St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church Book Club

The online part of the Book Club is moving to an easier format!

2010-06-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Friends,

Due to the length of some of the posts, this blog format has proven arduous to navigate in order to reach the discussion in the comments at the end of each post. Plus, it leaves participants out of the discussion in large part given that they can only comment on administrators' posts.

Therefore, I have moved the forum to a new format at http://stbasilthegreatorthodoxbookclub.org/

The new format is extremely popular for online discussion communities, and is known as a BBS, or Bulletin Board System forum. On the new forum, anyone can post topics and anyone can respond and that's it! I am sure you will find it more organized, too, which makes it easier to follow!

You do have to register an account to participate but it is very easy to do so. If not, let me know and I will register an account for you! Hope to see you there! Tell a friend! Thanks!

In Christ,

Ephrem

Chief Activities of the Body, Soul, and Spirit

2010-02-19T14:46:00.018-06:00

Regarding child-rearing, Vladyka Theophan says we must direct the soul and body of the child to avoid captivity in (1) enjoyments of the flesh, (2) curiosity, and (3) the many pleasures that develop the self-will or self-centeredness. If one knows how to separate oneself from fleshliness, one will eventually master fleshly impulses and render them powerless. He then discusses the developing powers of the soul and the body, and specifically how to direct them.

We jump into this process somewhere between birth -- amid the various arousals of bodily needs and the constant activity of living -- and death. Whatever our journey has been through life, if we place bodily needs within proper bounds early and strengthen ourselves with the force of habit, there will be less disturbance later.

First, regarding the proper use of food, we must feed for strength and health, not for gluttony. From the start, the flesh must master bare materiality, so it is better to restrain it early, lest the appetite become a tyrant over the soul.

If successful in this, then it will be easier later to pierce through the immediate demands of living and quash any fleshly upstart. The first attempts at this work are the most precious, says Vladyka, for it is too easy to develop a love of pleasure and immoderation, the two forms of the sin of gluttony.

These inclinations are bound up with eating, so Vladyka offers the following age-dependent advice:

Select healthful and suitable food.
Subject the use of food to definite rules: a definite time, quantity, and means of eating.
Do not depart from these rules at any time on down the road.
Teach the child to wait for the assigned time for eating.

If successful, this will be a first attempt to teach him to deny him his own desires, and we can do the same with sleep, warmth, cold, and all comforts.

By forming good habits at the b eginning, we can also help a child develop control over his self-will and he will learn obedience. For a child to learn self-control will give him stability and prevent tendencies to hyperactivity, inattentiveness, slowness, lifelessness, and laziness. As self-control becomes the law of our child's life, he will refrain from aggressiveness, anger, and unrestraint.

If we find ourselves given over to pursue constant sensuality, this is because we are still immersed to some degree in the flesh. By strengthening the child's powers over his body to bring it in subjection, we do not inflate his self-will and destroy the spirit. By moderation and proper supervision, we direct the place and way that the child may play.

Without being manipulative or overprotecting, parents may imprint their will upon the child, but must gbuard against corrupting the child. For as soon as we leave the child to his own self-will, he will begin always to be unwilling to obey the smallest things. And if that is the result of only an instance, what if we totally neglect the body and its movements?

In sum, the best training of the body is forcing one to exert oneself according to orders. We see this necessary weapon in the spiritual warfare from the first order of the catachumenate prayer rule to ceaseless prayer of the hesychast.
As body and spirit are not separate (contrary to rationalist or scholastic dualism) so also are practice and theology in Orthodoxy not separate. The Christian life, Vladyka says, is by nature remote from sensuality and every kind of pleasing of the flesh.

So we must train the body to endure every outward influence without bringing misfortune upon the soul. Through correct habits, we can become capable of the most difficult actions anytime, anyplace. So long as our soul is master of our body, we will always be able to follow through with total reliability.

In contrast, a life that is always turning its desire to dangerous things, or cultivating love for the sensual, or otherwise constantly "babying" the body is a chief evil which enslaves the soul. Instead, we should develop the love of life by teaching the body how to remain undisturbed by the passions and fears.

From the beginning, we should teach the child that his body keep the body will not only receive pleasant things in life, but also the hardships. By totally pampering the child, he learns to fear everything. In strengthening the child with moderate hardships, heis ready for anything and has learned the patience neded to complete any task he begins.

By applying Vladyka's suggestions for child-rearing, we can protect the child from the evil poison of sensual enjoyment, self-will, love for the body and self-pity from entering his soul. As in true asceticism and Christian living in general, the well-taught child becomes in-dependent of his body, the true master of it, but neither a hater of his body nor a slave to it.

Parents, writes Vladyka, should not spare anything for this goal, nor allow the grandparents to spoil the child.

The body is the dwelling of the passions, lust and anger chief among them. It is the organ through which demons enter the soul or come near it. Thus, not leaving our life in the Church, the body itself is sanctified, and the greedy, animal life is restrained.

Within the needs of the body, the lower capabilities of the soul specifically are quick to express themselves. The child prefers one object over another and stares. These first exercises of the senses awaken the activity of the imagination and memory.

This awakening marks the point of transition between soul and body. If we sanctify these first beginnings with objects from the realm of faith, we set "the tone of life," writes Vladyka. This powerful influence sets the temperament of the child's body.

The scope of this influence begins with the imagination of the child and extends to the activities undertaken later. We do good, then, to surround the child with sacred images.

