Orthodox Truth

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

Lent VI Monday – Proverbs 19: 16 – 25

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My son: He that keeps the commandment keeps his own soul; but he that despises his ways shall perish. 17 He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord; and he will recompense to him according to his gift. 18 Chasten thy son, for so he shall be hopeful; and be not exalted in thy soul to haughtiness. 19 A malicious man shall be severely punished, and if he commit injury, he shall also lose his life.  20 Hear, son, the instruction of thy father, that thou mayest be wise at thy latter end. 21 There are many thoughts in a man’s heart; but the counsel of the Lord abides for ever. 22 Mercy is a fruit to a man: and a poor man is better than a rich liar. 23 The fear of the Lord is life to a man: and he shall lodge without fear in places where knowledge is not seen. 24 He that unjustly hides his hands in his bosom, will not even bring them up to his mouth. 25 When a pestilent character is scourged, a simple man is made wiser: and if thou reprove a wise man, he will understand discretion. 

“There are many thoughts in a man’s heart” – If one kept a careful journal of all the thoughts he had in the course of the day, how many of them would be true, good, and beautiful thoughts, full of wisdom and usefulness to the soul and the body?   It would be revealing, indeed, if one were to try such an experiment.  We know that the ultimate issues of life are decided in the heart:  keeping that in mind, the evidence of such a one day journal would probably convict us of the need to change what we think about. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount in chapters five through seven of St. Matthew, revealed to man a new standard for the God-pleasing life, based on purity of heart:  If a man, for example, is only angry at his brother, he has murdered him.  If he merely indulges in a carnal thought, he has in fact committed adultery.   This far surpasses the merely outward discipline of the Old Testament, or, rather, it reveals the true meaning of the Old Testament, which in fact did not give a merely outward code but also contained many passages in which the Lord called upon His children to “rend your heart and not your garments (Joel 2:13) .”  “My son,” the Lord says in the person of wise Solomon, “give me thine heart (Proverbs 23:26).” “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:5).”  Our Lord Himself said that He had come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.   All that His Holy Apostles did indeed abrogate at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) were those rituals and ordinances which had been given for a limited time, for man’s instruction before the coming of Christ, which did not constitute the essence of the Law but only contained types and figures of that essence.   The essence lies in purity of heart.  

As we begin the last week of Great Lent, let us resolve to govern our thoughts more attentively with the constant use of the Jesus Prayer, at our waking, at our rising, throughout our day, and into the night.    The all-powerful divine energies imparted to the human name of Jesus in the hypostatic union, descending into the depths of the heart, will cleanse the Augean stable of our countless unhappy and impure thoughts, making it a cleansed and shining home for the One who was born in a stable and laid in a manger, Who came to suffer for us and to save us.  

To Him be the glory with the Father and the Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

Lent V Friday – Proverbs 17:17 – 18:5 

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My son: 17 Have thou a friend for every time, and let brethren be useful in distress; for on this account are they born. 18 A foolish man applauds and rejoices over himself, as he also that becomes surety would make himself responsible for his own friends. 19 A lover of sin rejoices in strifes; 20 and the hard-hearted man comes not in for good. A man of a changeful tongue will fall into mischiefs; 21 and the heart of a fool is grief to its possessor. A father rejoices not over an uninstructed son; but a wise son gladdens his mother. 22 A glad heart promotes health; but the bones of a sorrowful man dry up. 23 The ways of a man who unjustly receives gifts in his bosom do not prosper; and an ungodly man perverts the ways of righteousness. 24 The countenance of a wise man is sensible; but the eyes of a fool go to the ends of the earth. 25 A foolish son is a cause of anger to his father, and grief to her that bore him. 26 It is not right to punish a righteous man, nor is it holy to plot against righteous princes. 27 He that forbears to utter a hard word is discreet, and a patient man is wise. 28 Wisdom shall be imputed to a fool who asks after wisdom: and he who holds his peace shall seem to be sensible. 18:1 A man who wishes to separate from friends seeks excuses; but at all times he will be liable to reproach. 2 A senseless man feels no need of wisdom, for he is rather led by folly. 3 When an ungodly man comes into a depth of evils, he despises them; but dishonour and reproach come upon him. 4 A word in the heart of a man is a deep water, and a river and fountain of life spring forth. 5 It is not good to accept the person of the ungodly, nor is it holy to pervert justice in judgment. 

