The Doors and God

You cannot attend an Orthodox service and not be aware of doors. There are the doors that form the center of the icon screen, opening directly upon the altar. There are the two doors that flank them, one on either side, known as the “Deacon Doors.” Someone always seems to be coming out of one and going into another. One visitor to my parish confessed that the service reminded her of a “cuckoo clock.”

“The door opens. Someone comes out and says something and goes back in again.”

I have to admit that I have never been able to rid my mind of her description. Doors are important things, even within the Scriptures. Their place in the liturgical life of the Church is important for all of the same reasons.

Doors hide things. “Behind locked doors,” has an almost ominous sound to it. They were clearly invented in the course of human history to keep animals, people and pests outside.

But doors also reveal things.

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (Rev 4:1)

Indeed, one of the characteristics of revelation is that something must first be hidden in order to be revealed. That which always stands naked, open and available does not serve for revelation.

It is this character of hidden-and-revealed that serves as one of the main currents in the drama of Orthodox liturgy. The Christian faith is apocalyptic – it has always the character of that-which-is-revealed. Though we may employ reason in the consideration of the faith, we are nowhere promised that this is the true manner of coming to know what God has given to us. Instead, our faith is that-which-has-been-made-known. It is the revelation (apokalypsis) of that which is hidden (the mysterion).

I personally think that there is something within the human that is particularly attuned to revelation. We describe the experience by saying, “A light came on,” or “The coin dropped.” The movement between ignorance and knowledge in such situations is not a path. It is sudden and even jarring. We see when shortly before we were blind. I would suggest that the knowledge acquired in such a manner differs qualitatively from knowledge gained in other ways.

It is the instinct for such knowledge and experience that creates the theme of “the doors” in Orthodox worship. Some find the doors somewhat daunting and exclusionary. They announce, “You cannot go here!” a sentiment utterly contrary to our modern democratic sensibilities. But the exclusionary aspect of the doors always exists not to hide but to reveal. That which is closed will be opened – but the opening requires that they first be closed.

The universe presents itself as a closed door. As soon as we intuit structure and order, our efforts to make sense of things are rebuffed. The mystery of knowledge is not the perception of the obvious.

Charles Townes, Nobel Laureate and father of laser technology, self-described Protestant Christian, once observed:

“Understanding the order of the universe and understanding the purpose in the universe are not identical, but they are not very far apart.”

His own breakthrough invention of the “Maser” (using microwaves rather than light), came to him while sitting on a park bench. Work and study preceded it, but the idea itself came as an “Aha! moment” in his words. It is not unlike Archimedes famous cry of “Eureka!” (“I have found it?”).

Such moments do not come like the sum at the end of a math problem – they are rather like the dawning realization of how the math problem is to be done. It is knowledge of a different sort. And, unlike the sums, such moments are frequently life-changing. They are perceptions that change how we see things. A door that was closed has now been opened.

Doors also permit or restrict movement. St. Mary of Egypt’s famous conversion occurred in the experience of a doorway that would not yield to her sin. Entering can mean nothing if its refusal is not also a possibility. There is a hymn from Great Lent, sung first on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee:

Open to me the gates of repentance, O Giver of Life,
For my spirit rises early to pray towards thy holy temple,
bearing the temple of my body all defiled;
But in Thy compassion, purify me by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

There is the thought within the Church that there must be a “place of repentance,” an opportunity that is never just a “given.” In our lives we can sometimes experience such catastrophic consequences in our actions that we cannot undo the harm we have done. No amount of asking forgiveness can make things right. It is among the most devastating places that anyone can reach. It’s for that reason that we pray for the gates or doors of repentance to be opened to us – that we might find a place and not be swept away in the tidal wave of our own destructive actions.

Most joyful, however, is the greatest entrance allowed by the doors – the entrance of God into our world and into our lives. It represents the deepest longing of the human heart: the return of the King and the restoration of all things.

Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.  (Psa 24:7-10)

Perhaps the greatest moment in the Divine Liturgy comes when the Royal Doors open before the altar and the priest comes forth, carrying the Body and Blood of Christ with the words: “In the fear of God, and with faith, draw near!” It is the invitation to communion, a profound proclamation that our sins have been forgiven and that our union with God is at hand.

Such liturgical moments are profoundly true. The drama within the liturgy itself is made to serve the spiritual reality of the event. What they await is the corresponding movement within the human heart. Words alone are often not enough to open the door of the human heart itself. The dramatic portrayal adds yet one more plea from God in His invitation of love. Sadly, our hearts sometimes remain unmoved and the gates remain shut. It has always struck me as the greatest spiritual irony that the most recalcitrant locks that we encounter are those on the outside of the gates of paradise, those that insist to God that He remain beyond our world behind gates we have barred against Him. And there on the outside, we can rant and rage against all the injustice of our world and all that God has not done for us – or simply go about our business as though there were no paradise beyond those doors waiting to come forth.

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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70 responses to “The Doors and God”

  1. Maria Avatar
    Maria

    Father,

    Again today as I reached the end of the article, and as many other times, my thought and feeling was, “No, you can’t stop there. There is more. Keep going.” But alas, the articles were concluded.

    What’s a reader to do?

  2. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Maria,
    “What’s a reader to do?”

    If you can articulate the “more” that you sense in the form of a question…I’ll write more in the comments and we’ll work on it from there. Blessings!