Placing sacred objects between the developing senses and the imagination, we influence the material preserved by the child's memory, which in turn constitutes the content of the soul. The icons, the light of the lampada, enter the heart through the eyes, sacred hymns through the ears.

Following the feelings cultivated here, the first imaginings of the child will be sacred, despite the fact he has not "understood." All distractions consequently are put far away from the heart. Later, "the beautiful" will attract him under sacred forms.

In so doing, we block out all vain, tempting breathing of the passions. Vladyka reminds us that images and objects, like smoke for one's head, are easy to infuse.

To have senses is to experience, to test. The senses are the first arousers of curiosity. They go over into the imagination and memory and take their seat in them if allowed. It is here they become the tyrant of the soul.

It is impossible not to use the senses, says Vladyka: they are the only way to come to know what one must for the glory of God and one's own good. The senses are at once investigative, and all investigation is at once curiosity.

Therefore, it is impossible to avoid curiosity, that irresisitable inclination to see and hear without purpose the what, where, and how of everything and anything. This is why Vladyka says we must preserve measure and order and direct toward what is needful only, and not provide "food for curiosity."

In the very act of investigating, then, we do best to picture each thing in our mind afterwards in a fitting way, to preserve a progressive order, a systematic circumspection, rather than just jumping from thing-to-thing (i.e. shopping). In this way, we will not jump from one thing to another without need.

We will not encourage dream and distraction, those riddles of the overactive soul, muddled by loose fantasies as they are. We will become master of the senses and the imagination. We will be constant and undistracted, not overcome by curiosity.

But as is easily seen even in the mere act of the child sitting up and grasping a toy, evil based in the animal life lurks and rises in every child. He becomes angry, envious, takes, selfishly. "Mine!" Even the cows in the pasture over yonder become "mine!"

However, with the good sense of the parents in tow, we can lay down the following:

Anticipate as much as possible the appearance of the passions.
When one arises, hasten to quench it with well-thought-out and tested means.

In this way we do not allow the passion to take root, as no predisposition forms. We remain vigilant in watching for recurring ones. We use the means of Grace via Faith in turning to Our Lord and thus experience.

Now, Vladyka writes, if the bodily and lower order capabilities are kept in control, those of the soul will be splendidly prepared. This condition is, however, only a preparation. Therefore we must form an attitude with positive action taken upon all of our powers or faculties: mind, will, and heart.

As regards the mind, given the fact that thinking only happens in the exploratory activity of speech, the mind is formed with words. Thus, we must provide the child with sound concepts and judgements that accord with Christian principles about all that comes to her attention: right, wrong, good, bad.

This cultivation is easy within ordinary conversations and questions, but the child easily overhears the parents and assimilates ideas, forms of speech, and gestures. Parents should therefore call things by their proper names and directly explain and use stories whenever possible. Ask the child what she thinks and correct her mistakes.

Soon enough, sound principles are communicated for judging things that may last a lifetime. Worldly thinking and insatiable curiosity are supressed at the root. Worldly thinking does not satisfy, and so curiosity cannot be ignited. "Truth binds to the mind what satisfies," Vladyka writes.

So we should avoid children's books that convey corrupt concepts and preserve the little ones' minds in whole through holy and divine healthiness. Do not, Vladyka exhorts, assume they are safe because they are small: truth is available to all!

The small Christian child, however, has shown in experience many times to be "wiser than the philosopher!" Vladyka draws upon the example from the time of the martyrs, during which children could typically be found discoursing on Christ the Savior, the folly of idol-worship, the future life, etc., given only simple conversations with their parents.

In addition to cultivating the attitudes of children through the mind we must also predispose the will of the child to soundness. We must direct the child to do nothing without permission, and so confine the will that otherwise may desire everything and anything.

Regard doing anything without asking as dangerous, so the child will even seem to fear his own will. And do this while training the child to do good, first ordering the child, then merely guiding him. Only in this way will he develop the conviction that one should not obey oneself in all things, but only God.

Parents, then, set and provide others who are good examples -- those not concerned with pleasures and awards, but with the salvation of the soul. Almsgiving, compassion, mercifulness, yielding to others, patience, Vladyka writes, opportunities to teach the child to do good abound!

Subsequently, the heart will follow. The child will be disposed to sound, true feelings, and will enjoy the truly enjoyable. He will have no sympathy for poisoning disguised as pleasure. He will be capable of tasting and feeling satisfaction, as he will guard the heart from sensuality, unfailingly keeping a church-centered life, remaining in its midst for the sake of quietness and warmth.

Let the first objects of fine art for the child be the building of the church, its singing, its icons, not theater and shows. He will not fall asunder to what is bright and attractive in worldly vanity, but will be able to discern between the two.

The spirit, Vladyka adds, is more easily cultivated than the soul, as it appears earlier family life. The following sequence, therefore, must be understood in order properly to temper the spirit:

Subject the child to the Fear of God (cultivates proper mental attitude)
This fear births the conscience (cultivates the proper attitude of will)
The proper attitude of will clears the conscience for prayer (cultivates/guards the heart and moral tenor for the fullness of joy in a life in the way of Our Lord.

Once the consience comes to awareness, it is important for parents to know that the child will equate their will with the law of God. So we must be careful not to command the child in ways that are not manipulative, which may breed transgression and necessitate repentance.

