marinate in it and it has an effect that is qualitatively different from the acquisition of information.”

    I agree with this. I find this to be true about the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church.

  11. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    When I read your article I was struck by these words:

    Later teachers would bring that vision into dialogue with Hellenistic culture, but they would not see deeper into the Kingdom itself.

    I believe these are important words, and I ask for further elaboration.

  12. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I had in mind writers such as the Cappadocians, St. Dionysius, St. Maximus, and others. They brought Hellenistic philosophical vocabulary into the world of Orthodox thought. What I’m suggesting here is that, though the vocabulary is far more sophisticated and subtle, I do not think they represent a deeper insight into the Kingdom itself. The “noetic” insight of the Apostles, for example, was no less deep just because they did not yet have the word “noetic.” St. Peter, the simple fisherman, had actually walked on water and been rescued by Christ when he began to sink. He had seen Christ transfigured with Moses and Elijah together with him, though he did not have the vocabulary of “theosis,” and “divine energies,” etc.

    The Kingdom of God is a true encounter and transformation. Our modern culture tends to intellectualize things, imagining the ability to talk (or write) about something to be the equivalent of the thing itself. It is why we read so much more than we pray.

    So, with all of our terms (and they are useful), it is of greater importance to perceive (even in a small glimpse) what it is actually saying – that is – to perceive and participate in the substance itself. In that manner, sacrificial almsgiving will likely yield more insight into the Kingdom than a thousand books.

  13. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Fr. Stephen,

    I was reading Matthew this morning, and 7:14 struck me anew: “But strait is the gate…”

    Strait is spelled differently and I’d never noticed it. “Strait” indicated a narrow passage of water, I’d always heard it in my mind’s eye as simply “straight”–do you have any thoughts as to why He is saying strait? Perhaps this is in reference to a physical place?

    Thank you.

  14. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Thank you for your response, Father! I understand better and dearly appreciate the elaboration. These are indeed important words. St Sophrony mentions something very similar. There is a very real physicality to the commandments and participation in the Liturgy.

    I am also struck by your recent comment about enchantment as well. The world is so much more than what is apprehended with secular eyes.

  15. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Mallory,
    This use of the word “strait” has the meaning of “narrow.” So, the gate is “narrow.” I don’t think that there’s a particular gate that Christ has in mind (though preachers love to make up such explanations). There were surely many “narrow gates” in the city. I think there’s a sense that you can’t fit yourself and a lot of baggage through such gates (and that might have been a purpose in some cases). The Greek word in Matthew 7:14 is “stenos.” So, in medical language we speak of a “stenosis,” meaning a “narrowing.” English is such an abundant language. I think that “strait” and “straight” only share a common sound but not a common meaning or origin.

  16. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Mallory,
    I was curious and just looked up your reference in one of the versions I have (Oxford RSV) and it mentions the gate is ‘narrow’ and the way ‘hard’. I have a couple of Bibles that I read for comparison in translation.

    Nevertheless, regardless of translation, I believe our Lord speaks to us and calls to us. Perhaps this is what (and Who) you’re hearing.

  17. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    My thoughts on the words “math is not a transformative science” begged the question for me: Is chemistry a transformative science?

    In our current secular culture, the answer would be no, if it were to be contrasted with the words of spirit.

    However, there is a historical association between the phoenix and the ‘art’ of chemistry. Even the American Chemical Society uses the phoenix as its emblem. It has a history as a science concerned with the transformation of substantive (that which is observed with human eyes) matter, yet it assumed an underlying ‘spirit’ initiating and guiding the transformation.

    Unfortunately, from my perspective, it was quite challenging to hold onto the enchantment of creation within chemistry, given the way chemistry was taught in American academia. The beauty was often mired in the veil of secular thinking, especially with the consumer/user mentality for ‘products’.

  18. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I suspect that everything can be used as a means of perception and communion – and, no doubt – some in science have tasted deeply from that well. There is something of a diminishment in many things, driven by our economic life and consumer culture.

    One of the struggles I found in catechesis was that frequent lack of exposure to the “liberal arts.” This has actually been around for a long time. I think what struck me to most was the absence of historical knowledge. That, of course, can be dangerous – leaving people quite vulnerable to absurd claims and manipulative distortions. So, I always found myself as a bit of a history teacher as well as teaching the doctrines of the faith.

