The Devil Can Manipulate Our Thoughts

Metropolitan Demetrius of America | August 23/September 5, 2021 | Cobleskill, NY

11th Sunday after Pentecost | Saint John of San Francisco Orthodox Monastery

 

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We've heard in the Holy Scriptures a question that our Savior poses to His followers, the Christians: what communion hath light with darkness? And this rhetorical question has great meaning, because for somebody to be a member of the household of God -- or a person to be a citizen of paradise, that is -- one has to have the light. And, so, in this life, our Savior prepares us so that we can be ready for those future things which await those who love God.

I recall, once, when I was a young teenager, I came across something from the Holy Fathers which left a deep impression on me. And at that time, being so young and inexperienced, I thought that it was very easy… but not exactly, not for the egotistical person. And the quote was from one of the Holy Fathers, Saint Amun, who said, "If you wish for God to hear your prayers, before you pray for anything else, pray with all your heart for your enemies." And it seems like we have to start there in order to understand Christian doctrine.

Oftentimes, we have people who are at a loss, because they lack spiritual insight and understanding, and they've become so concentrated on being Orthodox that they forgot about being Christians. Like the Pharisees, they do not understand the weightier matters of the law. And, so, one has to have, both, an understanding of Christian and Orthodox doctrines, since, in reality, it's one and the same thing.

So, here, we start with learning how to pray with all your heart for our enemies. How is that possible for our fallen culture, for our backwards people? It’s so difficult for people to understand this concept, and they permit -- since they are having difficulty understanding this concept -- the evil one to manipulate their thoughts.

For we must understand that our thoughts are either our thoughts, thoughts which come from God, or thoughts which come from the evil one.

Our thoughts can very much be influenced by the evil one. Or we can invite God's grace to help us; but in order to do that, we must do those things which He commands us to do!

Many times, I've heard people say, in a conversation (before they say what they want to say), "Well, I'm not saying this egotistically" or "I'm not judging this person," and then they go on and continue judging the person. I've heard it many times, even from clergymen sometimes, unfortunately. And this shows that we are infected with delusion. We don't know ourselves.

And in the midst of our thought process, we must understand that the devil manipulates things so as to make sure that the end result of our thoughts is that we are right, we are the ones that are correct. In any way possible, he'll make sure to manipulate this fact or that fact and, in the end, come up with an absolutely convincing scenario. This I've seen many times.

Oftentimes, it's amazing when we have to deal with it in confession, and by the end, if the person is able to see how he was duped by the devil, he learns. He comes to greater understanding. He comes to understand what kind of an enemy we have, and he comes to understand why it is that our Savior says, "trust not your own heart." Be very careful not to trust yourself so much, because the sign of the Christian is a person who is humble.

Today, our Savior speaks to us concerning the man who had owed much to the king, ten thousand talents. And since the person didn't have the wherewithal to pay his debt, the king decided -- something which of course, was a real scenario back in those days -- that the person would be sold, and his family, and all their goods, so that he could pay back what he owed.

And the person was in a crisis. This was obviously a life crisis. This was a huge problem. His whole life was about to fall apart; he would have lost not only all his goods but even his family; even his own life! He would have been sold into slavery. And, so, in such a crisis, naturally, he begged the person to have mercy on him. He begged the king, "Please, forgive me my debt!"

We have to understand that we are debtors before the Lord. Oftentimes, I try to remind all of us -- myself included, especially -- how if we take a look at the gifts which God has given us, and we take a look at ourselves, we see that we are not worthy of the gifts of God and that there's an imbalance. We have not really worked for them. They're free gifts, which the Lord gave us for whatever reason. Out of His love for us, He passes onto us, as we hear in the Gospel passages, the talents.

And there's an imbalance. For example, God calls someone to a Christian life, someone who was in the world, someone who was a servant of the devil. And the Lord works a miracle in the life of that person and brings him to normalcy, brings him to life, lifts the darkness and the heaviness of an unclean conscience; and He works with the person. And the person always has to see himself as a debtor, because God gave us more than we deserve! And it may be that we would be judged for this. And if we recognize that we are not worthy of the gifts of grace, then we are getting ourselves to be in a safer area!

A monastic, someone who is called out of the world, and instead of seeing the great gifts that the Lord has given to the person in the moment of darkness, sees everything as dark. He sees the light as darkness, he sees the darkness as light, he is fooled. And it's because the devil has manipulated everything in such a way so that the end result of his thinking, of his train of thought, would be that he is correct and that those who know more are not, even the Holy Fathers.

And, so, the king forgave him his debt. That's what happens especially in the beginning of the spiritual life where the Lord forgives us our debt, our great debt, and He gives us His gifts! Not only does He return to us those things which we thought were ours, but He gives us above and beyond.

But we know from Scripture that we must do unto others as we would have them do unto us. And so, in the middle of this crisis, rather than thinking clearly -- and for this reason I said what communion doth light have with darkness, doth darkness have with light? -- this person, rather than meditating on the goodness of the king and being humbled in his heart over the fact that the king forgave him everything, went to his fellow servant and demanded one hundred pence! You see that he was forgiven ten thousand talents and now he's demanding one hundred pence from his fellow servant.

And the servants of the king saw it and were quite sad... even the angels of God watch us! We who are shallow, we who are worldly, we who are stuck on the things of the earth, don't see the spiritual world. It's difficult for us to see the angels around us. It's difficult to see the demons around us. If only we could see how because of our actions the angels are removed far from us, and if we could see how the demons come closer to us, or vice versa, we would be living differently! We would not be so stuck in our delusions!

And because of this action and because it was reported to the king, the king was not happy. For what communion hath light with darkness? And this person was dark! He had a chance to receive light, he had a great chance -- he was forgiven everything -- and yet he would not forgive!

So this is why the Holy Fathers devise means for us -- exercises for us -- to think like Christians. Before you pray for anything else, if you want God to hear your prayers, pray with all your heart for your enemies! Not just pray for your enemies, but pray with all your heart for your enemies.

And this may take years for us to achieve. Sometimes, with the slightest little word, a person gets offended, and this is really backwards in the spiritual life. Or, as we said, you see how the devil can manipulate certain words, or we misunderstand certain words, or we see things according to our own passions, or because we are so passionate, because we are so envious, or because we are so malicious, we interpret the words of the other person who has no malice or envy as malicious because we see our own faults in the other person.

So today's lesson is for us to once again humble our hearts, to remember that we have been forgiven… especially in the time of our life crisis, as this man had his life-crisis moment. At that time, we are given the opportunity to pray with all our hearts. We are desperate. And that prayer can be accepted and is acceptable to the Lord. And as we see in the parable today, it was accepted by the Lord!. For the man fell on His face and begged Him to forgive Him his debt. He was forgiven.

But things don't stop there, and the last day can be worse than the first. We must remain in humility! We must realize who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with. We must open our eyes to the spiritual world. Even if we can't see it, even if we can't perceive it, we must understand that there's a whole world of angels and demons surrounding us.  And if we don't give permission to the Holy Angels to work with us, the demons are glad!

I say permission because -- as you know and as we've said many times -- God respects our freedom. It's up to each and every one of us to decide whether or not we want to do those things which God teaches us to do. If we do those things, blessed are we, because, slowly, we become more and more enlightened and we understand more and more concerning the things of God and concerning how perfect God is, and concerning how imperfect we are.

So let us not demand of others. Let us not be spiritually foolish. Let us remember how many times God has forgiven us and let us always be ready to forgive!