  3. Margaret Avatar
    Margaret

    Thank you for this blog post, Fr. Stephen! I cannot read it without hearing the pre-communion prayer by St. John Chrysostom that has spoken to my heart concerning the love of God and blessed me tremendously: “I am not worthy, Master and Lord, that Thou shouldst enter under the roof of my soul; yet inasmuch as Thou desirest to live in me as the Lover of men, I approach with boldness! Thou hast commanded: let the doors be opened which Thou Thyself alone hast made and Thou shalt enter with Thy love for men just as Thou art! Thou shalt enter and enlighten my darkened reasoning. I believe that Thou wilt do this! For Thou didst not cast away the prostitute who came to Thee with tears, neither didst Thou turn away the tax collector who repented, nor didst Thou reject the thief who acknowledged Thy Kingdom, nor didst Thou forsake the repentant persecutor, the Apostle Paul, even as he was! But all who came to Thee in repentance Thou didst unite to the ranks of Thy friends, who alone art blessed forever, now and unto the endless ages. Amen.”

  4. Bryan (Emmanuel) Elderkin Avatar
    Bryan (Emmanuel) Elderkin

    Such a moving and beautiful perspective Fr Stephen. Concisely and succinctly worded, but profound in meaning…I so enjoy your messages. Thank you.

  5. Tina G Manatos Avatar
    Tina G Manatos

    This is beautiful and so meaningful. Your images are very real to me. I can see the locks on the outside of the gates to Paradise that we put there.

  6. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Father,
    These words are so profound, so much is indeed going on and much cannot be expressed in words. Thank you so much for this article this morning. Once again these are words that I so needed to hear in my heart and soul.

  7. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Margaret,
    Thank you also for your comment, which included the Orthodox prayer. As I enter my busy workday today, I pray that these words remain in my heart and the grace of Our Lord encompasses all that I do.

  8. Deacon Nicholas Avatar
    Deacon Nicholas

    Father, bless. A discussion of covering/uncovering could also include the use of the curtain, the veils over the chalice and diskos, and the deacon’s covering the Gospel book with his orarion before proclaiming the Gospel for that day. Speaking of deacons, it is the deacon who steps through the Holy Doors with the chalice and bids the faithful to approach “In the fear of God and with faith and love.” Please don’t take my job from me!
    May the Lord God remember your priesthood in His kingdom!

  9. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Deacon Nicholas,
    Yes, the coverings, etc. are very much of the same nature. You caught me, viz. the liturgical actions of the deacon – it came from serving alone for so many years. Blessings!

  10. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    When I first entered an Orthodox Temple, I was greeted with Joy and open arms by our Lady, the Theotokos. She opened the doors of my heart immediately to the reality of the Joy in I’m Divine Liturgy and the people gathered to worship her Son.

    I never felt anything was “hidden”.

  11. Holly Holmstrom Avatar
    Holly Holmstrom

    Thank you so much for this! I love your writing! I was at the Diocesan Assembly in Richmond VA this past week and met a man from Oak Ridge TN I asked if he knew you and he said Yes and you and your wife were coming to dinner when he got home. I met so very many wonderful people on my trip I can’t remember his name but I told him to tell you that I love your writings!!! Thank you so much they are always a blessing to me!!!

  12. Sophia Avatar
    Sophia

    Father, bless. This was so deeply moving. I most saw myself in your soul-piercing comments about the Lenten hymn from Matins: “In our lives we can sometimes experience such catastrophic consequences of our actions that we cannot undo the harm we have done…It’s for that reason that we pray for the gates or doors of repentance to be opened – that we might find a place and not be swept away in the tidal wave of our own destructive actions.” Pray for me that I might truly repent. Thank you so much.

  13. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Holly,
    Thank you for your kind words. I wish I had been able to attend the Assembly!

  14. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Sophia,
    I will, indeed, pray for you. If you are comfortable with it – ask Mary, the Theotokos, to help you find the place of repentance. She was wonderfully helpful to St. Mary of Egypt. God give us grace!

  15. Sophia Avatar
    Sophia

    Dearest Father, I am absolutely comfortable with asking the Most Holy Mother of God for her help. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I believe she told St. Mary of Egypt “if you go to the desert, you will find peace.” Is that right?

  16. juliania Avatar
    juliania

    Father Stephen, I was noticing in the photograph above your previous message that the Royal Doors fold inwardly – the angle from which the photo was taken shows this, while outside the view is of the waiting congregation. It’s not a view that we, that the congregation, normally ever see, though we do have glimpses into the altar space at special times. What that said to me was like the explanation I have heard that ‘prayer is standing in the heart with the mind before God’ which I have always found extremely meaningful.

    Thank you for both these messages at this time.

  17. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Sophia, yes. May she speedily help you in your prayers!

  18. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Juliana,
    You’re most welcome. I don’t remember who took this photo – it’s from around 2015 or so (I think). It’s also in a season with the Christmas tree up, and it’s a feast of the Theotokos (blue vestments). I’d have to sit down with the calendar to calculate that. 🙂 I often think about the altar of the heart. Learning to “stand” there and pray is crucial (literally) in our lives.

  19. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Well is it an “A-Ha” moment or is it something that takes places over a long period of time? I ask because I feel like my door into the Christian life opened up as an “A-Ha” moment in the summer of 1996. Now I have a much better and more accurate understanding of how salvation has been classically understood in the church. As I understand it, salvation is a process that brings with it real ontological change in the life of a person over time. As such, doors have opened and opened and opened again and again and again for me over the course of my life as I continue to move through this process. God´s revelation and appearance is more than a “one time for always event” in our lives. That said, I cannot discount what I experienced in the summer of 96´ as well as what happened to me when I was baptized as an infant. Doors have a way of opening all over the place in my life and how I acquire Divine knowledge has differed greatly for me over the years.