    Modernity is driven by the question of “how do we maximize profit and pleasure?” It would be a very different culture if our dominant questions were centered on how to be truly human (or some such formulation). Almost no one seems to be afraid of getting rich. With hardly an exception, I see very little that makes me think that wealth is salutary.

    Renting Venice for a $70 million wedding comes to mind.

  19. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Dee,
    I just use an old KJV bible that’s been in my family for ages (I’m quite literally the only one who has cracked it open–they’re all academics, in the classics particularly, so Dante and Homer etc are much preferred around here 🙂

    Fr. Stephen,
    I’ve been thinking about wealth so much recently, I’m sure partly inspired by the wedding you reference. I notice living in this culture it’s nearly impossible not to long for more, I’m so aware of this in myself even though by any standard I live modestly. Still–desire for the best food, better clothes, etc etc. is seeped into the atmosphere. I fear for my daughter! On the other hand, I have been with and without money–and, no question, having an ease about money is very peaceful comparatively. Wish it weren’t so. It causes people such pain.

  20. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Mallory,
    I think there is great beauty in a family Bible handed down through generations.

  21. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    Indeed, a lack of historical knowledge in our society is more than a problem. As you say, it opens us up to distortions. I haven’t heard about the rental of Venice. Extreme! I can’t fathom some of the stuff I hear about.

  22. Byron Avatar
    Byron

    I notice living in this culture it’s nearly impossible not to long for more

    Mallory, I think this longing can get more acute as one ages. I had reason to stop and consider this issue recently and I’ve realized that, simply put, I’m older. I’m more frail. I’m not able to “bounce back” as well as when I was young. There are stressors that come with age that our society accentuates. We long for more sometimes just to break even! Faith is difficult in times like these but all people live in them (at all times); we are not unique in that regard. God’s ongoing trustworthiness in the lives of those gone before should give us comfort (although that is easy to type; much harder to live!).

  23. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Mallory,
    We live in a consumer-based culture (all cultures in history “consume” – but never to the level of our present world). That is, everything is geared towards getting us to buy stuff. As we prepared for retirement about 10 years back (I retired 5 years ago), a huge goal was to get out of debt (mortgage, cards, etc.). It is not something that is easily done. It does take a lot of pressure off, though.

    May God uphold you and protect our families!

  24. Margaret Sarah Avatar
    Margaret Sarah

    “One of the struggles I found in catechesis was that frequent lack of exposure to the “liberal arts.” … I think what struck me to most was the absence of historical knowledge. That, of course, can be dangerous – leaving people quite vulnerable to absurd claims and manipulative distortions.”

    Father Stephen, this reminds me of GK Chesterton: “Without education, we are in a horribly and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”

  25. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Fr. Stephen said:

    “One of the struggles I found in catechesis was that frequent lack of exposure to the “liberal arts.”

    My question may be painting with broad strokes, but …

    Why are so many religious conservatives seemingly afraid of the liberal arts and a broad humanities education … especially in America?

  26. Hélène d. Avatar
    Hélène d.

    Thank you, Fr. Stephen, for this very clear and stimulating post !
    I smiled when I read “in the hands of Christ, the calculation of dinner collapses” ! And so do many other things in our calculations and predictions… and how freedom in Christ is an absolute novelty !
    In the passage from St. John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and they are they which testify of me, and you do not want to come to me that you may have eternal life !”, isn’t this also addressed to us who dissect the Scriptures in various ways, often hoping to finally possess something of that life ? …
    There is this saying of St. Sophronius that I just read : “God is not known by the intellect or by the imagination, for the intellect is powerless and the imagination is unfit for the knowledge of God.” With his intellect and imagination, man remains within the confines of created reality. His attempts to know God necessarily remain conjectures. Moreover, he will often be tempted to see authentic contemplations or divine revelations, without, alas, discerning in them the most subtle, the most insidious spirit of illusion. Knowledge of God means communion, and more particularly communion and participation in Being, the One Who Is.
    And yet, with joy and enthusiasm, he tells us : “Without creative inspiration, it is difficult to live even a single day worthy of a Christian. Oh, how I wish we could all become poets !”
    There is a profound richness and a truly real and holy life in the words of these saints who accompany us, for they have penetrated into the Beauty, the divine Tenderness of creation and God’s love…

