Apologetic Notes
Part 1.
Archpresbyter
Father Michael Pomazansky
Translated by S. Larin
and Natalia Semyanko
Contents:
Signs from above. The soul reaches out toward
God. Religion — joy. God — not a subject for debate. Why we “walk by faith, not by sight?” Faith. Mental wolves.
When there is no one to thank. Does life exist? Integrity
of life and world vision. Mystery in life’s
experience. Staidness of the soul. Forces of nature. Flame from
a flame. Atheism. The world — reflection of God’s Grace. Life. What evil enunciates
in the world. Beyond the curtain of that which
is visible. God’s Judgments. Triune, Trinity God. So that
faith is life’s basis. To those who say: “I
don’t see God.”
Signs from above.
News
of an extraordinary phenomenon in March 1960 — the shedding of tears from the
eyes on an icon of the Mother of God, located in a house of young Orthodox
Greek couple at Long Island, not far from New York — impacted on even part of
the American press. When the icon was triumphantly conveyed to the Greek
cathedral, three doves hovered above the motor vehicle that was carrying the
icon, and didn’t leave the procession until the icon was carried inside the
church. A month later, a similar shedding of tears occurred from another icon
of the Holy Virgin, at the same location. When this icon was transferred to the
cathedral, a third icon took its place in the house, and it too shed tears. As
the Church’s experience states, the triplicity of this phenomenon was an
inherent sign sent from above.
Mother
of God’s tears! Manifestations that lead to trepidation and reverence. It gives
witness to Mother of God’s nearness to earth. However, it would be better if
these tears didn’t exist! If there is no greater sorrow to the children in a
family than to see their mother crying, then how strong and frightening a shock
it is to Christians to know that because of them, the Mother of God is shedding
tears!
Are
they telling us of the general spiritual deterioration of mankind, and in part
— about our own spiritual decline? Are they crying over the suffering and misfortunes,
already experienced by the world? Are these tears foreshadowing new ordeals?
Are they giving witness that the Heavens do see the sorrows and hear the
grief-stricken, and that the tears of the Holy Mother are giving a consoling
announcement: “I am with you!”
The soul reaches out toward God.
The
human soul stretches out naturally toward God just as a plant does toward the
sun. The Psalter — a book of the pre-Christian era — gives witness with total
potency about the natural, inherent character of this propensity.
“My
soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where
there is no water”: without You, a spiritual thirst tortures me.
“My
soul longs for You like a thirsty land.”
“My
soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God.
“Thou
didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.”
“I
will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of
my salvation, my stronghold.”
“One
thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple.”
Yearning
for God, the need to pray to Him and the search for the path toward unity with
God, has always belonged to the better part of humanity. But this yearning has
never been expressed with more force than in Christianity, which has produced
an innumerable multitude of the most chaste, bright and highly spiritual
people, wholly dedicated to God and who joyfully sacrificed everything earthly
for the heavenly. In this lies the psychological affirmation of the truth of
our religion’s substance, the witness to the truth of the Christian faith.
Religion — joy.
In any of the philosophical systems, there could be some pessimism existing in its foundation. However, in the religion’s basis, there always was and will be a feeling of joy. No matter how distorted many religions are (having replaced God’s truth with lies — revering creatures instead of God), they were all nevertheless expressions of joy for life. It was Man’s fallen nature that often dragged it into crude and base forms of expression. It is totally natural that the pure enjoyment of nature’s beauty by sensitive people would evoke hymns of praise to God.
Christianity
is a true and pure religion, and is the source of elevated and holy joy. Christian
ordeals appear as proof of the indomitable, bright basis of Christianity,
showing that no amount of deprivation and physical constraints are capable to
eclipse the blessedness of life in Christ. “Rejoice always, pray without
ceasing” (1 Thes.
God — not a subject for debate.
Is it
our business to: prove the existence of God, seek new contentions, defend the
divine truth, and justify God’s works?
Our
task is guarding ourselves from godless thoughts and straightening our mental
path. It’s also our task to guard others as we do ourselves. We must find antidotes
against our doubts, dark and alien thoughts that are hostile to our faith,
which invade our minds. Our historical time is an era of rationalization, and
rationalization is an enemy of religion. We are obliged to repulse it with a
weapon — logic —, which is only an aid. We have a far more powerful armament —
faith. “It is victory, which has conquered
the world, this faith of ours” (1 John 5:4).
That’s
why dogmatic discussions on God Himself should be brief. What can we say of
God’s nature and His attributes? Our conversations about God should be
elevated, extremely prudent, modest, plain, brief and without philosophising.
Piety calls upon us to avoid the frequent use of God’s name in everyday
conversations: “Thou shalt not take the
Name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). In ancient times, the Jews
avoided even writing God’s main name — Jehovah — instead, replacing it with
symbols or referring to Him in a common term, Lord. This attitude is in total
harmony with the Commandment on having our mind and whole spiritual being,
filled with venerable thoughts about God.
Why we “walk by faith, not by sight?”
Why
doesn’t God Himself appear to us in such a way so that we wouldn’t have any
doubt and uncertainty? This is because it is impossible for us as mortals to
come close to God. Here is a comparison: as with any living thing on earth, our
life is nourished by the sun. However, should we come close to the sun, we
would be incinerated instantly. Yet how gently and tenderly does a blade of
grass grows under it! And we are protected by the same nature from the many
burning rays that radiate from it. Just as there is an aerial curtain between
us and the sun, there is an invisible curtain between our nature and that of
God’s — notwithstanding His nearness to us — and it is our faith that allows
our soul to penetrate this curtain. “Thou shalt not be able to see my face; for no man shall see my
face, and live,” (Ex. 33:20) says the Lord
to Moses. And the appearing images of God to people are essentially that — only
“images,” because “God is a consuming fire.” Nevertheless, God had allowed
people to see Him through the appearance of the Son of God, in a truly physical
form. “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” He is not like
a consuming fire, but is a quiet Light, and we exalt Him with the words: “O joyous Light of the holy glory
of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ” (a prayer of Vespers). But even here faith is required.
Just as faith is required so as to know God, His greatness and the
incomprehensibility of His Nature, so it is required in order to see and acknowledge
God and His meekness, humility and earthly degradation. “Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). With purity of heart, faith attains such firmness
and strength, and bestows such a blessed state, that it ranks equal to heavenly
vision. Such is the faith of the Saints.
Faith.
Religious
faith, Christian faith, is an especial mysterious state of the soul, or the
soul’s abilities, simultaneously penetrating the mind, heart and will, an
active power, beginning, capable of totally dominating the spiritual life, the
beginning of everything, invigorating, guiding. Faith is the flame, rising
above the level of inner life, the witness of “spirit,” i.e. the highest
structure of the soul. A believing person feels, that he has some kind of
advantage compared to an unbelieving person. Faith is the power, the key to the
power, but it’s better to express it through the marvelous, figurative expression
by Saint John of Kronstadt: “faith is the key to grace” Apostle Paul writes:
“we have access by faith into this grace” (Rom. 5:2) in Christianity through
faith. Apostle Peter refers to faith as “precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1).
According to the ancient fathers’ figurative expression, faith is a ladle that
draws from the Divine source. It makes such achievements — which would be
completely impossible without faith — possible: they are expressed in the gift
of performing miracles. Christ promised, “In My name they will cast out
demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if
they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands
on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17) — as confirmed thousands
of times throughout the history of the Christian Church. Thus, faith provides
the means for the human spirit to penetrate into the mysterious, spiritual,
unseen domain, which “is the revelation (i.e. exposure of the activity of
powers) of unseen things.”
Mental wolves.
A
human soul is full of criss-crossing influences and diverse mental currents. It
is through the mind that thoughts originate — as the Apostle states, “their
thoughts accusing or else excusing them,” (Rom
“My soul
faints for thy salvation: I have hoped in thy words” (Ps. 119:81)” laments the
ancient psalmist. “O Lord and Master of
my life, drive away from me the spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition and
idle talk” — we pray with the words of an Orthodox ascetic. All those who
are toil speak of the possible visitations of the spirit of depression, and
consequently their prayers contain frequent entreaties of deliverance from
them. This feeling is an agonizing unholy state, as though the soul had been
blinded — until these feelings are replaced with a fresh surge of grace-filled
faith and prayerful effort. The righteous prays: “open my eyes and I will
understand the miracles from Your commandments… (Ps. 119:18) enlighten mine
eyes, O Christ God, lest at any time I sleep unto death… and through Thine
angels cause demonic despondency to be driven far from me” (Prayers before
sleep).
However,
in the domain of faith, difficulties and confusion that arise in the mind are
not always without benefit. Any kind of accomplishment occurs only through
overcoming obstacles. With an increase in strength, a person becomes capable of
surmounting greater impediments — at times placing them before himself — and
conquering them, then rising to a higher level. The same occurs in the
religious sphere, in the sphere of faith. And what a triumphant spiritual
feeling that person undergoes when a new, bright thought illuminates his soul
and vanquishes the mental barrier!
When there is no one to thank.
How
pleasantly we pronounce the word “thanks.” For every good wish, for every good
turn we have a need to say: thanks (in Russian the word for thanks, “spasibo,”
is derived from ‘spasi Bozhe’ – God
save). These words express inner feelings — they are not simply an indication
of a good upbringing, as they are dictated by instinct. When a person is in a
crowd and an unseen individual shows him a small consideration, that person
begins to seek out with his eyes: whom shall I thank? How often do people
utilize the press so as to express thanks to known and anonymous individuals
for condolences to their grief, for participation in their difficult times!
Feelings of gratitude are not limited to words, they endeavour to be expressed
in deeds, and subsequently continue to live as a grateful memory in the soul.
But
if we are thankful for small things, how can we not express our gratitude for
major things — for the joy of being alive, for the ability to think, to love
others, for our sight and hearing that open our eyes to life on earth, for the
opportunity of communing with people, for nature’s gifts that we enjoy? How can
we not give thanks when we are delivered from danger, or when we are visited by
what we call “good fortune”? But how unfortunate is that person who gives
thanks for a glass of water, yet has “no one to thank” for the higher, for the
greater, for the most important?
Does life exist?
Life!
It’s all that I have, which I value and without which — I don’t exist! However,
it would appear that in our era, there is a tendency to answer this propounded
question with a negative response — ostensibly in the name of science. There
were and still are, learned individuals that are engaged through the means of
chemical reactions, to reproduce a “living cell” as the beginning of all life.
Laboratories, in studying the physiology of living matter, are attempting to
gain access to the “growing mechanism in living matter.” The scenario is to
prove that at the core of our being lies a mechanism, and what we call life, is
some apparition, just a form of our perception. As an example, there is mention
in the press of a discovery of a new element in plants — chloroplast, or a more
fundamental enigma — photosynthesis (the plants’ absorption of the sun’s
energy). This is explained as an ordinary chemical reaction, where there is an
absence of any particular living force and which could be produced serially in
a laboratory. However, would it be possible to explain all the mechanics of the
world through this scientific approach?
One
is loath to believe that such a tendency characterizes sciences’ approach about
nature on the whole. It cannot be that the spirit of coarse materialism could
capture the real nature in such a way as to do without the understanding of
“life” in the explanation of nature’s mysteries. It is left to wonder, how the
mechanization of practical life in our existence, impacts on people’s
mentality, instilling that life on earth is but a mechanism, akin to an
inanimate machine.
At
first: “there is no God.” Then: “there is no soul.” Finally: “no life!”
In a short story “Euthemia” written by Veresaev during the Soviet era, a sick woman, sensing the slowly approaching death, is in raptures about the Greek philosopher-materialist Democritus: it was over 2000 years ago, he espoused that all things are made up of matter, while senses and thoughts — just an alteration in the body… However, it appears that being an aesthete by nature, she loves poetry, avid reader of Tiutchev — a poet that suggests nature is not a lifeless face, it has a soul, it has freedom, has love, it has language… Consequently, apart from desires, a discord between materialistic understanding and natural inner feelings is uncovered in the Soviet person: the latter emerges from the covering of the first, just like a cobbler’s awl from a sack. You wouldn’t be able to hide an awl in a sack.
Integrity of life and world vision.
Gumilev’s quatrain is quite excellent:
“There is a God, there is a world. They exist eternally.
While people’s lives are momentary and wretched.
However, a person can accommodate everything,
Who loves the world and believes in God.”
Of course you cannot dogmatise
these words. Here, it is possible to retort against every pronouncement:
perpetuity of the world is not the same as that of God’s; human life is but
momentary, but the soul’s life is not momentary; the world loves devious
counsel, but it only believes in God. Nevertheless, this quatrain
contains an excellent poetical expression of a deep idea: that the fullness of
life consists of accepting the world as a creation of the All-Good God. In
accepting life as a gift from God, a person lives with an optimistic and
harmonious view of the world, creating a spiritual world and a bold, bright
outlook on life.
