Orthodox Truth

Thursday of the 10th Week of St. Luke

Today’s daily Gospel reading is Luke 18: 31-34

At that time, Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

Here is something we see at various times in the Gospel: Our Lord’s most intimate followers often did not understand about the most important things, the central mysteries of the Gospel teaching. Only after His Resurrection and Ascension, and after they had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, were their eyes opened to receive the light of the great mysteries of the Lord’s economy for man’s salvation. St. Theophan the Recluse relates this experience of the apostles to our own spiritual life:

The Lord told the disciples about His suffering, but they did not comprehend anything He said: “This saying was hid from them.” Later, the faithful “…determined not to know anything except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2).” Before the time came, they did not understand any of this mystery; but when the time came, they understood, and taught everyone, and explained it to everyone. This happens to everyone, not only with regard to this mystery, but to all the other mysteries as well. What is not understood in the beginning becomes understood with time; it is as if a ray of light enters the consciousness and brightens what was formerly dark. Who is it that elucidates it? The Lord Himself, the grace that lives in the faithful, or one’s guardian angel – but in no way is it the person himself. He is the recipient, not the cause. On the other hand, something else might remain incomprehensible for one’s whole life – not only for individuals, but for all of humanity. Man is surrounded by things he does not understand. Some are cleared up over the course of his life, while other are left until the next life – they will be seen then.   This applies even to minds enlightened by God. Why are things not revealed here? Because some things are incomprehensible, so there is no point in talking about them. Others are not proclaimed out of considerations for health – that is, it would be harmful to know about them prematurely. Much will become clear in the next life, but other subjects and other mysteries will also be discovered then. A created mind will never escape inscrutable mysteries. The mind rebels against these bonds, but whether you rebel or not, you cannot sever the bonds of mystery. Humble yourself, proud mind, beneath the mighty hand of God – and believe!

– from Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 263-264

God gave us a mind, and we naturally want to figure things out – this is understandable.   But we have to remember that our minds are both limited, because we are finite creatures, and, moreover, damaged, for, even after Holy Baptism, we still struggle with the effects of the Ancestral Sin upon our nature, though it does not have final power over us.   Thus we cannot understand even created things, much less God, without God’s illumination, which comes, as St. Theophan explains, either directly from His Holy Spirit or through the inspiration of our Guardian Angel.   We have to ask for this illumination constantly, both in order to receive this help, and also in order to come into a right relationship between God and ourselves as rational but limited creatures.   Nothing is worse than a proud mind; nothing prevents us so effectively as this from being saved. This is especially true when the mind is proud about religious matters, when somebody thinks he “knows it all” and refuses to be taught – this is the worst! An un-teachable person, no matter how outwardly pious, is incapable of effectual repentance: the harder he tries to perform the deeds of religion, the worse he gets!

The thought of all this should humble us and sober us up.   Every day we should ask Our Lord to enlighten us a little more, to reveal to us a little more what we need to know for our salvation, and especially to give us a little more self-understanding, which is the hardest thing of all. St. Isaac the Syrian says somewhere that it is a greater miracle to see your own sins than to raise the dead. Never was a truer word spoken!   We want to understand all kinds of mysterious things – how God could have created all things in six days, how Jesus could have risen from the dead, how some people are saved and others are not, when will be the end of the world, etc. – but we cannot understand even our own most elementary faults, and our own hearts are to us a closed book!

When I am in need of enlightenment, I like to recall the Spiritual Testament of the Elder Gabriel of the Kazan-Seven Lakes and the Pskov-Eleazar Monasteries, who reposed in 1915. This testament was his final word to his spiritual children, composed shortly before his repose:

Soon, perhaps, I will die. I leave you an inheritance of great and inexhaustible riches. There is enough for everyone, only they must make profitable use of it and not doubt. Whosoever will be wise enough to make use of this inheritance will live without want.

First: when someone feels himself to be a sinner and can find no way out, let him shut himself alone in his cell and read the Canon and Akathist to Sweetest Jesus Christ, and his tears will be a comforting remedy for him.

Second: when someone finds himself amid misfortunes of any kind whatsoever, let him read the Supplicatory Canon to the Mother of God, “Distressed by Many Temptations,” and all his misfortunes will pass unnoticed from him to the shame of those who assailed him.

Third: when someone needs inner illumination of soul, let him read the 17th Kathisma [Psalm 118 LXX] with attention, and his inner eyes will be opened. The realization of what is written in it will follow. The need to cleanse the conscience more frequently in Confession and to communicate of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ will arise. The virtue of compassion for others will be manifest, so that we will not scorn them but rather suffer and pray for them. Then, inward fear of God will appear, in which will be revealed to the inner eye of the soul the accomplishments of the Savior – how He suffered for us and loved us. Grace-filled love for Him will appear with the power of the Holy Spirit, Who instructs us in every ascetic labor and teaches us how to accomplish His will for us and to endure. In our patience, we will perceive and sense in ourselves the coming of the Kingdom of God in His power, and we will reign together with the Lord and become holy.