  20. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    I think that the doors are a metaphor that is repeated again and again throughout our lives, much as you describe.

  21. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much Fr. Stephen.

  22. Jesse Avatar
    Jesse

    I hope to see the day that all Doors will be trumpeted open forever.
    I am far from that place, pray for me.

  23. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Father, is it possible that there is actually a spiritual “door” into one’s heart that we get a little help with now and then?

  24. Nicole from VA Avatar
    Nicole from VA

    Michael, sorry to jump in here, but it strikes me that ‘open the eyes of my heart, Lord’ has a possible sense where the eylid is like a door.

    Please tell Merry I send a hello and best wishes to you both. May the eyes of our hearts be opened by the Lord

  25. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Merry, returns your hello with her usual cheerfulness. Thank you for your input.

    I am sure there is, by Grace, a door to my heart, just like the old Chambers picture of Jesus knocking on the door of the Heart.

    I tend to believe that I can open it by sincere and frequent repentance. In the Sacrament of Confession and/or the supervised practice of the Jesus Prayer.

    …and as Mt 4:17 says, the Joy of the Kingdom tends to follow.

  26. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Michael,
    We pray for God to open the door (the “gate of repentance”) rather than we ourselves opening the door by the efforts of our repentance. One problem about trying to do this ourselves is our tendency to “self-diagnosis” – when, in fact, we do not really understand or know ourselves. There are things about ourselves that we don’t like, or, to be more specific, that we feel shame about. It can easily make them the object of our repentance. But our wholeness and healing, our transformation, is according to God’s choosing (and knowledge), not according to our own.

    Whatever it was that troubled St. Paul (the “thorn in the flesh” that he dubbed a “messenger of Satan”) didn’t seem to trouble God in the same way Who, instead, told St. Paul, “My strenth is made purpose in weakness – My grace is sufficient.” I think that, whatever else was true, it was far more important for St. Paul to come to know this in such a difficult way than to have been rid of the thorn in the flesh.

    Our repentance should focus on Christ Himself – to call on Him – to long for Him – to be consumed in desire for Him. To say it in an extreme way: I don’t care if I’m better or not – all I want is Jesus. Let Him become everything. It is quite likely that we will learn how truly great His love is by such an approach. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

    God opens the doors of repentance. We do not open them ourselves by any action.

    Just my thoughts of the morning.

  27. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Fr. Stephen said:

    “I don’t care if I’m better or not”

    I shared some concerns at work and was told such was “very Christian” of me. Some there know I am a person of faith, but they think being a Christian is all about good behavior.

    🙁

  28. hélène d. Avatar
    hélène d.

    Thank you P.Stephen for your response to Michael. You express so much better what I feel intuitively and the clarity of your response is very beneficial !

  29. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    It’s Christians who taught them to think that about Christians. Cf. my article The Unmoral Christian. I got a lot of criticism (“push-back”) from certain Orthodox corners at the time this first appeared – which surprised me. It’s a full decade since then, and I’m more firmly convinced than ever that “morality” is the wrong lens through which to view our lives. Note, I said, “Un-moral,” not “immoral.” Our behavior is the fruit of an inward change. But it’s quite possible to be a “white-washed sepulcher,” appearing morally good, while being “filled with dead men’s bones.” I wrote in my first book, “Jesus did not die to make bad men good. He died to make dead men live.”

  30. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much Fr. Stephen. I agree with your thesis.

    Someone at work once told me he adheres to the values of Christianity, but not all the church dogma, what we believe about Christ, etc. I know there are many people living where I live who are “good moral people”, but who haven´t a clue about salvation in Jesus Christ as classically understood and experienced.

    It´s also interesting … even most evangelicals would say that the Gospel (as they understand it from a calvinist perspective) is not primarily about moral living, but there is certainly a lot of talk about sinful behavior in those circles! At the end of the day, morality preaching exists both inside the church and outside its walls but it has little to do with the lens through which we should view our lives.

    I am for preaching and teaching ontological change and experience — rich and deep spiritual transformation — anything less than that is a hollow Gospel if you ask me!

  31. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    The Pharisees were such a sterling example of “morality” – and Christ’s words concerning them (“hypocrites, vipers, etc.”) are so clear, you’d think that grasping the nature of moral delusion would be clear for Christians. This to me is a key to confession: not engaging in moral inventory-taking and promises to try harder, but a baring of the soul in the naked truth before Christ, so that He might diagnose us and provide the remedy.

  32. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Fr. Stephen said:

    “This to me is a key to confession: not engaging in moral inventory-taking and promises to try harder, but a baring of the soul in the naked truth before Christ, so that He might diagnose us and provide the remedy.”

    Thank you so much.

  33. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    What might baring the soul in naked truth before Christ look like practically in a time of confession?

  34. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    Fr. Zacharias of Essex (following the instructions of St. Sophrony) suggests that we learn to “bear a little shame” in confession. I think there’s much wisdom in the model given in The Way of a Pilgrim.

    I confess what I have done wrong (to my knowledge), but also how I feel about it (or fail to feel about it). I have no illusions that I’m going to improve on things that I’ve struggled with for years. However, I believe, that, by grace God can change me. But, I confess, as well, that, on some level, I don’t want to change. I like my sin, etc. It’s honesty, especially honesty with the self.