A
person has inner contentment when he doesn’t have any spiritual discord. Such
is the meaning of Polonsky’s stanza:
“Blessed is he who
is given two types of hearing:
Who hears the ringing church bells,
And hears the prophetic voice of the Spirit.”
The obvious meaning of these words is in that a contemporary person lives a full substantive life, when his inner voice (be it a poetical or philosophical inspiration, or simply a general outlook on life), combines with the faithfulness of tradition, and with the religious faith that has been interwoven into him.
It has to be acknowledged that the Russian poetry of the golden 19th century age of literature itself possessed this quality and was therefore principled, ideal and wholly laudable.
Mystery in life’s experience.
There would be hardly one person, even
among the unbelievers, who would not have experienced a mysterious phenomenon
at least once in his life — like a prophetic dream,
or an inexplicable event, where his life was preserved. But more often than
not, people don’t look back and therefore forget, or even try not to notice it.
Many of us, when we are close to the end of our earthly span, can and must
exclaim about ourselves in the words of the Psalmist:
“
For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. By You I have
been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My
praise shall be continually of You…O God, You have taught me from my youth; and
to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and
grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this
generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Also your righteousness, O
God, is very high, You have done great things; O God, who is like You? You, who
have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up
again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and
comfort me on every side” (Psalm 71).
Observation of one’s life is one of the reasons why people, indifferent to religion in their youth, but having personally experienced along the way the power of God’s right hand, grow to become deeply and genuinely religious in their old age. Whereas before they were unfeeling, they now become pious, God-fearing, prayerful. Piety is not an indication of old age. It is present in people of all ages, and its fervour is naturally greater in younger years. Yet “piety of old age” is an indication of the not lost, not neglected life’s experience — a sign of remembrance of the manifestations of God’s mercy.
Staidness of the soul.
Christian faith is a state of brightness,
“diurnal.” Belief in God, in the invisible spiritual world, in life after
physical death — is quite realistic, because experience has confirmed it
through received manifestations, spiritual occurrences and revelations, which
the Saints of the
Authentic faith is staid, and all guides of the genuine Christian life, place the “spiritual staidness” as the basis of spiritual works. Staidness of the soul safeguards oneself from self-delusion, from being self-opinionated, and equally, from being despondent and having a self-evaluation of being hopeless. This is a direct and simple outlook on life, on all those around — an outlook that is illuminated with the light of faith. The Church asks in its prayers for the faithful, the granting of “staidness of the soul, forgiveness of sins, communion with the Holy Spirit.” Father John titled his diary: “My life in Christ, or, minutes on spiritual staidness and contemplations, reverend feelings, spiritual reformation and serenity in God.”
Forces of nature.
Nature
lives its own inner life, unknown to us and almost inaccessible to science. The
frightening forces hidden within her, even in the small parts of its substance
— were shown in the study of the atom and its release, or in splitting it. At
the same time, how softly and docile these forces function in the life form of
the world. What consonance in the activity of nature’s elements, and what
collaboration, mutual assistance! Consider the wind and cloud. They do not even
have an individual existence, don’t have their own living vigour, which is
present in an insignificant blade of grass. They are fleeting manifestations:
the wind came and went, the cloud thickened and was washed out with rain — it’s
gone. However, note how intelligently they work together with the sun and with
each other, and their collaboration is aimed for the welfare of others,
especially for giving life to plants. The cloud gives them moisture and
protects them against the sun’s searing rays. However, the cloud doesn’t have
its own energy to move in the air, this task is undertaken by the wind. It
drives the cloud, bringing it in and leading it out. The wind then dries the
land, protecting the soil from acidity, which is harmful to plants, and at the
same time shielding it from the effect of direct rays of the sun. Where are you
hidden, you kind, intelligent powers that are active in these manifestations?
Here we have a grove of trees, untouched by man and left alone. If the hand of
man doesn’t interfere with the life of the forest, it’s arrangement would be
organically whole as a collector of organisms: it surrounds itself with a
border of thorny thickets for protection, permits the growth of a ground cover
that is more beneficial to it, collects and stores the necessary reservoirs of
water for itself, regulates the penetration of the sun’s rays into its grove,
preserves within it the less robust, the less hardy types of plants. That’s why
it’s not astonishing that pantheistic images emerged in mankind, ideas of the
presence of forest, water and other gods. Outpouring of feelings of nature
among artists is akin to pantheism… e.g. from Tiutchev: “It is not what you
imagine about nature — it’s not blind, not a lifeless image, it has a soul, it
has freedom, it has love, it has a language.” He further directly censures the
then reigning materialism.