This world will not appear to us then the same as it appears to us now; however, we will not stand in judgment, but Jesus Christ will judge. We will see the falsity and sin in the world, but only through the Savior’s eyes, and we will partake of truth in Him alone.

Falsehood! We see it and yet we do not. This world with all its deceptions will pass away never to return, for it is a lie. Christ’s truth shall endure unto the ages of ages. Amen.

– from The Love of God, the Life and Teachings of St. Gabriel of the Seven Lakes Monastery, by New Hieromartyr Symeon (Kholmogorov), St. Herman Press 2016. pp. 233-234

Monday of the 10th Week of Luke 

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Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 17: 20 – 25

At that time, when Jesus was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

St. Theophan the Recluse reminds us that we must follow Our Lord in His suffering and be rejected by our own generation, if we hope to inherit the Kingdom of God:  

Having said that the Son of Man will appear in his day like lightning, instantly illuminating everything under heaven, the Lord added: But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. The word order here makes it apparent that this “must suffer” should precede the Lord’s appearance in glory. Thus, the whole time until that day is the time of the Lord’s suffering. He suffered in His person at one known time; after that His sufferings continue in believers—suffering as they are born, their upbringing in the spirit and protection from actions of the enemy, both inner and outer—for the Lord’s union with His own is not just mental or moral, but living. Everything that touches them is accepted by Him as well, as the head. Therefore, it is impossible not to see that the Lord indeed suffers much. The most painful sorrows are the falls of believers; even more painful for Him is when they fall away from the faith. But these are the final wounds; as continuously wounding arrows are the sorrows, temptations, and wavering faith of unbelief. Words and writings that exude unbelief are kindled arrows of the evil one. Nowadays, the evil one has led many blacksmiths to forge such arrows. The hearts of believers ache when they are struck by them and see others being struck. The Lord aches too. But the day of the Lord’s glory will appear—then all the secret darkness will be revealed, and those who have suffered will rejoice with the Lord. Until that time we must endure and pray. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 260-261

Many indeed have fallen away and will fall away before the Lord’s glory appears at the end of time.   How do we avoid falling ourselves?   We are so weak, and we have seen many others who, we thought, were stronger, smarter, and more religious than ourselves, wandering off the path of salvation gradually into delusion or leaping off the cliff suddenly into total apostasy, and we begin to think that their fate must come inevitably upon ourselves also; after all, we are not as good as they, much less better.  And, as St. Theophan says, our hearts ache when struck by the arrows of the temptation to unbelief.   They ache both with sorrow over those who have fallen, and they ache with the pain of our own loneliness and self-doubt in the midst of so much mental warfare against us, waged both visibly by the world and invisibly by the demons.   

Apologetic arguments for Orthodoxy are certainly available to us, and we should have constant recourse to study, preferably before being tempted and certainly when suffering in the midst of temptation.   But what is equally important to study, or, rather, forms an absolute pre-condition for fruitful study, is heartfelt love for Christ and loyalty to His Person, as our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend, as the Bridegroom of our souls.  He is the best Friend we have ever had or ever can have; yet we treat Him so often as an abstraction, an article of belief required of me if I am to maintain a worldview I am currently comfortable with but which is open to revision if I find something more psychologically satisfying.   He becomes a currently necessary intellectual support for my current choices instead of the Master of my life.  

So when we are struck by the arrows of wavering faith, the first step is not to open a book of apologetic theology, but to renew our loyalty to the Lord.   We need to get down on our knees, open the Prayer Book to the Akathist to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and say it aloud, slowly, with a great struggle for attention.  We need to open the Gospel and read it aloud, slowly, with a great struggle for attention, not seeking specific articulated solutions to imagined conundrums but seeking rather the conversion of our hearts to being wounded with love for the Man depicted therein.  

Only after such a softening of the heart, only after compunction has wounded our souls with the life-creating wound of joy-giving sorrow for our sins, that replaces the deadly wound of gloom and confusion caused by wavering faith – only then should we engage in intellectual study and the examination of arguments for and against this and that. Otherwise we shall wander all our lives long in the labyrinth of the fallen reason as it chews on itself, cannibalizing its inner resources until the hour of death comes, and its self-chosen auto-demolition is revealed in all its horror at the gate of hell.  

O dearest Lord, Who suffered all things for us, come to us in this holy season and grant us the insatiable longing for Thy presence in our hearts!   O Lord Thou Sun of Righteousness, enlighten our darkness in the midst of this present world of confusion.  Make our minds clear, our wills firm, and our hearts warm with Thy love.  Amen.  

Saturday of the 9th Week of Luke 

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Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 9: 57 – 62 

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

St. Theophan the Recluse interprets the Lord’s words for us in this way:  The disposition of the inner man must be transformed, not only his outward behavior.   The detachment He calls us to must detach the love of the heart from the world and direct it entirely to God.   

   “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” That is, he who thinks to be saved while glancing back at what he should abandon for the sake of his salvation, is not being saved, is not walking, is not directed toward the Kingdom of God. It is necessary to destroy once and for all everything that is not compatible with the work of salvation. Those who think to be saved see this themselves, but they always put off parting with certain attachments until tomorrow… To suddenly break with everything is too great a sacrifice. They want to give things up in a leisurely fashion, to not stand out in front of others—but they almost always fail. They introduce salvific routines, while the dispositions of their heart remain as before. At first the incongruity is very sharp: but “tomorrow,” and their promises of change shut the mouth of their conscience. In such a manner, with everything tomorrow— always tomorrow—the conscience grows tired of saying the same thing over and over, and at last, falls silent. Here thoughts start to come that things can be left this way. These thoughts strengthen, and then are established forever. An exterior which is outwardly proper is formed, with inner improperness. This is a whited sepulchre before the eyes of God. The worst thing is that the conversion of this sort of person is as difficult as the conversion of those who have become hardened in open sins, if not more difficult… Meanwhile, this person thinks that everything is fine. – from Thoughts for Each Day of the Year,  p. 259

There are several places in the Gospel at which the Lord calls men to a radical conversion that demands leaving absolutely everyone and everything behind in order not only to believe in Him but also to dedicate every waking hour to the work of the apostolic ministry.  Not all disciples are called to this ministry;  as St. Paul teaches us, there are “gifts differing” (Romans 12: 6ff), and each Christian must find his place in the variegated, hierarchical, and finely tuned ensemble of inexhaustibly different personalities that is the Church.  But the inner disposition to which we are all called is the same, which is the continuous sense of the presence of God, godly fear in this presence, and the unwavering desire to please Him at all times, in every circumstance, albeit in a way appropriate to our station in life.   

The twisted religiosity that St. Theophan describes in his commentary today is not that of a nominal Christian, but that of one who is knowledgeable and consciously committed.  The saint is addressing us, the churchgoing sort of people who read the sort of books that saints write; he is not talking to the “cultural Christians” who just show up for name’s day and Slava parties, baptisms, weddings, and funerals.  The latter crowd are really lost.  But we can be lost too, by doing the dangerous thing the saint describes:  erecting a comfortable routine of religious behavior that we set up as a wall between us and real conversion.  You know how that works:  “All right, God:  I say x prayers, I confess and commune x times per year, and I give x to the Church, and I do x good works.  Now leave me alone!”  

Fortunately for us, God does not leave us alone:  He keeps inspiring in the heart a loneliness, an ache, a feeling of incompleteness and dissatisfaction with our worldly mediocrity, a desire to be set afire by the flame of the divine eros.  On the other hand, as St. Theophan points out, we can at some point harden our hearts so utterly as to be lost forever.   And this can happen in this life, even before death.  Heaven and hell both start here.   

The way to avoid this terrible inner death is the struggle for continual – and, ultimately, continuous –  inner prayer of the mind and heart, which alone converts the inner man and detaches him from the world.  This is a divine gift, of course, beyond our power, but the good news is that the Lord wants to give it to us.  There is an excerpt from another of St. Theophan’s writings that Hegumen Chariton of Valaam quotes in his collection, The Art of Prayer, which I believe I have quoted before, but it bears repeating:  

Gather yourself together in the heart, and there practice secret meditation.  By this means, with the help of God’s grace, the spirit of zeal will be maintained in its true character – burning sometimes less and sometimes more brightly.  Secret meditation sets our feet on the path of inner prayer, which is the most direct way to salvation.  We may leave all else and turn only to this work, and all will be well.  Conversely, if we fulfill all other duties and neglect this one task we shall bear no fruit.  – The Art of Prayer, pp. 77-78

Let us take these wise words to heart and dedicate a portion of every day to what the saint terms “secret meditation,” that is, the repetition of a short prayer or verse, with the struggle for attention, asking the Lord for the grace of true inner prayer.   We must be detached from this world at some point, whether we like it or not, for we are all going to die.   Better to begin living in Paradise now, through prayer, by our own free will and God’s grace, than to love this world with all our heart and find it suddenly wrenched away from us, against our will, by sudden misfortune or an unprepared death.   

Let us not look back but forward, to the Kingdom of God. 

Wednesday of the Ninth Week of Luke

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The reading from the Holy Gospel today is Luke 15: 1-10.

At that time, there drew near unto Jesus all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

St. Theophan the Recluse takes our Lord’s words in the Gospel today both to comfort and to warn us. He comforts us by reminding us how God Himself, the Almighty and All-Wise, is doing everything He can at every moment for our salvation, and he warns us by reminding us that, if we keep putting off repentance…then, one day, at a time we know not, it shall be too late, and we shall not even notice that we have lost our souls:

…The Lord seeks a sinner by guiding him to repentance. He arranges everything around him so that the sinner comes to his senses and, seeing the abyss into which he has been rushing, returns. All the circumstances of life are directed in this way – all encounters with moments of sorrow and joy, even words and glances. And the inner actions of God through the conscience and the other righteous feelings that lie in the heart never cease. How much is done to convert sinners to the path of virtue, yet sinners still remain sinners! The enemy covers them in darkness, and they think that everything is all right, and all will pass. If anxieties arise, they say, “Tomorrow I’ll stop,” but they remain in their current state. Thus day after day passes; indifference to their salvation grows and grows. A bit more and it will pass over into being hardened in sin. Who knows whether conversion will come? – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, p. 257

There is a constant paradox running throughout the entire New Testament: Salvation is easy – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” “Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Salvation is hard – “The kingdom of heaven is taken by violence.” “Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth to salvation, and few find it.” “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”

Salvation is easy. Salvation is hard. Both are true.