    I’ve thought a lot about shame in the past decade. I see that many things that I want to “change” are simply because I don’t want to feel shame – but I don’t want to actually be different, etc. I have a very gentle, wise confessor (newly acquired) whom I am giving thanks for every day. Being changed is a fearful thing. Some days I can feel the “claws of Aslan” tearing the flesh of my dragon-imprisoned self (Chronicles of Narnia). May God have mercy on us.

  35. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks Fr. Stephen.

  36. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

    If memory serves me, Father, you wrote an article about cultivating a life style of asking, seeking, knocking. It may have been a comment in the discussions.

    If you did write such an article, could you provide the link?
    Thank you.
    Jeff

  37. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Fr. Stephen, yet there has to be some “response” does there not?

    When the Theotokos invited me to “Come, worship my Son;” I have to “come” in some way. So did St.Paul. Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock”; as well as other invitations to which one has to respond.

    Two years ago in July as I awakened in pain (again) at 3 AM I knew I had two choices: swear in pain or pray in pain. I decided to pray—The Jesus Prayer–using a prayer rope crafted by my late wife.

    He came to me not unlike He came to St. Peter over the water. So when I want to “open the door” now, I either remember or start praying The Jesus Prayer or both:
    As I am right now and joyful laughter is welling up despite my current pain–in the middle of my current pain.
    St. Peter went to Him on the water. St. Paul completely changed the direction and purpose of his life.

    I understand, I think, your caution and you are wise to offer it. Thank you. We do not ‘control’ our own hearts in isolation. We live in Communion with each other, the Theotokos

    BUT there are moments in which we are presented with the Mercy of Christ and need to respond in
    some way by opening our hearts a crack.

    I have begun to learn over the years that the Sacrament of Holy Confession is a part of the Holy Spiral of Life that we enter when we are received into The Church.

    While we can and do experience of being blown about by being Fallen outside the Church, it is only
    by walking to Him through the winds and over the water, etc that we are blessed to be a part of His continuing revelation and we meet Him “Face to Face.”

    Glory to God for all Things and help us to remember that real laughter is “surely the surest touch of genius in creation.” (Christopher Fry)

    Nonetheless

  38. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Michael,
    Obviously there needs to be a response. But, if you will, the agenda belongs to the Lord. It can seem like a quibble, I suppose, but it’s a subtle difference that can prevent lots of frustration.

  39. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Jeff, perhaps this is the article.

  40. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Fr. Stephen, I have no illusions as to Whom the agenda belongs or that we are each and all a part of it in communion with our Lord and one another whether we know it or not.
    By His Wisdom and Mercy, the knocks come. I do not create them even in calling out to Him iny pain.

    I do not even create the love for Him that I have. That too is given, as is the capacity to respond. Given to each and all.

    Our ability to describe His Grace and Mercy is limited…

  41. Byron Avatar
    Byron

    “Jesus did not die to make bad men good. He died to make dead men live.”

    Still one of my favorite statements, Father! I really want to get it put on a t-shirt (LoL!)….

  42. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    It is a great statement Byron. 🙂

  43. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Anyone who has ever attended an Orthodox Divine Liturgy and listened with body, mind and heart has experienced His Life.

  44. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Father,
    When I reflect on the words of the observer who described the clergy going in and out of the doors like a cookoo clock, it seems to me that their thoughts were somewhat ‘primed’, to start with–that they were looking for something to critique.

    In my first experience of Liturgy, I had concerns, among which was a deep questioning of myself of why I was there in the first place. I wasn’t looking for a ‘home’ in such a way that I’ve heard others describe. In retrospect, I believe I was looking for Christ, searching for Him outwardly. The part I didn’t like about Liturgy (in the parish I was in) was the ‘kiss of peace’ part. On that first occasion, as that situation evolved in the moment, I wanted to scramble as fast as possible out of the room. Over the years, eventually, I came to a parish where hugging and kissing weren’t a requirement (and I’m so relieved and grateful!).

    The memory of that first visit to an Orthodox Liturgy that stuck with me these many years down the road is two little girls holding candles. The candles were lit, and they held them in their hands. They looked intently at the goings-on in the altar. Their gentle presence and reverence were so beautiful, and the memory so salient, that I wonder whether such moments stirred and opened the doors of my heart to Christ. I’m not sure how to express this, but the memory of such moments ‘keeps me’ in Christ. Perhaps this is Christ’s memory within me, breathing His Life into me in moments when I need them. And I’m so grateful for them. Glory to God for His mercy.

  45. Justin Avatar
    Justin

    Fr. Stephen, you noted:
    This to me is a key to confession: not engaging in moral inventory-taking and promises to try harder, but a baring of the soul in the naked truth before Christ, so that He might diagnose us and provide the remedy.

    Being steeped in the “moral christianity” being discussed, what you say here has been the most comforting–and yet, the most demanding and harrowing–aspect about my entering into the mystery of confession. Rooting out “being a good person” from the core of my heart has been painful and, being honest, disappointing. I am struggling to get over this hump. Likely, I will be still struggling with this hump when I take my last breath.

    Perhaps, therein lies the point. The obstacle is the path, I guess.

  46. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Dee, thank you for your testimony, it has long been a joyful reminder of the mercy Jesus gives. May He be with you always

  47. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Dear Michael!
    Thank you so much for your kind words! I pray that our Lord bless you and Merry with His mercy and grace, especially as we are nearing the Winter Lent!