“They do not see and do not hear,
they dwell in the world as though in darkness,
to them there is no sun,
and no life in the ocean’s waves.
The rays have never descended into their souls,
Spring has never bloomed in their breasts,
The forests did never speak in their presence,
And the starry night was mute;
And with an unearthly tongue,
disturbing rivers and forests,
thunder didn’t counsel with them
in a friendly conversation…
But in this case, wouldn’t even we
arrive at pantheism? No, our mind must rise above this. It is not the atom that
is divine, which people split and force it to serve them. That which is under
our total control and that of animals is not divinity — but only part thereof.
When the same poet presents the world as God’s vestment, he is not thinking
pantheistically: “Nature’s fabric God’s universal vestment, maybe.” This image
is very close to that of the Bible’s, which is clearer: “Who cover Yourself
with light as with a garment” (Psalm 103).
Nature’s
hidden wisdom awakens our thoughts. It instils into us that apart from matter
and forces, it has something higher: it has its own audibility so as to fulfil
God’s directives: “Let the earth bring forth…let the waters bring forth”
(Gen. 1:11, 20) the fig-tree succumbs to the Saviour’s words: “Let no fruit
grow on you ever again” “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever” (Matt: 21:19); and the stormy sea
fulfils His directive: “Peace, be still” (Mark 5:39). Nature is permeated with
a will to fulfil objectives directed from above; it praises God with all its
being, fulfils directives of heavenly ranks: Principalities, Dominions and
Powers. And we confess in the prayer (blessing of water): “Before Thee tremble
supersensual powers; thee the sun praiseth, the moon worshippeth, the stars
submit to Thee, the light obeyeth, the tempests tremble, the springs worship
Thee…”
Flame from a flame.
In the first chapter of Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, we read: “The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” This means akin to from flame to flame, and how we should guard this flame! Without it we are like unlit candles. The spark of faith must be preserved. We should watch out for opposing winds, i.e. society that is hostile to faith, books that detract from faith and personal mental rambling.
From faith
to faith. Therefore, by succession. We learn faith from the Apostles, from
their writings, which perpetually retain within themselves the live source of
faith. Here, faith is imparted through the word. We learn from contemporary
Saints: here faith is conveyed through their closeness to us, by the flame of
the power of their faith. We learn in Church and from
the Church, face to face with Her. Thus Apostle John wrote to his spiritual
children: “I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write
unto thee: but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to
face” (3 John
From
faith to faith. Over a lengthy string of decades, faith is conveyed from one
church generation to another church generation, from fathers — to their
children, from Martyrs, Confessors, Saints, Ascetics — to people that have seen
them, that learned from them, that lived shortly before us and preserved holy
memories of them. This is a holy conveyance — the conveyance of faith. That’s
why we especially value our knowledge and directives of Saints who lived in the
period shortly before ours: we too can ignite with faith by coming into direct
contact with theirs. And so the chain continues: “from faith to faith,” from
Apostolic times to our contemporary era.
Atheism.
In his book “Study of humans,” Professor Nesmelov expresses the following: “Atheism is a construed knowledge based on lack of knowledge.” The typecasting is quite accurate. Atheists do not see God, do not know Him, and therefore do not acknowledge His existence. The more cautious among them call themselves “agnostics,” i.e. not knowing (followers of the English philosopher Spencer), and of course “not knowing,” don’t have the guidance of religious laws. People of more unrefined thinking, while logical but incorrect, reason rectilinearly: “I don’t know God, therefore God doesn’t exist.”
The world — reflection of God’s Grace.
We cannot deny the existence of reason in Nature, even though to us it is in an unknown form. We witness how a plant secures the necessary area for its existence, seeks and finds in the same soil, a variety of nutritious elements necessary only for this type of plant, and liquids, which are so varied for each type of plant, obtaining them through a proficient chemical decomposition of the soil. Likewise, we cannot deny the existence in the animal and plant kingdom the aesthetic and artistic beginning, which is revealed in the variety and harmony of colours and forms. In witnessing the amity, collaboration and willingness to serve, we can hardly reject the presence of none other than the seeming moral beginning in Nature — when a blade of grass is prepared to present itself as fodder for the animal, or when the tree endeavours to produce better harvest for man’s comfort; a willingness that is sometimes close to self-sacrifice. Some will say that you cannot call this a moral attribute, because morality suggests a free and intelligent will. Indeed, but if this is so, then it is necessary to seek the source of the sensibility and wisdom for this insensibility. Thoughts rise toward the Creator and the power of the Providence of God’s Spirit, granting all existing things “life, breath and everything” (words of Apostle Paul in the Athenian Areopagus according to the book of Acts).
