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.

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.

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

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:

The whole purpose of the Savior’s commandments

Preoccupation with Material Things

The whole purpose of the Savior’s commandments

Maximos the Confessor (c. 580 – 662), from the Philokalia:

The whole purpose of the Savior’s commandments is to free the intellect from dissipation and hatred, and to lead it to the love of Him and one’s neighbor. From this love springs the light of active holy knowledge.

– Four Hundred Texts on Love, Fourth Century

Along the same lines:

He who always concentrates on the inner life becomes restrained, long-suffering, kind and humble. He will also be able to contemplate, theologize and pray. That is what St Paul meant when he said: ‘Walk in the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:16).

One ignorant of the spiritual path is not on his guard against impassioned conceptual images, but devotes himself entirely to the flesh. He is either a glutton, or licentious, or full of resentment, anger and rancor. As a result he darkens his intellect, or he practices excessive asceticism and so confuses his mind.

Scripture does not forbid anything which God has given us for our use; but it condemns immoderation and thoughtless behavior. For instance, it does not forbid us to eat, or to beget children, or to possess material things and to administer them properly. But it does forbid us to be gluttonous, to fornicate and so on. It does not forbid us to think of these things — they were made to be thought of —  but it forbids us to think of them with passion [by which I think he means with a grasping possessiveness that puts those things in place of God as opposed to enjoying them as gifts from and a means for enjoying God].

– Four Hundred Texts on Love, Fourth Century

Previously from the Philokalia: Preoccupation with Material Things

Preoccupation with Material Things

The Philokalia (Love of the Good/Beautiful) is a collection of writings from the Eastern Church, mostly from the first millennium and  mostly centering on practicing the disciplines and virtues of radical discipleship which lead us toward the good and beautiful life incarnated by Jesus Christ. It can be found online here. I have found the Philokalia a provocative and edifying resource. I quoted excerpts from it in my last post and also here.  I intend to post a quote or excerpt from various authors found in the Philokalia on Fridays during Lent.

 

Here is a passage from St Neilos The Ascetic on the scandal of Christians preoccupied with material things:

So great is our preoccupation with material things that we feel no shame when, on breaking the Savior’s commandments, we are rebuked even by those whom we despise because they still live 'in the world'; for they now teach us instead of us teaching them. When we are quarrelling, they remind us that 'the servant of Christ must not engage in strife, but be gentle to all men'(2 Tim. 2:24); when we are disputing about money and possessions, they quote to us the text, 'If anyone. . .takes away your coat, let him have your cloak also'(Matt. 5:40). They ridicule and deride us because of the incongruity between our actions and our vocation. Indeed, is it ever right to engage in disputes in order to protect our property? Suppose that someone destroys the boundary of our vineyard and adds it to his own land: someone else lets his animal loose in it; and someone else diverts the water supply from our garden. Must we then lose all self-control in such situations, and become worse than madmen? But in that case our intellect, which should be engaged in the contemplation of created beings, must now give its attention to lawsuits, turning its contemplative power to worldly cunning, so as to defend a quantity of unnecessary possessions.

– Ascetic Discourse