Friday, March 22, 2013

Baptism, Grace, & Obedience

For the last Friday of Lent, here are some quotes from Mark the Ascetic (5th century) found in the Philokalia. All but one of the following come from his treatise, On Those Who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works:

Grace has been given mystically to those who have been baptized into Christ; and it becomes active within them to the extent that they actively observe the commandments. Grace never ceases to help us secretly; but to do good – as far as lies in our power – depends on us.

Everyone baptized in the orthodox manner has received mystically the fullness of grace; but he becomes conscious of this grace only to the extent that he observes the commandments.

To him who hungers for Christ grace is food; to him who is thirsty, a reviving drink; to him who is cold, a garment; to him who is weary, rest; to him who prays, assurance; to him who mourns, consolation.

He who relies on theoretical knowledge alone is not yet a faithful servant: a faithful servant is one who expresses his faith in Christ through obedience to His commandments.

Each man’s knowledge is genuine to the extent that it is confirmed by gentleness, humility, and love.

He who wants to cross the spiritual sea is long-suffering, humble, vigilant, and self-controlled. If he impetuously embarks on it without these four virtues, he agitates his heart, but cannot cross.

The self-controlled refrain from gluttony; those who have renounced possessions, from greed; the tranquil from loquacity; the pure, from self-indulgence; the modest, from unchastity; the self-dependent, from avarice; the gentle, from agitation; the humble, from self-esteem; the obedient, from quarrelling; the self-critical, from hypocrisy. Similarly, those who pray are protected from despair; the poor, from having many possessions; confessors of the faith, from denial; martyrs, from idolatry.

Every word of Christ shows us God’s mercy, justice and wisdom and, if we listen gladly, their power enters into us. That is why the unmerciful and unjust, listening to Christ with repugnance, were not able to understand the wisdom of God, but even crucified Him for teaching it. So we, too, should ask ourselves whether we  listen to Him gladly. For He said, ‘He who loves Me will keep my commandments, and he will be loved by My Father., and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him’ (cf. John 14:21). Do you see how He has hidden His manifestation in the commandments? Of all the commandments, therefore, the most comprehensive is to love God and our neighbor. This love is made firm through abstaining from material things, and through stillness of thoughts.

[Self-control] erodes the outer man, refining him, stripping him down to the bone, so that through faith, ascetic effort and the energy of grace the inner man may be ‘renewed day by day’ (2 Corinthians 4:16), advancing to the higher state. He grows in love, is adorned with gentleness, rejoices greatly in spirit, is ruled by the peace of Christ, led by kindness, guarded by goodness, protected by fear of God, enlightened by understanding and knowledge, illumined by wisdom, guided by humility. The intellect, renewed by the Spirit through these and similar virtues, discovers within itself the divine image, and perceives the spiritual and ineffable beauty of the divine likeness; and so, learning from itself, it attains the rich wisdom of the inner law.
(Letter to Nicholas the Solitary)

Prayer is called a virtue, but in reality it is the mother of all virtues: for it gives birth to them through union with Christ.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Like a spirited dog

In this week’s selection from the Philokalia, St Hesychios warns against indulging in the misapplication of that God-given power that enables us to resist evil and pursue the good. This power is misused when it is turned toward other people in anger as opposed to turning in toward our own sinfulness and those powers that tempt us:

The incensive power by nature is prone to be destructive. If it is turned against demonic thoughts it destroys them; but if it is roused against people it then destroys the good thoughts that are in us. In other words, the incensive power, although God-given as a weapon, or a bow against evil thoughts, can be turned the other way and used to destroy good thoughts as well, for it destroys whatever it is directed against. I have seen a spirited dog destroying equally both wolves and sheep.
On Watchfulness and Holiness

A little later he suggests, as other early Church fathers did that anger toward other is an unnatural passion:

The incensive power roused in an unnatural fashion against men, sorrow that does not accord with God's will and listlessness are all equally destructive of holy thoughts and spiritual knowledge. If we confess these things the Lord will rid us of them and fill us with joy.
On Watchfulness and Holiness
 
Incensive power is a technical term used by the early Church fathers:

The incensive aspect or power (to thymikon) which often manifests itself as wrath or anger, but which can be more generally defined as the force provoking vehement feelings. [This] aspect or power can be used positively to repel demonic attacks . . . but it can also, when not controlled, lead to self-indulgent, disruptive thought and action.
The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1); Compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Markarios of Corinth, p. 358

St. Hesychios and other Church fathers did not make this up. They got it from Jesus who warned that anger is a species of murder (cf. Matthew 5:21-22). One gets the impression that for Jesus and the early Church, anger is like nitroglycerine – it can be used to break down barriers between people, but is more often used to blow up bridges between people or to fuel our own ego and self-righteousness. As such, it should be left to the truly spiritually mature who can discern the difference. The rest of us are just children playing with dynamite. Or spirited dogs that cannot distinguish wolves from sheep.

For more from the Philokalia click here.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Every word of Christ shows us God’s mercy

Mark the Ascetic  (5th century) from the Philokalia:

Every word of Christ shows us God’s mercy, justice and wisdom and, if we listen gladly, their power enters into us. That is the unmerciful and the unjust, listening to Christ with repugnance, were not able to understand the wisdom of God, but even crucified Him for teaching it. So we, too, should ask ourselves whether we listen to Him gladly. For He said, ‘He who loves me will keep My commandments, and he will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him’ (cf. John 14:21). Do you see how He has hidden His manifestation in the commandments? Of all the commandments, therefore, the most comprehensive is to love God and our neighbor. This love is made firm through abstaining from material things, and through stillness of thoughts.
On Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works

Friday, March 1, 2013

If you wish to know who you are

Three quotes from the Philokalia:

For our natural being engenders no bad thoughts; in the beginning we were not evil, because the Lord sowed good seed in his field.– Evagrios

The heart contains good naturally and evil unnaturally. Evil gives rise to passions of the soul, such as condemnation, hatred, vainglory and the like.
St. Anthony the Great, Directions on Life in Christ

If you wish to know who you are, do not look at what you have been, but at what you were originally created to be. – Evagrios.

Previously from the Philokalia: