log
+12.16.02: from st augustine's contents
of christian doctrine: 4.But now as to those who talk vauntingly
of Divine Grace, and boast that they understand and can explain Scripture
without the aid of such directions as those I now propose to lay down, and
who think, therefore, that what I have undertaken to write is entirely superfluous.
I would such persons could calm themselves so far as to remember that, however
justly they may rejoice in God's great gift, yet it was from human teachers
they themselves learnt to read. Now, they would hardly think it right that
they should for that reason be held in contempt by the Egyptian monk Antony,
a just and holy man, who, not being able to read himself, is said to have
committed the Scriptures to memory through hearing them read by others,
and by dint of wise meditation to have arrived at a thorough understanding
of them;... let us put away false pride
and learn whatever can be learnt from man; and let him who teaches another
communicate what he has himself received without arrogance and without jealousy.
And do not let us tempt Him in whom we have believed, lest, being ensnared
by such wiles of the enemy and by our own perversity, we may even refuse
to go to the churches to hear the gospel itself, or to read a book, or to
listen to another reading or preaching, in the hope that we shall be carried
up to the third heaven, "whether in the body or out of the body," as the
apostle says, and there hear unspeakable words, such as it is not lawful
for man to utter, or see the Lord Jesus Christ and hear the gospel from
His own lips rather than from those of men.
Let us beware of such dangerous temptations of pride, and let us rather
consider the fact that the Apostle Paul himself, although stricken down
and admonished by the voice of God from heaven, was yet sent to a man to
receive the sacraments and be admitted into the Church; and that Cornelius
the centurion. although an angel announced to him that his prayers were
heard and his alms had in remembrance, was yet handed over to Peter for
instruction, and not only received the sacraments from the apostle's hands,
but was also instructed by him as to the proper objects of faith, hope,
and love. And without doubt it was possible to have done everything through
the instrumentality of angels, but the condition of our race would have
been much more degraded if God had not chosen to make use of men as the
ministers of His word to their fellow-men. For how could that be true which
is written, "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are," if God gave
forth no oracles from His human temple, but communicated everything that
He wished to be taught to men by voices from heaven, or through the ministration
of angels? Moreover, love itself, which binds men together in the bond of
unity, would have no means of pouring soul into soul, and, as it were, mingling
them one with another, if men never learnt anything from their fellow-men.
And we know that the eunuch who was reading Isaiah the prophet, and did
not understand what he read, was not sent by the apostle to an angel, nor
was it an angel who explained to him what he did not understand, nor was
he inwardly illuminated by the grace of God without the interposition of
man; on the contrary, at the suggestion of God, Philip, who did understand
the prophet, came to him, and sat with him, and in human words, and with
a human tongue, opened to him the Scriptures. Did not God talk with Moses,
and yet he, with great wisdom and entire absence of jealous pride, accepted
the plan of his father-in-law, a man of an alien race, for ruling and administering
the affairs of the great nation entrusted to him? For Moses knew that a
wise plan, in whatever mind it might originate, was to be ascribed not to
the man who devised it, but to Him who is the Truth, the unchangeable God.
+12.15.02: from st gregory the theologian's second
oration: But the scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings,
to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which
is in His image, if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in danger,
or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the heart by the Spirit:
and, in short, to deify, and bestow heavenly bliss upon, one who belongs
to the heavenly host.
This is the wish of our schoolmaster the law, of the prophets who intervened
between Christ and the law, of Christ who is the fulfiller and end of the
spiritual law; of the emptied Godhead, of the assumed flesh, of the novel
union between God and man, one consisting of two, and both in one. This
is why God was united to the flesh by means of the soul, and natures so
separate were knit together by the affinity to each of the element which
mediated between them: so all became one for the sake of all, and for the
sake of one, our progenitor, the soul because of the soul which was disobedient,
the flesh because of the flesh which co-operated with it and shared in its
condemnation, Christ, Who was superior to, and beyond the reach of, sin,
because of Adam, who became subject to sin.