Let us understand the spirit, which our Lord Jesus Christ conveys to us. We say we're Christians, but we've forgotten the greatest teachings of Jesus Christ, for He taught by example. And on the moment of His crucifixion, St. Macarius of Egypt teaches us, He was the most humble of all men at that moment.

What an ugly thing pride is! It makes us ugly! It makes us foolish! We lose our peace!

What a beautiful thing humility is! It changes our lives! It brings peace to us! It brings understanding to us! It brings God to us!

For God gives grace to the humble but resisteth the proud, as it says in the Scriptures.

So again, we stress that we must start to understand certain basics of the Christian faith, because if we jump -- or if we wish to skip the steps which lead to sanctification and we jump -- all the way to theosis without having first gone through the proper steps of repentance, purification, illumination, then we will fall into delusion for sure… we will fall into prelest.

So let us pray that our Lord will open to us the eyes of our souls, so that we can perceive the spiritual world and understand the angels as the servants of God, who are the servants of the King.

And let us ask for their help to bring us to the King, and let us look at the good example and the bad example in today's parable:  the good example, where, if we come across our life crisises (the difficulties of this life), we most certainly must fall on our knees and beg to be forgiven and to be released!  But at the same time, we must also forgive and release. For if we do not forgive, we should not expect forgiveness. And we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have forgiven when we haven't forgiven.

We must forgive, for in today's Gospel we hear something very fearful at the end, where the Lord was wroth with that servant. And that servant will not find his salvation! Our Lord says it simply to all of us.

If we could understand these things we wouldn't be so blinded by that moment of passion, where we get so upset with whoever it was. And we would understand that these trifling, little matters mean absolutely nothing with regards to our eternal salvation!

And lastly, once again, St. Isaac tells us that the torments of hell are bitter regret, which means that the people, the souls that are down there, regret so much what they could have done in this life! Let that not be our fate, but let us hear the word of God, and let us walk the path of salvation in humility and righteousness, always asking our Master to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

May all of our enemies be forgiven, and may God help us never to hold a grudge against anyone! And may our Lord grant unto us forgiveness of our sins, so that we will be able to offer the gifts, which each and every one of us offer together, the Gifts on the Holy Table, unto remission of sins and life everlasting.

Amen.

 

Source: https://sjmshop.org/blogs/news/the-devil-can-manipulate-our-thoughts

The Main Goal of Man is to Save his Soul for Eternity

Saint Philaret of New York

 

 

Recently, brothers and sisters, we spoke of how people today often forget the main goal that stands before each person, the task of saving one’s soul for eternity. This concern for salvation must be the main objective for every person of faith. The great teacher of Christian living–indeed in the best sense, the wise man Saint Theophan the Recluse, in his instructions and letters constantly repeated the same thing: that not only a person who assumed vows of a certain way of life–a monastic, a monk, a hermit–can be saved, but he who lives in the world, who lives a temporal life. He has the wherewithal for the salvation of his soul, to save his soul and achieve a lofty level of Christian perfection.

A clear example of this was already shown. Let us remember, for example, the great righteous man who raised the dead–Saint Sisoes the Great. This was a man who in his younger years went into the desert. There he lived until deep old age, truly reaching the highest Christian perfection, so much so, that he was able to raise the dead, and when lay dying, his face shone like the sun, the room where his deathbed stood was filled with a wonderful aroma, and all stood in trepidation. Such a death was also bestowed upon another great righteous man – Saint Philaret the Merciful. He was no ascetic, and did not live in the wilderness. He was a husband to his wife and father to his children, that is, he lived an average life. Still, he achieved such a level of spiritual perfection, that his death was like that of Sisoes the Great, his face shone like the sun and the room was filled with sweetness. Saint Theophan the Recluse showed that the Lord places each person in the best conditions for the salvation of his soul. Of course, this is not to speak of those instances, when a person lives a normal life, and then suddenly a Divine word reaches his heart and his life, his attitude, changes. But in general, when a person travels an average life’s path, as St. Theophan said, he can fully achieve salvation. He must only turn his life completely into serving God, the very life he already leads. The saint said this simply and clearly: “One need only look at each thing one does as an act first of all done for God, before God’s all-seeing eyes. View each action in this way. If you have a visitor, if you meet someone, remember that God sent him to you. Your conscience now bears the obligation to relate to the person in the way dictated by Christian love. And so with everything we do, every little quotidian trifle should be viewed as an opportunity to do it properly, so that it would be pleasing to God.” Such acts that please God will gradually fill a person’s life, and in the end, he will seem no different from anyone else yet he will be standing before the Face of God and serve the Lord God. Then his eyes will begin to open, and he will become convinced, through experience, that truly, the Lord sends everything for our salvation and no meetings are chance meetings.

Today, the Church, for example, celebrated the Holy Apostle Philip the Deacon, not Philip of the twelve (his holiday is later, before Advent), but Deacon Philip, who also performed the apostolic service. The Lord inspired Philip to walk on a specific road. Philip went. There he met with an Ethiopian dignitary who was just then reading Holy Scripture and could not understand the passage he was reading. Philip approached him, divinely inspired, and asked if he understood what he was reading. He replied, “I cannot, unless someone explain it to me.” Then Philip, at his request, sat with him in his chariot and explained the passage to him. The Ethiopian’s soul began to burn with a mighty, light-filled faith. As they neared a body of water, he asked “Here is water, can I not be baptised here?” Philip responded that if he believed with all his heart, then he can. And Philip baptised him.

From the point of view of our daily, mundane life, it seems that this was a chance meeting: this dignitary was going his own way. Philipp went his way, maybe crossing his path, and it seemed like a chance meeting, yet it turned out not to be the case at all. By Divine Providence, this meeting was destined so that the Church would receive a new believing Christian, who later became a martyr. And so, such examples show us that we must not say that our daily circumstances give us no opportunity to save our souls. Of course, one cannot close one’s eyes to the fact that life today is not the same as it was 70-80 years ago, it has become more complicated, it has also become tainted, to which the Apostle says: “But where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound,” that is, if sin is increased, then for him who desires salvation, assistance from the grace-filled power of the Lord is increased, strengthened, so that the person is not crushed from all sides, so theat his soul remains devoted to God and was saved.

This every Christian must remember. There are, of course, drastic shifts in life, when a person’s soul burns with fervor, he asks for a new way of life, and he embarks on this path, but this does not happen often, as you know. But every person, in the circumstances of his own life, can save his Christian soul if he looks upon his life and his actions as service to the Lord God. Amen.

 

From the compendium [in Russian] Sermons and Teachings of Metropolitan Philaret, v. II, (Russian Orthodox Youth Committee, New York, 1989).

Online:

https://goctoronto.org/the-main-goal-of-man-is-to-save-his-soul-for-eternity/

Photograph of Greek Old Calendarists visiting Jordanville in 1979

 

From left to right:

• Archimandrite (later Archbishop/Metropolitan) Chrysostomos (of Etna)

• Hieromonk (later Metropolitan) Hilarion (of New York)

• Metropolitan Kallistos (of Corinth)  

• Hieromonk (later Metropolitan) Ambrose (of Methone) [in back, facing Metropolitan Chrysostomos and Metropolitan Hilarion]

• Metropolitan Philaret of New York

• Bishop (later Metropolitan) Cyprian of Oropos and Fili

• Bishop (later Metropolitan) Laurus of Manhattan

• Hieromonk (later Archimandrite) Nikifor, [in far back]

• Abbess Makaria (from Corinth), [the nun in back]

• newly ordained Archimandrite (later Bishop) Gregory (Count George Grabbe), [at far right]

The photograph was taken by Bishop (then Father) Auxentios of Etna and Portland on May 4, 1979, at Holy Trinity Monastery, following the Divine Liturgy where Fr. George Grabbe (tonsured a monk the previous night) was elevated to archimandrite.

The Apocalypse of Our Days

Report of Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal to the Council of Bishops in 1983

 

 

Our pastors and their flock live in contemporary conditions of a particular spirit, which can be called, without the slightest exaggeration or any kind of mystical enthusiasm, pre-apocalyptic. There is no longer anywhere in the whole universe a single ruler or government that governs its people, by the mercy of God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The restraining anointed one of God has been taken away from the earth. The Constantinian era of grace-filled rule has come to an end. The last book of Holy Scripture has been opened in life—the Revelation of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. The heir of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Russian state, no longer exists. The whole world has been divided between two forces: on the one hand—militant godless communism, and on the other—the so-called democratic Western world, in which freedom still faintly glimmers. The latter, outwardly, for the superficial observer, is fragmented into countless Christian and non-Christian religions and sects, but inwardly it is bound together, as if with cement, by the spirit of Antichrist.

In the Providence of God, the grace-filled epoch of rule by Orthodox sovereigns was given to us so that we might quietly, freely, and consistently save our souls. The anointed one of God protected us from the unbearable fiery temptation which has now fallen upon the whole world in the form of communism and Masonry. But we, through our sinfulness, became absorbed in vanity. Each one occupied himself with his own craft, his own profession. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, and even simple masters of every kind of work on earth turned their earthly occupations into their religions, giving to them all their time, their strength, and their heart.

For their Orthodox faith, such people had very little space left, if anything remained at all—often only the formal performance of rites, and even that only because it had to be done, because it was customary, because all society lived that way, and one could not fail to keep pace. The Son of God descended from heaven; the Almighty God became Man in order to deify us. Whole hosts of righteous ones, prophets, wonderworkers, and fools-for-Christ passed through our boundless land. The Lord sent us remarkable preachers and profound theologians; the works of all the holy fathers were published, and the Holy Scripture—from pocket format to magnificent liturgical books. Brochures, leaflets, and prayer books were distributed in the millions or sold to our people for mere pennies. In all the dioceses journals and missionary leaflets were printed. And all this, like the prophecies of old, began to grow weak before the boundless vanity into which our people were sinking. Our Russian literature, in the apt expression of Professor Andreyev, always being a kind of spiritual pulpit, vividly reflected the spiritual process of the gradual spiritual fall of our people. From the carefree “old-world landowners,” sunk in the indulgence of culinary pleasures, there began to arise individual boorish Bolsheviks like Nozdryov, and not far beyond there already appeared the outline of the ideological atheist Verkhovensky, from whom there is only one step to Lenin. And what is to be done?

In our, perhaps bold, opinion, the Lord, in order to lead our people out of this dead end of vanity, which is gradually plunging them to the very bottom of hell, commands His angelic host to open the gates of hell and to release upon our people, and after them upon the whole universe (“for judgment begins with My house”), demons who would sting men and awaken them from their sinful sleep. By this final and extreme providential measure, the Lord wishes to bring His people, His own people, to their senses and to lead them out into the light of God. To all the careless laborers who have become absorbed in earthly affairs, sooner or later—and to each one individually—the fatal question will be put: with whom is he? With Christ or with the demon? And this question will be posed not by a bishop, not by a priest, from whom they are accustomed to hear all this and whom they no longer listen to, but by the demon and through his servants, upon whom will depend all the success of earthly life, all the wealth, all the earthly glory of these masses of men absorbed in vanity. What a shock there will be for them, what an upheaval!

“Thou hast made all things in wisdom, O Lord,” and Thou dost make them so. The Lord has compelled the demons to bring the world, which has been absorbed in vanity, to its spiritual essence; and that essence is this: that the Almighty Lord exists, that demons exist, that the Kingdom of Heaven exists, that hell exists, and that this world passes away like a mist. And when such a fatal question is posed, every human soul will tremble, will be entirely changed, will be shaken, yet it must make the inevitable choice; and there will no longer be any place for spiritual neutrality. It will no longer be possible to remain as if aside; it will no longer be possible to maneuver spiritually, to evade, or to hide. No one will be able any longer to take refuge anywhere; everyone will be found, everyone will be brought out from the darkness, from the corners, and there will be an end to every kind of spiritual diplomacy and temporary neutrality. The choice is simple and clear: light or darkness, Christ or Belial.

Your Graces! We have already entered the beginning of the era of this great choice. From beneath our very cathedras the souls of men are being stolen from us; they are being eaten away from within, leaving us only an empty, barren shell. We must know this. This is the pressing reality of the world problem of our days. The temptation is burning, fiery. It stands before us openly, and therefore in this there is both the will of God and God’s permission. We shall be witnesses of astonishing changes in people. Those known to us until now, seemingly pious people, will suddenly become traitors, completely changing their spiritual countenance; and on the contrary, those who until now seemed asleep will become zealots of piety even unto death. Only those will choose Christ and stand on the side of the Lord who personally love Christ—those for whom Christ the Savior and Provider is everything in all things, day and night.

The Lord has permitted all evil forces to take such power upon the earth, such temporary earthly almost-omnipotence, and this situation dictates to us archpastors the application of the most important, eternally effective tactic—to unite all our flock to the almighty grace of God, the Holy Spirit. There are no longer any who assist us in this our pastoral labor: there is no restraining anointed one of God holding back evil, there is no genuine Christian society, and no Christian school. Even the legislation once inspired by the Holy Gospel throughout the Christian world is being replaced, diminished, or simply abolished. We are alone. Before the Archangel’s trumpet shall sound to all born of the earth the great “Let us attend” at the terrible Coming of Christ, we must now say to our flock our own archpastoral “Let us attend,” revealing the picture not of a coming trial, but of the temptation already acting, of the inevitable choice. Let us not deceive ourselves, nor indulge in any illusions: a great multitude of the Orthodox will not endure such a burning trial and will fall with a great fall. Before the earth and all the works that are in it are burned up, everything light and superficial will burn away—everything that trusts in wealth, success, and earthly glory—and there will remain only those who sincerely love Christ, devoted to Him even unto death… loving only Him, their Savior, and no one and nothing else.

Before such a formidable picture of evil already triumphing, it is incumbent upon us archpastors not only to speak a strong word to our flock, but also to set into action all the richness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, who always abides in the Church of Christ. All our flock has already been made partakers, through all the sacraments, of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and it is fitting for us only, by every accessible means of pastoral labor, to kindle this fire into a flame, to do everything within our power so that, according to the word of the Apostle Paul, we may become all things to all men, that we might save some. As concrete measures, it is necessary to convince all the faithful to abandon the old practice of partaking of the Holy Mysteries only once a year, if anyone still to this day adheres to this little commendable custom. All our pastors should be persuaded themselves to pray before performing the holy mystery of confession, so that the Lord may grant them the gift of love, wisdom, compassion, and mercy. Our entire flock should also be instructed concerning the necessity of praying before going to confession, so that the Lord may grant them the gift of the Holy Spirit of true repentance, the gift of compunction, contrition for their sins, the gift of tears that wash our souls with the water of the second baptism—which our confession ought to be, and not a momentary acknowledgment of one’s sins.