The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, should inspire in us simultaneously both a desire to practice silence more strictly,  in order to bring our restless minds under greater control, and a corresponding desire to seek that true wisdom and knowledge that God alone can give, and which He does give to the man who humbles himself, acknowledging himself to be indeed that “fool who seeks after wisdom” spoken of in verse 28.   Here is what Abba Daniel says about this verse in the Fourth Conference of St. John Cassian: 

 It belongs to the understanding to discern the distinctions and the drift of questions; and it is a main part of knowledge to understand how ignorant you are. Wherefore it is said that “if a fool asks questions, it will be accounted wisdom,” because, although one who asks questions is ignorant of the answer to the question raised, yet as he wisely asks, and learns what he does not know, this very fact will be counted as wisdom in him, because he wisely discovers what he was ignorant of.  – St. John Cassian, Conference Four, of Abba Daniel

These words should greatly encourage us, for, though we possess so little of actual divine wisdom in ourselves, we can be accounted wise in a single moment when we acknowledge the poverty of our understanding and ask those wiser than ourselves to enlighten us.   One might say that the entire course of spiritual life consists of a gradual revelation of just how ignorant we really are, and how wise is God alone. It is often forgotten that intellectual vice is vice indeed:  God will hold men accountable at the Judgment for the wisdom which in their pride they did not seek, accounting themselves already wise.  We can easily become like such men, if at some point we imagine that we have studied enough and understood enough, and no therefore no longer need to imbibe daily the Holy Scriptures and teachings of the Church, and to seek greater knowledge, prudence, and discernment in silence and in prayer.  

Among the divine graces we seek during the closing days of this Great Lent, therefore, let us beg the Lord with pain of heart, “O Lord enlighten my darkness!”   The Giver of all good gifts desires to fill us with His divine knowledge as far as we can bear it; He desires this for us infinitely more than we desire it for ourselves.    That is really good news. 

For the Lord Hath Spoken

The Lenten Readings from Esaias 

V Lent Friday – Esaias 45: 11-17

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For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who has formed the things that are to come, Enquire of me concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command me. 12 I have made the earth, and man upon it: I with my hand have established the heaven; I have given commandment to all the stars. 13 I have raised him up to be a king with righteousness, and all his ways are right: he shall build my city, and shall turn the captivity of my people, not for ransoms, nor for rewards, saith the Lord of hosts.  14 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Egypt has laboured for thee; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to thee, and shall be thy servants; and they shall follow after thee bound in fetters, and shall pass over to thee, and shall do obeisance to thee, and make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. 15 For thou art God, yet we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Saviour. 16 All that are opposed to him shall be ashamed and confounded, and shall walk in shame: ye isles, keep a feast to me. 17 Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation: they shall not be ashamed nor confounded for evermore. 

Both St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Cyril of Jerusalem comment on verses 14 – 15, explaining that here the prophet is proclaiming the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ: 

No one initiated in the divine mysteries needs to be told that prophets, evangelists, disciples, and apostles confess that the Lord [Jesus] is God.  For who does not know that in the 45th psalm the prophet proclaims in word that Christ is God: “anointed by God” [see Ps. 45: 6-7, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. 7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows. ”  In verse six, the psalmist calls the king “God,” and then in verse seven the psalmist says that God has anointed this person that he has just called God. The king, who is God, is Christ, and He has been anointed by God, that is, the Father].     Further, who is not aware that in a number of places Esaias openly announces the divinity of the Son, as, for example, when he asserts: “… and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to thee, and shall be thy servants; and they shall follow after thee bound in fetters, and shall pass over to thee, and shall do obeisance to thee, and make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. For thou art God…” What other God is there who has God in himself and is himself God except the Only-Begotten, let those say who have no regard for prophecy? – St. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 3: 15-16