  27. Hélène d. Avatar
    Hélène d.

    Thank you, Fr. Stephen, for this very clear and stimulating post !
    I smiled when I read “in the hands of Christ, the calculation of dinner collapses” ! And so do many other things in our calculations and predictions… and how freedom in Christ is an absolute novelty !
    In the passage from St. John 5,39-40, “You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and they are they which testify of me, and you do not want to come to me that you may have eternal life !”, isn’t this also addressed to us who dissect the Scriptures in various ways, often hoping to finally possess something of that life ? …
    There is this saying of St. Sophronius that I just read: “God is not known by the intellect or by the imagination, for the intellect is powerless and the imagination is unfit for the knowledge of God.” With his intellect and imagination, man remains within the confines of created reality. His attempts to know God necessarily remain conjectures. Moreover, he will often be tempted to see authentic contemplations or divine revelations, without, alas, discerning in them the most subtle, the most insidious spirit of illusion. Knowledge of God means communion, and more particularly communion and participation in Being, the One Who Is.
    And yet, with joy and enthusiasm, he tells us : “Without creative inspiration, it is difficult to live even a single day worthy of a Christian. Oh, how I wish we could all become poets !”
    There is a profound richness and a truly real and holy life in the words of these saints who accompany us, for they have penetrated into the Beauty, the divine Tenderness of creation and God’s love…

  28. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    Well, I suspect that I’m showing my age. When I think of the liberal arts, I have in mind the “canon” of good literature and philosophical thought, etc. Since my time, the canon has been overthrown and replaced with politically correct material, etc., and, forgive me, but the Bolsheviks have taken over many of those departments in colleges. If I were in the university system at present, I would probably avoid all of that like the plague.

    I’ve been reading a book you would likely enjoy by R.R. Reno (he’s the Catholic editor of “First Things”). The book is Return of the Strong Gods, and does a very good analysis of post-WW2 thought (philosophical, political, etc.). What impressed me was the breadth of his reading and the quality of his summaries. He tracks the development of post-war thought and its present sea-change (which is a work in progress and nobody knows how it turns out).

    I have some interview/speaker events coming up in the next year that I’m doing background reading for. Sort of a crash course in current thought and trends. 🙂

    All of that is to say that things have changed dramatically in the American university system. I married an English Lit. major. So, conversations in the house often dip into literature – but you have to know what was going on in art, philosophy, world history, etc., to really understand what you’re reading in its context. Over the years I’ve seen that most people lack that kind of broad knowledge.

    Related to that, when I became Orthodox, there was a world of history and experience that was largely ignored in Western teaching. I’ve spent years reading in Orthodox literature, history, thought, etc., working to acquire a broad sense of things. It’s extremely layered with interesting complexities. But I find that most Orthodox today are ignorant of much of that information: the worst assuming that there’s this unborken line from the Apostles, through the Great Councils to the present, etc. In truth, Orthodoxy has stood on a precipice any number of times, and endured persecutions, centuries with very little education, etc. We are, at present, in the midst of a tremendous renaissance through the collapse of the Soviet empire and some truly heroic work by scholars and monastics, and many others.

    So, in short, why do some fear a broad humanities education? Ignorance breeds fear. Too few have encounter healthy (spiritually) scholarship. I’ve been blessed to have known some intellectual giants who were also spiritually sound.

  29. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    I know a family that makes it impossible to care for each other. The level of selfishness is so high it is nearly impossible to give.

  30. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Matthew and Father,
    I’ve seen similar fears and ignorance concerning science (not referring to technology or math). Too few have a firm foundation and understanding that can support reflective critique and cultural enrichment. Undtis often a mile wide and an inch deep.

  31. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks Fr. Stephen and Dee.

    Fr. Stephen said:

    “I’ve spent years reading in Orthodox literature, history, thought, etc.,”

    What exactly? Only religious works? I´m wondering what no enlightenment in the east means for historical and literary works exisiting within what I thought was mostly a very religious world. Granted … I am a bit in the dark re: these matters.

    Also … as I understand it, in ancient Greece the core of a humanities education meant studying Homer´s epics along with grammar, rhetoric, etc. Seems pretty “safe” to me … 🙂

  32. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    Father,

    When I first began to read the Gospels, my main focus was “when did this happen and how does it fit in with the rest of the material?” It was as if my aim was to know the Lord’s itinerary. It didn’t occur to me that this focus was missing the mark.

    After a while, I stopped asking when and began to notice that the Gospel writers were, for the most part, choosing the same events to write about. I began wondering why and started paying attention to what the Lord was doing in those repeated events and asking what it meant.