It would also be good for all our publishing houses to print everything that is best, most penetrating, and not routine, that has ever been written in Orthodox spiritual literature about confession and the communion of the Holy Mysteries, this source of the rebirth and renewal of every Christian soul. This must be preached before every fast; lectures must be given about it; small and large gatherings should be organized not only for youth but for everyone, both great and small. At such gatherings it is necessary not only to read lectures, as their organizers often become carried away with, but above all to direct attention to the purely spiritual and formative side of the gathering. Several days should be devoted to questions that a person often carries in his soul for many years without receiving a true Orthodox answer to them. Then a living connection will arise between the souls of the visitors and the pastors; the entire gathering will become prayerful; with each day more and more people will be preparing for communion; and with the daily services it will sooner resemble not a conference but a pilgrimage—which will be the highest summit of the spiritual success of such a gathering.

The aforementioned fiery temptation is already in action and is about to knock at the door of every pastor and every member of the flock. Therefore, pastors must be very vigilant and, as far as possible, visit those among their parishioners who stand upon the ladder of social or material success—those to whom this spiritual ultimatum will first be presented. When visiting them, it should be pointed out that a day will come in their lives when, in their ascent from success to success, they will reach their “ceiling,” and then this ultimatum will be set before them point-blank, and they will feel themselves standing on the edge of a sharp knife. Of course, Your Graces, let us not deceive ourselves: no prior knowledge, however painstaking, however exhaustive of all the twists of evil, knowledge of all the corridors of the underground of hell, will save anyone or rescue anyone, but only a living, personal, fervent love for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In life one has had occasion to observe how the most subtle investigators of the dark powers ended their existence miserably in their very ranks.

Such are the conditions of contemporary life in which our pastors and our flock live.

 Russian source:

https://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/Arh%20Sobor%201983%20dokl%20m%20Vitaly%20Apok%20nashih%20dnei.htm

The Walling-Off of Saint Gregory Palamas

Protopresbyter Dimitrios Athanasiou | March 7, 2026

 

 

The walling-off of Saint Gregory Palamas constitutes a pivotal point in the ecclesiastical history and the theology of Orthodoxy, since it is directly connected with his struggle against false doctrines and the defense of Hesychasm.

The basic points that explain the context and the significance of this act follow:

1. The Historical Context

During the 14th century, the so-called “Hesychast Controversy” broke out. The monk Barlaam the Calabrian, coming from the West, accused the hesychast monks of Mount Athos of delusion, maintaining that God is entirely inaccessible and that the “Uncreated Light” which the monks saw during their prayer was created (a human fabrication or a vision).

2. The Act of Walling-Off

It is important to emphasize that for Saint Gregory, walling-off was not an act of schism or rebellion in the worldly sense, but an act of confession.

Let us see some additional details that complete the picture:

a) Saint Gregory considered that when a bishop (in this case Patriarch John XIV Kalekas) proclaims “with bared head” a teaching that comes into opposition with the tradition of the Church, then the cessation of his commemoration is necessary for the safeguarding of the truth.

b) Patriarch Kalekas did not limit himself only to theological disagreements, but also used political authority (in a period of civil war in Byzantium) to imprison Saint Gregory. The walling-off was therefore also a response to the attempt to impose an erroneous theology through violence.

c) As is mentioned, the foundation was Theosis. If the energies of God were “created” (that is, creations), as Barlaam maintained and Kalekas tolerated, then man would never be able to come into real contact with God Himself, but only with His creations. This would annul the entire meaning of Christian salvation.

This stance of Saint Gregory Palamas constitutes to this day the most fundamental argument for those who invoke the sacred canons (such as the 15th Canon of the First-Second Council) in matters of faith, distinguishing walling-off from a simple schism.

3. The Distinction of Essence and Energy

The walling-off was the “instrument” in order for the dogmatic truth formulated by the Saint to be protected:

• God is inaccessible in His Essence.

• God becomes participable (accessible) to man through His Uncreated Energies (such as the Light of the Transfiguration).

4. The Vindication

Despite the persecutions and his imprisonment, Saint Gregory was vindicated triumphantly by the Councils of 1341, 1347, and 1351. His teaching became an official dogma of the Orthodox Church, and he himself was recognized as a “Light of Orthodoxy.”

Important Note: Today, the case of the walling-off of Saint Gregory CONSTITUTES AN EXAMPLE of a “lawful” reaction when it is considered that a matter of alteration of the faith is raised, according to the 15th Canon of the First-Second Council.

 

Greek source:

https://fdathanasiou-parakatathiki.blogspot.com/2026/03/blog-post_31.html

Who has an easier life, those who believe in God or those who do not?

A Homily on the Day of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh

Protopresbyter Alexander Zhelobovsky (+1910)

 

 

Let not mercy and faith fail you: bind them about your neck, and write them upon the tablets of your heart, and you will find grace. Prov. 3:3.

 

Wise words of the Biblical Sage! I recall them on this bright day of honoring the great pleaser of God, the Venerable Sergius, because this righteous man—dear to us both by the Russian land, [1] and by this temple dedicated to his name, [2] and by his being chosen as the Patron of all our glorious Artillery [3]—dear for all these reasons, in the multitude of virtues that adorned his holy soul, especially shone in almsgiving and faith.

Let us not enumerate the many instances in which the Wonderworker of Radonezh manifested these wondrous qualities: whoever wishes will find and read them in his Life.

Let us point to one fact very characteristic for our purpose, namely: St. Sergius, after the death of his parents, having inherited great wealth, distributed it to the poor, and he himself, moved by firm faith in God, the Father and Provider, settled in a wild, impassable forest. This self-denial, imbued with love for God and neighbor, brought down upon him grace; to the solitary hermit there flocked in great numbers for counsel and consolation both the rich and the poor, both common people and princes; they settled near him in order more often to see his radiant face and hear his wise word, and they laid the beginning of the monastery which, through the prayers of the great pleaser of God, became so renowned that every year from all ends of Russia it attracts to itself thousands, tens of thousands of pilgrims.

The words of the Wise Man were fulfilled, strikingly justified in the man of God: let them not fail you; bind almsgiving and faith about your neck, and write them upon the tablets of your heart, and you will find grace.

And now, in an age of egoism and materialism, in an age of doubt and unbelief, even now, if one looks at life more attentively, we will easily notice that grace dwells in the souls of God-fearing and merciful people. It is easier—far easier—for a believing and loving person to live in the world than for one who is godless and hard-hearted.

The life of man on earth is not fair: sin has subjected him to heavy labor, to manifold sorrows, and finally to death; life is a struggle both material and moral.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread (Gen. 3:19)—the dreadful word spoken to the fallen forefather Adam—applies to all his descendants. Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nothing; but with labor and travail, working night and day. If any would not work, neither should he eat (2 Thess. 3:8–10), the chief Apostle Paul proclaims to us. And we see that people work in order to exist, in order to live. There was a time when occupation gave a man consolation and joy; there was such a happy time, but it has passed away irrevocably: this was in Eden—in paradise. Now it is quite different; now labor is a sorrowful necessity; a man bears it as an obligation for sin, and often with exhaustion of strength, with failures, ungratefully.

It is not easy to labor, yet it is necessary. And what do you think—who finds it easier to work: the believer or the unbeliever? The unbeliever, whether he be a farmer, or a merchant, or a seafarer, or a scholar, or a warrior, works relying on his own strength, on his own skill, on help from nature and from neighbors. But our strength is weak; skill is feeble; nature is changeable; men are unreliable. Often, very often, one careless step, one unforeseen phenomenon of nature, one deceitful man destroys our long and strenuous labors. Always with anxiety in his heart, with a heavy thought in his soul, does the man of little faith, who does not know God, set about his work; every accident frightens him. Around and about he observes how shaky, how unstable calculations are—even those apparently the most well considered, the most well founded. It is not so with the man who trusts in God; his hope is sure, not deceptive. He calmly endures every burden; he boldly contends with every danger, because his Helper is God almighty, the Father most merciful, the Benefactor who seeks nothing for Himself. A believing man, whatever his rank and condition may be, works and prays, prays and works: he knows that a man’s steps are directed by the Lord. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds his hand (Ps. 36:23–24); with faith in God he is nowhere and never afraid, nowhere and never weighed down. A blessed condition.