  48. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Mercy and Grace are the two doors into God’s Kingdom and modernity typically ignores or despises both.

    In their place are judgement and a hardness of heart that, in the worst people, becomes conscious darkness and direct opposition to Our Lord.

    That is a feature that sets modernity apart from the past in the extent of the darkness. It can fool anyone who does not adequately guard one’s heart and mind.

    May our Lord’s Grace and Mercy be in the heart of each of us, leading into community and communion.

  49. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Although Father Stephen will almost certainly disagree with this I am going to attempt to put this out there. The rise of modernity coincides with a concomitant rise in religious disillusionment. I think this well-accepted and I am happy references. As one source explains

    “The Enlightenment era, a cornerstone of modernity, brought with it a profound shift towards reason, science, and empirical evidence as primary sources of knowledge. Thinkers like Voltaire, Hume, and Kant challenged traditional religious doctrines and encouraged skepticism about supernatural explanations, fostering a critical attitude toward religion as people embraced rationalism.”

    Once the skeptical mindset leaked out of the ivory towers of academia and into the ground water of common culture, then disregard for closed doors was all but inevitable.

    Closed doors and curtains protects the myth and mystery of the Great and Mighty Oz. Looking behind the curtain of course is strictly forbidden for fear that belief in and fear of the Wizard would be lost. And it has been. People have been forcing their way into the curtained areas and the result was as predicted. People have walked away from the Wizard in disgust.

    I am sympathetic toward modernity. I think its emergence is completely understandable. People feel lied to, disappointed and betrayed because religion has not delivered on its promises. Some people are hurt and they rant and rage about the cruelties and injustices of the world. The man behind the curtain reassures the remaining believers that the masses who have left are raving lunatics. But then there are those who simply walk away from the whole affair as just one more thing that has wasted their time.

  50. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Wonderful conversation here! This statement leaves me with a slight question:

    “Jesus did not die to make bad men good. He died to make dead men live.”

    If by “good,” we mean something like “rule keepers,” then I agree. After all, a good man – who is also a wise man – knows when to break the rules. The Pharisees were excellent rule keepers. But the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Goodness is an internal quality of the Divine Life; but its external manifestation doesn’t always accord with accepted practice on the human level.

    Thank you for the article, Fr Stephen!

  51. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Owen,
    Yes. Your point is well-taken. In its original context, it would be describing “good” as synonymous with “behave nicely” or some such thing – mere morality. The “life” it refers to would be synonymous with goodness as you describe.

  52. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon,
    You’re right – I disagree with this. I understand the thoughts. As a “keeper” of the curtain I think that you’ve reduced Christianity (religion) to myths, miracles, and magic. I think the crucifixion of Christ is about as far from the sort of reductionism that you’ve employed here. But, that people (yourself included) feel lied to, disappointed, and betrayed is undeniable. Oddly, some people (myself included) feel quite the opposite – despite the cruelties and suffering in the world. I don’t think the difference between the two is a result of some sort of cruel wizard keeping the curtain and lying. I think the difference lies elsewhere.

  53. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    I too am quite sympathetic to all that the Enlightenment has bequeathed to Western culture. Reason, empirical evidence, and even a strong dose of skepticism, I believe, (can) have a purifying effect on religion. For instance, brittle literalism and fundamentalism crumble under the weight of good science. PTL. But the mysteries of faith are not subject to this sort of inquiry, as if a curtain could be ripped back to reveal a chimera. The illusion actually works the other way. This world of sin/separation is seen as illusory (less than Real) in the light of simply sitting in silence with trained attention to the inner life. The Enlightenment did not disprove spiritual knowledge by scientific means. On the contrary, spiritual things are only discerned spiritually. The Enlightenment failed, however, in that many forgot the path to the heart, to the Kingdom, is through the Cross. It is there that the curtain is rent.

  54. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    I am trying, everyday I hope, to look behind those curtains and doors. The Great and Mighty Oz wants to be discovered, wants to be found, wants to be experienced. It´s the Enlightenment which has convinced many, many people in the west that there is nothing behind those curtains and doors at all so there is no need to investigate further. What a pity so many believe this.

    That said, I can understand people´s disappointment and feelings of betrayal. In the west, the church has a lot of work to do grappling with its tainted history, but that doesn´t mean The Great and Mighty Oz has stopped delivering on his promises. He never stops delivering on his promises.

  55. Mark Spurlock Avatar
    Mark Spurlock

    Simon,

    Two questions: Can you be more specific about which promises religion has not delivered on? I easily follow your indisputable generalization that the skeptical thinking born of materialism and rationality leads to less credulity about matters of faith, but the disillusionment you describe goes a bit further and does not seem as tautological. (For example, Pascal employed rationality to arrive at his famous wager.)

    Likewise, “there are those who simply walk away from the whole affair as just one more thing that has wasted their time.” This is not a conclusion arrived at through pure reason either in that materialism offers no obvious “good” use of time. Thus, my second question is similar to my first. Assuming you might include yourself in this group, how do you think the “whole affair” wastes your time?

    From a materialist, scientific-method point of view, error (a disproved hypothesis) is itself not a waste of time but part of the process. Many contemporary nonbelievers have theorized that an “age of faith” is a necessary precursor to “enlightenment.”

    To return to the individual and personal–anecdotal, of course, but also thereby a less sweeping generalization–I do not think my time spent in prayer, for example, wasted. Regardless of what happens to me after I die (or how at any time I might feel toward organized religions), I believe that prayer and seeking God is my right orientation.

