Topics of Succession

The following is a discourse I had with a friend on Facebook. He calls himself the "Abnormal Anabaptist" and he is a good man of sound and profound faith. His concerns with the Orthodox and Catholic teaching on Apostolic Succession is illustrative, I think, of the misconception some of our Protestant brethren have regarding this doctrine. I hope perhaps it will be helpful to others who may have similar concerns. 

I guess I see "Apostolic Succession" as the doctrine that gives men positions of authority because they are in some way connected directly to men of the past. If that's the case, all believers who study the Scriptures fall under Apostolic Succession because, to some degree, they have all received teaching handed down from the apostles to their followers. I see this as distinct, if only by certain nuances, to the discernment used to determine what is canon and what is not. The difference is that it was followers of Jesus trying to discern what were the important texts to hand down in order to test and hold men accountable. Apostolic Succession is where the men themselves are the standard to which men are held accountable and I see that as a bit of a problem.I know the differences are subtle and that the authority of the men who determined the canon comes from some sense of the succession...but now that we do have the canon as the standard, those men who come after should then submit to that authority imparted to the canon because of that purpose. [ ]

.... I do not feel that there is an inherently hierarchical nature to the intended structure of the church. Yes, some men and women are wiser, more learned, but I don't think necessarily they should be placed in a position where they cannot be called to account for deviations from the standard that the church as community agreed upon. So if a pastor or elder or overseer strays from that standard, the lowliest believer who recognizes it can call them to account...not for pride, but for the good of the whole body. As I have seen Apostolic Succession invoked by some (perhaps not here), this does not seem to happen...the priest, pope, father, is unquestioned...their word is considered on par with the truth of the canon...and that I don't feel is right.

This is not what Apostolic Succession is; that is not it's purpose or function. Christ said that all authority was His and He transmitted that authority to His apostles in a direct way when He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit; that which you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, that which you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ... " and, "... those whose sins you forgive they will be forgiven, those whose sins you retain will be retained." (I'm not going to give citations here because I know you know the Bible well enough to know where all these are.) He gave them His own authority, the power of forgiving sins and binding and loosing and commissioned them and sent them out to "make disciples of all nations" and to baptize. They received the fullness of empowerment at Pentecost. What they received they transmitted to their successors. It had to be transmitted because the "gifts of God are irrevocable" and His word "does not return to Him empty but accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent". All of this was set in place not to give men positions of authority but to ensure that the sacred deposit of Faith in its fullness would be carried on and safeguarded, which resulted in the setting of the Canon and the Creed and would continue beyond and alongside these. 

Apostolic Succession does not make some men the standard to which others are held accountable; it makes those upon whom it is bestowed accountable to the Good Shepherd and to His sheep, because He told them, "Feed my sheep", and because "to those whom much has been given, much will be expected". This is a heavy burden, one not to be coveted. I know because it has been given to me and it will be expected of me. There is far more to Apostolic Succession than a believer studying the Scriptures and receiving teaching from them. Deacons and Priests (and other types of ministers) are *ordained*; Bishops are *consecrated* and there is a reason for this distinction. There is a mystical and transcendental connection that comes from the essential element involved in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, that being, the Laying-on-of-Hands. This is distinctly different than the general notion of laying-on-of-hands in that one can only confer/transmit that which one already possesses. In the sense of the "priesthood of all believers" all Christians can lay hands for the purpose of healing and a number of other things. The Bishop is consecrated by the laying-on-of-hands by three other bishops for the distinct purpose of conferring/transmitting Apostolic Succession and the authority of Christ. The laying-on-of-hands in this sense evolved from the Jewish practice of the father bestowing the hierarchical blessing on his firstborn and heir (as in Isaac and Jacob, Jacob and Ephraim / Manassah, etc).

... that I do not feel that there is an inherently hierarchical nature to the intended structure of the church.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone that studies the Scriptures can miss it. The implication is everywhere, in both Testaments. In the OT God said of Himself that He was king over His people. He called Prophets to prophesy and Judges to judge. Then the people wanted a king to rule over them so He gave them one which led to the Davidic Dynasty from which Christ descended. In Jewish temple worship there was a hierarchy of ministers, at the top of which was the High Priest descended from Aaron. It's obvious that Christ throughout His ministry recognized this hierarchy even though He Himself was not subject to it. He told the leper to "go and show yourself to the priest" and again, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." In the Book of Acts, where we see the very beginnings of the Church, we see the foundation of hierarchical structure when the Apostles appointed subordinates - the seven Deacons (deacon from diakonos meaning "one who serves") - so that they could concentrate on the primary mission of preaching the Gospel. In fact, all four "orders" which form the government of the Church - laity, deacons, presbyters and bishops - are clearly visible in St. Paul's first letter to Timothy. The laity are also called "saints", the "faithful" and "brethren". Presbyters or "elders" are visible, their ministry from the start being to "rule", "labor in the world", and teach true "doctrine". St. Paul appointed elders in every local church and later instructed his apostolic apprentice, Titus, to do the same. 