“The kindest, the most pious people,” they will say to us, “are not spared on earth from troubles, sorrows, illnesses, and they also must endure and suffer.” We do not dispute it. But what an immeasurable, striking difference there is between the sufferings of an unbelieving man and of a believing one! One, in misfortune, curses fate, pours out malice upon everything around him, and becomes embittered against the whole world of God; the other bears the cross that has fallen to his lot obediently, with good spirit, humbly, as the Divine Cross-bearer—Christ—taught him. A believing man remembers that God directs all the events of his life—that not even a hair falls from his head without the will of the Lord—that the Heavenly Father Himself directs even punishments toward good ends; he keeps this in his mind and without murmuring gives himself over under the mighty hand of the King of Heaven (1 Pet. 5:6). In the most grievous moments, the thought of the wise and good Divine Providence calms the sufferer: together with King David in every sorrow, he will say: I remembered God, and was glad (Ps. 76:3)—“I remembered God, and was calmed and comforted!” “As it pleased the Lord, so it came to pass”—no other words will you hear from the believer, however difficult it may be for him in life.

But if ever faith in God is necessary and saving for a man, it is at the hour of death. There, at the passage from one world to another, no one and nothing except the Church and Religion will help the dying man. Before the face of death powerless are science, wealth, glory, and even friendship; only the deeply believing Christian meets it without fear. For him to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21); for him death is rest.

Quite different is the end of a man who does not know God: everything that occupied him in life, everything on which he spent his strength and abilities—all this at the hour of death becomes hateful and displeasing. In the soul there is felt emptiness, bitter reproaches for the past and hopeless fear for the future. The Lord God Himself, for believers the Father and Benefactor, appears to the godless man at the hour of death as a Terrible Judge and inexorable Punisher: with horror and despair he departs to the other world.

It is difficult to live, and still more difficult to die without faith, without God, without religion. Pitiful—unspeakably pitiful—are all unbelievers. In the difficult moments of life (and they must experience them so many times and so often), in the difficult moments of life they have neither consolation nor strengthening.

Not without reason does the Biblical sage unite almsgiving with faith: let not almsgiving and faith fail you—so he proclaims. These two holy virtues are not conceivable one without the other: if anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?—holy words of Holy Scripture (1 John 4:20).

The present great feast in honor of the lofty representative of faith in God and mercy toward neighbors, in honor of the pleaser of God dear to the Russian heart, the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, for us—the parishioners of the Sergius Cathedral—is especially brightly memorable in that on this day, 18 years ago, the Brotherhood of Sergius was opened for the aid of homeless children, orphans, and helpless aged women.

By the wise dispensation of God, through the prayers of the great righteous man now honored, and by the zeal of benefactors, on this same ever-memorable day a new, private Brotherhood house has been prepared for consecration [4] for the housing of the “shelter and almshouse.” The acquisition of its own house for a shelter of orphans and aged women in the Sergius parish constituted the object of the most fervent desires of the members of the Brotherhood. Now the good desire has been fulfilled; now we feel like saying: This is the day of the Lord; rejoice, O people!

We rejoice and invite all for whom the sorrow and need of orphanhood and old age are not strangers—we invite all good people to rejoice with us, to look upon the new house, the “Shelter–Almshouse” of the Sergius Brotherhood, and there today, immediately after the liturgy, to pray with us with a grateful and tearful prayer to the common Benefactor of all, the Heavenly Father.

Hear, beloved. Remember, and never forget, that all truly lofty, selflessly good manifestations of social life are the fruits of our Holy Faith and Church. The Christian Religion is a Religion of love and truth: its faithful followers both were and are the best members of the family and of society. The history of all ages and of all peoples conveys to us that comforting, indisputable truth—that the believing man always was and is kinder and more honest, and happier in life, than the atheist and the indifferentist, than the godless man and the man of little faith.

We believe, O Lord, we believe not with tongue and word, but with deed and truth; we believe—help our unbelief.

Those who love God, teaches the Holy Apostle Paul, to those who love God all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28).

 

Notes

1. He was born, lived, and struggled for salvation near Moscow. There also, in the Sergius Lavra, his holy relics repose.

2. The Sergius Cathedral [in St. Petersburg]

3. The Sergius Cathedral of the entire Artillery.

4. On Furshtadskaya Street, house No. 13.

 

Russian source:

https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Aleksandr_Zhelobovskij/komu-legche-zhivetsja-na-svete-veruyushhemu-v-boga-ili-neveruyushhemu/

The Royal Path of Moderation in our Age of Excess

From Words of Counsel by Archbishop [Metropolitan] Chrysostomos of Etna to the Brotherhood of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery

 

Regarding our society, if anything aptly describes it, it is the word “excess.” We have more than we need. We greedily find no satisfaction in our surfeit. We do not hesitate to exploit and defile our environment. The media no longer report the news with objectivity and in a spirit of constraint, so that what we hear about world events is tainted by sensationalism and unrestrained emotion, dampening any sense of the circumspect, moderate contemplation of all phenomena—spiritual or secular—to which the Church Fathers beckon us. As a consequence, some voices even espouse hatred, divisive vengeance, and ugliness in the name of Christ. In the guise of piety and righteousness, inspired and mocked by the Evil One, various firebrands fulminate against ills in the Church with unwise zeal, thinking that they are upholding traditional Orthodox teaching. In fact, the general spirit of excess in the world around us has utterly blinded us to the meaning of Christian moderation (which is grounded in, accommodates, and fosters love) and has produced a crazed vision of the world and of the Patristic spirit that is as shocking as it is dangerous.

Our society has come to call peace, silence, reserve, careful consideration, and reflection “lukewarmness,” abusing Christ’s admonition about the needful warmth of our confession, our love, and our fellowship and confusing that “warmth within the heart” with the cold, disrespectful, bombastic discourse of the world—discourse, again, that has entered into the Church in a spirit of spitefulness and hate contrary to Christianity. Indeed, when St. Paul, writing to the Hebrews, calls us to zeal in “holding to the Faith,” he immediately juxtaposes this exhortation with a clarion call to “love” and “good works” (see Hebrews 10:23- 24—Editor). Those who separate zeal from love he describes as “having trodden on the Son of God” by their wrath and vengeance, reckoning them worthy of punishment for having insulted the spirit of Grace: “τό πνεύμα τής χάριτος ένυβρίσας” (Hebrews 10:29—Editor). Indeed, moderation in love is necessary even in the defense of our Faith, however misunderstood and ignored that point may be today.

Yoked to the indispensability of moderation in Orthodox spiritual life, I inexorably and sedulously enjoin our faithful to follow what ancient wisdom and the Greek Fathers call the βασιλική οδός, or the Royal Path; i.e., moderation in all things—μηδέν άγαν (nothing in excess). Moral virtue, the acquisition of love, and union with Christ, the means and ends of true Christian life, rest flatly on the foundation of moderation and an avoidance of excess in all things. The Patristic imperative that we remain moderate in all things, as I said earlier, also applies to public life. If souls are threatened by excess and extremism in the name of fidelity to the Faith, minds and values are imperiled by political and social extremism. We have seen this in America of late. We have been witnesses to a hateful, mean, condemnatory polarization of views in our society. I would like to comment on this problem.

As, in the realm of faith, atheism has taken on a bellicose and offensive tone—a paradoxically intense preoccupation with God by individuals who claim that He does not exist—and Christian rejoinders to it have at times been far too polemical, so in American political life a similar extremism has taken hold on both the right and the left. It is wholly inimical to democratic principles, decent discourse, and respectful disagreement of the type that should be cultivated by good citizens. Crude, disgraceful rhetoric in political campaigns is nothing new to American politics. However, the continuation of inter-party enmity and vulgarity into post-election politics manifests itself today with an intensity heretofore almost unknown. On both the left and right, we hear partisan rhetoric that is divisive, seditious, wholly reprehensible, and reminiscent of political disputants in some “banana republic,” not the American Republic. All of this, as I have said, is reflective of a society of excess and extremism and the antipathy and selfishness that they reinforce.

Let the Orthodox Church not seek the power to speak decisively to political issues in a pluralistic democracy, in rendering to Caesar what is his; but neither let it relinquish its right to uphold Christian standards of conduct and to advocate that spirit of moderation and love that is a foundation of Patristic teachings. The Church does have a right to oppose such things as abortion, to confront secularization, and to express its opinion of the violation of moral laws dear to the Christian witness, though in a moderate way. In opposing abortion we cannot countenance the killing of physicians who perform abortions. In calling for a lawful society and order, we are not permitted to endorse fascism and racism. In justly guarding our country’s borders and security, we cannot lose the Christian high ground by refusing to share our wealth with others and by ignoring the poor. Moderation and love must prevail in all things; otherwise, our conservatism, traditionalism, and firm moral teachings— having been defiled by excess and extremism—will become “as sounding brass,” to quote St. Paul (I Corinthians 13:1—Editor.)

Politicians or leaders who lack an Orthodox outlook, who speak— whether from the extreme right or left—in language that is turgid, degrading, pompous, inflammatory, excessive, hate-filled, and repugnant, we should not follow. When we follow them, we defile our faith, reduce ourselves to social refuse, and render to Caesar what is not his. A Christian cannot, in the name of freedom, make gods of tyrants and demagogues. We should not follow those who preach in the words of atheism gone wild or of religion gone astray. In supporting a political ideology of any kind, a Christian must not show conduct that makes a mockery of our Orthodox confession or the teachings of Christ, Who, while on earth, acted with discipline, respected order, advocated lawfulness. Christ asked of His followers, as He does those of us who cling to Him now, moderation, love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and a recognition of the dignity and free will of all. He would have as vehemently opposed depraved non-believers on the left who hate and compromise our Christian beliefs as He would have chided those on the right who, in some twisted, cult-created travesty of Christianity, call upon His Name to preach and foster hatred.

A true Christian, standing in the middle of a two-way road, risks the onslaught of those in the left and right lane. A true Christian awaits such an eventuality as part of the life in Christ. Orthodox in Byzantium died in huge numbers at the hands of misguided, rapacious Christian Crusaders and marauding Islamic invaders bent on the extermination of Christian “infidels.” Untold millions of Orthodox perished in the concentration camps of evil Stalin’s Godless socialist paradise, while Hitler’s fascist death camps claimed, in the name of Rechi und Ordnung (law and order), the lives of countless Orthodox Greeks (including some of my own relatives), Serbs (under the Nazi Croatian state), and Russians— not to mention millions of innocent Jews, Gypsies, and social and religious dissenters of all kinds. These things attest both to the evil of immoderation (in these instances, of a political kind) and the price that we must pay in witnessing to the malevolence of extremism.

The liberal or conservative in the service of hatred and violence is an inevitable product of the abandonment of moderation and love. Reckless militarism and reactionary theocracy—of which we Orthodox are not just victims, but of which, in our lesser moments, we have also been guilty—are similar products. Every liberal utopian fantasy that eschews God, a vision of Supreme Good, or a grounding in Divine Law, spawning anarchy and amorality, is likewise such a product. Liberalism and conservatism that violate the Royal Path work in consort with iniquity, eventually leading to such deadly ills as Communism and fascism. In fact, extremism in the service of anything is a precursor to evil.

Heed we must—and with great care, given the intemperate undercurrents in our country today—the message of the Gospel and the Lathers in every aspect of our lives, whether political, social, or religious. It is a message of moderation and love. The Royal Path avoids all extremism and excess, avoiding the lukewarmness of those not formed in love and those unstirred by heated action in love. We must seek the fervor of constant moderation and love, following God, Who repudiates “extremity” even in His righteous wrath (Job 35:15—Editor).

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXVIII (2011), No. 1, pp. 9-11.

On Self-Justification: A Talk by Bishop [Metropolitan] Photii of Triaditza

May 14, 2005 (Old Style)

 

 

This evening, with the help of our Lord, it is my intention to speak with you about self-justification—something that we all know from our personal experience, something from which all of us suffer, and something which is one of the more serious hindrances and obstacles on the path to salvation. And this last utterance of mine about self-justification is not at all hyperbolic.

Listen, please, to the following short excerpt from the instructions of Saint Seraphim of Sofia. The Saint asked of his spiritual children the question: “Why is self-justification so destructive?” In response to the reply that self-justification shows a lack of humility, the Archbishop said: “Rather, it is because there cannot be real repentance in the presence of self-justification; and without repentance, there can be no salvation.” I implore you to note this: “In the presence of self-justification there can be no real repentance”; or, in other words, repentance—true repentance—is incompatible with self-justification.

Self-justification is a passion that manifests itself in different ways. This we know. At times, it gushes forth like a fountain. A man utters a plethora of words, absolutely senseless and pernicious from a spiritual point of view, by which he wishes to defend himself against a certain attack or accusation. All of us know how a monastic should behave in such instances, when he is being accused or reproached, or when some misunderstanding occurs in his everyday relationships, and so on. If you are accused of something that you have not done, you should say: “Forgive me, but I have not done this!” If your accuser persists in accusing you of the same thing, you should remain silent or simply say: “Forgive me!” Well, that is the spiritual essence of the matter, and the way to it is indubitably difficult. It is difficult because the “self’ is firmly rooted in our sinful, fallen nature, and it reacts spontaneously, from within, through self-justification, whenever someone stings it. [1]

A person pursues justification partly for himself; i.e., to deceive his own conscience. One also strives to justify himself so as not to sully his prestige in the eyes of the others. (This is silly, but such things are customarily so.) And he can do this even without thinking about it. He may not even reflect, not intentionally reasoning thusly at all. Yet, this impulse rises out of his heart, like pus from a wound. One may stand in front of an Icon, being overtaken by feelings of repentance, which is good. But here our problems begin. If, after a certain period of time, we begin to justify ourselves, this means that our repentance—even though we may have initially repented sincerely—is not authentic, not from the very bottom of our heart; for self-justification is still alive in our heart.

In another place, Saint Seraphim tells us: “It is easy to humble yourself before God, while to humble yourself before people is more difficult.” Indeed, it is precisely the ability or inability to humble ourselves before our neighbors that shows whether or not there is real repentance within us: whether or not we are walking along the right path of spiritual life. You must work on this. You have plenty of opportunities every day. Be vigilant about how you behave, about how you react when you are being reproved, when someone does something in a way that displeases you, and especially when someone unintentionally (or wittingly) pricks your self-esteem deeply.

