What Is Salvation?

Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos (+2015)

 

 

When the word of God speaks of salvation—and more generally, within the Church, in the books of the Church, in its writings and services—when salvation is spoken of, it certainly means something different from being saved from various dangers. Of course, it also includes deliverance from illnesses and other dangers, from threats, disasters, and so forth; but this is not the main thing. And the unfortunate thing is that, although we are Christians, we do not know what the real danger is, nor precisely what this salvation is. Consequently, while God knows exactly the danger from which we are in peril and intends to save us from that danger, we understand something else, and in a manner of speaking, we fail to understand one another.

And it may well be that many times we receive the answer from God: “You are not really in danger from the things you think threaten you. The things you are afraid of amount to nothing. Everything you are trying to obtain when you say, ‘Save me,’ and ask for salvation, is not what you actually need. Since you are already making a mistake, since you are already going astray and missing the mark, do not expect”—God says, in a manner of speaking—“that I too will be carried along with you and, so to speak, act according to the way you think things are and the way you want them to be.”

Man’s danger, man’s threat, man’s destruction is the poison of sin. To understand the paradox: a person may, in the very act of sinning—that is, at the very moment he is committing a sin—be facing some danger and ask to be saved from that danger, which he thinks is the real danger. And indeed, not only may he ask to be saved from something that is not a real danger, but he may even ask to be saved from some danger precisely so that he can go on sinning and enjoy his sin undisturbed. What understanding can there then be with God? How can God entrust anything to us, when we do not know what we are saying or what we are asking for, when we do not know what the real danger is, and when we do not know exactly what the salvation is that God can give us and wants to give us?

For example, a fire comes and burns everything. As a Christian, you should reflect that whether you yourself are burned or not is not of such great importance; but what if the fire of sin burns up your entire being? Think about that, and let God see that this is what concerns you, that this is what causes you pain, and that you cry out: “My Lord, save me!” That is, let Him see that you are not deluded, that you are not distracted, that you are not, so to speak, running off in a direction where there is no need to go. Rather, you take occasion from anything that happens to look at your soul, to look at the things of your soul; and as, at that moment, you see the fire burning whatever it burns, you can understand very clearly what damage the fire of sin is doing within you, the downpour of sin within you, the earthquake of sin within you!

Pay attention to this: With the other fire, the natural fire, we, as human beings, will do whatever we can, but in the end, we do not know what God will do. As for this fire here, the spiritual fire, we are absolutely certain—we must be utterly certain—that the Lord has received the message. That is, the Lord has become assured that we have seen what we need to see, that we realize what our danger is, and that we know what we are saying when we say, “Lord, save me”; and we await this salvation, utterly certain that here, in this case, the Lord—for everything else, everything that happens, is meant to make us pay attention to this reality—we are utterly certain that the Lord will make this fire, however paradoxical it may seem, like a cool breeze, just as the natural fire, the tangible fire, became for the martyrs. Sometimes, indeed, God intervenes immediately and turns all that burning heat of sin into a refreshing coolness that refreshes the soul; and the soul feels and experiences—lives—this salvation that it asked of God. And God truly grants it, and one then has within oneself that other fire of God which refreshes, that other fire which burns away sin.

Very often, God either does not listen at all—in the sense that we are not saying these things for Him to hear them, just as a little child recites a poem—or, since God sees that we are not asking for what we ought to ask, that we are not seeing what we ought to see, namely what exists within us and constitutes a deadly danger, and that we are not asking for what we ought to ask, He does not listen to us, He does not respond, and we have no contact or communication with Him. And so I would say, with all the strength of my soul, that whoever passes over everything else, forgets everything else, and does not regard anything else—whatever it may be—as the danger from which he needs to be saved, but instead resolves to see the real danger that lies within him—and that danger is sin—and directs all his attention there, and this becomes his deepest concern, and at the same time he truly asks for salvation, he will have it.

I say it once again: precisely when we want to see the real danger, the Lord will grant us this grace. And when we want to be freed, to be saved, from the real danger to our soul—which is sin—the Lord will grant us this grace. And if this grace is not granted, it is because we are asking for other things.

For example, you may be suffering terrible pain, and God permits it precisely because He wants to do you good in this respect: He wants you to see your sin and to ask to be saved from sin. You are in terrible pain, and you cry out and shout and so forth; but God sees that what concerns you more is to be relieved of the pain, even though that bodily pain is rendering you a service at that moment. It is helping you to see your own nothingness and to humble yourself, to be broken in spirit, to see your hardness; yet you do not accept this, and you shout and cry out for the pain to go away. Whereas what you need to do—the other thing God will take away without your even realizing it—what God wants is for you to see that other poisonous sting of sin and all the poison that has spread throughout your entire being; and God is waiting for you to cry out to Him to save you. He can save you, but if He does not see, if He does not perceive, that you are asking for salvation, how is He to save you?

We need to understand these things. They are not games, and we must not waste our time doing what the rest of the world does.

 

Greek source: https://agiazoni.gr/ti-einai-sotiria/