(In no way is the ordained Christian priesthood seen as a throwback to or a reenacting of the OT priesthood. Rather, joined to Christ Who is our High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek", Orthodox and Catholic priests are likewise ministers of a new covenant that supersedes the old.) 

The bishop is the "overseer" of the congregation and clergy in a given area. (Often the terms "bishop" and "elder" are used interchangeably in the NT with the bishop being the leader of the elders.) Nonetheless the bishopric is a specific office both in the NT and in the early Church. The Twelve were the first to hold this office (in Acts 1:20 "office" could literally be translated as "bishopric"). Early records show James was the bishop of Jerusalem by AD 49 and functioned accordingly at the first council there (Acts 15). Peter is on record as the first bishop of Antioch prior to AD 53 and later first bishop of Rome where he was martyred about AD 65. Perhaps the strongest early reference outside the NT to the presence of the four orders in church government occurs in the writings of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch from AD 67 to 107, the very heart of the New Testament era. To the church at Philadelphia he writes of "Christians [laity] at one with the bishop and the presbyters and the deacons". In another letter he writes: "Let everyone revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, the bishop as the image (literally "icon") of the Father and the priests as the senate of God for without them one cannot speak of the Church". 

In Orthodoxy spiritual authority is present in all four orders, with the bishop providing the center of unity. His authority is not over the church but within the church. He is an icon of Jesus Christ, "the Shepherd and Overseer [bishop] of your souls" (1Pet.2). Church leadership does not consist of one or more of the orders functioning without the others. Rather, the Church, with Christ as Head, is structured and conducted like a family, the Body of Christ, where all the members in their given offices work together as the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity.

Now, the sad thing is that, over time, as *the* Church evolved, some jurisdictions (even I daresay Orthodox ones) have become more "institutional". Bishops have become more administrators than shepherds and arch-pastors, priests more academics than laborers and the diaconate has come to be regarded as little more than a "stepping-stone" to the priesthood. Also the laity, in some cases, have either come to exercise too much control over the clergy or they have become more "sheeple" than sheep. All of this represents imbalance in the church which leads to disorder, disunity, scandal, heresy, schism and all the rest. This is partly why our Religious Community is only "affiliated" with that institution called the Anglican Communion. As a bishop I am of course accountable to Christ and to the people whom He has entrusted to me but I also must be accountable to a group of bishops that even the "lowliest believer" can appeal to in the event (God forbid!) I go astray. But that is as far as my institutionalism goes. I believe that the balance within the family of God and the Body of Christ is best achieved and maintained in the small Eucharistic Community. This is not to say that I deny "The Church" - the Church is real and it is really present in the world; it is mystical but not invisible. But I also believe there is such a thing as the Church of the Heart, and in such a sense we are all really One.

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The Fullness of Crumbs

We do not presume to come to this Thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy Table. But Thou art the same Lord, Whose property is always to have mercy …

-- Beginning of The Prayer of Humble Access,

from the Book of Common Prayer.

In the traditional Anglican Rite, this prayer precedes the Communion rite. It is a prayer with deep meaning and I reflect on it here as it relates to something I heard recently.

A retired gentleman I know (an electrician by trade), like many others in these hard economic times has found it difficult to make ends meet on just his retirement. So, as a rather accomplished woodworker, he makes hand-crafts to sell. His profit margin is not very high at all but he does it for the love of it; (he keeps a picture of St. Joseph in his workshop and frequently invokes his help and intercession). We sit around in his garage/workshop and talk about things and he said to me once, “Sales used to be pretty steady. Now it seems like God is just throwing us scraps.” As a hand-crafter myself (though not with wood) I understood his meaning and the hint of despondency in his voice resonated with me. It got me thinking about scraps. And crumbs.