Use other ways to direct the child such that he will come to you on his own saying, "I did something wrong." This way we build a foundation for a future religious character of life that is constant, as we will rise up immediately after a fall, and quickly repent and be cleansed and renewed by our own tears.

This may all seem ordinary, but Vladyka only aims to indicate the chief direction of a Christian upbringing. Once the child is so ordered, he urges us to let him grow in it, and his spirit will develop in a way that is increasingly pious. If we can follow all of the child's awakening powers, we should not waver in directing them to this single end.

As the child grows to be a young man or woman, the time they should be dedicating to studying will vary. Nevertheless we should keep it unchanged from the previous regiment, letting the instruction always distinguishing between the main points and the secondary ones, with the study of Faith remaining chief on the list of topics.

Give the greatest time to great works of piety, as concrete cases of conflict are more important than learning information. Reward faith and good behavior, not just learning success, holding God-pleasing work higher than learning itself, which taken alone can make one cold and immoral.

Regarding the spirit of instruction, instruct the youth's attitude towards the objects of study in a way that is thoroughly penetrated by Orthodox Christian principles with no doubt whatsoever. That is the measuring stick of Truth in all areas of learning, says Vladyka, that there is no doubt. Otherwise we encourage self-directed free-thinking without matters of faith in a world where evil is precisely considered good.

Although we do not aim to promote the notion that faith and learning are seperate. On the contrary, we have a single spirit, and the sphere of Truth is one. If the youth learns about faith and lives in the spirit of faith, he or she will undergo imbued learning, which will only preserve and allow maturity in the principles we placed into his or her childhood.

The chief goal of upbringing: that when the youth comes to awareness, he or she will say, "I am an Orthodox Christian, obliged by God the Savior to live His decree." This will mean the youth has taken on the essential duty, and our educating him in the ways Vladyka indicates will preserve all of this independently and warm the spirit of piety within which the child previously walked with the guidance of others.

Specifically we have achieved in the youth conscious acceptance of the yoke of Christ.Vladyka writes:

Just as centers had to be provided for the light, drawing it to the suns and planets, so also this (spiritual) light must be gathered together around the central point of our life--our consciousness (66).

In other words, if successful we develop independence of mind in the youth in their own finding of Truth because we have educated the entire human. But in our spiritually directed focus of educating, we must also be rational, says Vladyka. We must, however, turn reason to Holy Faith, the only path of salvation. All other routes lead to perdition.

But we must turn to a conscious rather than a blind faith, as there is no honor in blindness. If so, the youth acts as he should, and as a result, fully places upon himself the good yolk of Christ. His personal faith is firm and unshakable. He will not be scandalized by a bad example nor attracted by empty thoughts. He is already acting in a definite way, conscious of the obligation of thinking in this manner.

In essence, the youth is choosing to preserve with all possible care the perfection and purity of the life he received when younger. That is it, there are no special rules needed. It is just like anyone who has repented and abandoned sin in resoluteness so as to live in a Christian way.

This exhortation is a delicate one, though. Accordingly, Vladyka gives warnings for all youth depending on (1) the nature of their particular age, and (2) the great temptations which occur throughout youth.

Obviously much attention is required for what Vladyka rightly calls "the turbulent period of youth," or adolescence, when the "river of life" is as if rudely interrupted by the life of body and spirit boiling at full throttle. Here only one's present feelings seem true while all past feelings seem like a dream or a pack of prejudices.

This sentiment is exactly why Vladyka says we must have already layed a strong foundation. It must be able to withstand the shockwaves of this time, rendering all new impulses secondary, weaker and conciliatory to the earlier ones, which should have already been tested and chosen by the heart and made firm by a chief vow.

Vladyka raises the question here of the youth who has never heard of the Orthodox Christian life, and expounds that this is a life in fire unless some love has been shown to him previously. Otherwise there is no reference point from which to direct advice.

The youth lives in a world of his own, writes Vladyka. It is a world of cacophony and a convolution of natural demands. The youth therefore must already have been trained to put his movements in order by the higher demands of his obligation.

The youth is thrown into adolescence, Vladyka writes, like water in a waterfall. Some emerge as if in a strong ship, shining with virtue and nobility. Others drown in the darkness of impiety and a corrupt life. There are, of course, mixtures of the two, where one is floating by means of a branch, in which there is a confused, infirm spirit.

These results must be made clear to the child before youth begins, like a calm channel made through a whirlpool. The child best fear youth like fire so that he will flee all cases where it is easily let loose in all of its untamability.

Whatever the case, danger is immanent in the impulses awakening during adolescence. Specifically, Vladyka warns of two tendencies to remain watchful of: (1) the thirst for impressions, and (2) the inclination to enter into contact with others.Vladyka takes them each in turn.

The impressions of adolescence occur like an uninterrupted stream, always new and various. The youth does not want to sit at home or stay in one place or concentrate on only one activity.

He only wants to enjoy himself, or be "in his element." He tests himself, endlessly searching for an effect, something new, novel, sharp, picturesque, in books and magazines, the internet, etc. He has the inclination for only browsing or light reading.

He has many daydreams, fantasies, and seeks freedom instead of definite limits. He becomes his own hero, "invincible." This all distorts his soul from every angle and he will be wearied.

All that is good is now covered by a veil of forgetfulness for the sake of these deceptive impressions. The question arises here, writes Vladyka, of why is the soul bored?

It has been robbed by the enemy! During all of these distractions, the good seed has been exchanged for a bad seed. The youth will be happier if he is not allowed to arrange his own conduct until adulthood.

