| For all those who have received the Spirit of grace into their hearts celebrate in this festive maimer, crying ‘Abba, Father’ ( Gal. 4: 6 ). 78 . ‘The place of the miraculous tabernacle is a dispassionate and untroubled state of virtue in which the Logos of God adorns the soul like a tabernacle with the varied beauties of the virtues. ‘The house of God» is spiritual knowledge compounded of many different forms of contemplation when God dwells in a soul, filling it from the bowl of wisdom. ‘Exultation’ is the soul’s leap ofjoy at the riches of the virtues. ‘Thanksgiving’ is gratitude for the bountiful outpouring ofwisdom. ‘The sound offeasting’ is the unceasing mystical hymn of glory, which exultation and thanksgiving combine to form. 79 . The man who has struggled bravely with the passions of the body, has fought ably against unclean spirits, and has expelled from his soul the conceptual images they provoke, should pray for a pure heart to be given him and for a spirit of integrity to be renewed within him (cf. Ps. 51: 10 ). In other words, he should pray that by grace he may be completely emptied ofevil thoughts and filled with divine thoughts, so that he may become a spiritual world of God. splendid and vast, wrought from moral, natural and theological forms of contemplation. 80 . He who has made his heart pure will not only know the inner essences of what is sequent to God and dependent on Him but, after passing through all of them, he will in some measure see God Himself, which is the supreme consummation of all blessings. When God comes to dwell in such a heart, He honours it by engraving His own letters on it through the Holy Spirit, just as He did on the Mosaic tablets (cf. Exod. 31: 18). This He does according to the degree to which the heart, through practice of the virtues and contemplation, has devoted itself to the admonition which bids us, in a mystical sense, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ ( Gen. 35: 11 ). 81 . A pure heart is perhaps one which has no natural propulsion towards anything in any manner whatsoever. |
| 28 . We have as a natural criterion the law of nature. This teaches us that, before we can acquire the wisdom that lies in all things, we must through mystical initiation seek their Maker. 29 . Jacob’s well (cf. John 4: 5 – 15 ) is Scripture. The water is the spiritual knowledge found in Scripture. The depth of the well is the meaning, only to be attained with great difficulty, of the obscure sayings in Scripture. The bucket is learning gained from the written text of the word of God, which the Lord did not possess because He is the Logos Himself; and so He does not give believers the knowledge that comes from learning and study, but grants to those found worthy the ever-flowing waters of wisdom that spill from the fountain of spiritual grace and never run dry. For the bucket – that is to say, learning – can only grasp a very small amount ofknowledge and leaves behind all that it cannot lay hold of, however it tries. But the knowledge which is received through grace, without study, contains all the wisdom that man can attain, springing forth in different ways according to his needs. 30 . There is a great and unutterable difference between the tree of life and the one which is not the tree of life. This is clear simply from the fact that the one is called the tree of life while the other is merely called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Gen. 2: 9 ). Unquestionably, the tree of life is productive of life; the tree that is not called the tree of life, and so is not productive of life, is obviously productive of death. For only death is the opposite of life. 31 . The tree of life, when understood as symbolizing wisdom, likewise differs greatly from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that the latter neither symbolizes wisdom nor is said to do so. Wisdom is characterized by intellect and intelligence, the state which is opposite to wisdom by lack of intelligence and by sensation. 32 . Since man came into being composed of noetic soul and sentient body, one interpretation could be that the tree of life is the soul’s intellect, which is the seat of wisdom. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil would then be the body " s power of sensation, which is clearly the seat of mindless impulses. Man received the divine commandment not to involve himself actively and experientially with these impulses; but he did not keep the commandment. |
| 28 . Just as a coin that does not bear the image of the king cannot be placed in the royal treasuries with the other currency, so without true spiritual knowledge and dispassion you cannot receive a foretaste of divine blessedness and depart with courage and confidence from this world to take your place among the elect in the next. By spiritual knowledge, I do not mean wisdom, but that unerring apperception of God and of divine realities through which the devout, no longer dragged down by the passions, are raised to a divine state by the grace of the Spirit. 29 . Even though you have successfully practised all the virtues, do not assume that you have attained dispassion and can dwell in the world without anxiety; for your soul may still bear within it the imprint of the passions, and so you will have difficulties when you die. But, guided always by fear, keep careful watch over your mutable and ever-changing nature and shun the causes of passion. For changeless dispassion in its highest form is found only in those who have attained perfect love, have been lifted above sensory things through unceasing contemplation, and have transcended the body through humility. The flame of the passions no longer touches them: it has been cut off by the voice of the Lord (cf. Ps. 29: 7 ), since the nature of such people has already been transmuted into incorruptibility. 