In an age when so many churches and pastors preach a Gospel of social prosperity those who fall prey to believing such a false concept naturally cannot understand why, when they seem to be doing what is right and good, they do not prosper financially. Of course, many of the preachers of such a gospel seem to prosper well enough as do many who seem to have no regard for God at all. In the face of all this it is easy to understand why some give into despair and even begin to envy and resent those who have more than they. Some even make it the thrust of their political ideology under the guise of “justice”. But the bringing about of justice – true justice that is -  is the property of God, not of philosophies or ideological political systems. It is not for us Christians to try and affect the outcome of history. We do well to heed the advice of the Psalmist:

Do not fret because of the wicked; do not envy those who do evil: for they wither quickly like grass and fade like the green of the fields. Be still before the Lord and wait in patience; do not fret at the man who prospers; a man who makes evil plots to bring down the needy and the poor. Calm your anger and forget your rage; do not fret, it only leads to evil (Ps. 37).

Back to scraps and crumbs.

When I think of scraps and crumbs I naturally think of something that is a remnant, a leftover, something that is lacking wholeness or fullness. But when I reflect on the gifts and activities of God – His life-giving energies (My grace is sufficient for you), the sacrifice of His Only-Begotten Son ( .. it is finished), the indwelling of the All-Holy Spirit ( .. who will teach you all things) – I can see nothing that is lacking. All is filled and being fulfilled – in Christ. Is this perspective based on my having wealth and possessions? It is not. In times past I have had a lot and I squandered a lot. Now I survive on the crumbs that fall from God’s Table, and that is sufficient for this time and place in my life, according to His Most Excellent Will. I am not concerned with what or how much someone else has for they would not have it if God had not allowed it to be so. Nor do I seek to benefit from the redistribution of others property. I am concerned with being grateful for and a good steward of what He has given and entrusted to me.

Nothing God does or gives is lacking or deficient in any way. God is Good and everything He does and gives is completely and wholly good. He gives us fullness and we offer Him leftovers and complain about our circumstances. We throw Him our scraps and pity ourselves because we have received only crumbs. If we are unable to perceive God’s love and wholesome Goodness in the midst of our circumstances and in some sense learn to be at peace with the circumstances because of the Goodness within, then the transformation that comes through the renewing of our minds is not yet complete and we are still conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2). The deficiency is on our part, not God’s.

If we can let go of our grievances and not fret over disparities; live humbly and honestly before Him, occupying our minds with all that is good, pure, true, noble and beautiful and enduring to the end whatever comes, we will be saved and lack for nothing that is good.

Does this mean we will never struggle with the means to obtain the things we need and sometimes want? No. We will struggle. Some will struggle more than others. But we will not be overcome if our heart’s desire is fixed on God.

It is in the midst of the hardest struggles when God showers us with the crumbs from His Table. We must never be afraid or ashamed to look for and gather up these crumbs, for each one of them is a full meal and contains its own unique abundance.

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The Orthodox Understanding of the Gospel

Many, many Thanks to Saint Justin the Philosopher Foundation for Orthodox Christian Apologetics for this incredible offering.

 http://www.facebook.com/orthodoxapologetics

Many Protestants ask Orthodox Christians what the Orthodox understanding of the Gospel is. This is our attempt at explaining to Protestants (and others) what the gospel is: 

The gospel is that the kingdom of Heaven has broken into our realm through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we have an incorrect understanding of what these things mean, this will lead to large errors of practice, which will seriously impair our entrance to the kingdom of God. For example, Calvinist theologian Sinclair Ferguson describes his spiritual life as "dragging his sin before the Cross." By this, he means putting penal substitution into practice. When he sins, he feels guilty because God is angry at him. At this point, he remembers that God already punished Jesus for his sin, so he "drags it before the Cross" to rid himself of guilt. But what does this do to actually deify him? Note the word "deify." Ferguson has never used that word to describe salvation. But "deification" is the substance of salvation. Let me explain.Our Lord, the pre-eternal Son and Word of the Father, is fully divine. He has, from all eternity, had all the properties of deity common to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man was created in the Image and Likeness of God. The Holy Fathers interpret this to mean that man reflects certain properties of God, but does not reflect them fully. This is not a "shortcoming", but rather a statement that God is infinite, and the brightness of man's reflection of God can increase forever and ever. So Adam was "very good." But He was not as good as he possibly could be. If he was, the Hebrew would say "very very good." Adam was granted authority over the garden. As he partook of the grace of God, he himself would reflect God ever more brightly, and, as the steward of God's creation, the "high priest", one might say, he would lead all Creation to more brightly reflect the grace of God. At this point we must briefly comment on the meaning of "grace" according to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Protestants interpret grace to mean "God's unmerited favor." This is an incorrect interpretation. 