This is why we should arrange the adolescent's conduct as best and in any way we can. Instill in him a love of labor, for instance, and an avoidance of amusements. Inspire him to take up serious occupations that require guidance so that he will avoid daydreaming. Carefully select his books and methods of reading to avoid empty browsing.

Also, the adolescent's companions should be limited to the pious or seekers while all close contact with others should be avoided, taking the general style or example of the Saints (obviously this cannot be a direct imitation). The adolescent will be drawn toward dangerous companionship, its circles and cliques, while unaware of their general foul nature; he will fear persecution if he rejects this "coolness."
The height of danger for the youth, though, is contact with the other sex. This threat is where he strays off the straight path and loses himself.

At this period, what is "beautiful" in his soul begins to take a form; with the appearance of the opposite sex at this time, it is as if he can find nothing more beautiful -- he is as it were "wounded." Vladyka warns us to avoid the path to this wound altogether!

This path has three turns.

(1) First he is vaguely sad and then the pain of lonliness is awakened. He begins to pity himself and out of this arises pride in outward appearance.

(2) He gains the conviction to be pleasing to others which sets in motion his pride in outwardness. He begins to accomodate various others with little or no real direction. His eyes are rampant.

(3) He becomes obssessed as undergoes a total loss of self for the girl.

We can avoid this with strict discipline in everything. We can squash the desire to be especiall pleasing to others, to have the finest clothes, to (always) make the popular or cool scene. When the youth is already engaged in bodily and spiritual labor, such as we find in prayer and increased studies, it will be easier to avoid girls during this time.
The youth will in this way rather be directed toward an outlook that exacts to the heavens, with rational knowledge constituted by one's own understanding. Otherwise the youth will fall for the typical adolescent sentiment that it is a priveledge to doubt everything, to hold everything to be a relative matter of opinion and taste.

We should recall here that doubt cuts off the attitude from Faith and the Church because here the youth alone throws himself into fabricated theories. This type of thing can be a disaster if actually required in schools as it is.

Total skepticism leads to a ruinous, "worldly," outlook, as one is always outside of oneself, whether enmeshed in facts or fantasies. Orthodox Christians appear now to be muddle-headed mystics, hypocrites, etc. A product of modernity, the child of a "worldview" is contrary to a "child of God."

The question is introduced here of whether one who has fallen will ever attain what is possessed by one who has not fallen in this time. We then begin a discussion of preserving the Grace of Baptism.

Vladyka says that given the foregoing discussion, it is easy to understand why so few preserve the Grace of Baptism. There are five reasons for this latter result.

With going away from the Church and its Grace-giving means, one wilts.
Failure to pay heed to one's bodily nature--the seat of the passions of the soul.
The development of the powers of the soul indiscriminately, not directed towards a single aim. At best he becomes curious, self-willed, and thirsty for pleasures.
Complete forgetfulness of the spirit -- prayer, fear of God, conscience are forsaken for an exclusively outward order, leaving the inner order in a chaos one is seldomly aware of. In learning, primary things have been lost to those that are secondary.
Entering into youth without first valuing good principles and receiving Christian determination.

All of these reasons may single-handedly crush the life of Grace. Usually they all happen together, totally obstructing the spiritual life.

This results from an ignorance of a consistant order for upbringing or carelessness with regard for it. Or what happens is the salvation of the soul is usurped by the development of purely natural powers, adaptation to an official position, or a making of oneself suitable for life in the world.

Chief deviations from a proper upbringing include putting aside the means of Grace, preparation being made primarly for happiness in the temporal life wherein all trace of eternal life is drowned out. It is especially difficult given that success in the temporal life is spoken of at home, commented on in class, and is the chief subject in simple conversations.

Also, the prevalence of outwardness and superficiality in everything, for example even idle talk, even in the priestly ministries is a common detractor.

The final truth and aim of his life becomes a secondary matter when the Grace of Baptism is not preserved. How then do we correct a bad order of things?

First, Vladyka says, we understand and well-assimilate principles we have discussed of the true Christian upbringing, acting on them first at home. Secondly, we rebuild school education with true, new principles: Christian principles under the abundant influence of the Holy Church.

The whole order of the Church saves the material order for one of the following spiritual directions:

The temporal------------->the eternal
The outward------------->the inward

Children of the Church--->members of the Kingdom of Heaven

Finally, by selecting the most God-chosen, holy people, we can educate the educators under the Truth, in the practice and theory of all holy works, with the education of children being the most holy. The fruit of a good upbringing, then, will be the preservation of Holy Baptism, its Grace.

This preservation of Grace will constitute an abundant reward of all our labors of upbringing. With it come several advantages.

One advantage is that in an orientation permeated by Grace, wholeness of all things is given to perception. Man exists as a container of the exalted power of God to be poured from The Source of all good things.

One who repents can heal completely, but one who has not fallen it would seem, Vladyka writes, has a wholeness and boldness resulting of that which the repenter cannot attain. The question may be posed here of whether or not, also, a convert who attains to the status of purification could also attain such a robust quality. It would seem not.

However, we are concerned primarily here with salvation, for which only repentance is necessary.

Another advantage of the preservation of Grace, Vladyka says, is that one gains a natural liveliness, a lightness, whereby one does good spontaneously. Here also Vladyka gives the two poles of the repentor, who must undergo constant warfare with sustained effort and training versus the unfallen, whose simplicity of heart may give them the assurance of salvation.