    I would like to be able to tell you that this belief has never wavered, but for a few years it did. What caused that? I suppose it was indeed a feeling that God (not religion) had failed to deliver on His promises. I lacked understanding–which is not to say I fully understand now, of course, but I have a better appreciation of who I am in this story.

  56. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Father Stephen,

    The bottom line in terms of history is that there is a broad consensus that the Enlightenment and modernity emerged concomitantly with an emphasis on objectivity that is intrinsically anti-metaphysical, i.e. supernatural. You can disagree, but, please, acknowledge that the majority report agrees with this view.

    Given that Orthodoxy really wasn’t involved in the conflicts and debates surrounding the Enlightenment and the emergence of modernity I am more than happy to exempt the doors and curtains of Orthodoxy from the criticisms I leveled previously. However, I think that religion by and large has been a complete failure. It hasn’t delivered anything of real value to society. Even in the countries where Orthodoxy is dominant you still find the same problems that plague non-Orthodox countries.

    People want to see a difference that makes a difference and they don’t see that in religion. the people who worshipped Zeus probably see their prayers answered at the same rate as someone who prays to Jesus–50/50.

    I am deeply sorry if this is offensive. But, at the end of the day the reason cultures are succombing to secularism is that there is an overwhelming sense that religion and religious experience is ineffective. We can criticize people for wanting to see tangible results for their devotions. But, it genuinely and truly from the bottom of my heart appears to me as if prayer does no good. And people have conditioned themselves through earnest believing and intense hand wringing to think otherwise.

  57. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon, Mark, et al
    A sort of madness crept into Protestant Christianity in its fervor to defeat and destroy Catholicism. Extreme ideas replaced healthy thought (for example, the anti-Mary stuff). The same could be said of the “rationality” of the Enlightenment, which today has morphed into modernity. There is no triump of rationality (and never has been) – we’re not Vulcans. The immediate blood-bath of France’s “rational” revolution serves as an example that “rationality” was just another “religion” in the worst sense of the word. In truth, we are immutably constructed of reason, emotion, etc. Indeed, our experience of “rationality” is a mixed bag. A mathematician works to solve a problem – being very rational in the process. Then one day, out of the blue, the “answer” occurs to him – not as a result of a rational process, but out of the blue. Was it emotion? Was it a miracle? What was it? Where did it come from? Our lives are filled with such things.

    The “rationality” in Simon’s comment is not really a process – it’s a narrative – a sort of mythic way of describing an assault on a decrepit version of Christianity (or a caricature). For me, it’s just an inadequate way of thinking about the world.

    As a priest on a very practical level, I listen to the stories of people’s lives, often surrounding a difficulty. It’s always a very mixed bag. They may present reasonable explanations (narratives they’ve been working on in their heads), but often overlook all kinds of things. As a priest you bring what you can to the situation, and you pray. Sometimes in the course of a conversation, a moment of clarity (like the mathematician’s “answer”) occurs and everything re-arranges themselves. Our lives are filled with such things. Rationality is, again, simply inadequate as a descriptor.

    There is a wonder that surrounds us and everything around us. The wonder surrounds the good and the evil.

    I believe that the account of the death and resurrection of Christ are historically true. I believe that in that event all things come together and find their fulfillment, their healing, and their ultimate transfiguration. It is a singular event (can’t be tested, repeated, etc.). Nevertheless, it stands.

    Modernity – is not the triumph of rationality – that’s just a sales slogan. Modernity is primarily about the monetization of technology, the organization of the world in a manner that maximizes profit for a few. Science itself serves that master – it pays its bills and determines the very objects of research. The woes of the present age are not the result of religion – other than the religion of mammon.

    God apparently does not exist as the solution of the injustices and problems that we perceive – there’s something else at work. It is coming to see that mystery within ourselves and the world around us, as well as in God, that is the truth of our lived faith. God-as-solution is a caricature (often employed by religious hucksters through the ages – just as a slightly different version, modernity-as-solution, is sold to us now.

    As Fr. T. Hopko said, “Show me the God you don’t believe in. I probably don’t believe in that one either.”

  58. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    This is not fair: “The “rationality” in Simon’s comment is not really a process – it’s a narrative – a sort of mythic way of describing an assault on a decrepit version of Christianity (or a caricature). For me, it’s just an inadequate way of thinking about the world.”

    It is dismissive. The bottom line is that history like all data requires dots to be connected and causal links to be inferred and it just so happens to be the case that when people who study history and whose focus is on this period of time write about it, then this is one of the many connections they agree on. I accept them on authority of the consensus they represent.

  59. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon,
    An interesting read by a historian is Tom Holland’s, Dominion, which has a far more positive account of Christian history than you’re suggesting. What you describe as the “consensus” of history is, I think, simply modernity speaking for itself (and often cherry-picking its dots). But, I’ll not argue it further. Oddly, I do not believe there is evidence that religion is disappearing or even waning. Various religious institutions have suffered declines (while some have grown). But the religious character of people’s lives, when examined closely, is about as strong as ever.