Grace is not "God's unmerited favor", but refers to the power of God actualized in the world. For example, in the first chapter of Saint John's Gospel, Our Lord is referred to as "full of grace and truth." How could Christ be full of "unmerited favor?" In the third chapter of Saint Luke's Gospel, Christ is referred to as "growing in grace and stature." How could Christ "grow" in unmerited favor? A reading much more in accord with the Biblical text is the understanding of grace as "God's power actualized in the world." This is what Orthodox Christians mean by the "energies of God." In essence, God cannot be known. But God's essence is actualized in the world through His uncreated energies. These energies are truly and really God, and they are the means of participation in the life of the divine. Adam would grow in His reflection of God's likeness in energies, but because no man or angel could ever partake of the divine essence, He would never be "subsumed" into God. He would always be a deified Adam, never losing his personal existence. Anyway, this path of deification was the right path Adam was walking. Tragically, through events we all know, Adam turned away from this right path. The serpent promised him that "he would be like God." Wanting to be like God was not Adam's error. (As a side note, the fact that many Protestants think it is reflects how completely they have lost the concept of deification) We should all want to be like God. The Holy Apostle Peter says that we are to "be holy, as he is holy." So why would we want to be unlike Him? No, Adam's error was trying to be deified (which means more fully reflecting God's properties) APART from God. This was not the end of the Fall. The pre-incarnate Word appeared to Adam and asked him what he had done. The Fathers teach that if Adam at this point had honestly admitted his error, repented, and promised obedience henceforth, the serpent would have been thwarted and God would have reconciled Adam to Himself. But Adam did not. Adam lied and blamed his wife. 

Thus, Adam was expelled from the Garden, and the creation over which he was set a steward fell into corruption, death, and decay. Death itself cannot be spoken as a literal (though the imagery can be used metaphorically) "punishment" from God. God did not say to Adam, "If you eat, I will surely kill you." God said, "If you eat, you will surely die." Death is simply the natural result of turning away from the only source of life.Corruption, death, decay, these now all became a part of the human experience. And, in a significant, but often overlooked passage, Moses writes, "When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth." This is the "image of Adam" described in the New Testament. It is the image of God in a state of corruption and imperfection. The Old Testament, even in the deified Prophets and Patriarchs, is a story of how man tries to reach God and always falls short. The ideal of ever more brightly reflecting the Divine Image could not be attained. Even the Saints of the Old Testament could not attain full glory, because humanity was enslaved. 

This is where Christ comes in. The pre-eternal, infinite, uncontainable Word of God became a human being. The eternal Divine Word acquired a human nature. That is, He acquired the set of properties common to all human persons. In assuming humanity into Himself, He deified it. The human nature was perfectly united and brought into communion with the Logos of God and so became completely deified at the very moment of the incarnation. Christ, the perfect Image of God (Colossians 1:15) reconstructed the Image of God in man by becoming a man Himself. Christ grew up, sanctifying every stage of life in His own Person. When Christ announced His public ministry, this was not going to be a collection of pithy moral sayings before He got to what really mattered, the Crucifixion. No, every miracle and act that Christ did, every word that He spoke, has immense significance in the Christian life. By subjugating himself to death, Adam subjugated himself to Satan. Satan was the "Prince of this World" and God's people was a small resistance movement. Most of the false gods throughout pre-Christian history have been demonic. Many pre-Christian civilizations were under the direct control of Satan's minions. This is a frightening truth, but if one reads the Book of Daniel, one finds references to the demonic princes and rulers of other, specific nations. So, when Christ announced "The kingdom of God is at hand!", this was a world-shaking truth. It was a declaration that Satan's rule was over, that God had come at long last to set things right. The Israelites, however, expected this to be in a carnal sense. They expected the Jewish Messiah to come and lead an army to overthrow the Romans and establish a Jewish government in the Holy Land. The evil Roman Empire was itself only a symptom of the disease, and Our Lord understood that, so He went and fought the source- Satan. When He cast out demons, this was a statement that God was finished with them, that they were going to be driven out. When Christ healed men from diseases, this was a statement that the reign of corruption was coming to an end. In short, these were all means of announcing that corruption, death, demonic rule, these were finished. When Christ taught, He was giving us the true Torah, that which the Torah of Moses was only a shadow. This Torah was one of the heart. It was how man would live in the Kingdom that Christ was ushering in. This Torah changed the heart of man, which is why the Lord said that "the Kingdom of God is within you." So, Christ's ministry had two closely related functions. It was first to announce the nearness of the Kingdom of God and it was second to describe how man would live in that Kingdom through the preaching of a Torah of the heart. 