Salvation is easy, because it is the work of God Himself, Who is All-Wise, All-Good, and All-Loving, and, moreover, is All-Powerful. His infinite and perfect wisdom is not only truth but also enables our weak minds to know His truth. His infinite and perfect goodness is not only the true good but also strengthens our weak wills to fulfill His commandments. His perfect, boundless, and eternal love is not only worthy of all love in return, but it also inspires our hearts with an unquenchable desire to behold the beauty of His countenance. He desires our salvation infinitely more than we do, and He has done, is doing, and will do everything for us. He is everything to us.

Salvation is hard, because God, desiring our free friendship, allows us to make it so if we so choose. Our first parents made it hard for all of us by the ancestral sin. And, despite the fact that Christ has overcome their sin in Himself and has given us every grace to overcome it in ourselves, we go on making it hard for ourselves, because we choose not to pay attention to what God has done for us, what He is doing for us, and what He shall most certainly do for us in the future and in eternity, if only we let Him. We choose to imprison ourselves in a dark cave, the incomprehensible blindness of fallen human nature.

“Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,” says David in the Psalms. Today, this moment, let us violently extract our minds from their infantile fascination with the vain and absurd epiphenomena of man’s vain strivings and lift them up above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Do something, anything: Read a psalm, say a prayer rope, take a walk and bless the Lord for His glorious creation. Kneel in repentance and cry to God to awaken you from the deadly state of insensibility, which the Fathers teach us is more dangerous even than great and obvious sins. He awaits you with love. Run to Him with all daring trust in His mercy.

How delightful! To be with God. What are we waiting for?

Wednesday of the 8th Week of Luke

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The reading from the Holy Gospel today is Luke 12: 48-59

The Lord said, For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.

Most of us have experienced at least somewhat of the conflict which the Lord here foretold: we endure uneasy, strained, or even broken relationships with family and friends because we have chosen to follow our conscience in regards to the Orthodox Faith regardless of the earthly consequences. When this happens not once but several times, perhaps many times, we can certainly start to feel worn out, alone, and discouraged, and may be tempted to think, “What’s the use? It’s time to throw in the towel.”

It helps greatly, however, as Christ Himself says, to “…discern this time.”   It does not require that one be a clairvoyant elder or a theologian to see that the times we live in are times of extreme spiritual deception coupled with social disintegration of unprecedented scale and rapidity.   When everyone around us is bending to the demonic winds that are blowing, and we do not, they are bound to think us uncongenial.   Their discomfort in our presence, however, does not amount to an argument for the validity of their choices.

In order to deal with the constant, kaleidoscopically shifting changes going on around us, you should start with the question: “Do I still believe as I have always believed?”   If the answer is “Yes,” proceed to the next question, “Am I acting according to my conscience, to the best of my ability, God helping me?”   If the answer is “Yes,” then be at peace. As the saying goes, “Either they’re crazy or I’m crazy, and I know that I am not crazy.”

When we are tempted to sentimental or humanistic solutions to theological and philosophical disagreements over what is real and what is not, we need to crucify emotions, imagination, and curiosity, fall down before the holy icons in our prayer corner, and abandon ourselves entirely to God’s Providence, placing everyone we love in His hands.   There really are no halfway solutions, and we cannot make a separate peace in order to escape the inescapable: the conflict between truth and falsehood, between good and evil, between the real and that which is pretending to be real.

There is an old Latin expression: Esse quam videri, “To be rather than to seem.” In regard to where the path to salvation lies, let us desire steadfastly reality over appearance, as the gap between the two widens daily.

Here is a suggestion: When asking God for discernment in regards to your situation in life, read the Seventeenth Kathisma (Psalm 118 in the Church’s numbering, beginning “Blessed are the blameless in the way…”), and struggle for attention while reading. May the Lord, through this holy practice, grant all of us clarity of mind and peace of heart!

Tuesday of the 8th Week of Luke

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The reading from the Holy Gospel today is Luke 12:42-48.

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…”   The Lord makes the same point in another place, in the Parable of the Talents. He entrusts much to His faithful servants, and He expects much in return.   Recall all that the Lord has given us:

He created us, bringing us from nothing into being, and he upholds us in existence at every moment.   Nothing separates us from the abyss of non-being except His sovereign will, His decision that we continue to be.

When we had fallen away from Him, He became a man like us in all things but sin, and He suffered a terrible death on the Cross for our salvation.

By rising from the dead, He has destroyed the power of sin, death, the devil, and hell.   In Holy Baptism He has granted us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

By ascending into Heaven, He has placed our human nature in the bosom of the Uncreated Godhead, the Holy Trinity.