Hear Esaias saying, “Egypt has labored for thee; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians,” and soon after, “…and [they shall] make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. For thou art God, yet we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Savior.”  You see that the Son is God, having in himself God the Father, saying almost the very same which [Christ] has said in the Gospels [see John 14: 11, where Christ tells the disciples, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me…”] And again he has not said, “I and the Father am one” but “I and the Father are one,” that we should neither separate them nor confuse them.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 11.16 

As we draw near to the end of Great Lent and approach Holy Week our primary attention will shift from the labors of repentance to the contemplation of the great mystery for whose reception and glorification we have been preparing ourselves:  Our redemption by the saving passion, death on the Cross, and life-bestowing resurrection of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.   The chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, who rejected both the prophets and the One whom they prophesied, blinded themselves on purpose, in an act of incomprehensibly stubborn self-will, in order not to humble themselves before the God of Israel, Who stood before them in the flesh.  We, on the other, confess Him to be the God-Man, our only Savior.   Let us pray to complete the Fast in patience and peace, so that truly cleansed by the grace of this Lent, we will not only confess Him with our lips but also know Him as most intimately present in our minds and in our hearts. 

Glory to Thee, O Lord, One with the Father and one with us.  Glory to Thee!  

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Thus saith the Lord: To whom have ye compared the Lord? and with what likeness have ye compared him? 19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude? 20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved. 21 Will ye not know? will ye not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have ye not known the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in: 23 he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing. 24 For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks. 25 Now then to whom have ye compared me, that I may be exalted? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? even he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by means of his great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped thee. 27 For say not thou, O Jacob, and why hast thou spoken, Israel, saying, My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away my judgement, and has departed? 28 And now, hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering. 30 For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice men shall be powerless: 31 but they that wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger. 

Verses 18 – 20 satirize the idol maker who imagines that with his hands he can create an image of the invisible and infinite Creator of the world.  Until the invisible God became visible in the Incarnation, of course, this was impossible.  Now, however, we can depict the face of God when we depict the face of Christ in His icon, for the face of Christ is not simply the face of a man Jesus in whom God dwells, but rather is the face of the Logos of God, according to the human nature He assumed in the hypostatic union.  The face of Jesus is not simply the face of God figuratively or morally, but is, rather, the face of God ontologically.   The face of Jesus is the face of God.  

Verses 21 – 28 remind man that his created mind cannot comprehend the uncreated Creator of all things.   The Lord has freed us from the sort of idolatry found in  pagan art, but our minds still commit the sin of idolatry when our pride convinces us that we can comprehend the infinite God, whether in His internal perfections or in His actions toward His creation.   The idea that the intellect can comprehend the infinite God is the basis of the heresy of Eunomianism, which arose in the 4th century and was defeated by the wise words of the Cappadocian Fathers, especially St. Gregory of Nyssa.   We are not Eunomians formally, of course, but we are acting like little Eunomians every time our intellects rise up in pride to impose the analysis of fallen reason on the judgments of God in the lives of men.  If we have received the grace of the God-pleasing desire to acquire true wisdom, in order to understand His ways as far as we are truly able, we will dedicate time daily to cleansing the mind of ignorance through prayer and sacred reading, and abjure the absurd speculations fueled by the restless vanity of the limited human mind which characterize almost all discourse in the society of fallen man.      

Verses 29 – 31 promise God’s all-powerful aid to those who are faithful to Him.   St. Jerome gives an eschatological meaning to the promise of eagle wings, writing that it symbolizes the putting on of immortality at the general resurrection, when the blessed of the Lord will receive their spiritual bodies united to their immortal souls: 

We have said that the old age of eagles is revived by a change of their wings and that they alone who see the brilliance of the sun and the radiance of its splendor are able to gaze with gleaming eyes; and they test their young ones to see whether they are of noble birth by this same test. In the same way the saints are made young again as they put on their immortal bodies so that they no longer feed the toil of mortals but are taken up into the clouds before the face of Christ, and in no way do they hunger, since they have the Lord present to them as food – St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 

Even now, before the Resurrection, the Lord is present to us as food in Holy Communion, a foretaste of the eternal banquet in which the saved shall neither hunger nor thirst, having Him alone as that one nourishment needed, both feeding and delighting His children unto eternity.  Let us resolve to take every measure demanded to maintain the grace that we receive in His Precious Body and Blood, so that we may inherit His eternal Kingdom.  

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

Lent IV Thursday – Proverbs 13:19 – 14:6

You can listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/thursday-of-the-fourth-week-of-great-lent–59418198

My son: The desires of the godly gladden the soul, but the works of the ungodly are far from knowledge. 20 If thou walkest with wise men thou shalt be wise: but he that walks with fools shall be known. 21 Evil shall pursue sinners; but good shall overtake the righteous. 22 A good man shall inherit children’s children; and the wealth of ungodly men is laid up for the just. 23 The righteous shall spend many years in wealth: but the unrighteous shall perish suddenly. 24 He that spares the rod hates his son: but he that loves, carefully chastens him. 25 A just man eats and satisfies his soul: but the souls of the ungodly are in want. 14:1 Wise women build houses: but a foolish one digs hers down with her hands. 2 He that walks uprightly fears the Lord; but he that is perverse in his ways shall be dishonoured. 3 Out of the mouth of fools comes a rod of pride; but the lips of the wise preserve them. 4 Where no oxen are, the cribs are clean; but where there is abundant produce, the strength of the ox is apparent. 5 A faithful witness does not lie; but an unjust witness kindles falsehoods. 6 Thou shalt seek wisdom with bad men, and shalt not find it; but discretion is easily available with the prudent. 

“He that spares the rod hates his son:  but he that loves, carefully chastens him.”   The Apostle echoes this wise thought in Hebrews 12:8:   “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”   It was predictable, having in the 1950s given up prudent chastisement in favor of the Dr. Spock philosophy of raising children by spoiling them, that by today in the 2020s the same society thinks there is nothing unusual about siring multiple bastards and allowing them to live like mindless beasts.  The two degenerate practices go hand in hand; they both spring from a blind intellect and a corrupted will.  

For a starting point in learning how to rear children, every Orthodox parent should read a little volume called Raising Them Right, which reproduces the earlier sections of The Path to Salvation by St. Theophan the Recluse, that are concerned with infancy, childhood, and adolescence.    Father and mother need to study it together, agree on the principles enunciated, and support one another in taking action.    The Lord will reward you in this life with pious and happy children, and in the next life with the crown of victory given those who do the will of God.  

In the passage from Hebrews, of course, the Apostle was using the image of good parents’ chastisement of their children to encourage the faithful to accept sorrows and persecutions as God’s good parenting towards their souls.  St. Augustine, in commenting on the verse from Proverbs, contrasts the eager soul, thirsting for union with God, with the inattentive soul that needs to suffer more in order to be recalled to the awareness of its need for repentance:  

“He that spares the rod hates his son.”  For, give us a person who with right faith and true understanding can say with all the energy of his heart, “My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living; when shall I come, and appear before the face of God (Ps. 41) ?”.  For such a person there is no need for the terror of hell, to say nothing of temporal punishments or imperial laws, seeing that with him it is so indispensable a blessing to cleave to the Lord that he not only dreads being parted from that happiness as a heavy punishment but can scarcely even bear delay in its attainment.   But yet, before the good sons can say they have “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ (Philippians 1: 23),” many must first be recalled to their Lord by the stripes of temporal scourging, like evil servants, and in some degree like good-for-nothing-fugitives. – The Correction of the Donatists 6:21

Let us pray for the grace to receive all temporal sorrows as loving reminders from our merciful Father, to love Him alone and seek Him alone, because He alone is worthy of all love.    Then our sorrows will be turned to joy, and we will by His grace attain a firm hope in our salvation. 

For the Lord Hath Spoken

The Lenten Readings from Esaias 

III Lent Friday – Esaias 13: 2-13

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Thus saith the Lord: Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates, ye rulers. 3 I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting. 4 A voice of many nations on the mountains, even like to that of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a war-like nation, 5 to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors are coming to destroy all the world. 6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive. 7 Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed. 8 The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame. 9 For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, a day of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light. 11 And I will command evils for the whole world, and will visit their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty. 12 And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir. 13 For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on.