On Great and Holy Friday, Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins. While this phrase is acknowledged by nearly all who confess the name of Christ, what this actually means is a subject of intense debate. Most Protestants suggest that God poured His wrath upon Christ's head so that He did not have to pour it on our heads in hell. The Scholastics suggested that Christ, in dying a shameful death, generated an infinite store of honorable merit, which could be accessed by the Sacraments and good works. The Church, however, through its Prophets, Apostles, and Fathers, has an altogether different doctrine. It was mentioned above that Adam had made suffering, corruption, and death a part of human experience. Christ came to reconstruct the Divine Image through His own incarnated Person. In order to sanctify the fullness of human experience, the terrible truth was that God had to partake of death itself. He had to descend to the lowest state of human existence. And He did. Christ suffered greatly, and died one of the most shameful deaths known to man. He partook of all our sufferings, our sorrows, our sicknesses, and our pains. And because it was the infinite God who entered into these things, He healed all of them. This is why the Prophet Isaiah says, "By His stripes, we are healed." Satan, as the one who held the power of death, believed that He had won. He had taken the Messiah of God. What He did not take into account is that Christ had never subjected Himself to Satan's authority. Christ had never entered into Satan's communion. But Satan took Him nonetheless. This was his greatest mistake. As Satan had no power over death, Christ broke free of it, and released all the spirits who communed with Him into Paradise as well. Satan was disarmed. Christ said that He would "disarm the strong man", and that He did. In the Apocalypse, Christ says that HE "holds the keys of death and Hades." This is a profound and glorious truth. Christ had gone down into the lowest state of human existence. He now was bringing up human experience to the highest points of divine experience. This is the message of the resurrection! The resurrection is the ushering of humanity into the high places. It is the deification of the body itself. The body, while before it had been a prison of corruption, sickness, and death, was now in Christ a glorious blessing. It was renewed, deified, made incorruptible. 

Man, however, still has freedom of choice. God desires all men to come into the communion of His energies, His love. But true love requires freedom. If we choose not to be deified, then that is our choice. If we desire this wonderful state of deification, how do we do it? The first thing that we must do is have faith. Faith is the foundation of the entire Christian life. It is the particular attitude which sees God not as a distant lawgiver, but a close father, one who is merciful and good. The one who acts consistently with his faith will undoubtedly be saved. It must be emphasized that faith does not guarantee consistently acting with that faith. One may have faith, but if one does not act consistently with it, the faith dies. If one DOES act consistently with the faith, one chooses to be baptized. This Baptism, St. Paul says, clothes us with Christ. It clothes us with His death and resurrection. It frees one from the subjugation of Satan, who takes every man who sins even once. This Satanic system is the system of law. When we are baptized, we are freed from it, because we become "in Christ." As Satan had no authority over Christ, so also He loses authority over every man who is "in Christ." We are now in a different system, a "system" where the goal is "partaking of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), and being "conformed to the image of His Son." (Rom 8:29) When we are anointed with the oil of God (this is known as Chrismation and is described in the Book of Acts as "laying on of hands), we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This "Chrismation" is really a part of the Mystery of Baptism. The Holy Spirit is our only hope. He is the one who indwells us, who bestows grace on us, by whose power we do anything that is good. However, salvation still requires "work." This is not the "work" that one does in a business setting, where one works a particular number of hours and the boss gives you a particular payment. This is the principle of obligation condemned so forcefully by St. Paul in Romans 4:4. If we work like this, there is no relationship with the boss. One simply works and receives due payment. But God owes us nothing. Salvation itself requires intimate COMMUNION with God, so if one does these works out of view of Christ, the communion is not improved, and they will be burned up on the Last Day. This is why St. Seraphim teaches that only good works done for Christ's sake give us the grace of the Holy Spirit. NT Wright describes works that save in this fashion. The only works that benefit for salvation are those that are organically related to their result. So, when you make a new friend, you might describe yourself as "working" for that friendship. But this is only in the sense that talking, hanging out, spending time with this person naturally produces a friendship. If you went to his house, mowed his lawn, did not talk to him, this "work" would do nothing to produce a friendship. It is the same with God. Praying, fasting (as fasting dulls the passions), partaking of the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, these are the ways that we commune and relate with God. They naturally produce communion with God. 

Christ, through His incarnation, death, and resurrection, ushered the People of God (who already existed in the form of Israel) to the highest and most advanced state possible, that of being His own Body, which we call the Church. The Church is the People of God that have partaken of the Divine Nature in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. The Church is "necessary for salvation" only because Christ is necessary for salvation. It is through Christ alone that man can be saved, and the Church is Christ's Presence in the world. This is meant this in more than a symbolic sense. The Church is a Eucharistic Community. It is the Eucharist which creates the Church. St. Paul says, "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." (1 Corinthians 10:16-17) The Church is Christ's Presence to the world because of the Holy Eucharist. We become "one body in Christ" by partaking of Christ's body in the Holy Eucharist. This is the normative condition of things under the New Covenant. Was the thief on the Cross a member of the Church? Yes, because he was united with Christ unto the remission of sins in salvation. Of course, as Christ had not risen yet, and as the Holy Spirit had not been sent yet, one cannot look at the thief on the Cross as an example of what leads to salvation normatively. Moses and Elijah were also part of the Church, because the Church is not an organization that exists in this world, it is a heavenly reality, containing ALL the People of God, made manifest and visible to this world in the form of Eucharistic Communities.While man experiences a foretaste of his eternal destiny when he dies and his body is separated from his soul, this is still an unnatural state. On the Last Day, the Lord will return to Earth to Judge all mankind. This "Judgement" is simply the placing of every person in the place where the condition of their soul requires. Christ will deify the New Creation. The grace of God will be in all and through all. For the person oriented towards God, this means they will continue on their journey of deification forever. For the person oriented away from God, the energies of God only inspire further resistance to God. Thus, the person who reposed while walking the wrong path will forever walk that path. His Divine Image will be deconstructed eternally as they become more and more evil and selfish. The state of living eternally without any love for others, and living with others who are like that- this is hell. The state of living eternally, in a deified and glorified body, in a condition of ever-increasing love and bliss, and living under the direct rule of Christ the King, with others who lovingly serve Christ the King- this is Heaven. This is not to say that we won't have something to do on the New Earth. No, we, as the Image-Bearing representatives of God to all Creation, together with Jesus Christ, the ultimate Image of God, will forever work on our mission of deifying all Creation. This is eternal joy.

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A Sense of Awareness

I know of a woman who, not long ago, lost her husband of fifty years. She is struggling day by day, as we all do, with the absence of those we love but see no more. She is a woman of strong and quiet faith and she spoke recently of hearing her husband’s voice calling her name as he used to do when he would wake her from her nap. It was clear and unmistakable to her and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Her daughter suggested that it was the “sixth sense that we no longer use.” This statement struck me as peculiar at first, as I had not heard it before, but I supposed it to be a secular scientific explanation for such phenomena. I’m sure the woman’s daughter meant well and was trying to be helpful but her statement couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I have experienced such phenomena myself on several occasions, as many perhaps have. Such things sometimes cause us to think of Hollywood movies like Poltergiest, Ghost, and The Sixth Sense. But these are Hollywood interpretations, entertaining and emotionally stimulating though they may be, they should not be taken all that seriously. We have an inherent curiosity about all things supernatural, which is quite natural, but what we do not often realize is that there is only One Who is truly Supernatural and it is natural for us to seek Him – we were made that way: “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our souls will never rest until they rest in You.” (St. Augustine of Hippo).

In traditional usage, “supernatural” means divine: of God. The supernatural is therefore totally separate from, superior to, and in no way dependent upon what is created – what is “natural” in that sense. Only God is supernatural in His very Being. He can act with supernatural power upon all “natural” (that is, created) things and beings. He can communicate His supernatural life and power to what is created, thus elevating it. But the distinction always remains between what is created and what is supernatural. Supernatural power can bypass all natural modes of operation and can act directly upon spirit. It need not pass via the senses , or through the internal powers of imagination, mind and will in order to reach the soul of a human being. Only God and those who share in His supernatural power can do this.

Preternatural power, which evil spirits possess, is superior to human power in its abilities. It is not bound by laws of physical nature and of matter that govern all our human exercise of power in the physical and psychic orders. By virtue of preternatural power, evil spirits can manipulate psychic phenomena and produce psychic states. They are able to produce fascinating effects in our human fields of perception and behaviour. They may not be and probably are not responsible for all psychic phenomena, but they are masters of this sort of behaviour and have the ability to stimulate and entice us through our senses and imagination. But they cannot interfere with our freedom to choose or reject, because that freedom is granted and guaranteed by the Divine. God, for example, can “give” us grace, which is not ours of ourselves. Evil Spirit can only act upon what it finds and only within the limits of its knowledge. In other words, the preternatural power of evil spirits can produce nothing in us that was not already there, actually or potentially.

So what of the “sixth sense”? Is it a left-over by-product of some primordial soup? Or is it something more? I believe it to be a faculty God instilled in us from the beginning through which we are capable of perceiving His Presence. This faculty no longer functions as it originally did because of the Fall. Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect and constant awareness of God’s Presence, and this is the “natural” state of things, the way God intended and the way it will be again once the fullness of restored Communion achieved by Christ is manifested. In the meantime, this perceptive faculty, or “sixth sense” if you will, must be trained by the intellect, subjected to the Will and activity of God, which is Grace. St. Maximos the Confessor puts it this way: “Cleanse your intellect from anger, rancour and shameful thoughts, and you will be able to perceive the indwelling of Christ. [] 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).”

Everything that has living existence is related to spirit, that is, it has a spiritual dimension. Therefore, everything has meaning and nothing happens without a reason.

Hearing the voice of a deceased loved one may in fact be a comfort and consolation allowed by God (for His own reasons) to those who lovingly grieve as well as an affirmation of Christ’s words that,  “God is not a god of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him” (Luke 20:38). But we should always exercise great discernment and discrimination when experiencing spiritual phenomena, as the Adversary and his minions are ever and always seeking to deceive, mislead and delude. If our “sixth sense” is trained and controlled by humility and dispassion we will gain an awareness of God’s Love and Goodness, in proportion to our faith and God’s Grace active within us:

“If, as St. Paul says, Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17), and all the treasures of wisdom and spiritual knowledge are hidden in Him (Col.2:3), then all the treasures of wisdom and spiritual knowledge are hidden in our hearts. They are revealed to the heart in proportion to our purification by means of the Commandments. This is the treasure hidden in the field of your heart (Matt.13:44), which you have not yet found because of your laziness. Had you found it, you would have sold everything and bought that field. But now you have abandoned that field and give all your attention to the land nearby, where there is nothing but thorns and thistles. It is for this reason that the Saviour says, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Matt.5:8): for He is hidden in the hearts of those who believe in Him. They shall see Him and the riches that are in Him when they have purified themselves through love and self-control; and the greater their purity, the more they will see.” – St. Maximos the Confessor.

Let’s stop giving our attention to the land of thorns and thistles and false “supernaturals” and instead concentrate on purifying our sense of awareness – our heart – for God is “… everywhere present and filling all things” and He pours forth upon us His Love, His Beauty, His Goodness, His Mercy, at every time and in every season.

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A Lenten State of Mind

I share this treatise from St. Isaac the Syrian as  a help in preparing our hearts and minds for the journey through Lent.

Let yourself be persecuted, but do not persecute others.

Be crucified, but do not crucify others.

Be slandered, but do not slander others.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep: such is the sign of purity.

Suffer with the sick.

Be afflicted with sinners.

Exult with those who repent.

Be the friend of all, but in your spirit remain alone.

Be a partaker of the sufferings of all, but keep your body distant from all.

Rebuke no one, revile no one, not even those who live very wickedly.

Spread your cloak over those who fall into sin, each and every one, and shield them.

And if you cannot take the fault on yourself and accept punishment in their place, do not destroy their character.

What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons, and for all that exists. By the recollection of them the eyes of a merciful person pour forth tears in abundance. By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person’s heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person offers up tearful prayer continually even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm her or him, that they be protected and receive mercy. And in like manner such a person prays for the family of reptiles because of the great compassion that burns without measure in a heart that is in the likeness of God.

The person who is genuinely charitable not only gives charity out of his own possessions, but gladly tolerates injustice from others and forgives them. Whoever lays down his soul for his brother acts generously, rather than the person who demonstrates his generosity by his gifts.

God is not One who requites evil, but who sets evil right.

Paradise is the love of God, wherein is the enjoyment of all blessedness.

The person who lives in love reaps the fruit of life from God, and while yet in this world, even now breathes the air of the resurrection.