By sending the Holy Spirit, He has granted us the grace-filled life of the Church. We have infinite divine help for all of our needs and activities, given us in prayer, in the Holy Mysteries, in the intercession of the Mother of God, the Holy Angels, and the choir of the saints. We have access to the countless blessings bestowed on the Church, all of the treasures of Her unsurpassed worship, art, music, and theological and spiritual literature.   We have detailed and supremely wise instructions for conducting the struggle of this earthly life.

All of this is ours, our inheritance.   We are the richest people on earth.   Let us give thanks for this inheritance and at the same time ponder how we may take advantage of all these inestimable blessings, in order to do real work for the Lord, to be his active and vigilant servants.   How can we do this?

First, every day dedicate your day to the Lord. Ask Him to show you His holy will, and express your desire to please Him in all you do in your duties at home and at work.

Second, ask how you can more actively serve your parish, help your priest, and serve the brethren. Do you see the parish as a “vendor” to supply your needs, or as a precious inheritance for which you are responsible and an arena for service and struggle?   In other words, are you a taker or a giver?

Third, recall that without the Lord we can do nothing. Beg Our Lord, as you dedicate yourself to more active work for His glory, to remind you constantly that all is from Him and for Him, so that you do not become puffed up with pride in achievement or fall into despondency over failure.   Be at peace regardless of outcomes: the duty to act is ours, but the consequences are God’s.

As we approach our patriotic holiday of Thanksgiving, let us give thanks to the Lord for all things, and let us dedicate ourselves more completely to His service.

Saturday of the 4th Week of St. Luke

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The reading from the Holy Gospel today is Luke 6: 1-10. 

At that time, the Lord went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him; How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

There is a theological lesson here, and there is a moral lesson, as well.   

The Lord Jesus Christ, in responding to the Pharisees’ accusation regarding the disciples’ breaking the Sabbath, proclaims that He, the Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath.  He is stating publicly that He is the God Who gave the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.   Then, by healing the suffering man’s withered hand by a simple command, He demonstrates that He is indeed the One Who “spake and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created.”  Because of the blindness that is common to human nature, aggravated by their passions, His accusers cannot see what they are looking at in broad daylight:  their own God, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, become a man and visiting His people, out of His infinite love for them, for their salvation. 

St. Theophan the Recluse draws for us the moral lesson from these incidents:  

 The Lord’s disciples pluck the ears of grain, rub them in their hands and eat them on the Sabbath—a deed very unimportant both in appearance and in essence; meanwhile the Pharisees could not restrain themselves and rebuked them. What made them raise this issue? In appearance—unreasoning zeal, but in essence—the spirit of judging. This sticks to everything and presents all in a sombre form of unlawfulness and destructiveness. This infirmity, to a greater or lesser degree, is common to almost all people who do not watch themselves. Not everyone will express judgmental thoughts in word, but it is rare for a person to refrain from them. Someone sits beside the heart and stirs up judging—it pours forth. But at the same time the judge himself is prepared to do deeds which are not good, as long as nobody sees, and he is unfailingly in a state that is not so good in some way. It is as though he judges and condemns for that very reason—in order to satisfy his inwardly insulted and suppressed feeling of righteousness with attacks on others, groundless as they may be. He who loves righteousness and stands in it, knowing how difficult it is to attain correctness in deeds and even more so in feelings, will never judge; he is ready sooner to cover with leniency not only small, but also great transgressions of others. The Lord does not judge the judging Pharisees, but indulgently explains to them that the disciples did something that anyone would excuse if they thought about it rightly. And it almost always is this way: think reasonably about your neighbor’s actions and you will find that it does not at all have that serious, ghastly character which you saw at first. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, p. 229

Today, as we know, the invisible enemies of our salvation have convinced the leaders of society, and through them the broad masses of people, that non-judgment means the belief that sins are not sins – the only sin is to believe that there is such a thing as sin.   The society around us is rapidly falling into moral chaos, and in such a situation it is easy to be angry all the time and see only evil in others.   How can we attain the firm yet gentle spirit of Lot when he lived in Sodom; how can we be righteous in the midst of extreme and open sins, without being in a constant state of agitation and giving in to our thoughts of condemnation of everyone around us?  

The first step is to believe unwaveringly in the Providence of God and His care for us.  Fear of harm to ourselves by the evil actions of others incites agitation, and in the midst of this agitation we lash out with anger and condemnation.   By constantly reviewing the providential deeds of God in the Scriptures, in the lives of the saints, and in our own lives, we can usually calm our souls.    Let us beg the Lord for unwavering trust in His will to save us and His all-wise designs for every detail of our lives, which, if understood correctly, will be seen as the unrelenting action of the Lord for our true good.  