    One of the things I love most to think about is that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. I remember it often. There needs to be no perception or spiritual experience necessary to be joyful in this. It is true no matter what we feel.

    Therefore, when I hear my chapter of the Gospels, I am listening to see Him in the words that were given. At the same time, I know that my life is with that Person even then, even as I am, which is often a kind of fearful joy. I must worship and confess my shortcomings and put all my faith in Him, that He will complete His work in me, the work which I cannot do myself.

    Each day, I have His work to accomplish, things like cleaning the cupboard and making the bed. Each day, I have all His gifts around me, so that my cup is frequently overflowing. If I suffer, I suffer for Him and with Him. If something is difficult, I trust Him to help me. When I do something of which I am ashamed, I turn to Him as soon as possible for help.

    I watch these shows sometimes and the characters are always getting into trouble because they are lying to themselves and each other, and it creates this foolish space into which they are always falling.

    I don’t want there to be any space between myself and the Lord because I am lying to Him about what I can do or not do. I don’t want any joy that doesn’t come from Him or that I cannot share with Him.

    When I thought of my self an arrow flying towards the mark which is Christ, and sin as anything that causes me to veer away from Him, what I first wanted to experience was perceptible movement- I want to feel that I am making progress toward the goal. But I cannot send myself like a spiritual projectile anywhere, no matter how much I might long to be there.

    Of course, thinking in that way, I was taking the illustration literally and consequently missing the lesson.

    My life is a quiet turning in the same circle, in the same place, so perhaps I can think of myself as a lump of clay sprawled over the wheel.

    The Potter is turning it round and round, shaping the clay slowly closer to the center, where it takes proper shape and position. Anything that pulls me away from the center is sin.

    If I remain in His hands, I can trust that He will keep returning me to the center and closer to the right shape, even if it feels as if I am not going anywhere.

    Moral perfection was the clear and consistent goal of my childhood church. It’s my native language. It was, I learned, the only way to please God.

    The only thing that prevents me from reverting to it now is my remembrance of how miserably I failed every time I attempted it. I had to learn by experience that I could do nothing apart from Him.

    It was a fierce struggle to give up trying and learn to trust. It’s so tempting because I want very much to please Him, and there is the illusion of control- I can climb that ladder by myself! On my own time and by my own strength! I can throw myself toward God by the sweat of my brow.

    When I was first trying to read the Gospel of John again, that is when I struggled the most to give up my native language of earned moral perfection, to learn instead how to abide in the Vine.

    At that time, I was reminded of how fruit trees blossom in the spring, how beautiful they are then- full of promise, color and scent.

    But the beauty is ephemeral. The promise withers to brown and is swept away.

    But the blossom is just the promise, not the fruit. If the blossom did not wither away, no fruit could grow in its place. The fruit is what’s desired.

    One may feel that the promise of one’s life died away and came to nothing and that one is going to spend the rest of one’s life lashed by rain and parched in the heat of summer with nothing to show for it.

    But all the while, the fruit is growing and becoming ripe. Frequently, as the fruit ripens, the plant bearing it becomes haggard and brown- like my tomato plants. They are dying as the fruit comes. But the fruit is good.

    All this is happening because the branches bearing the fruit are abiding quietly on the vine. The branch is causing nothing to happen. It is remaining attached to the vine through thick and thin and the life of the vine is flowing through it, producing the fruit.

    How grateful I am that the Lord keeps teaching me that flesh and blood cannot inherit His Kingdom-

    “Save us, and lead us into Thine eternal Kingdom, for Thou art our Creator, and all our hope is in Thee.”

  33. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    For one, reading the complex history of the Hellenistic world, then the world of the Turkokratia (Turkish oppression) and the convoluted history of the Balkans, Romania, Greece, etc. With Russia thrown in on top. There are literary works, here and there. But even the religious history is a deep dive into various nooks and crannies of Orthodoxy that can be important for understanding.

    The account of ancient Greece and Greek culture (in the West) is largely a British fiction (making them into things they were not). For example, when Greece gained its independence from Turkey, the Brits were largely disappointed to find that Greece was highly religious when what they wanted them to be were Classical Greeks. There were huge influences from the West that created splits in Greek culture that have ripples down to the present. Britain is a great friend to have and also a very onerous friend. Through the centuries they were glad to help as long as the help fit their model of the world. It’s a very sad tale.

  34. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Jenny,
    Thank you for these thoughts – so very on the mark!