Additionally, one who preserves Grace finds in his life there is formed an evenness and uninterruptedness; walking in good is like breathing. The repentant, on the other hand, is not quite as accurate as a new clock.

One who has never fallen is always "young" in quality. There is an air of innocence, of childlikeness in Christ. One is here as if ignorant of evil and oppressive agitations of the heart. He finds an extraordinary joy, acts in sincere kindness, and has a quietness of manner.

In short, the child we are called here to raise, if successful, possesses the fruits of the spirit written of in Galatians 5:22, namely that of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercifulness, faith, meekness, self-restraint. Also, as in Collossians 3:12, he is clothed in the bowels of mercy, goodness, humility, wisdom, etc.

He preserves an unhypocritical joyfulness of manner, a spiritual joy. He may attain clairvoyance and wisdom such that he sees everything within himself and around himself and is able to make good use of himself and his deeds. His attitude of heart is at once prescriptive and circumspect.

He is not afraid of falling, as he feels safe in God.

All of these qualities make him worthy of respect and love, and he involuntarily attracts people to himself like a magnet to iron filings. Consider here the net of the apostles suddenly filling with fish. Their very existence amounts to a great Grace of God.

All in all, the chief form of moral perfection, Vladyka writes, is an unshakability in virtue. This quality is possessed by the inviolate, or if not, by those who after a time of slight corruption return to their original state.

Vladyka does point out, however, that saints are usually those who have preserved their moral purity from Baptism, as such sacrifice is most pleasing to God. This is true for the following reasons.

God is pleased most by what is offered first -- the first fruits, first born, and first years.

Secondly, pure sacrifice is the main requirement of all sacrifice. Such is an immaculate youth.

Finally, because this is accomplished by overcoming countless obstacles from within and without, by renouncing pleasures, toward which in youth there is a great inclination, Vladyka asks, is it really so remarkable that so few are saved among those who led a bad youth?

This concludes our discussion of the first reading in the Path to Salvation (pps. 11 - 123). We are a bit behind, as we were aiming for one equally portioned reading for each of the three months of quarter 1.

Given computer problems of late, we will allow until the Leavetaking of Pascha to finish the first book. We will then be starting The Ladder of Divine Ascent, by St. John Climacus.

Being the Children We Are Advised to Raise

2010-02-06T16:50:00.000-06:00

Book Club Readers,

I am not sure if all of the discussions are being read in the comments, given the blog format, so I wanted to post a recent and pretty incredible comment made to the most recent post on the text.

Here it is:

Theophan Spruance said...

Greetings brothers and sisters!

I am Theophan (as chance would have it!), an old acquaintance of Ephrem's. Thank you for allowing me to be involved in your reading circle!

And thank you Ephrem for forming this club and engaging this discussion!

I find it so revealing to see how the expression in the book regarding the proper way to raise a child becomes (perhaps even more than sage advice on that blessed profession) a direct exposure our own shortfalls -- of the world we have endured without that upbringing. The habits we have accumulated. The deficit we face -- the moral equivalent of throwing ourselves down a well armed with our boundless notions of, as you say, 'self-groundedness' --- and the scope of those delusions ingrained into ourselves determining the depth of our pit.

With our own bloody hands we dig that pit, never realizing that the pursuit of the lofty goals of 'self grounded' life is the same thing as building a Tower of Babel straight into the ground --- reaching into what we think is the sky (presumably to paint an icon of ourselves there once we reach it's 'heavenly' region). One day, by God's mercy, we might wake up in that pit of self-actualization and realize that the Holy place of our Heart has somehow been hijacked by an impostor : "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel" (Matthew 24:15), and repent.

St. Theophan's lesson to us about children are lessons to us about ourselves. This bottomlessly charitable Saint is instructing us in the remedy for our own sickness by instructing us how to preserve the little ones from it. And the truth of it reverberates in our bones because we know our sins, and they are ever before us. We know the pit we need God's help to pull us out of. We therefore know too that the instruction in boundaries we are being given to pass on to children, which will enrich their lives immeasurably, are in fact lessons in asceticism to US, for the same purpose. We in fact, with our habits and dispositions toward sin, will have far more trouble with them than children --- unless our genuine tears cleanse us, and St. Theophan's words really do begin to apply to us as children as well.

As St. Maximos Confessor said: theology without practice is the theology of demons. And we should really lighten up when we hear that, because all God wants is for us to receive His Love. The practice of the commandments is a balm against any corruption that would make us will to refuse that Love. St. Theophan shows us really clearly what a ridiculous disposition of will that must be to the eyes of a child. How we depart from it in the first place the story of each particular slip in the general tilt towards fallen/corrupted nature. 'Self-groundedness' is the root of this --- the gravitational center of the Fall. It is the sparkling jewel in the garden that bewitches us to trade the eternal Love of God for us in for the 'abomination of desolation' waiting for us in the pit of our own digging.

Let us read St. Theophan in joy, knowing that we are trying ourselves to BE the children he is advising us to raise, and take on our ascetic labors with that disposition!

Glory to God!

In ICXC

+Theophan+

Path of Salvation, Part One: How the Christian Life Begins In Us (in progress)

2010-02-01T00:30:00.023-06:00

I want to thank those who have commented and who are following along as they can. And I also want to thank those who have put special word on the club in the current parish newsletter, and would like to welcome anyone outside of the parish and even outside of Orthodoxy.