This passage forms a part of “A Vision Against Babylon,” in which the Lord announces His judgment against that great pagan nation that figures so prominently in the history of Old Israel.  “Babylon,” of course, means “Babel,” that is, “confusion,” and the word conveys layers of meaning.  It refers to the Tower of Babel of Genesis 11, to the historical Babylon of the first millennium B.C., to apostate Old Israel that killed the prophets and the Son of God Himself, and to the kingdom of Antichrist in general, both in its final, eschatological form as well as in its various iterations throughout history, in the form of all the innumerable worldly kingdoms based on demonic worship and fallen man’s lust for power and enslavement to all the passions.  Thus the prophecy in today’s passage has a contemporary application to the Babylonian nation, a moral application to all societies who manifest the wicked character of the Tower of Babel, and an eschatological application to the final reign of Antichrist, which Christ will destroy forever on that last and greatest Day of the Lord: His Second Coming. 

St. Jerome writes that this passage applies not only to kingdoms but also to every soul considered individually:  

[Esaias] saw, not with the eyes of flesh but with the eyes of the mind, what a huge, heavy weight Babylon imposes.  And since Babylon, which in Hebrew is “Babel,” means “confused” (it was there that the speech of those who built the tower was confused), spiritually it signifies the world which is inclined toward evil that confuses not only tongues, but also individual behavior and outlook. – Jerome, Commentary on Esaias, Book 5.  

Each of us then, when he fights against mental deception by the struggles of his own spiritual warfare,  does his own part, by the grace of God,  in the war of Christ against the Babylonian kingdom of Satan and his tool, the Antichrist.  

“For the kingdom of God is within you.”   

For the Lord Hath Spoken

The Lenten Readings from Esaias 

III Lent Wednesday – Esaias 10: 12-20

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Thus saith the Lord:  And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes. 13 For he said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their strength. 14 And I will shake the inhabited cities: and I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me. 15 Shall the axe glorify itself without him that hews with it? or shall the saw lift up itself without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff? but it shall not be so; 16 but the Lord of hosts shall send dishonour upon thine honour, and burning fire shall be kindled upon thy glory. 17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with burning fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass. 18 In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and the forests, and fire shall devour both soul and body: and he that flees shall be as one fleeing from burning flame. 19 And they that are left of them shall be a small number, and a child shall write them.  20 And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob shall no more trust in, them that injured them; but they shall trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth. 

In commenting on verse 17, “And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,” St. Ambrose teaches us that here the holy prophet Esaias speaks of the Holy Spirit Who will be revealed to the apostles in the form of tongues of fire at Pentecost:  

And Esaias shows that the Holy Spirit is not only light but also fire, saying, “And the light of Israel shall be for a fire.”  So the prophets called Him [the Holy Spirit] a burning fire, because in those three points we see more intensely the majesty of the Godhead; since to sanctify is of the Godhead, to illuminate is the property of fire and light, and the Godhead is customarily pointed out or seen in the appearance of fire: “For our God is a consuming fire,” as Moses said [Deuteronomy 4:24; also see Hebrews 12: 29].   –St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 

Once again we see how the Holy Fathers view the entire Old Testament as a vast ensemble of prophecies which will be fulfilled not only in the economy of the Incarnate Word, Our Lord Jesus Christ, but also in all of the other great mysteries revealed in the New Testament, including, as we see here, the revelation of the divinity of the Holy Spirit.  

St. Ambrose here reminds us that the power of the Holy Spirit is understood as both fire and light.  The fire of the Godhead consumes what is impure in us, and His light then illuminates both our discursive and spiritual intellects.   