    Nathan Jacobson, who did a film on the “Nones” – researching, interviewing, and recording coulples, etc., who described themselves as having “no” religion (the supposed fast-growing group), discovered that nearly 100 percent of them believed in ghosts. Indeed, there was a huge burst in “spiritualism” and such that accompanied the Enlightenment. Horoscopes a still popular in the newspaper. Moderns “believe” as much as anyone ever has, they just disguise it in a different manner. The “data points” often don’t bother to ask the right questions. Probably the worst history of the Roman Empire ever written was by Edward Gibbons. It had a conclusion that was looking for data points. I still think that what you are describing is reductionist. I think Tom Holland’s read is far more interesting and accurate (he is not a believer, per se).

  60. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Simon, I studied history (American) and was just about to break through into a bottom rung of academic recognition when I “found God” . Fifteen years later, my family and I were received into the Orthodox Church.

    I have found nothing “irrational” in faith. Just a different assumption about the foundation of reality.

    The reason for the failure you cite in Orthodox “culture” is simple: sin still prevails in each person’s heart even in the hearts of those who have actually met and know our Lord, His Mother, the saints and angels. When one adds the sin together into a “culture”: guess what!

    But there is still a common testimony of the Mercy, Grace and Peace of God in Christ AND His Church that cannot be dismissed as delusional.

    I am, by Grace, one of those who have met and know Jesus, in and through the Church and directly.

    The examples are too many in my almost 60 years of searching and finding along the way. Including right now as His love and laughter resound in my heart.

    Rejoice, Simon for He is with us! Rejoice in the promise and reality of His Mercy. It is real and tangible IF you allow it to be revealed.

    Your logical skepticism has an end point where you must put it aside. “There is more to Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than us dreamt of in your philosophy.”

  61. Mark Spurlock Avatar
    Mark Spurlock

    Simon, you wrote:
    [quote][A]t the end of the day the reason cultures are succombing to secularism is that there is an overwhelming sense that religion and religious experience is ineffective. We can criticize people for wanting to see tangible results for their devotions. But, it genuinely and truly from the bottom of my heart appears to me as if prayer does no good. And people have conditioned themselves through earnest believing and intense hand wringing to think otherwise.
    [end quote]

    I take this, then, as the answer to my question of “Which problems has religion not delivered on?”

    It must occur to you that you are generalizing from personal experience to the universal and discounting those others who experience something dissimilar as “conditioned otherwise.” Yet you are influenced (conditioned) by your time and place as much as any other human being. (By the way, I am unqualified to decide what is “fair,” but I certainly think that a tone is “dismissive” that characterizes those millions with different experiences from yours as having reached their conclusions through “intense hand wringing.”)

    An individual may have never felt love or experienced love. Likewise, the predominant cultural ideas and attitudes toward love, and the *expectations* of love and the disappointments that result, may evolve and change over time. Even so, would you then insist to two happily married people–nay, all lovers–that they were not in love with one another because love is something people just delude themselves into believing?

    As I alluded to previously, my own disappointment with God was based on a mistaken understanding of my relationship to Him. When reading the Bible, I think it is natural to view ourselves favorably and position ourselves as critics of those who in some way or the other made mistakes. All we have to be is exactly as we always have been or make some small tweak now and then to ourselves to maintain divine favoritism. Perhaps you are different, but for most of my life, I never identified the least bit with the Prodigal Son, who clearly we all are.

    When divine favoritism falters (and it almost certainly will), like Job, we then choose how to interpret our unanswered prayers.

    If I have an egocentric view of things, then naturally I will conclude that the problem must be with God. Yet nothing about the life of Christ warrants such dashed expectations on my part. Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane was that the cup be taken from Him, but, beyond that, the Father’s will be done.

    Rationally, then, why would my belief in Christianity be based on “seeing tangible results” for my own devotions (i.e., that my life be one that avoids the Cross)?

  62. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    People believe religion has failed them because the wall of secularity and rationalism they live behind makes experiencing the Divine nearly impossible.

  63. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Also, Simon, there are three levels of faith: belief, experience and theology. It a healthy heart those three operate in a Trinitarian fashion. Trouble comes from either a “mystic” approach or a theological approach.

    A Sacramental/Incarnational belief got me in the door of the Church, then the living experience I have here makes it permanent. The Nicene Creed and the structured approach to Holy Scripture have formed a theological structure that gives form and substance to my belief and experience.

    Practicing the Faith comes next and that is always difficult and I fail daily.

    Mathew 4:17 has become my bulwark: ‘Repent! For the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

    Forgive me, a sinner.

  64. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    In the parable of Lazarus Jesus tells the story of a beggar covered in sores laying in the dirt in sackcloth just outside the gates of a rich man’s estate. The part Jesus left out of the parable was everyone passing by on the street that blamed the beggar for his poverty and his sores and scorned him saying that it was his fault the rich man wouldn’t take him in to feed his hunger and dress his wounds. Clearly, it’s the beggar’s fault. That’s what Jesus said, right?

  65. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon,
    It is clearly not what Jesus said. I’m not sure what point is it you’re wanting to make in this.

    But, what you’ve described as the discredited form of Christianity is little more than a version of the prosperity gospel. If there was a God and He cared then why is there suffering and injustice? You clearly imply that He’s promised (or the Church promised) that right prayer and right living would eliminate both. In fact, it’s the Church and the Scriptures that have historically been the primary teachers about suffering and injustice, denying neither, and not making promises of a Divine cure (if only we do the right thing).

    The various reform movements in historical Catholicism, prior to the Reformation and Modernity, were very consistent in criticizing various abuses of the faith and nurtured a very different understanding of suffering and poverty. I think of St. Francis as an example. It is Modernity that has mis-represented Christianity and made itself the harbinger and bringer of justice and prosperity (both of which it has failed to fulfill).