In this
sense, the world, God’s creation is a reflection — be it weak and pale — of its
Creator’s attributes and it is toward this Primordial and Original, that it directs
our thoughts. Let us here express the words of
Life.
What
can be closer to our eyes, ears, mind — to our whole being, than life? Everything
lives, there is life everywhere. At the same time, what can be more puzzling to
us than life? Even to this day, people have not come to an agreement on the
question: is life an initial beginning or a secondary appearance? Is it an
origin or an aftermath? The root of existence or its flower? To those that
believe in God, there is no question. The vital beginning lies in the basis of
all beings, and it is implanted by the Creator.
As soon as life leaves matter, it becomes dead. How it departs is inexplicable. Much as one would wish to catch her at this moment, it flees like quicksilver through fingers. Outlived, torn out, mowed grass — and the form of life given to it by God, has left it. A person dies and his life leaves the body. However, it hasn’t perished. In the destroyed body that has been surrendered to the soil, her place will be slowly occupied by much lower life forms. Yet its life bearing beginning, intellectual, conscious, which we assume consciously, its soul doesn’t die. Before anything, it departs taking with it that which it brought to the body. It brought the person a consciousness in an individual, personal form — and it carries it away, having filled it with substances worthy of eternity (and maybe not so worthy).
Thus
surmises reason. However, the Christian faith gives firm and clear witness to
the immortality of the soul. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul” (Genesis 2:7). God’s breath can never perish! The body perished, and
the “spirit shall return unto God, Who gave it” (Ecclesiasts 12:7). This
is our God-revealed truth, this is our faith.
What evil enunciates in the world.
Alongside
with the emergence around us in Nature of reason, harmony and beauty, we also
see the appearance of a contraposition. We observe frightening catastrophes in
Nature, which inflict suffering and death to living matter, we watch the
blindness and deceitfulness of instinct in the animal kingdom; hostility, the
devouring of the weak by the strong, and finally, illness and death. These
manifestations open our eyes to Nature’s true character, and they do not permit
us to deify it. Thanks to them, we recognize the falsity of pantheism. It is
inherent for a person to seek a higher beginning and worship it. However,
although he sees the presence and activity of this beginning all around
himself, Nature itself cannot be taken as that higher beginning: it possesses
the positive and the negative, it has reason and irrationality, good and evil.
By this, Nature itself suggests to us that there is another Beginning above it
that is perfect and complete. And how can we acknowledge the deity of Nature
when man himself becomes its master? The poet Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy
expressed the duality of Nature — good and evil — in artistic form:
“Only God is light without shadow,
Fused in Him
Is the indivisible unity of all manifestations,
The fullness of everyone’s brightness;
But God’s radiating power
Battles with darkness;
And around Him in times of alarm,
Is the majesty of peace.
The separation of creation
Vengeful chaos doesn’t sleep;
Disfigured and overturned
God’s image in him trembles:
And always full of deceit,
Against God’s goodness
He attempts to raise
Turbid splashing waves.
And the efforts of the evil spirit
To whom the Almighty gave a will,
And the conflict of hostile beginnings
Is enacted once again.
In the struggle of death and birth,
Divinity has established
The eternity of creation,
And its continuance
Through the glory of eternal life.”
Beyond the curtain of that which is visible.
It is
doubtful that any one of us doesn’t have memories of the past, about facts that
speak of ties with the spiritual world — facts that cannot be explained in a
corporeal sense, which give witness that there is an Unsleeping Eye watching
over us. It’s only that many people close their eyes and ears to them, so as
not to see or hear. However, it’s more often that while they remember those
facts, they are not capable of reconciling their lives with what the facts are
saying. During moments of spiritual reflection, this mystery surfaces — only to
return to the secret recesses of their mind. It is rare for people to give
voice to such experiences. This could be because of a person being modest and
unwilling to feature himself in print, or because of doubt — whether he will be
believed — will they interpret that as an invention or the product of spiritual
instability? Nonetheless, some of these facts do find their way into print.