from st gregory of nyssa's great
catechism: But possibly one who has given his attention to the course
of the preceding remarks may inquire: "wherein is the power of the Deity,
wherein is the imperishableness of that Divine power, to be traced in the
processes you have described?" In order, therefore, to make this also clear,
let us take a survey of the sequel of the Gospel mystery, where that Power
conjoined with Love is more especially exhibited. In the first place, then,
that the omnipotence of the Divine nature should have had strength to descend
to the humiliation of humanity, furnishes a clearer proof of that omnipotence
than even the greatness and supernatural character of the miracles. For
that something pre-eminently great should be wrought out by Divine power
is, in a manner, in accordance with, and consequent upon the Divine nature;
nor is it startling to hear it said that the whole of the created world,
and all that is understood to be beyond the range of visible things, subsists
by the power of God, His will giving it existence according to His good
pleasure. But this His descent to the humility of man is a kind of superabundant
exercise of power, which thus finds no check even in directions which contravene
nature. It is the peculiar property of the essence of fire to tend upwards;
no one therefore, deems it wonderful in the case of flame to see that natural
operation. But should the flame be seen to stream downwards, like heavy
bodies, such a fact would be regarded as a miracle; namely, how fire still
remains fire, and yet, by this change of direction in its motion, passes
out of its nature by being borne downward. In like manner, it is not the
vastness of the heavens, and the bright shining of its constellations, and
the order of the universe and the unbroken administration over all existence
that so manifestly displays the transcendent power of the Deity, as this
condescension to the weakness of our nature; the way, in fact, in which
sublimity, existing in lowliness, is actually seen in lowliness, and yet
descends not from its height, and in which Deity, entwined as it is with
the nature of man, becomes this, and yet still is that. For since, as has
been said before, it was not in the nature of the opposing power to come
in contact with the undiluted presence of God, and to undergo His unclouded
manifestation, therefore, in order to secure that the ransom in our behalf
might be easily accepted by him who required it, the Deity was hidden under
the veil of our nature, that so, as with ravenous fish, the hook of the
Deity might be gulped down along with the bait of flesh, and thus, life
being introduced into the house of death, and light shining in darkness,
that which is diametrically opposed to light and life might vanish; for
it is not in the nature of darkness to remain when light is present, or
of death to exist when life is active. Let us, then, by way of summary take
up the train of the arguments for the Gospel mystery, and thus complete
our answer to those who question this Dispensation of God, and show them
on what ground it is that the Deity by a personal intervention works out
the salvation of man. It is certainly most necessary that in every point
the conceptions we entertain of the Deity should be such as befit the subject,
and not that, while one idea worthy of His sublimity should be retained,
another equally belonging to that estimate of Deity should be dismissed
from it; on the contrary, every exalted notion, every devout thought, must
most surely enter into our belief in God, and each must be made dependent
on each in a necessary sequence. Well, then; it has been pointed out that
His goodness, wisdom, justice, power, incapability of decay, are all of
them in evidence in the doctrine of the Dispensation in which we are. His
goodness is caught sight of in His election to save lost man; His wisdom
and justice have been displayed in the method of our salvation; His power,
in that, though born in the likeness and fashion of a man, on the lowly
level of our nature, and in accordance with that likeness raising the expectation
that he could be overmastered by death, he, after such a birth, nevertheless
produced the effects peculiar and natural to Him. Now it is the peculiar
effect of light to make darkness vanish, and of life to destroy death. Since,
then, we have been led astray from the right path, and diverted from that
life which was ours at the beginning, and brought under the sway of death,
what is there improbable in the lesson we are taught by the Gospel mystery,
if it be this; that cleansing reaches those who are befouled with sin, and
life the dead, and guidance the wanderers, in order that defilement may
be cleansed, error corrected, and what was dead restored to life?
+12.12.02: i am reading 'the meaning
of history' by nicholas berdayev, in which he makes the following statement:
"In the Christian world, everything is based on the sacred tradition
and its acceptance. But historical criticism set out to discredit this tradition.
It had begun to do so already in the age of the Reformation, which was the
first to doubt the sacred tradition. The work of discrediting it was developed
until it led ultimately to the discrediting of the Scriptures themselves,
which were in reality an inalienable part of the sacred tradition. Therefore
the denial of the sacred tradition involves that of the Scriptures in their
turn."
+10.23.02: on the spirit of dejection: ...we have to resist the pangs
of gnawing dejection: for if this, through separate attacks made at random,
and by haphazard and casual changes, has secured an opportunity of gaining
possession of our mind it keeps us back at all times from all insight in
divine contemplation, and utterly ruins and depresses the mind that has
fallen away from its complete state of purity. It does not allow it to say
its prayers with its usual gladness of heart, nor permit it to rely on the
comfort of reading the sacred writings, nor suffer it to be quiet and gentle
with the brethren; it makes it impatient and rough in all the duties of
work and devotion: and, as all wholesome counsel is lost, and steadfastness
of heart destroyed, it makes the feelings almost mad and drunk, and crushes
and overwhelms them with penal despair.