In love did God bring the world into existence; in love is God going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of the One who has performed all these things; in love will the whole course of the governance of creation be finally comprised.

Question: When is a person sure of having arrived at purity?

Answer: When that person considers all human beings are good, and no created thing appears impure or defiled. Then a person is truly pure in heart.

Love is sweeter than life.

Sweeter still, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb is the awareness of God whence love is born.

Love is not loath to accept the hardest of deaths for those it loves.

Love is the child of knowledge.

Lord, fill my heart with eternal life.

As for me I say that those who are tormented in hell are tormented by the invasion of love. What is there more bitter and violent than the pains of love? Those who feel they have sinned against love bear in themselves a damnation much heavier than the most dreaded punishments. The suffering with which sinning against love afflicts the heart is more keenly felt than any other torment. It is absurd to assume that the sinners in hell are deprived of God’s love. Love is offered impartially. But by its very power it acts in two ways. It torments sinners, as happens here on earth when we are tormented by the presence of a friend to whom we have been unfaithful. And it gives joy to those who have been faithful.

That is what the torment of hell is in my opinion: remorse. But love inebriates the souls of the sons and daughters of heaven by its delectability.

If zeal had been appropriate for putting humanity right, why did God the Word clothe himself in the body, using gentleness and humility in order to bring the world back to his Father?

Sin is the fruit of free will. There was a time when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist.

God’s recompense to sinners is that, instead of a just recompense, God rewards them with resurrection.

O wonder! The Creator clothed in a human being enters the house of tax collectors and prostitutes. Thus the entire universe, through the beauty of the sight of him, was drawn by his love to the single confession of God, the Lord of all.

“Will God, if I ask, forgive me these things by which I am pained and by whose memory I am tormented, things by which, though I abhor them, I go on backsliding? Yet after they have taken place the pain they give me is even greater than that of a scorpion’s sting. Though I abhor them, I am still in the middle of them, and when I repent of them with suffering I wretchedly return to them again.”

This is how many God-fearing people think, people who foster virtue and are pricked with the suffering of compunction, who mourn over their sin; They live between sin and repentance all the time. Let us not be in doubt, O fellow humanity, concerning the hope of our salvation, seeing that the One who bore sufferings for our sakes is very concerned about our salvation; God’s mercifulness is far more extensive than we can conceive, God’s grace is greater than what we ask for.

When we find love, we partake of heavenly bread and are made strong without labor and toil. The heavenly bread is Christ, who came down from heaven and gave life to the world. This is the nourishment of angels. The person who has found love eats and drinks Christ every day and every hour and is thereby made immortal. …When we hear Jesus say, “Ye shall eat and drink at the table of my kingdom,” what do we suppose we shall eat, if not love? Love, rather than food and drink, is sufficient to nourish a person. This is the wine “which maketh glad the heart.” Blessed is the one who partakes of this wine! Licentious people have drunk this wine and become chaste; sinners have drunk it and have forgotten the pathways of stumbling; drunkards have drunk this wine and become fasters; the rich have drunk it and desired poverty, the poor have drunk it and been enriched with hope; the sick have drunk it and become strong; the unlearned have taken it and become wise.

Repentance is given us as grace after grace, for repentance is a second regeneration by God. That of which we have received an earnest by baptism, we receive as a gift by means of repentance. Repentance is the door of mercy, opened to those who seek it. By this door we enter into the mercy of God, and apart from this entrance we shall not find mercy.

Blessed is God who uses corporeal objects continually to draw us close in a symbolic way to a knowledge of God’s invisible nature. O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open up for me the great door to your treasure-house, that I may enter and praise you with the praise that comes from the heart.

O my Hope, pour into my heart the inebriation that consists in the hope of you. O Jesus Christ, the resurrection and light of all worlds, place upon my soul’s head the crown of knowledge of you; open before me all of a sudden the door of mercies, cause the rays of your grace to shine out in my heart.

O Christ, who are covered with light as though with a garment, who for my sake stood naked in front of Pilate, clothe me with that might which you caused to overshadow the saints, whereby they conquered this world of struggle. May your Divinity, Lord, take pleasure in me, and lead me above the world to be with you.
I give praise to your holy Nature, Lord, for you have made my nature a sanctuary for your hiddenness and a tabernacle for your holy mysteries, a place where you can dwell, and a holy temple for your Divinity.

Adapted from Met. Hilarion Alfeyev’s The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian 200(Cistercian Studies 175), Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications,2000.