Even if these types of disclosures were accumulated over a year, they would
easily form a book. However, while materialism reigns, would such a book
achieve its aims? “Because seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not”
(Matt. 13:13) and they don’t wish to turn to Him, Who is ready to heal them —
those blind people who declare that on principle, they refuse to acknowledge
miracles.
God’s Judgments.
It is
perfectly clear to a Christian that for his piety, for his faith, he shouldn’t
expect a worldly reward of a pleasant life. The Saviour didn’t promise earthly
abundance to His faithful. It’s no wonder that the symbol of Christianity is
the Cross and Crucifixion. However, human feelings are not alien to a person
and the heart asks: why are the blasphemers rejoicing and prospering — where is
God’s verity?
This
theme has been posed since time immemorial. Among the very first locations that
it can be found is in ancient writings, particularly in the Psalter. The
Psalter presents it passionately, in very audacious and bold exclamations: “O
Lord, Thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the
earth, render to the proud their desert. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how
long shall the wicked triumph? They sprate, they speak arrogantly: All the
workers of iniquity boast themselves. They break in pieces Thy people, O Lord,
and afflict Thine heritage” (Psalm 94). “But as for me, my feet were almost
gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, when I
saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but
their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they
plagued like other men. Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck… And
they say, how doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Psalm
73).
And
in the same Psalm, the Psalmist himself answers his complaints and bafflement,
as well as his despondency over the reigning evil. No, the scales of justice do
exist and retribution does come in its own time. “Surely Thou didst set them in
slippery places, Thou castedst them down into destruction. Howa are they
brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumes with
terrors.” And the Psalmist repents for his former lack of faith: “So brutish as
I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee.” Now, his eyes have been opened:
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire
beside Thee” (Psalm 73).
The
Psalter speaks not only of retribution to the iniquitous, but comforts those
that are true to God and place their trust in Him. On the other hand, its
thoughts can be summarized by the words of a Psalm: “Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 33:19) i.e.
there will be afflictions, but they are transient. God bestows His goodness in
the tranquil heart of those that are faithful to Him. “Oh, how great is Your
goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, in the presence of the
sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the
plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of
tongues” (Psalm 31:19-20). The same joyous words fill the renowned Psalm 90:
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.”
And are there so few among us that after having endured various events in our lives, would not wholeheartedly repeat after the Psalmist, the whole of the 123rd Psalm:
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
Let
When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.’
Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.”
Triune, Trinity God.
We
profess God’s being as “inexpressible, invisible, incomprehensible.. All-Holy
Trinity in One.” God is a Trinity in three Persons, and there is not a senior
or a junior Person among Them. His completeness is expressed in the Trinity;
God is over us, God is with us, God is in all the creation and us.
Over
us is God the Father — the ever-flowing Source, according to the Church prayer,
the Basis of all existence, our Father, our love and we are His children, creation
of His hands.
With
us is God the Son — His birth was due to His divine love, in order that He may
appear to people as a Human, so that we would know and see with our own eyes
that God is with us, in a perfect image, “genuinely” uniting with us.
In
us and all creation is God the Holy Spirit — filling all things: Who fulfils
everything, Lifegiver that Lives in everything and everyone with His own
providential power, cascading His blessing of sanctity on God the Son’s Church,
on the faithful so as to elevate and make them worthy of communion with God in
this world, and make them worthy of eternal life in God.
Apostle
Paul teaches us: “One God and Father of all, who is above all (as the
Holy Fathers interpret, God the Father), through all (God the Son) and
in you all” (God the Holy
Spirit; Eph. 4:6).
During
the Feast of Pentecost, our Church sings: “One
Might, One Substance, one Godhead, which we all worship, saying, Holy God who
created everything through the Son with the help of the Holy Spirit; Holy
Mighty, in whom we knew the Father, and through whom the Holy Spirit came into
the world; Holy Immortal One, the comforting Spirit, proceeding from the Father
and resting in the Son; O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee.”
So that faith is life’s basis.
What
is needed so that faith becomes steady, not shaky, that it controls us, directs
our actions, is active, salutary, curative, comforting? What is needed so that
life’s questions do not agonize, don’t direct us out of spiritual equilibrium?
What is needed so that we are not like reeds that sway with every wind?
For this, we must belong to the Church — both in spirit and body — and live the one life with Her. A sole individual in the field of war is not a significant force. While in the Church — one for all and all for one, under Christ’s guidance and in the grace of the Holy Spirit — the situation is totally different. In Church — like children in our parental homes — we are protected on all sides, have concern over us, spiritual nourishment, spiritual warmth and light. We bring our sorrows to Her, and we find cures for our physical and spiritual illnesses in Her.