The next step is to distinguish between the public arena and our private lives, to understand our place in the body politic and therefore the extent and limit of our responsibilities.  It is a commonplace that during the Christian era ordinary men thought theologically, during the “Enlightenment” era men descended to think only philosophically, and that in the present Revolutionary era the overwhelming majority of men can only think politically – that is, in terms of the contest for power without reference to God or even to higher metaphysical principles.   In such a situation, those of right belief – the Orthodox – have the duty to their fellow man to concentrate on the things that only they can do, that no one else is doing or can do – to preserve and teach the right Faith, to perform the right worship, and to practice the right teachings on pursuing the life of the active and contemplative virtues.  If one does hold a position of authority in the public arena – e.g., a public official, a military officer, a teacher, (above all, a clergyman!), etc.  – then one must, with trust in God,  necessarily risk the improper use of anger, which is, apart from a great grace, inescapable in a fallen world, but without ever canonizing it, and with daily repentance, prayer, and supplication for the grace of preserving his soul while performing the onerous duties of his public station.  If one does not hold such a position, he should concentrate on his private duties, a situation which provides greater freedom from conflict, and he should use this freedom to pray earnestly for his protectors – his “guardians,” to use the terminology of Plato’s Republic – who hold positions of public responsibility and therefore are inevitably faced with innumerable temptations to moral compromise on the left hand and to anger and condemnation on the right hand. 

The next step is to realize that Our Lord’s command of non-condemnation applies first of all and above all to our daily intercourse with the people in front of us – family, fellow parishioners, friends, co-workers, etc.    This is where we really practice the Gospel.  If I take St. Theophan’s advice to heart – simply to think reasonably about my neighbor’s actions – then I shall calm down and see that he is not much different from me.  I shall see that, like me, he is just another sinner, another victim of the devil, but nonetheless another precious soul made in the image of God, for whom Christ died on the Cross.  

Let’s ask Our Lord for the grace needed to cultivate this state of mind, not to indulge in our logismoi about other people, and simply to pray more for them.   All actual experience teaches us that this is what works. 

Monday of the 3rd Week of Luke

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In today’s Gospel, the Lord turns worldly reasoning upside down, and He commands His followers to do that which is above nature:

The Lord said to the Jews which came to Him: woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. – Luke 6: 24-30

St. Theophan the Recluse, in his commentary on these verses, points out that Our Lord is painting a picture of the entire Christian life as a time of exile and pilgrimage, not security and rest:

Woe to those who are rich, who are full, who laugh, and who are praised. But good shall come to those who endure every wrongful accusation, beating, robbery, or imposed hardship. This is completely opposite to what people usually think and feel! The thoughts of God are as far from human thoughts as heaven is from the earth. How else could it be? We are in exile, and it is not remarkable for those in exile to be offended and insulted. We are under a penance, and the penance consists of deprivations and labors. We are sick, and bitter medicines are most useful for the sick. The Savior Himself did not have a place to lay His head for His whole life, and He finished His life on the Cross. Why should His followers have a better lot? The spirit of Christ is the spirit of preparedness to suffer and good-naturedly bear all that is sorrowful. Comfort, conceit, splendor, and ease are all foreign to its strivings and tastes. Its path lies in the fruitless, cheerless desert. Its model is the forty-year wandering of the Israelites in the desert. Who follows this path? Anyone who sees Canaan beyond the desert, overflowing with milk and honey. During his wandering he too receives manna – however, not from the earth, but from heaven; not bodily, but spiritually. All glory is within.   – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 219-220

We all agree with the truth of this of course, but if we are honest, we admit that we do not feel the truth of it.   Think about it: When is the last time we rejoiced in spirit because someone hated us, cursed us, abused us, physically assaulted us, or stole from us?

How do we do this – rejoice in hardship, love our enemies, and so forth? How do we follow the divine charter for Christian living as found in the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in St. Luke, from which we read today? Here is a short to-do list:

One: Admit that we cannot live the Gospel. Admit that to the end of our lives we will fail. As St. Ignatius Brianchaninov says in The Arena, even the greatest saints fall short of the Gospel. It is beyond the power of human nature; it is “above nature,” as the Fathers say. We should not give in to the temptation from the right side, to be made despondent by the false accusation that we are hypocrites, an accusation usually made by someone who wants to use our weakness as an excuse to deny the truth of our Faith. When a sincere, repenting Christian fails to live up to the Gospel, this is not hypocrisy; a hypocrite is someone who habitually pretends before others to be the opposite of what he really is, not someone with high standards who tries hard but falls short. Even if we are striving, we shall still fall, at least in small ways. Grace comes always if we ask for God’s help to get up again. And remember: salvation, much less Christian perfection, is the free gift of grace.

Two: So we must pray daily with all our hearts that God forgive us for not living the Gospel, that He give us the grace to live it better, and that He give us the grace daily to admit our failure and to ask for more grace.

Three: Force ourselves to thank God when bad things happen.

Four: Pray for those who harm us, both the great and the small, but especially the small, that is, the person right in front of us.

Remember, as St. Theophan points out, that we are exiles and pilgrims in this life. We are on a journey going to our true home, and we should expect discomfort. The warm fire, fuzzy slippers, and comfy armchair are at the end of the journey, not on the road.   All of our problems arise from delusions, and all of our delusions start with the idea that we are little gods creating a nice little world here in this life.   But our true home is in the heavens; our life is hid with Christ in God. This life is an arena, a contest, a struggle, and a trial.   Our Judge awaits us, with the crown of life in His hand for those who do not give up.