Our stricter fasting during Great Lent is designed to allow the fire of the Godhead to cleanse us of the passions, while our increased prayer and spiritual reading then allow His light to illumine our purified minds.     We need both:  Prayer and study without ascetical discipline lead to delusion, for it takes fasting and prostrations to remind us that we are mere dust and ashes, and therefore to humble our minds to perceive things – both divine and human – as they really are.    But without prayer and study, ascetical discipline leads to self-satisfaction on the one hand, when we succeed in our discipline,  or gloominess on the other hand, when we fail.  One demon is driven out by fasting, but seven more worse than he will occupy the soul if she is not filled with the fragrance of the knowledge of God brought through prayer and reading. 

O All-Holy Spirit, cleanse us of our sins and passions, and enlighten our minds with the knowledge of Christ and the joy of our salvation.  Amen. 

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

III Lent Wednesday – Proverbs 9: 12 – 18 

Listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/wednesday-of-the-third-week-of-great-lent–59276405

My son: If thou be wise for thyself, thou shalt also be wise for thy neighbours; and if thou shouldest prove wicked, thou alone wilt bear the evil. He that stays himself upon falsehoods, attempts to rule the winds, and the same will pursue birds in their flight: for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and he has caused the axles of his own husbandry to go astray; and he goes through a dry desert, and a land appointed to drought, and he gathers barrenness with his hands. 13 A foolish and bold woman, who knows not modesty, comes to want a morsel. 14 She sits at the doors of her house, on a seat openly in the streets, 15 calling to passers by, and to those that are going right on their ways; 16 saying, Whoso is most senseless of you, let him turn aside to me; and I exhort those that want prudence, saying, 17 Take and enjoy secret bread, and the sweet water of theft. 18 But he knows that mighty men die by her, and he falls in with a snare of hell. But hasten away, delay not in the place, neither fix thine eye upon her: for thus shalt thou go through strange water; but do thou abstain from strange water, and drink not of a strange fountain, that thou mayest live long, and years of life may be added to thee. 

This is one of several passages occurring throughout Proverbs in which the sacred author warns his reader against the allurements of the loose woman who would entice him into the illicit pleasures of fornication.   Here she is depicted sitting on the street outside her house, offering the sweet poison of her secret bread and stolen water to those who are senseless enough to partake.  St. Augustine, who, after St. Mary of Egypt, is probably the Church’s best known convert from a life of carnal sin, states that he fell initially because he was outside his own house, the house of the soul:  

I came upon the brazen woman, empty of prudence, who, in Solomon’s obscure parable, sits on a seat at the door outside her house and says, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”  This woman seduced me, because she found my soul outside its own door, dwelling externally in the eye of my flesh and ruminating within myself on such food as I had swallowed through my physical senses. – Confessions 3.6.11 

The Christian who would guard himself from sin must dwell within, in the interior life of the soul, through constant prayer and watchfulness.   This has always been the case, of course, but today we have to practice a degree of militant watchfulness surpassing that of our fathers, because the allurements of sin not only confront us in society, where we are surrounded by sinful men and women – although this is certainly still the case – but they also stare us in the face continually through the electronic media that have become the daily mental universe of a critical mass of the world’s population.  

I would like to recommend two books:  one is theoretical, and one is practical.   In The New Media Epidemic, Jean-Claude Larchet examines the problem from an Orthodox patristic perspective, in order to help the reader understand how disastrous the whole thing is in relation to the life of the soul and the struggle for salvation.   In Digital Minimalism, the secular author Cal Newport lays out a practical program for getting one’s media addiction under control.     

We must act, and we must act now.  Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may never come. 

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

III Lent Monday – Proverbs 8: 1 – 21 

You can listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/monday-of-the-third-week-of-great-lent–59246724