  35. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    Is there a source for reading about the Greek civil war and subsequent impacts on culture and people you would recommend? I would like to learn more and in more depth. Are the continuing divisions along religious Anderson’s secular and/or economic differences? I’m learning the modern language, but as I understand it, even the common language used was contentious at one point. I love very much my Greek Orthodox parish and hope to visit Greek sometime in the future.

  36. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Gee wiz! I didn’t mean Andersons but simply ‘and’—very weird autofill

  37. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I have a book buried in boxes…I suspect that almost anything would be useful. I’m looking for it…

  38. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Dee said:

    “I love very much my Greek Orthodox parish and hope to visit Greek sometime in the future.”

    I hope you get the chance to visit Greece too Dee. It was a wonderful experience for me. I want to never forget Fr. George. He was so very nice to us and also very patient with me.

  39. Bonnie Avatar
    Bonnie

    Jenny,
    You are right on the mark, both with your potter’s clay and the branches that may appear to do nothing but are in fact nourishing the fruit. Thanks!

  40. Hélène d. Avatar
    Hélène d.

    Thank you Jenny for your words, your sensitive and sincere thoughts.

  41. Hélène d. Avatar
    Hélène d.

    Thank you Jenny for your words, your sensitive and sincere thoughts…

  42. Drewster2000 Avatar
    Drewster2000

    Hi Fr. Stephen,

    Unrelated: You have a saint quote that talks about how you stand at the edge until you can take it no longer – “and then go have a cup of tea”.

    Could you please provide for me the full quote and its source?

    thanks muchly

  43. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Drewster,
    It is a famous quote – and I’m not sure of the printed source. However, here’s a wonderful article that includes the quote and its original context.

  44. Dee of Sts. Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts. Herman and Olga

    Drewster,
    I know I read it in St Sophrony’s books somewhere, and yet, despite some time trying to find it, I didn’t find it. I suspect when I’m looking for something else, it will pop up. I’ve read most of his books and the themes are repeated in different ways. My advice for what it’s worth is to read St Sophrony’s books, including the one on St Silouan.

    For our mutual edification, I found these words from St Sophrony about what the ‘abyss’ is. It suggests that the abyss is not a place of darkness alone, but of both darkness and light.

    “Once again, how do unshakeable peace and the overwhelming darkness of the Fall act in concert in one soul?” pg 284-285 in the book “The Mystery of Christian Life”.

    These words convey a sort of contradiction. We are encouraged to struggle against the passions, to see ourselves as we truly are, and yet to truly see the “person” of our own souls. With the compassion of our Lord felt in our hearts in our struggle, we might take rest in Him.

  45. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Ah so! I did find the quote of St Sophrony, however, I found it recorded by Archimandrite Zacharias, in his book “Christ, Our Way and Our Life: A presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony”, pg 11.

  46. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    I hope adding these words will be helpful. I’m adding them mainly to flesh out the meaning and use of the word abyss in St Sophrony’s thinking.

    He writes in ‘The Mystery of Christian Life’ that he “lived the abyss of darkness” (he says this wasn’t an imaginary thought) combined with (“co-existing” with) moments of the “resurrection of the soul because of the visit of the never-setting Light of the Kingdom of God”.

    I believe to live in these contrasting states is extremely exhausting, and one has to allow oneself relief and rest in Christ, because our endeavors are never complete or accomplished by any ascetism that we might acquire on our own steam; the gap, the bridge to live the Life according to the commandments, are absolutely contingent on the help and grace of the Holy Spirit. We are unable to do this on our own, and importantly, not without the spiritual guidance of a confessor and participation in the prayers of the Liturgy and life in the Church.

  47. matthew w Avatar
    matthew w

    For the longest time it seemed like when a spoke of my spiritual life, if I said I was content, I was told that I wasn’t dealing with my sins as I should, that I should quake with fear for my transgressions. If I said I feared for my soul, I was told that that was pride and that I should approach the throne of God with boldness, with confidence in his love for me and for my future.

    Neither point was necessarily wrong, but it does make the Christian life seem a bit schizophrenic out of context.

    So, I feel the pain in trying to convey complex spiritual experiences with others.

    Now I say I’m resigned, I rarely get pushback for that.

    God is going to do what God is going to do.

    I’ve found Jeremiah 29:11, and Matthew 6:25-31 to be helpful, and these verses are what I go to when I stare into the abyss. Maybe not as insightful as St Sophrony. But it’s what keeps me going day-to-day.

  48. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Matthew,
    Our life in Christ is always dynamic. We’re never only one thing or another for very long. Hold onto Christ without despair. Remembering God, daily sincere prayer, keeping the commandments, this is what we’re called to do and how to live in Christ.

  49. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    There seems to be a very big difference between living like Christ and imitating Christ, and that of being drawn into union with God.

    Might this have something to do with a lack of noetic understanding versus merely historical observation?

  50. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    This is very much the point I made in a series of articles back in 2014 (The Un-moral Christian). It created a minor dust-up at the time (which was completely unexpected). “Un-moral” is not at all the same as “immoral.” Rather, I was trying to find a way to describe the fact that to live the Christian life of grace is to live in union with Christ, not just “act” as if we had union with Christ. The non-ontological understanding is simply secularism (though quite unwitting).

  51. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Matthew and Father,
    Thank you both for your comments this morning. This conversation serves as a good reminder of the distinction between the imitation of Christ and the words sung at Baptism, “all those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, hallelujah”.

    Too often, I am stuck on seeing my sins in the context of morality.

  52. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I know that God is not the author of sin, but, I suspect that sometimes we are “allowed” to fall in order to prevent us from trying to live without God. Living without God, when your life is more or less “moral,” is a great delusion. It is why the poor, the sick, the lame, the prisoner, even the very sinful, are often “closer to the Kingdom of God” than those who are able to pull of the trick of being mostly “moral.” This is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were “whitewashed sepulchers,” all clean on the outside but inwardly full of dead men’s bones.

    For several years, I volunteered in a drug/alcohol treatment program in my city that had mostly court-ordered poor as its patients. They stood a better chance of recovery than many of the wealthy who went to country-club style treatment centers. The latter too often believed that recovery was a matter of trying harder (after all, they imagined that their success in life was a result of their hard work). Rather, it is, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” Learning to live in union (communion) with Christ – where it is “Christ within me the hope of glory,” – that we truly lean into our salvation. I even think that it is part of the mercy in growing older – growing towards a place in which we become increasingly dependent on others.

    Christ says, “You must become like a little child to enter the Kingdom of God,” but we tend to despise the notion of depending on others.

    Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. But, with Christ, I can do all things.

  53. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks as well Dee and Fr. Stephen.

    Dee said:

    “Too often, I am stuck on seeing my sins in the context of morality.”

    Often times the shortest of sentences tend to be the most profound.

    🙂

  54. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Thank you, Father and Matthew, for your kind words.

    I’ve been grieving regarding circumstances that are best not to elaborate on. My agony is due in part to thoughts that I’m unable to love my enemies as we are taught. I do not wish them ill, but I certainly don’t feel love in my heart. I am indeed helpless to deal with circumstances out of my control, and I try so hard to resist my lack of control in the circumstances I’m in. Sometimes I wish I could say and think like those who say they have no enemies. But I’m dealing with circumstances created in part by those whom I believe are envious, circumstances in which I’ve been put, which shackle and mire me in mud.

    I remember the words of the prayer that I pray every day, ‘all things are sent by You’. Indeed, Father, it is as you say, I believe we’re allowed to fall that we might know we cannot live without God.

    Thank you both so much!

  55. Dee of Sts. Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts. Herman and Olga

    Matthew and Father,
    I’m not sure whether my last comment went through.

    I just want to thank you both for your kindness and kind words.

    Last, Father, your reflection contrasting the circumstances of the poor vs the wealthy when in a “treatment program” was very, very helpful. Glory to God for His mercy.

  56. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Loving one´s enemies … wow …
    Laying down one´s own life for a friend … wow …
    Being thankful when persecuted … wow …

    So many others. They seem so impossible to do. You are not alone in your struggles Dee … at least not from may standpoint.

    Lord have mercy. Lord give us grace and strength.

  57. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    To do to opposite of what one feels such as love one’s enemies; etc, etc. Feelings seem to be the opposite of what to do. But where is love. That means love is not a feeling — at least not solely.

    It seems a lot to manage. Forgiving is largely a
    feeling? Mostly not actually a feeling it seems mostly releasing anything approaching feeling instead.

    How is one to manage the seeming jucstoposition.

  58. Drewster2000 Avatar
    Drewster2000

    Fr. Stephen and Dee,

    thank you so much!

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