Wherefore if we are anxious to exert ourselves lawfully in the struggle
of our spiritual combat we ought with no less care to set about healing
this malady also. For "as the moth injures the garment, and the worm the
wood, so dejection the heart of man." (Prov.
xxv. 20 (LXX.)) With sufficient clearness and appropriateness has the
Divine Spirit expressed the force of this dangerous and most injurious fault....
And so God, the creator of all things, having regard above everything to
the amendment of His own work, and because the roots and causes of our falls
are found not in others, but in ourselves, commands that we should not give
up intercourse with our brethren, nor avoid those who we think have been
hurt by us, or by whom we have been offended, but bids us pacify them, knowing
that perfection of heart is not secured by separating from men so much as
by the virtue of patience. Which when it is securely held, as it can keep
us at peace even with those who hate peace, so, if it has not been acquired,
it makes us perpetually differ from those who are perfect and better than
we are: for opportunities for disturbance, on account of which we are eager
to get away from those with whom we are connected, will not be wanting so
long as we are living among men; and therefore we shall not escape altogether,
but only change the causes of dejection on account of which we separated
from our former friends.
--chapters one, two and seven of book
nine of st john cassian's institutes
+10.22.02: Now, I am not saying that it is not needful to remember God
at all times; ... I must not be misunderstood, or I shall be having these
nimble and quick people down upon me again. For we ought to think of God
even more often than we draw our breath; and if the expression is permissible,
we ought to do nothing else. Yea, I am one of those who entirely approve
that Word which bids us meditate day and night, and tell at eventide and
morning and noon day, and praise the Lord at every time; or, to use Moses'
words, whether a man lie down, or rise up, or walk by the way, or whatever
else he be doing--and by this recollection we are to be moulded to purity.
So that it is not the continual remembrance of God that I would hinder,
but only the talking about God; nor even that as in itself wrong, but only
when unseasonable; nor all teaching, but only want of moderation. As of
even honey repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce vomiting;
and, as Solomon says and I think, there is a time for every thing, and that
which is good ceases to be good if it be not done in a good way; just as
a flower is quite out of season in winter, and just as a man's dress does
not become a woman, nor a woman's a man; and as geometry is out of place
in mourning, or tears at a carousal; shall we in this instance alone disregard
the proper time, in a matter in which most of all due season should be respected?
Surely not, my friends and brethren (for I will still call you Brethren,
though you do not behave like brothers). Let us not think so nor yet, like
hot tempered and hard mouthed horses, throwing off our rider Reason, and
casting away Reverence, that keeps us within due limits, run far away from
the turning point? but let us philosophize within our proper bounds, and
not be carried away into Egypt, nor be swept down into Assyria, nor sing
the Lord's song in a strange land, by which I mean before any kind of audience,
strangers or kindred, hostile or friendly, kindly or the reverse, who watch
what we do with over great care, and would like the spark of what is wrong
in us to become a flame, and secretly kindle and fan it and raise it to
heaven with their breath and make it higher than the Babylonian flame which
burnt up every thing around it. For since their strength lies not in their
own dogmas, they hunt for it in our weak points. And therefore they apply
themselves to our--shall I say "misfortunes" or "failings"?--like flies
to wounds. But let us at least be no longer ignorant of ourselves, or pay
too little attention to the due order in these matters. And if it be impossible
to put an end to the existing hostility, let us at least agree upon this,
that we will utter Mysteries under our breath, and holy things in a holy
manner, and we will not cast to ears profane that which may not be uttered,
nor give evidence that we possess less gravity than those who worship demons,
and serve shameful fables and deeds; for they would sooner give their blood
to the uninitiated than certain words. But let us recognize that as in dress
and diet and laughter and demeanour there is a certain decorum, so there
is also in speech and silence; since among so many titles and powers of
God, we pay the highest honour to The Word. Let even our disputings then
be kept within bounds.