My son: 1 Thou shalt proclaim wisdom, that understanding may be obedient to thee. 2 For she is on lofty eminences, and stands in the midst of the ways. 3 For she sits by the gates of princes, and sings in the entrances, saying, 4 You, O men, I exhort; and utter my voice to the sons of men. 5 O ye simple, understand subtlety, and ye that are untaught, imbibe knowledge. 6 Hearken to me; for I will speak solemn truths; and will produce right sayings from my lips. 7 For my throat shall meditate truth; and false lips are an abomination before me. 8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing in them wrong or perverse. 9 They are all evident to those that understand, and right to those that find knowledge. 10 Receive instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than tried gold. 11 For wisdom is better than precious stones; and no valuable substance is of equal worth with it.  12 I wisdom have dwelt with counsel and knowledge, and I have called upon understanding. 13 The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness, and insolence, and pride, and the ways of wicked men; and I hate the perverse ways of bad men. 14 Counsel and safety are mine; prudence is mine, and strength is mine. 15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me nobles become great, and monarchs by me rule over the earth. 17 I love those that love me; and they that seek me shall find me.  18 Wealth and glory belong to me; yea, abundant possessions and righteousness. 19 It is better to have my fruit than to have gold and precious stones; and my produce is better than choice silver. 20 I walk in ways of righteousness, and am conversant with the paths of judgement; 21 that I may divide substance to them that love me, and may fill their treasures with good things. If I declare to you the things that daily happen, I will remember also to recount the things of old. 

St. Bede the Venerable, in commenting on verse 15, “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice,” writes as follows: 

“Those whom it calls ‘kings’ are the apostles and other saints, like the lawmakers and authors of both Testaments and the subsequent writers of the Church.  They have learned first how to rule themselves, and then the Church that was put under their care.  Those whom it calls ‘princes’ are governors and other powerful leaders of the faithful.   But none of these would have anything were it not through wisdom, for He says, ‘without Me, you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).” – Commentary on Proverbs. 

Here is a twofold lesson for all who have authority over others, a lesson we have all heard before and constantly forget:  “They have first learned how to rule themselves…”   and “…none of these would have anything were it not through wisdom…” and wisdom, of course, is Jesus Christ, whom St. Paul calls the Wisdom and Power of God (I Corinthians 1: 24).  (St. Bede expresses the latter theological truth neatly here, by making “wisdom” the antecedent for the pronoun He -meaning Jesus – in the last sentence of the quotation above).  

Whether as a husband dealing with a disobedient wife or a parent with a recalcitrant child or a priest with an erring parishioner, or a teacher with an obtuse student, or a supervisor with a troublesome employee – nearly all of us have had occasion to despair of being able effectively to rule someone over whom we have been given authority.  The first impulse of one’s fallen nature is, of course, to blame one’s subordinate and curse his dullness and self-will.   He may in fact be dull and self-willed, but that recognition on our part doesn’t get us anywhere.   And the further bad news is that, most of the time, we cannot be relieved of dealing with this person any time soon, or even unto the grave.  We have to keep trying, and in such a way that we do not compound the subordinate’s sin of disobedience with our own sins of anger, condemnation, impatience, and self-righteousness.  As usual, however, the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers give us sound advice in dealing with what often is, humanly speaking, an intractable situation:   We have to rule ourselves,  and we have to beg for wisdom from Wisdom Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  

So there is a kind of spiritual jujitsu here:  When faced with stubborn disobedience or uncomprehending non-cooperation of a seemingly impossible kind, we should first make a strategic withdrawal before returning to the attack.   Here are three steps:  

First, to prepare a good confession, asking our Guardian Angel to reveal to us any hidden passions or unconfessed sins that may be impeding our spiritual power to exercise authority in a godly fashion.  We then go to confession with our father confessor, and the grace that is in the Church will cleanse us of our sins and passions. 

Second, to fall down before the icon of Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God, admit to Him that we have no wisdom of our own, tell Him in our own words, in childlike fashion, of this seemingly impossible situation, and ask Him for words of wisdom to give our erring subordinate.  

Third, when we return to the fray:  Prior to the next encounter with That Difficult Person, to say the prayer “O Heavenly King,” asking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then, saying the Jesus Prayer continually within ourselves, to engage the erring one with whatever words we may receive from above, submitting the outcome to the judgment of God.    

Often the immediate problem will be solved.   If it is not, and your sufferings continue, you will have acquired peace and patience to deal with them, always keeping in mind the real purpose of all successes and all failures in this life:  your eternal salvation.    

O long-suffering Lord, Thou only true wisdom, so patient with our unwisdom and stubborn self-will, enlighten us by the prayers of the apostles and saints, whom Thou hast truly made princes over all the earth (Ps. 44: 16).  