It is always later than we think. Death is always at the door. This is indeed a sobering thought, but, if we live in repentance, it is also a thought that conveys ineffable consolation. The Lord is near.

Friday of the 1st Week of St. Luke

In today’s Gospel, the Lord’s own relatives and townsmen reject Him out of envy:

At that time, the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of Jesus’ mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way.   – Luke 4: 22-30

There is something inconsistent here: First they marvel at the Lord’s gracious words, but then they turn against Him.   First they think, “How marvelous, how beautiful, how true!” Then they think, “Wait a second: this is just some other ‘guy’ from our own town, not anyone important. Who does he think he is, anyway? He is not better than we are!” In other words, they were envious. They were so envious that they tried to murder Him.

It was envy that caused the Nazarenes to reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was envy that caused the high priests, Pharisees, scribes, and rulers of the people to hate Him.

It was envy that caused Judas to betray Him.

But this is not surprising, because it was envy, at the beginning of creation, which caused Satan to tempt our first parents. God had created man to take the place of the fallen angels, and they cannot rest until they destroy us.   Or, rather, they will never rest for all eternity, because the more they destroy, the more envious they become.  Their hunger grows the more it is satisfied, and they will be endlessly more and more tortured for all eternity.

In the same way, an envious person – and, sadly, such a person may be an Orthodox Christian – cannot rest until he destroys the person he envies. He is constantly thinking about him with anger: “Who does he think he is? Why does the think he is so great?   Why does he get to have such-and-such or be such-and-such?” And this hatred, this anger, this internal torture has no end. Even if he succeeds in utterly destroying the happiness of the other person, even murdering the other person: Far from having rest, he will grow even more tortured, constantly revolving in his mind how bad the other person was and justifying himself. And this torture continues after death and increases endlessly for all eternity.

Today we are all suffering from the consequences of envy.   Once the Christian nations lived under a legitimate and God-blessed hierarchy of Church, king,  aristocracy, intellectual class, merchant class, working class, peasantry, and so forth.   This hierarchy reflected the hierarchy in creation itself, in which God is the king, and the angels and saints in heaven are His ministers, and on earth all men are arranged in stations, ranks, and classes according to the divine constitution of the Church and according to age-old, organically developed and traditional laws of those nations whose laws reflect the Law of God, and according to their birth and ability. Some men are necessarily higher than others. Some cultures are higher and more beautiful than others.   There are men and cultures and traditions that are high and noble, and others that are low and ignoble.   This is reality.

For generations now, however, the formerly Christian nations have listened to the siren song of envy, and now they have handed themselves over to the power of wicked demagogues who promise “equality” and teach, “No one and nothing is better than or different from anyone or anything.” With all boundaries, all standards, all traditions, all true hierarchy abolished, we are now reduced to the law of the jungle: Power is all, and might makes right.  Darwinism, which bases all life on the power of the strong to devour the weak, is laughably bankrupt as science, but it has certainly succeeded as a maniacal religious and political ideology, for we are ruled today by a criminal class of demonized and envious predators.   This is the politics of envy: if I can destroy you, this is the only justification I need.   This is the “revolutionary justice” of Marxism, of “civil rights,” of the sexual revolution, of feminism, homosexualism, and every other -ism that overturns the Christian order of society. It is a revolt against reality itself, ultimately against God.   And – apart from a miracle of repentance by a critical mass of mankind – we are living in the final stages of it. This is the end game.

For our part, let us courageously refuse to be part of this demonic anti-hierarchy of envious pseudo-justice. The first step in refusing the politics of envy is to cleanse our own hearts of all envy of other people, the great and the small. We have no worldly control over the vast changes that are overturning normal life all around us. But we do have the kind of control that counts: We can choose to stay in the Faith, to pray, to obey the commandments, to order our households according to God’s Law as best we can, and to tell others the truth and obey our consciences in the choices that face us on a daily basis.   We do have control over our minds and wills, to turn away from evil and do good.

Let us ask ourselves, “Do I nurture envy in my heart against those who seem to prosper while I suffer? Do I wish evil to others?” And let us fall down and beg the Lord to cleanse our hearts, to give us that peace which He alone can give, which the world cannot give and the world cannot take away. Let us forgive our enemies, and like St. Stephen we will see the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of God.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

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Thursday of the First Week of Luke

In the cycle of the daily readings, today we read once again the Gospel passage that we read on the Church New Year: St. Luke’s account of the Lord’s entering the synagogue at Nazareth and announcing His Messiahship by proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord.

At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? – Luke 4: 16-22

St. Theophan the Recluse points out that, unlike all the prophets before Him, the Lord Jesus Christ not only could preach about the acceptable year of the Lord, He could – and did – make it happen; He brought it with Him.