    But, I understand the case that somehow God is the cause and source of injustice and suffering – better that He should not have made us than to have allowed all of this.

    But, of course, Chrstianity (and Judaism) thought of that long before. The book of Job presents the problem about as eloquently as possible. But it certainly did not put forward some sort of reward/punishment system to be the core of religion.

    I think that the Christian faith ponders the problem of evil about as profoundly as possible, including pondering a Crucified God at the very heart of it all. That is the mystery to be known – even understood on some level.

    I understand the arguments of Ivan Karamazov. We’ve had this conversation many times.

  66. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Father,
    One of the difficulties of faith is that sin is not just an ontological exercise because sin is also “of the flesh”.

    Since our Fall, it has literally in every cell of our bodies and it is passed on when our cells reproduce and eat, etc. That is one reason why fasting is beneficial and the Sacraments each has a physical component.

    My favorite is Confession where the priest wraps me in his blessed stole and comes inside the cave with me and we offer up my sins together.

    Even between penitents the priest is praying helping to create and maintain a sacred place.

    Thank you Father and each priest here for your labors.

    Glory be to God

  67. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    What you have attempted to do is provide an argument that if we exist outside the gates of God’s mercy that it is our fault. We let modernity poison the well of our thinking or whatever. For me the bottom line is that when I look into the universe and into the world I see no proof of anything that even remotely resembles a loving God at work. Maybe it’s because I am a spiritual leper, or something like that, or maybe it is my willful and deliberate refusal to accept what is obviously to everyone else the open arms of a merciful God, but I am not buying it. The human mind is notoriously self-serving and if you want to believe that Zeus is God Almighty then your mind has the power to make that real for you.

    Allow me to confess this to the group. When I was attending liturgy regularly and then semi-regularly I frequently had bizarre experiences. Frequently I was brought to tears as the choir chanted during communion or sometimes during communion prayers. I frequently saw a golden glow about the altar which I once tried to take a picture of with my phone, but to no avail. The incense almost always glowed. It emitted a gentle light. I would wake up from sleep at night after liturgy and I would hear the choir singing and the priest chanting. That evidently is a very common phenomenon. There were times I felt like I could leave my body behind during prayer. At one time I walked the street carrying a presence with me that made me think of myself as a candle bearing a flame. I am now flameless.

    What does that mean? What does any of that mean? I’ll tell you it doesn’t mean anything at all. If it means anything it means this: If you take a mentally ill person who desperately wants to believe that God will pay attention to him and heal his divided mind–perhaps at an Orthodox healing service–when that person gets to liturgy, a service that plays to that desire, then almost certainly delusional and even hallucinatory psychological experiences are going to be elicited.

    Religion is just fantasy. It’s make-believe-pretend except among adults. I am not saying that to be offensive. I am saying that the hard truth is that most religion represents a misdirected desire for connection and meaning, and frequently control.

  68. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Ivan’s failure was that he overestimated his own strength. An excerpt from TBK, Alyosha says to Ivan:

    “But the little sticky leaves, and the precious tombs, and the blue sky, and the woman you love! How will you live, how will you love them?” Alyosha cried sorrowfully. “With such a hell in your heart and your head, how can you? No, that’s just what you are going away for, to join them … if not, you will kill yourself,
    you can’t endure it!” “There is a strength to endure everything,” Ivan said with a
    cold smile.

    But, Ivan was wrong and Dostoevsky was right to write Ivan’s end as uncertain. But, we find him exhausted, feverish, and in ill health. The problem is that the existential crisis is too great to leave unresolved. To avoid Ivan’s fate one must commit themselves to becoming an Alyosha or walk just walk away from it all. Leave it where it lays and walk away.

  69. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    “But, I understand the case that somehow God is the cause and source of injustice and suffering – better that He should not have made us than to have allowed all of this.”

    That’s exactly how I feel! Listen, for me to say something is “good” then I have to have some idea what it means for something to be “good.” If we are going to say that God is Good and yet God is unknowable then the implication is that Good is unknowable which means that any time I say something is good I am just making noise that has no meaning. But, if I have any idea about what good is, and I believe that I do, then I can say that to let children be tortured in the manner described by Ivan Karamazov is in fact bad. It is not good, it is bad. And if I had the power to stop it and I do not stop it, then that I am not good, I am bad. Unless of course you are God and in that case if you have the power to stop children from suffering and you don’t, then that is not bad–that is a mystery! That is part of the mystery of the cross. Well, frankly, those are hollow words. I would rather someone show some consistency and simply say, “Yes, by every human metric that we have for evaluating the “goodness” of a person’s character God is a bad actor.” We expect powerful people to use that power to stop suffering not perpetuate it through non-action. A person who could easily free children from being trafficked, but doesn’t has the blood of those children on their hands. That’s what we believe. Is that not right? Then by extension God who could eliminate all injustice, but doesn’t has the blood of everyone on his hands. He is guilty of it all…or God doesn’t really exist and we are just jousting with figments of our imagination.

  70. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon,
    Points made and I hear them. It’s a conversation we can continue to have…but I’m bringing it to an end on the blog. There’s much that I would say that I don’t want to say in this context. So we can do it elsewhere.

    I think the question of justice and suffering is a significant question – and the Scriptures agree profoundly that it’s a significant question (maybe THE significant question). I see in the suffering and death of Christ something different than the choices you describe – I think we’re not “playing in the same game.”

    Nonetheless, thanks for your thoughts here.

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