We find the fullness of Church life in the temple. In this holy place of worship, we are born through baptism for eternal life, and in this house, we will have our final farewell with earthly life. It will be here that memories of us will be preserved, and upon our death, prayers for us will be raised to heaven.
To those who say: “I don’t see God.”
Would you like to know a person who never demanded anything for himself from life and was always happy with his lot; who never worried about his health — but was always full of energy, was always vigorous even nearly without any rest; didn’t have riches yet gave away thousands; treated the gravely ill without reference to any medicines; never sought glory but was known to all the people; never sought any pleasures and was always joyous; who always has peace in his heart, predisposition toward people, devoid of malice, envy, animosity, feelings of umbrage: full of humility yet performs great deeds; whose mind is lucid and whose heart is open to all; who lives his own deep internal life and at the same time, full of active love for both those close and distant to him?
Such
was Saint John of Kronstadt, a contemporary to the current older generation.
From where did the Kronstadt pastor draw his strength? Father John responds to
this question a number of times in his diary with one and the same expression: “The
Lord is everything to me.” Here are his words:
“Whatever calms me both in thoughts and in my heart, is submitted graphically into my memory for the continual tranquillity of my heart, among life’s concerns and bustle. So what is it? That is the Christian, full of living trust and wonderful, calming power of the statement: the Lord is everything to me. Here is the priceless treasure! Here is a preciousness, with which one can be calm in any situation, with which one can be rich in poverty, and with the acquisition of wealth — generous, and be affable with people; with which even after sinning, one doesn’t lose hope. The Lord is everything to me.”
“The Lord is everything to me: He is the strength of my heart and light of my mind; He directs my heart toward everything that is good; He strengthens it; and He gives me righteous thoughts; He is my tranquillity and joy; He is my faith, hope and love; He is my food, my drink, my attire, He is my abode. Just as a mother is to an infant: the willpower, sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and food, drink, attire, hands and legs, — so is the Lord all this for me, when I totally submit myself to Him.
“The Lord is more perfect than all the goodness, what I think, feel or do. O, how boundlessly wide is the Lord’s active grace within me! The Lord is everything to me, and so clear, so constant. Mine — is only my sinfulness, mine — are only my sins.
“The Lord is my being, the Lord is the deliverance from eternal death, the Lord is my eternal life, the Lord is the cleansing and deliverance from many sins and is my enlightenment, the Lord is the strength against my weaknesses, in my pusillanimity and despondency, the Lord is the life-giving fire in my coldness, the Lord is the light in my darkness, the serenity in my apprehensions, the Lord is the protector in my temptations. He is my thoughts, my aspirations, my activity — love and thank the Lord incessantly! Praise the Lord my soul, and don’t forget all His rewards that cleanse all your iniquities, cure all your infirmities, endows you with kindness and generosity, that fulfils all your good requests.”
“The Lord is everything to us, and we by ourselves can do very little.”
This is the
source of strength and happiness and life that
“Here stands a living person before us: his eyes are focused on us, his ears alert and listening; before us is his body and soul, which we see his body but not his soul. Meanwhile, while we do not see his thoughts, his desires, intentions, there isn’t an instant that his soul was not thinking and living according to its lifestyle. In precisely the same manner, there is a visible nature before, near and inside us, the whole wonderful world of God; we see life in it everywhere, harmonious order, activity — yet we do not see the Cause of life and order, we don’t see the Artist. But in the meantime, He is there at all times and in every place, just like the soul in a body, only not confined by it. There isn’t a short moment in which He, as the All-complete Spirit, All-wise, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, did not think, didn’t pour blessings and wisdom upon His creation. There is not even a split-second when He doesn’t apply His wisdom and omnipotence, because God is a self-activator that is eternally producing. Therefore, in viewing the world, note its Source — God, as being everywhere in it, as the fulfiller, activator and arranger of everything.”
“God’s omnipresence is spatial and mental, i.e. God is everywhere — in relation to space and thought: wherever I go physically or mentally, I will meet God and He will be before me everywhere.”
Aren’t
these magnificent words, uttered by
Missionary Leaflet # E77c
Copyright © 2003 Holy Trinity Orthodox
Editor: Bishop Alexander
(Mileant)
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