Let this work constitute a prayer for the fruit of your Lenten season! And especially for the parish rehabilitation project of the newly acquired house of the co-director of the bookclub and brother Basil Miller and his family!

There is so much in this book, simple and easy to read as it is...it is easy to miss something huge in its solubrious flow. Let me try to follow up on the first post, and then cover some things from Part I (this post will be significantly added to through the editing function as time allows).

In our first post we asked what else than the desire for success on the Christian path does St. Theophan say we need. Besides the desire to walk the path of Christ's Law, we also need what he calls active wisdom. By this he means that we need not only knowledge but also strength to act--and we must do so indeed with the aid of Divine Grace, as Basil Miller points out. Desire, knowledge, and strength to act amount to a kind of striving, which readers may gather entails a constant struggle.

They are correct, according to St. Theophan, as he is writing precisely to address the inevitable threat of getting lost at the crossroads. Here we run the fatal risk of imagining oneself to be saved, which leads us down the stray path rather than the True path. But where, exactly, do we go wrong here?

Where we go wrong here is at the same time when we begin to flatter the Adversary, who sets any possible traps to regain any and all victims. Why, though is this threat inevitable?

It is inevitable because of our sinful inclinations, and also our disordered faculties, under which things can be presented in a false light, all while we think them to be fully true. This grave danger is the deceiver and destroyer of many.

Hence this text sets out to show anyone today desiring to walk the path of Christ's Law any incurring deviations--to warn of them, to expose them fully, and to show how they can best be avoided by the vigilance of Orthodoxy. Nothing short of a set of indispensable guiding rules for the Christian life is necessary here. Christ's Law is indeed a flesh and blood life, a complete way of living, in the fullness of love for humanity, rather than just a written law, which is all people had in the time of Old Testament save the messianic prophecies! With the freedom comes the greatest responsibility of all!

Discovering how to perfect oneself in such a life, then, is the main goal of this discussion, and this requires we know exactly how to attain both the saving desire for communion with God and the zeal to remain in it. St. Theophan wants to show us how best to reach God without misfortune, and as some of the comments have pointed out, sustaining such zeal is incredibly difficult. And by "zeal" in this context, something much different than the cut-throat passion for professional advancement and progress which runs rampant in the world today is meant.

We read, rather, of a delicate sowing and development of what we call the Christian life. It helps to contrast it with what we already know so well that we take it completely for granted: the natural life.

The Christian life is encountered at once as an inconvenient demand; one becomes Christian always after one is born, whereas the natural life just begins and we are thrown headlong into it unawares. Encountering this demand, he even says, is like sustaining an injury. Even in the natural life, any growth had implies a struggle has been undergone. The natural world, however, has been brought into agreement with our whims to the extent that we do not exactly welcome yet an entirely new kind of life and struggle.

This beginning of the true Christian life, then, is the beginning of a new life, a re-creation, which endows one with new powers.

In such a life, says Vladyka, we receive Christianity as a law, a resolution, in a life not otherwise surrounded by elements favourable to it. Our body and soul remain unadapted to it; we cannot at once submit to the yolk of Christ.

The seeker is thus beginning a great labor of sweat, as she has to educate her whole person--every faculty--to the Christian standard. And the faculties naturally have little or no inclination to such.

This is why St. Theophan talks so much about becoming a Soldier for Christ: we must fight the spiritual war with the double-edged sword of forcing oneself and opposing oneself--with which we must "fight and win all land, even one's own." It should be no surprise that this struggle proves labor-intensive and requires much long, and often sorrowful, exertion.

She must fight until Christian principles emerge victorious, until there is no opposition, until the whole composition of human nature has been penetrated, until the self has been completely dislodged by these demands that are hostile to the inclinations. She must reach a state of passionlessness and purity--that which only is worthy of the blessedness of the pure in heart.

This destination is the place in us of the Christian life: to see God in ourselves in the most sincere communion with Him.

This life happens, we read, in three primary stages out of which we may describe and determine its laws, and indicate most precisely and completely the path of salvation. These are:

Turning to God (from darkness to Light, from satan to God)
Purification/Self-Amendment (cleanses the heart from every impurity in order to receive Christ the Lord who is coming to her)
Sanctification (the state of Blessed Communion, and the goal of all ascetic endeavors; the Lord comes, takes up His abode in her heart, communes with her).

Complete guidance in this should show the following:

How the Christian life begins in us (Our current consideration)
How it is perfected, ripened, and strengthened
How it manifests itself in its perfection.

When and how it begins in us depends on us! Calling oneself a Christian or belonging to the Church do not constitute decisive signs of a true life in Christ.

We must have the zeal and the strength to remain in communion with God--the essence of the Christian life--through the active fulfillment of His Holy Will, by Faith in Our Lord, by Grace, to the Glory of His most Holy Name.

At first, the status of communion as the essence of the Christian life is not clear to the seeker, but, as Vladyka says one can feel or see later in it in the "ardor of active zeal to please God alone in a Christian manner."

Characteristic of this sustaining vision and total self-sacrifice is a hatred of all that opposes this. One who receives a constantly active ardor of zeal has been blessed with a life in the Law of Christ. But one must ask for it and be filled by it, and not accept every worldly phenomena especially if it occludes the fire.

For example, one may hate the contemporary requirement of professionalism, whereupon the status of selfhood is relegated exclusively to the ascension to a particular career plateau or echelon--for it requires a lion's share of pride while a mouse's share of humility.