The Beginning of Wisdom 

The Lenten Readings from Proverbs 

III Lent Tuesday – Proverbs 8:32 – 9:11 

You can listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/tuesday-of-the-third-week-of-great-lent–59245657

My son: Now then, hear me: blessed is the man who shall hearken to me, and the mortal who shall keep my ways; 34 watching daily at my doors, waiting at the posts of my entrances. 35 For my outgoings are the outgoings of life, and in them is prepared favour from the Lord. 36 But they that sin against me act wickedly against their own souls: and they that hate me love death.  9:1 Wisdom has built a house for herself, and set up seven pillars. 2 She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine in a bowl, and prepared her table. 3 She has sent forth her servants, calling with a loud proclamation to the feast, saying, 4 Whoso is foolish, let him turn aside to me: and to them that want understanding she says, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink wine which I have mingled for you.  6 Leave folly, that ye may reign for ever; and seek wisdom, and improve understanding by knowledge. 7 He that reproves evil men shall get dishonour to himself; and he that rebukes an ungodly man shall disgrace himself. 8 Rebuke not evil men, lest they should hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9 Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser: instruct a just man, and he will receive more instruction. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the counsel of saints is understanding: for to know the law is the character of a sound mind. 11 For in this way thou shalt live long, and years of thy life shall be added to thee. 

Verses 9:1-11 are familiar to everyone who attends Vespers or Vigils faithfully, for they constitute the third Old Testament reading at Vespers for the feasts of the Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary.   The reading foretells the Mother of God’s part in the economy of the Incarnation of the Word by prophesying that the Logos of God would build a house for Himself – i.e., the human nature which He hypostatically united to His divinity – by taking flesh from the Virgin.    (The fact that the inspired writer speaks of the Wisdom of God as “she” does not mean that the Wisdom of God is feminine; the use of the feminine here is a poetic device, not an ontological assertion, contrary to the teaching of the ridiculous 20th century heresy called “Sophianism.”  St. Paul tells us plainly in I Corinthians 1: 24 that it is Christ, the Incarnate Word, Who is the wisdom and power of God.) 

Thus the image of the house in our reading today refers to Our Lord’s human nature. Now, what do the seven pillars mean? Some of the Holy Fathers, including St. John Chrysostom, say that the image of the seven pillars refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit enumerated in Esaias 11:2:  Wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and the fear of God.  Others say that the seven pillars are the holy churches of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church spread throughout the world.  Here, for example, is what St. Gregory the Dialogist (the Great, pope of Rome) says about this: 

We may also not inappropriately interpret “the pillars of heaven” as the churches themselves.  Being many in number, they constitute one catholic church spread over the whole face of the earth.  So, too, the apostle John writes to the seven churches [in the Book of Revelation], meaning to denote the one catholic church replenished with the Spirit of sevenfold grace, and we know that Solomon said of the Lord, “Wisdom has built her a house; she has hewn out her seven pillars.”  And to make known that it was of the seven churches he had spoken, which sedulously introduced the very sacraments themselves also, he says, “She has killed her sacrifices, she has mingled her wine, she has also set forth her table.” – Moralia on Job 4.17.43

The “sacrifices,” then, of our reading today, are a prophecy of the Holy Mysteries of the Church.   St. Bede the Venerable writes that the expression “mingled her wine in a bowl” refers to the wine mixed with water that becomes the Blood of Christ in the Mystery of Holy Communion.  The mixing of wine with water signifies the union of the Lord’s divinity with His sacred humanity: 

By divine eloquence, the nature of his divinity and humanity conjoined in Christ’s one person is expressed through this bread and mixed wine, as was said above. …the mystery through which we are satiated at the table of his altar is clearly shown in the bread of his body and in the mixed wine of his most holy blood. – Commentary on Proverbs 

One might add that the writings of the Holy Fathers, such as these, are also a spiritual banquet, laid out for our sake graciously by the divine Wisdom, a banquet that never fails to delight us and nourish our hungry souls. 

It is good to be Orthodox.