--from st gregory the theologian's first
theological oration
+10.21.02: how pure and sincere prayer can be gained. And therefore
in order that prayer may be offered up with that earnestness and purity
with which it ought to be, we must by all means observe these rules. First
all anxiety about carnal things must be entirely got rid of; next we must
leave no room for not merely the care but even the recollection of any business
affairs, and in like manner also must lay aside all backbitings, vain and
incessant chattering, and buffoonery; anger above all and disturbing moroseness
must be entirely destroyed, and the deadly taint of carnal lust and covetousness
be torn up by the roots. And so when these and such like faults which are
also visible to the eyes of men, are entirely removed and cut off, and when
such a purification and cleansing, as we spoke of, has first taken place,
which is brought about by pure simplicity and innocence, then first there
must be laid the secure foundations of a deep humility, which may be able
to support a tower that shall reach the sky; and next the spiritual structure
of the virtues must be built up upon them, and the soul kept free from all
conversation and from roving thoughts that thus it may by little and little
begin to rise to the contemplation of God and to spiritual insight. For
whatever our mind has been thinking of before the hour of prayer, is sure
to occur to us while we are praying through the activity of the memory.
Wherefore what we want to find ourselves like while we are praying, that
we ought to prepare ourselves to be before the time for prayer. For the
mind in prayer is formed by its previous condition, and when we are applying
ourselves to prayer the images of the same actions and words and thoughts
will dance before our eyes, and make us either angry, as in our previous
condition, or gloomy, or recall our former lust and business, or make us
shake with foolish laughter (which I am ashamed to speak of) at some silly
joke, or smile at some action, or fly back to our previous conversation.
And therefore if we do not want anything to haunt us while we are praying,
we should be careful before our prayer, to exclude it from the shrine of
our heart, that we may thus fulfill the Apostle's injunction: "Pray without
ceasing;" and: "In every place lifting up holy hands without wrath or disputing."
For otherwise we shall not be able to carry out that charge unless our mind,
purified from all stains of sin, and given over to virtue as to its natural
good, is fed on the continual contemplation of Almighty God.
--from third chapter of the ninth
conference of st john cassian
+10.13.02: my son justin is eighteen months old. a while back, he learned
what an apple was. then everything even remotely resembling an apple was,
well, an apple. then i showed him a tomato and he exclaimed, "apple."
i said, "no, tomato." he replied, "nugamah." now, we
have a distinction between fruit and vegetables, with all fruit being apples.
unfortunately, squash are also nugamahs. after extensive research, it turns
out that all vegetables are nugamahs. we don't know where the word nugamah
comes from but, as proud parents, we, of course, emphasize the fact that
our 18 month old knows the general difference between fruits and vegetables.
the most unfortunate part, and a rule which may hold with most things 18
month olds do, is that, because he won't remember, we will never know exactly
why a vegetable is a nugamah....
+10.10.02: first entry. in a book called "letters from fr seraphim,"
fr alexey young recorded the heiromonk of blessed memory asking him if he
had a journal in which he took down quotes from the holy fathers. this,
of course, assumes one is actually reading the holy fathers, not to mention
the scriptures. so...the epistle reading for today is Ephesians 1:1-9. verses
five and six say, "He destined us in love to be his sons through
Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his
glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."
and st john chrysostom comments, " That
is to say, He hath not only released us from our sins, but hath also made
us meet objects of His love. It is as though one were to take a leper, wasted
by distemper, and disease, by age, and poverty, and famine, and were to
turn him all at once into a graceful youth, surpassing all mankind in beauty,
shedding a bright lustre from his cheeks, and eclipsing the sun-beams with
the glances of his eyes; and then were to set him in the very flower of
his age, and after that array him in purple and a diadem and all the attire
of royalty. It is thus that God hath arrayed and adorned this soul of ours,
and clothed it with beauty, and rendered it an object of His delight and
love. Such a soul Angels desire to look into, yea, Archangels, and all the
holy ones. Such grace hath He shed over us, so dear hath He rendered us
to Himself. "The King," saith the Psalmist, "shall greatly desire thy beauty."
(Ps. xlv: II.) Think what injurious words we uttered heretofore, and look,
what gracious words we utter now. Wealth has no longer charms for us, nor
the things that are here below, but only heavenly things, the things that
are in the heavens. When a child has outward beauty, and has besides a pervading
grace in all its sayings, do we not call it a beautiful child? Such as this
are the faithful. Look, what words the initiated utter! What can be more
beautiful than that mouth that breathes those wondrous words, and with a
pure heart and pure lips, and beaming with cheerful confidence, partaketh
of such a mystical table? What more beautiful than the words, with which
we renounce the service of the Devil, and enlist in the service of Christ?
than both that confession which is before the Baptismal laver, and that
which is after it? Let us reflect as many of us as have defiled our Baptism,
and weep that we may be able again to repair it.
if you were wondering why chrysostom means "golden mouth," there
it is.