You all know the instruction of Bishop Varnava (Beliaev): “I require nothing from you, neither abstinence from food, nor sleeping on bare boards, nor long prayers, but only that you constantly reproach yourself for everything and in every instance. This is my advice to you and my very heartfelt wish.... It is necessary that you consider yourselves guilty at all times and in all matters, even if you may be accused unjustly. You have to know that God has sent this on account of some sin, which was perhaps committed many years ago. You must always reproach yourselves, humbling yourselves to such an extent that, whatever insult you may encounter, you are able to say, ‘Forgive me!’ This is the shortest way to receive grace, whereas the other ways are very long. On this path, no guidance is needed, whereas on the others it is necessary.” Well, we know this and we have read it. Yet, what do we do? Do we in fact feel truly guilty, whenever we are accused? Do we feel spiritually guilty in essence, or are we not just saying: “Yes, yes, I am guilty. But look, in this situation, he or she was wrong,” “And what about this?”—and so on. One starts to think, somehow, uni-dimensionally, completely earthbound, as a first reaction, even persuading himself of his rightness. But all of these things, being self-justificatory, impede and choke the soul.

It is thus truly evident that self-justification and humility are incompatible. Humility is bound to repentance. So, what real repentance can we offer without humility? They are inseparable. I beg you not to deceive yourselves with the following thought: “Well, here our life is so harried. We have so much work that I do not have time to examine my soul. How is it possible to be spiritually vigilant?” According to a certain woman ascetic, one cannot always find peace for his soul in external silence and tranquility. On the contrary, often, if not always, at times of external tranquility, a storm of passions is gathering in the soul. When you are in seclusion—i.e., should someone tell you, “All right, you are free from all your duties, retire in that cell over there and pray”—, for the first hours or the first few days, you will be the happiest of all men on the earth. But if this seclusion continues for many days, or for a week or for a longer time, see then what happens. The passions begin to gush out from the very depth of our hearts, even though we may not have even suspected that these existed; whereas when one humbles himself, wishing to do different obediences, trying to serve and humble himself before his neighbor from the bottom of his heart, God helps us—God cleanses us. God’s grace cleanses. When you are alone for a long time and come to see fully the dreadfulness which is inside of you, then despondency and despair will immediately knock on the door of your heart and your mind. For this reason, let us not accuse the circumstances; such an accusation indirectly falls upon God Himself. Look at the times we are living in; they are really very difficult. Well then, since God’s will for us is to live in this time, consequently there is a way of salvation. The matter is to walk it through. That is it: to walk it through.

And one more thing: We need patience. This word is often mentioned, and in most cases as the consolation (not exactly the consolation, but rather, more precisely, the instruction): “Have patience!” But what is patience? That is the question. Real (spiritual) patience gives the soul persistence in the striving after prayer, persistence in the decisive struggle with one’s passions, and persistence in the striving to acquire the virtues of the Gospels. And this is a very, very important quality. We are lacking in persistence, becoming like a reed shaken in the wind, of which God speaks in the Gospel. Persistence in spiritual life is of extreme importance, yet we hardly pay attention to it. Never mind that we are like a reed that sways hither and thither; never mind that we fall: we must be persistent. Persistence means to get up, again and again, after you have fallen along the path to the Lord, with your cross on your shoulder. You may have seen an ant carrying a bit of straw, trying to climb a hill, yet being unable to do so. It may go up and down a hundred times—up and down. Yet, each time that it slips back, it strives to go up again. But we only try a few times, when we fail, and then give up. And then we make a tragedy out of it—or a catastrophe.

Now, if one really tries to be patient and acquires persistence, with God’s help, the very next important step, which is mentioned by the Holy Fathers, is courage. Courage is the decisiveness to lead a spiritual life and to wage a spiritual battle, a struggle which is of a different kind. Courage means decisiveness at any cost. It means to follow Christ and to battle against all things that impede our path. It means to fight against all obstacles that our passions and the Devil place between us and the Lord. And then patience becomes not a passive feeling (when one hears the word “patience,” he imagines the words, “Sit there now and be patient!”), but an active sensitivity. This occurs when there is persistence, when there is courage. One walks towards the things we are now talking about, step by step. You have food in your bags for the journey; you have a walking stick as well: these are all of the instructions that Matushka Seraphima [the late Princess Olga Lieven, who left the world, entered the monastic life, and became Abbess of the Protection Convent in Sofia, Bulgaria—Editor] has left you as an inheritance. This is your food, your sustenance for that journey.

All of you have heard what other people have wanted to hear, but were not able to. You have seen what others would like to have seen, but did not. (I think that I have said this to you before.) So, our responsibility is really enormous. God shall judge us strictly, more strictly than many others. This must not scare us, though; on the contrary, it should revive in our heart’s patience, persistence, and courage, qualities that are so much needed for the spiritual life. May the Lord help us to sharpen our persistence and direct our courage to struggle against the “me” of our egos, against “self-centeredness” and its terrible offspring, self-justification. At any rate, let us struggle, at the outset, against our desire to proffer a whole fountain of words, in order to justify ourselves when something happens to annoy us. Then let us strive not to let this feeling sting the heart, since one can keep himself from saying something, while inside the heart things may be entirely different. Somehow, one feels hurt, something inside is pained, and your spirit falls. Why? Because there is a wound. Who is the wounded one? Your pride, your “self-centeredness” —the very things against which we must struggle. Indeed, we must even wish for these wounds, because without them it is impossible for us to be healed. These wounds are like therapy; they are wounds which heal us. God arranges all of this for our own good; yet, instead, we resist Him. But this is the rejection of the right hand of God. Think about it: “No, I do not want it. You are trying to heal me, now, but I do not want it!” Why? “Because this grieves me and makes me feel sad.” Who is being grieved? Your pride, your “self-centeredness.” Self-justification is simply a defense mechanism.

So, let us not be afraid to lose everything, in order to acquire, at the very least, the beginnings of patience and of humility. ...Let us not be afraid to pass, indeed, through the desert of despondency, in which the soul loses all that she has and becomes poor. It becomes poor and feels unable even to move; for when one comes to know his infirmity more deeply, it is through this path that he can reach humility and the renunciation of his own self. It hurts; the path through the desert is difficult; our “self-centeredness” and pride can barely endure the feeling of being absolutely poor, useless, and weak. But if one ventures on, passing through the desert, consolation will follow, along with peace and happiness, as these are gifts of God’s Grace and the fruits of humility. Amen.

 

Notes

1. Fulgentius, the fifth-century ecclesiastical writer, says that the demons fell because of their pride and that they are turned inward, looking at themselves and not towards God. In a similar way, man, being lured by the demons' suggestions that he can become a human god, is primarily turned in on his own self. This happens to all of us, in spite of the fact that we carry in our hearts the gift of God's Grace, which we receive through the Holy Mysteries, and particularly in Holy Communion. This is how matters stand, since we lack the true decisiveness to turn away from ourselves and towards God.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXIII (2006), No. 2, pp. 32-35.

 

Fanaticism and Syncretism: Two Dangerous Extremes and the "Royal Path" of Orthodoxy

New Year Encyclical for 2003

 

 

Beloved children in the Lord:

At the outset of the New Year of Salvation 2003, I pray wholeheartedly that this period of time will be pleasing to God and that we will all feel an ever-increasing sense of responsibility and reverence towards the truth of our Faith; may there also be a constant increase in our participation in the life in Christ, through the intercessions of our Lady Theotokos and of all the Saints.