The Lord not only came “to preach the acceptable year,” but He brought it as well. Where is it? In the souls of believers. The earth will never become a Paradise under the current state of affairs; but it is and will be an arena of preparation for the heavenly life. The rudiments of heavenly life are placed in the soul, and the possibility for this lies in God’s grace – Who brought, consequently, the acceptable year for souls. He who listens to the Lord and fulfills all that is commanded by Him receives grace, and with its power enjoyes the acceptable year within himself. This truly occurs in all who sincerely believe and act according to faith. You will not fill your souls with “acceptableness” by thinking; you must act, and it will enter in on its own.   There might not be any outer peace whatever, just inner peace, yet it cannot be separated from Christ. But it always happens that as soon as inner peace is established, outer disturbances are neither bitter nor heavy. Consequently, the acceptable year is there even in this respect – it only seems like a cold winter on the outside. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 210-211

These brief words of St. Theophan address a spiritual malaise most of us share: sluggish inactivity based on a dreamy desire for a phony paradise both without and within.   The phony external paradise we dream of is an earthly life with no problems, in which everyone is just and kind to us.   The phony internal paradise we dream of is a state of inner purity, calm, and happiness based simply on thinking and not on doing.   The heresies associated with these delusions are, respectively, chiliasm and gnosticism, and the two work together and feed each other.

As St. Theophan rightly points out, this earth will never become a paradise in the present, fallen state of affairs prior to the destruction and re-fashioning of the cosmos into a New Heaven and a New Earth.   This earthly life, rightly understood, is an arena in which we struggle for our salvation, a very short trial in which we choose to do or not do that which is acceptable to the Lord. Chiliasm – derived from the Greek word for “a thousand” – is, strictly speaking, the heresy that teaches that the thousand-year reign of Christ spoken of in the Apocalypse is a future event that will take place here on earth, in the form of an outward, global political order.  But there is also a broader application of the concept: anyone who wants “the Kingdom of God on earth” in the literal sense partakes of the chiliast spirit and the chiliast delusion.   Surely we desire for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven – the Lord Himself told us to pray for this. This takes place, prior to the end of the world, in the lives of those who do God’s will, and certainly there have been families, monasteries, parishes, whole national Churches and kingdoms in which God’s light, the light of Orthodoxy, showed forth more brilliantly than in other places: these people and communities were (and, we pray, will be) little icons of the heavenly kingdom, little foretastes of what is to come in eternity.   But there will never be a time in which Christ will reign on earth as an earthly king, either directly or through a vicar like a pope or emperor, or through a “chosen race.”

The ever-present spirit of chiliasm distracts the pious from what they have control over – struggling for their salvation – by entertaining them endlessly with the demonically orchestrated struggles of financiers, politicians, parties, races, and nations for dominance.   Today this is far truer – quantum leaps truer – than ever.   I say “quantum leaps,” because global communications technology has given worldly powers the ability to distract and delude everyone 24 hours per day in such an addictive fashion, it is a wonder there is anyone left who can think straight. Facing this state of affairs realistically, we must beg God for the grace to re-double our efforts to pray and work in a disciplined fashion, simply to pay attention to that over which we have control, and deal with it. We must remember, always: this life is short, death is certain, and judgment is eternal.   Seen in this light, promises of an earthly paradise will not entrap us in the cycle of excitement, failure, disappointment, and despair.

When one despairs over the phony, chiliast earthly paradise, then one is tempted to retreat within selfishly, give up on the moral struggle, and desire a phony, gnostic internal paradise.

Gnosticism is the idea that if you have a certain secret knowledge about “what’s really going on behind the scenes,” you are among the elect.   A gnostic does not have to be moral or receive God’s forgiveness or even try to do anything good. He just has to sit around smugly and say to himself, “I know what’s really going on, unlike all those suckers out there.” And with this he is content. We are not going to join sects and secret societies that offer such a bogus salvation, but, as with the chiliast temptation, we all have the gnostic temptation: to try to think our way to salvation instead of seeking and doing God’s holy will. We can spend endless hours on websites to “find out what is really going on” and thereby feel secure through our “knowledge.” We can turn Orthodoxy into a kind of gnosticism in which, despite the manifest reality that we are enslaved to various passions, we read books on spiritual life and, instead of being brought to repentance, we imagine that we are thinking or feeling the thoughts and feelings of the saints, or in which we read the canons and derive satisfaction from knowing that so-and-so over there is breaking them, and since we are not (or think we are not), we are the good guys. All the while, we are wasting time, skipping prayers, fasting poorly, gossiping, not supporting our parish, neglecting our family, spending money on stupid things, and looking at some kind of screen x hours per day far in excess of what is necessary.

Being “in the know” does not save. The Lord said that the truth will set us free, but this comes true only if, having learned the truth, we obey it.   “If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15).” St. James says that the demons believe – and tremble (James 2:19). Not falsehood only is demonic. Accurate knowledge without repentance, without humility, without morality, without the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, is also demonic.

Therefore, with the ever-present help of the divine grace so abundant in the Church, let us make a short list of our real, daily spiritual and earthly duties, and do them, praying always.   Let us heed the admonition of our Venerable Father Herman of Alaska, and if God be with us, we cannot fail:

“For our good, for our happiness, let us at least make ourselves a vow: that from this day, from this hour, from this minute, we shall strive to love God above all and do His commandments!” – from “Little Russian Philokalia,” Vol. III, St. Herman, St. Herman Press, 1989, p. 108