One may ask, "Can we alone do good deeds?" Certainly, yet it is not a question, says Vladyka, of seperate or individual good deeds, but rather of one's WHOLE LIFE--a rebirth! One does better to close one's mouth about it until one is unwaveringly in it: we all know of too many "self-trusting" beginnings and buildings of the Christian life.

ONLY the eternal power of God has the characteristic of salvation: it alone can support us unchanging despite the unceasing temporal changes of this world. This is why in our asking, we shall ready ourselves to receive it fully, to be abundantly filled.

This, Vladyka says, is a "great agitation," which will "raise us up and draw us out" in a world where nothing else really goes against our self-love and everything proceeds according to our will. St. Theophan, therefore, turns to that mighty teacher known as experience, asking, in the face of temptation, when exactly do thoughts of self-satisfaction come into play?

The seeker is ready for every kind of holy and pure life...when all is calm, and there are no personal disturbances or deceptions into sin. Yet upon the first quivers of a passion or a temptation, one finds oneself at once in the throes of sin!

When all is set aright one typically cannot even be stirred to anger given the most egregious affectation from without. But when things go bad or wrong, a single glance has one "beside oneself." It is horrific to ponder this volatile situation of the natural man, yet we precisely presuppose our trustworthiness, and, Vladyka says, "the evil in the depths of your heart is stirred or roused like dust by the wind."

We take it for granted that we alone can maintain a Christian life, yet our experience will condemn this natural attitude every time. And once every thought and desire begins to disturb the soul, everyone forgets themselves and cries out unawares with the Psalm, "out of the depths I cry unto Thee O Lord!"

One sees good but one does evil. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41). "When I would do good, evil is present with me" (Rom 7:21). Holy Father St. Theophan, pray to God for us! He does as much, and writes:

"We are in captivity! Redeem us O Lord!"

Here is how a fall often happens, as he describes it:

One dreams of remaining in the good (i.e. presupposes we are self-grounding beings).
An image comes to the imagination.
Desire/passion is born/aroused.
One is attracted and falls.
After which, one only has to look at oneself saying, "How bad that was!"
Opportunity for distraction comes.
One again is ready to forget oneself.

One of the first tricks of the Adversary, Vladyka points out, is instilling in us the idea that we may trust ourselves alone. This, he adds, is very tricky, because while it is not a renunciation of Grace, it is also not a feeling for the help of Grace, either.

The Enemy says something like, "Do not go to the light where they wish to give you some kind of new powers, you are good just the way you are!" And we are set at ease by this, writes Vladyka, while the Enemy meanwhile only but does the following:

Throws a rock at you (mounts unpleasantness).
Leads you into a slippery place (the deception of the passions).
Strews with flowers a closed gnoose (deceptively good conditions)

And we sink lower and lower to the pit of evil upon the threshold of Hell. One should cry out unto us as unto the first Adam, "Man, where are you? Where have you gone?"

Such a cry would be like the action of Grace, which Vladyka writes compels the sinner for the first time to look about herself. And to begin to live in a Christian way is precisely to seek Grace.

"The minute Grace descends and joins to your will is the minute the Christian life is born in you," he writes.

You know at once it is powerful, firm, and greatly fruitful. And we all know that for the Orthodox the place wherein Grace is received is in the Holy and Great Mysteries.

Two things happen in the Mysteries, actually, he points out. The acquisition of Grace, and the sanctification by its means of our nature.

What one does here is offer of God's action, present to God one's own worthless nature, and He transforms it. We glean out of this with Vladyka, moreover, that:

It was God-pleasing to hide his power beneath the cover of simple materiality at the beginning of true life (35).

We move on, then, to a discussion of the beginning of True Christian life, in that of Baptism and Repentance.

Baptism, he says firstly, makes a man worthy to be vouchsafed the gifts of Grace through the other Mysteries. It is the "door to the house of Pre-eternal Wisdom." The entrance to that house, at which we are clothed in a garment worthy of it, and are given a new name and a sign is impressed upon our whole being, by which Heavenly and earthly beings will later distinguish them.

"If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor. 15:17). Going from being one who is unbaptized to one who is baptized is a turning (metanoia) from the darkness to the Light, from death to Life.

The baptized receive several spiritually outward privleges and gifts. She is delivered from all inherited evils by the power of the Cross of Christ, and becomes a joint-heir with Christ of the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. becomes a Child of God).

Satan, then, loses authority and power to act arbitrarily in her, whereas prior to baptism Satan only directed her unto the multiplication of sin. We are conceived in iniquities and are born in sins (i.e. inherited/ancestral sin), into a condition disfavored by God, a child of wrath, disordered and ruined.

Thus, in natural life one is subjected to Satan who acts through this indwelling of sin in us. And outwardly in Baptism we are delivered from this sin-centeredness by the magisterial power of Christ.

Inwardly, in Baptism, we are healed of the affliction of sin, as the power of Grace penetrates and restores here the divine order in all of its beauty, and treats the disorder in the structure and relationship of the powers and parts. One's chief orientation is changed from being of oneself to being of God, to pleasing God and increasing one's good deeds.

Therefore, Baptism is a rebirth, or a new birth. St. Paul, Vladyka points out, compares it to the very Ressurected Savior. It harbors the same bright nature in renewal as one is washed by the human nature of Christ through His Ressurection in Glory (Rom. 6:4).