The events that have occurred since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, to date, as well as those which are still unfolding, confirm an assertion that I made last year: that “humanity has clearly entered into a new and critical era, which gives rise to pointed and agonizing issues.” [1] In the globalized society of our day and, in particular, at the very dawn of a new century and the third millennium, two very ominous dangers have come to the forefront: fanaticism and syncretism, both of which appear in many forms.

On the right is found fanaticism, which is typically politicized, extremist, and xenophobic. With its recourse to violence, aggressiveness, and bigotry, it completely destroys the Orthodox ethos, which is an ethos of love, compassion, receptivity, reconciliation, hospitableness, freedom, and moderation. On the left, we find syncretism, which is excessively permissive, compromising, dialectical, contrived, and worldly. It minimizes the importance of Orthodox dogma, which limpidly demarcates the realms of truth and error, of the Church and the world, of Light and darkness, of Christ and Satan.

Our most holy Orthodox Church, as the “Royal Path,” [2] is situated precisely in the middle, steadfastly avoiding temptations and dangers from the right and from the left, which threaten to adulterate her charismatic witness, that veritable “Truth and Life” which the God-Man affirms Himself to be. [3]

Fanaticism, aggressive and bigoted, is not a product of some lack of cooperation between religions; nor will interfaith cooperation succeed in confronting it effectively, or at its roots, as some suppose. Tolerance per se is not what is asked of the Church, the duty of which is to maintain a missionary outlook towards the religions of the world— though it certainly must be encouraged at the level of governments and humanitarian movements. And there, too, we should not foster any illusions; indeed, toleration is neither easy to attain nor to preserve, since there will always be two uncertain factors to reckon with—namely, human passions and the Devil.

The Orthodox Church knows only one kind of peace: that which proceeds from the cleansing, illuminating, and sanctifying Grace of the Holy Spirit, which heals the passions and puts the Devil to flight. It behooves Shepherds of the Church, instead of pursuing some chimaera by means of interfaith cooperation, to work night and day to make their flocks truly Christian.

Patristic teaching on this subject is unanimous: When a Christian has the peace of God in his heart, then the entire world around him is at peace.

Today, the teaching of St. Seraphim of Sarov, deriving from his own experience, is timely as never before:

I beseech you, my joy—said the peace-loving Staretz—I beseech you, acquire the spirit of peace.... It brings peace to the soul, and, at the same time, it brings peace to all mankind and to nature, as well.... Acquire inner peace, and thousands of souls around you will find peace. [4]

St. John Chrysostomos also abruptly awakens us from the lethargy of spiritual negligence by his preeminently social and missionary message:

No one would be a pagan—thunders the Saint—if we were such Christians as we ought to be. If we kept the commandments of Christ, if we suffered injury, if we allowed advantage to be taken of us, if being reviled we blessed, if being ill-treated we did good. If this were the general practice among us, no one would be so brutish as not to rush to embrace the true Faith. [5]

Orthodox Christians should have a heightened sense of responsibility and reverence towards the Truth of the Faith, as well as “a consciousness of the exclusivity of the truth: we believe in the only truth and participate experientially in the only saving Faith.” [6] This consciousness of exclusivity will never give rise to fanaticism, because a genuine Mysteriological union with the Theanthropos makes us true Christians, engendering genuine feelings of love, humility, and guilelessness towards our fellow man.

It was this attitude towards the truth that enabled Orthodox anti-ecumenists to detect, from the very outset, the syncretistic nature of the ecumenical movement and the calendar innovation of 1924. It should not escape us that the official inauguration of ecumenism in the Orthodox East also entailed syncretism vis-a-vis the Festal Calendar, insofar as it foresaw the acceptance by Orthodox and heterodox “of a unified calendar for the simultaneous celebration of the great Christian feasts by all of the Churches.” [7]

Moreover, within the purview of this festal syncretism, the so- called Pan-Orthodox Congress of Constantinople was convened, in 1923, as the final step towards the calendar innovation. Those participating in the congress emphasized, in particular, the necessity “of the simultaneous celebration of the [two] major Christian feasts of Christmas and Pascha by all Christians,” so as to effect “the rapprochement of the two Christian worlds of the East and the West in the celebration of [all of] the major Christian feasts.” [8]

It is quite obvious, therefore, that the adoption of the calendar innovation in 1924, as the practical first-step of ecumenism, reflected a diminished sense of responsibility towards the truth and a syncretistic mentality. This was confirmed by steps taken subsequently, thus confirming as eminently true the opinion of a distinguished Hierarch of our day, who maintains that inter-Christian and interfaith ecumenism “is the greatest error of our age, the greatest and most powerful temptation.” [9]

I would like to conclude with a message of hope and love.

From what I have said above, it follows that the negative attitude of Old Calendarist Orthodox anti-ecumenists towards inter-Christian and interfaith ecumenism does not constitute fanaticism, but represents, rather, a rejection of syncretism and a God-pleasing adherence to the exclusivity of the truth.

The Holy Synod in Resistance is not indifferent to the truly sacred demand for the union of divided Christians; nor does it oppose efforts to bring about reconciliation in a severely fragmented world.

What we do radically reject is the ethos of the syncretistic ecumenical movement, which is literally a “defilement of dialogue,” [10] as a well-known university professor has stated.

Our responsibility for the Truth, our union with the Truth, and our witness to the Truth constitute the most fundamental expression of love for the world and preserve the hope of both East and West. This is why we struggle, and this is why we will continue to struggle, by the Grace of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

+ Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili

 

Translated from the Greek periodical Άγιος Κυπριανός, No. 312 (January - February 2003), pp. 193-195, 199. Though somewhat dated, the importance of this Encyclical has nonetheless prompted us to publish it on the cusp of 2004.

Notes

1. See “New Year Encyclical for 2002.”

2. Cf. Numbers 20:17-21:22.

3. Cf. St. John 14:6.

4. Irina Gorainoff, Άγιος Σεραφείμ τοϋ Σάρωφ (1759-1833) [St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833)] (Athens: “Tinos” Publications, n.d.), p. 255.

5. Homily 10 on the First Epistle to St. Timothy, S3, Patrologia Grceca, Vol. LXII, col. 551.

6. Stylianos G. Papadopoulos, 1Ορθοδόξων Πορεία-Έκκλησία και Θεολογία στψ τρίτη χιλιετία [The Course of the Orthodox: Church and Theology in the Third Millennium] (Athens: 2000), p. 134.

7. “Synodal Encyclical of the Church of Constantinople to the Churches of Christ Everywhere” (January 1920), in Basil K. Stavrides, Ιστορία τής Οικουμενικής Κινήσεως [A History of the Ecumenical Movement], Analekta of the Vlatadon Monastery, No. 47 (Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1996); 3rd ed., p. 334.

8. Dionysios M. Batistatos (ed.), Πρακτικά και ’Αποφάσεις τοϋ εν Κων- σταντινουπόλει Πανορθοδόξου Σιη’εδρίου, 10 Μαΐου-8 Ιουνίου 1923 [Proceedings and Decisions of the Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople, 10 May-8 June 1923] (Athens: 1982), pp. 56, 57.

9. Metropolitan Hierotheos of Navpaktos and Hagios Vlasios, “Διαχριστιανικός καί διαθρησκειακός συγκρητισμός” [“Inter-Christian and Interfaith Syncretism”], Εκκλησιαστική Παρέμβαση, No. 71 (December 2001), p. 11.

10. Chrestos Yannaras, “Ή βεβήλωση τοϋ διαλόγου” [“The Defilement of Dialogue”], Ή Καθημερινή, 17 March 2002, p. 10.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXI (2004), No. 1, pp. 23-26