30 . Do not try to attain dispassion prematurely and you will not suffer what Adam suffered when he ate too soon from the tree of spiritual knowledge (cf. Gen. 3: 6 ). But patiently labour on, with constant entreaty and self-control in all things; and if by means of self-reproach and the utmost humility you keep the ground you have won, you will then in good time receive the grace of dispassion. The harbour of rest is reached only after many storms and struggles; and God is not being unjust to those walking on the true path if He keeps the gate of dispassion closed until the right moment comes. 31 . Slothful and inexperienced as you are, you too should ‘go to the ant’ ( Prov. 6: 6 ): imitate its simplicity and insignificance, and know that God, self-sufficient and superabundant, has no need of our virtues. On the contrary, He richly bestows His gifts on us and through His grace saves those who are consciously grateful, though in His compassion He also accepts whatever work we are able to do. If, then, you labour as one in debt to God for blessings already received, you do well and God " s mercy is close to you. But if you think that God is in your debt because of the good things you imagine you have done, you are quite deluded. For how can the bestower of gifts be the debtor? Work like a hired servant and, advancing step by step, you will by God’s mercy attain what you seek. |
| 2Cor. 12: 10 ), as St Paul did. For he knew that the humility produced by bodily sufferings safeguards the divine treasures of the soul; and for this reason he was content and endured patiently, both for his own sake and for the sake of those to whom he served as an example of virtue and faith, so that if they suffered when guilty, like the Corinthian who was censured (cf. 1Cor. 5: 1 – 5 ), they might have him who suffers innocently as an encouragement and as a model of patience. 92 . If, instead of stopping short at the outward appearance which visible things present to the senses, you seek with your intellect to contemplate their inner essences, seeing them as images of spiritual realities or as the inward principles of sensible objects, you will be taught that nothing belonging to the visible world is unclean. For by nature all things were created good (cf. Gen. 1:31 ; Acts 10: 15). 93 . He who is not affected by changes in sensible things practises the virtues in a manner that is truly pure. He who does not permit the outward appearances of sensible things to imprint themselves on his intellect has received the true doctrine of created beings. He whose mind has outstripped the very being of created things has come, as a true theologian, close to the One through unknowing. 94 . Every contemplative intellect that has ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ ( Eph. 6: 17 ), and that has cut off in itself the activity of the visible world, has attained virtue. When it has excised from itself the image of sensible appearances it finds the truth existing in the inner essences of created beings, which is the foundation of natural contemplation. And when it has transcended the being of created things, it will receive the illumination of the divine and unoriginate Unity who is the foundation of the mystery of true theology. 95 . God reveals Himself to each person according to each person " s mode of conceiving Him. To those whose aspiration transcends the complex structure of matter, and whose psychic powers are fully integrated in a single unceasing gyration around God, He reveals Himself as Unity and Trinity. In this way He both shows forth His own existence and mystically makes known the mode in which that existence subsists. To those whose aspiration is limited to the complex structure of matter, and whose psychic powers are not integrated, He reveals Himself not as He is but as they are, showing that they are completely caught in the material dualism whereby the physical world is conceived as composed of matter and form. |
| " It is meet to learn, " says St. John Chrysostom, " the miraculous quality and effect of the Holy Mysteries: what are they? For what reason are they given? What benefit comes from them? We are of one body with the body of our Lord Jesus Christ; we are flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone (cf. Gen. 2:23). A mysterious teaching! Heed what is said: We are united to the all-holy flesh of the Lord not only through love, but also through the sacrament itself. The all-holy flesh of the Lord becomes our food! He gave us this food, wishing to show the love that He has for us. He has mixed Himself with us, and has mingled His Body in us, so that we might be united with Him as the body is united with the head: thus is the quality of this unspeakable love. Prefiguring the Lord with himself, Job said of his servants by whom he was especially beloved, that they expressed their great love for him by saying, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh! (Job 31:31). Christ has given this to us, leading us to exceedingly great love, and showing His love for us, allowing those who wish it not only to see Him, but also to touch Him, to partake of Him and unite with Him, and all our desires shall be fulfilled. " The Lord has replaced with Himself our forefather Adam, from whom we are born in death, from whom we are born to die. He is made our forefather, exchanging the flesh and blood we inherited from Adam for His own flesh and blood. Such an act of the Lord, at the pious contemplation of the redemption of people by God " s becoming man while yet remaining unfathomable and supernatural, also becomes clear and natural. The vile flesh and blood of our fallen and outcast nature must be replaced by the nature that the God-Man has renewed; by the all-holy flesh and blood of the God-Man. Material bread is an image of the heavenly bread, and wine is an image of the true spiritual drink. The effect of material bread and wine serves as an image of the action of the Body and Blood of Christ. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon for the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year Source: OCA Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada 31 August 2022 Photo: OCA To the clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, Dear beloved children in the Lord, Today marks the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year and is a day we have, in recent times, set aside to pray for God’s creation, remember our place within it, and look towards its care. As the scientific community vocally sounds the alarm on the human impact on worldwide ecology, we are increasingly aware of the climate crisis facing us. We are now, in the last few decades, coming to fully understand the power humanity has to harm the natural world. We know from the Scriptures that God has given mankind dominion “over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Now it seems that this dominion, misdirected, has been extended so that we also have a measure of control to shape even the climate on God’s earth on which we live. The worldwide consensus grows day by day that mankind has misused its stewardship of the earth and that the consequences of such mismanagement are increasingly more serious. We must take these alarms seriously. The climate crisis is predicted to drastically harm the lives of future generations, especially in the third world, where many regions are expected to become inhospitable, leading to famine. Our Lord tells us that all the Law and the Prophets depend on the two great commandments: the love of God and the love of our neighbor (cf. Matt. 22:38-40). Thus, care for our climate and ecosystem is not merely a material problem, it is also a spiritual problem. It is of critical concern to face this spiritual challenge presented by the climate crisis. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation More to the Point: Should Nuns Light Their Icon Lamps? So, should nuns light their icon lamps when the “way of women” is upon them (cf. Gen. 31:35; RSV here et passim)? The short answer, of course, would be to direct the nuns to seek guidance from their abbess. We hardly need involve ourselves in any matters within a particular convent. In general, however, there seem to be no rules whatsoever telling a nun how to behave herself in her own cell. To be sure, there is plenty of advice, both from saintly elders of old and neighbors in the next cell over. But all of it is just that—advice, and it is as varied as prayer rules or other customs. Priest Sergei Sveshnikov 09 July 2009 Introduction As a continuation of the discussion started in my previous paper, “On ‘Ritual Impurity’: In Response to Sister Vassa (Larin) , I now would like to address some of the issues that have been raised in greater detail. The problem that has been posed by Sister Vassa is as follows: When I entered a convent of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in France, I was introduced to the restrictions imposed on a nun when she has her [monthly] period. Although she was allowed to go to church and pray, she was not to go to Communion; she could not kiss the icons or touch the Antidoron; she could not help bake prosphoras or handle them, nor could she help clean the church; she could not even light the lampada or iconlamp that hung before the icons in her own cell: this last rule was explained to me when I noticed an unlighted lampada in the icon-corner of another sister. The conclusion at which Sr. Vassa arrives after a study of early Church writings and contemporary opinions expressed by a handful of ecclesiastical bodies is that the rules surrounding “ritual impurity” are “ a rather disconcerting, fundamentally non-Christian phenomenon in the guise of Orthodox piety.” In my previous paper, I raised some very general concerns about Sr. Vassa’s methodology in addressing the issue of ritual impurity in the Orthodox Church. In this paper, I wish to attempt to find some constructive ways forward. |
| Popular Piety So, should nuns light their icon lamps when the “way of women” is upon them (cf. Gen. 31:35; RSV here et passim)? The short answer, of course, would be to direct the nuns to seek guidance from their abbess. We hardly need involve ourselves in any matters within a particular convent. In general, however, there seem to be no rules whatsoever telling a nun how to behave herself in her own cell. To be sure, there is plenty of advice, both from saintly elders of old and neighbors in the next cell over. But all of it is just that—advice, and it is as varied as prayer rules or other customs. There appears to be absolutely nothing either in Church canon law or in any official ecclesiastical decision that would prohibit a nun—in any condition and at any time in her life—from lighting an icon lamp in her cell or from venerating icons. Anyone abstaining from these acts would be following rules of popular piety, rather than any official Church rules. As such, popular piety is almost always outside of regulated Church disciplines, and can hardly be treated with the same theological and analytical tools as official rules and ecclesiastical directives. In fact, one such instance of popular piety is described in Bulgakov’s Desk Reference : There are such people of little faith, who are scared to partake of Holy Communion because they cannot bare this Sacrament. In their opinion, one who took Communion must live as a hermit for six weeks, avoid almost all relations with family, discontinue their usual occupations, etc. … Obviously, a priest must root out such views from among his flock, and instill in them a conviction that abstaining from partaking of the Mysteries of Christ is the most horrible calamity for a person. Saint Cyril of Alexandria used to say: “Ones who abstain from the Church of God and the holy Mysteries of Christ are enemies of God and friends of demons.” Thus, priests are tasked with “rooting out” at least some popular customs that stand between a Christian and the Body and Blood of Christ. One thing that we were unable to find in the Desk Reference , is the prohibition for “menstruating women to come to church,” which according to Sister Vassa is somewhere on page 1144. In fact, neither on that page nor on any other were we able to find any such prohibition. Perhaps, what points to is a passing reference to rules described in yet another source («Tserkovnye Vedomosti», 1892, 23) in the context of discussing when these rules must be broken. What we do find in Bulgakov is an exhortation to priests to instill in their female parishioners a realization of the “necessity to be extremely careful in the choice of time in which to partake [of the Holy Communion]…” Bulgakov references canon VII of Timotheus (Pope of Alexandria from 378-384), to which we shall return below, but is far less categorical in his tone. |
| It is likely that both uses of the verb πιστεω in 14should be taken in the same mood; probably either both are indicative or both are imperative; in either case, taking both the same way links Jesus with the Father as the supreme object of faith. In the context of their anxiety, the imperative is more likely: «Believe in God; believe also in me.» 8360 («Believe in» could be idiomatic for «Trust,» e.g., Gen 15MT.) Such words of encouragement were common to those in distress, 8361 such as the «Have courage» of 16:33; 8362 Scripture was also replete with «Do not fear» oracles. 8363 Glasson claims that this was a recurrent theme of Deuteronomy, and may be right that the fuller «Do not be troubled or afraid» of 14reflects the double exhortation of Deut 31 (cf. Deut 1:21, 29; 7:18 ; Josh 1:9). 8364 These words do not allude to Jesus» deity per se, though in the light of the whole context of John " s Christology these associations are certainly present as wel1. (Carson is right that first-century Jews did not exhort others to believe in them as they believed in God.) 8365 The words themselves allude to the role of Moses, an object of faith (as God " s agent) alongside God: when Israel «saw» how God destroyed the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed in both the Lord and his servant Moses (Exod 14MT). 8366 (The language, by extension, then applied to the prophets in genera1.) 8367 As Israel at least temporarily believed Moses» sign (Exod 14:8), Jesus would invite trust on the basis of his works if necessary ( John 14:11 ). 8368 In context they do not constitute so much a summons to proceed beyond signs-faith to enduring faith (as in 20:31) 8369 as an encouragement to continue persevering in the face of opposition. The difference between these alternatives is less one of substance than one of delivery style: both are deliberative, but the exhortation to deeper faith may constitute firmer rhetoric potentially evoking the epideictic rhetoric of blame, whereas this passage is closer to pure encouragement or consolation. 8370 2. Dwelling in the Father " s House (14:2–3) |
| And Solomon also spake thus: «Who can say, Thou hast made my heart clean, and I have been cleansed from sins» ( Prov. 20:9 )? And also in the law it is written that Moses prayed before God and said: «Thou forgivest iniquity and sin, and surely Thou dost not justify» ( Ex. 34:7 ; Num. 14:18 loosely). And also when he wished that his people might be blotted out on account of their sins Moses spoke thus, when he entreated and supplicated and said: «Forgive Thy people its transgression, as Thou hast forgiven them from Egypt and up to to-day». And God said to him: «I forgive them according to Thy word» ( Num. 14:19–20 ). 15. O ye who are entreating penitence, be ye like unto Aaron the chief of the priests who, when he had caused the people to sin by the calf, confessed about his sin and his Lord forgave him. And also David, the chief of the kings of Israel, confessed about his transgression, and it was forgiven him. And also Simon, the chief of the disciples, when he denied, (saying) that Christ hath never seen me, and he cursed and swore, «I do not know Him» (S. Mt. 26:74 ) and when repentance came to him he multiplied tears in his weeping; our Lord received him, and made him the foundation, and called him Peter, the edification of the Church. 16. Be ye not foolish as Adam who was ashamed to confess his sin. And also be ye not likened to Cain who, when he was accused of killing his brother, said: «I do not know where Abel is, for I am not his keeper» ( Gen. 4:9 ). And be ye not lifted up on high in the mind in the likeness of the corrupt generation, and do not add iniquity to iniquity and increase your sins, thinking yourselves to be innocent while ye are debtors. Hearken to your first fathers who, even when they were righteous, subjected themselves to humiliation. For Abraham said: «I am dust and ashes» ( Gen 18:27 ), and he held himself lowly as a thing of small consequence. And also David said: «The days of men are as a vapor» ( Ps. 144:4 ). And Solomon spoke and admonished: «If the righteous shall scarcely be saved where shall the sinners and the impious be found» ( Prov. 11:31 ; cf. |
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