Out of the fount, the whole activity of a person changes from being directed unto oneself and sin to that of God and righteousness. "That henceforth we should not serve sin," says Vladyka quoting the Apostle. "Sin shall not have dominion over you" (Rom 6:14).

Given these latter two quotes of Scripture we also discover something further about Baptism. "The power which draws us toward sin," Vladyka writes, "is not entirely exterminated in Baptism."

Sin is only put in a powerless position. The Grace of God now has primacy for the soul that consciously gives itself over to it in Baptism.

Vladyka quotes St. Diadochos, "Grace formerly acted from without. Now it has settled in the heart and sin attracts us from the outside."

Sin, in other words, has been banished, but settles outside, in the parts and members of the body. It thus, says Vladyka, acts through attacks in a fragmented state, as a constant tempter, a seducer even. But sin is no longer a master!

"He disturbs and alarms, but does not command!" Thus the new life is born in Baptism (Philokalia I, p. 279:76).

It is important to point out that in turning from the darkness to the Light, the illumined has received the Lord's Grace with desire. She has sought it freely.

Vladyka says that this relationship between Grace and freedom is one of mutual cooperation; only in this free stirring of one's desire (i.e. seeking) for the new life is it given. In it, one has repented and entirely dedicated oneself to God.

But, he says, this condition is much clearer in the case of illumined adults than in infants, who do not yet possess the use of reason and freedom. How does this condition for the descension of Grace get fulfilled in the case of illumined infants?

The question should rather ask who fulfills this condition for the infant. It is others--the parents, the sponsor--who fulfill this condition on behalf of an infant in baptism. The way it happens, Vladyka says, depends upon the means by which it is done.

The sponsor gives the promise that later the child will receive the Grace shown it out of its own desire, and be glad, thankful, and will confess desire for such could that have been chosen as an infant. In so doing, the sponsor takes on the obligation to bring this infant precisely to this state of freedom for Grace.

Hence, for the infant, the seed of Grace, of life in Christ, acts as an educating power that eventually shows its complete form through Grace itself along with the rational character of this creature. The child grows to dedicate to God and oneself to the indwelling power of Grace with desire, joy, and gratitude for it (i.e. by Grace and now also freedom).

True Christian life becomes hers, now that she has come to awareness and fully comensurated her life to what she has fully received. Such a reception, however, says Vladyka, must be carefully cultivated.

How is this beginning of the True Christian life best cultivated? It is best cultivated through effective means of developing and nurturing the seed of the Grace-given life, and consistently through such means upon the baptized infant.

Vladyka writes, "Grace overshadows the heart and dwells in it when it has a turning away from sin and towards God." Becoming true in act, Grace becomes manifest, and one receives the favor of God, co-inheritance with Christ, and a dwelling outside the sphere of Satan and the danger of condemnation to Hell.

So in a sense it is a matter of cultivated attitude, whether or not the infant grows up to fall back into sin. This is why the whole attention of the sponsor and the parents is required to completely crush sin. They must act as if the child will choose its Grace for itself later, and help the child become accustomed to the powers of spirit and body that will work for the service of God.

We then enter a discussion of how in every circumstance to support and strengthen the good side in children and make powerless/crush the bad, from the cradle onward. We look with the glorious vision of the then-Vladyka Theophan into exactly what constitutes a Christian upbringing.

We begin with the infant in the cradle. Firstly, despite the infant being a mere infant, helpless and weak, we in fact can influence the child's life at this stage. After all, it is alive, and looks upon the world and those who will bring it into focus. In and through the Holy Mysteries, the child can be immersed in a saving atmosphere, specifically, in the wholeness of the life in the Church provided by the faith and piety of the parents.

This influence, Vladyka writes, instills the life of Grace conceived through Baptism in the infant.

Also, we join His new member to the Lord through His Most Pure Body and Blood in the most lively and active way with bringing the child for Communion in the Holy Mysteries of Christ as frequently as possible. Not only does this sanctify the child, but also gives him or her inner peace and renders him or her impervious to dark powers.

Vladyka here mentions the oft-cited calming effect Communion has upon children -- they lay aside their natural needs and are otherwise filled with joy and lightness of spirit, "ready to embrace everybody as their own." Also, countless miracles have accompanied Communion of sick or infirm infants (e.g. St. Andrew of Crete).

Also, there are many means of visible protection of the child that we can take up both at church and at home.

At church we also should take the growing child for frequent veneration of the Holy Cross, Icons, and the Gospel.

At home we should place the child underneath the icons often, sign him or her with the cross, sprinkle them with Holy Water, burn incense, crossing the cradle and food, receive the blessing of a priest, bring Icons from the Church into the house, have moleben services.

The child also will have the invisible protection of its Guardian Angel, from which also the parents will gain inspiration, writes Vladyka.

All of these strong protections and powerful, active means of inspiration are dissolved, however, by unbelief, carelessness, impiety, and any bad lifestyle of the parents.All of the means Vladyka mentions, therefore, must be used and used properly, both outwardly and inwardly (especially important is the latter, writes Vladyka).

But, a child is innocent, we may interject! In the case of bad influence on behalf of parents, Vladyka writes, divine aid may eventually cease to descend upon the infant given the inconceivable tie between parents and their children.

It becomes incumbent upon us, then, to look into this issue of the influence of the parents upon the growing child (p. 44).

We should recall here with Vladyka, that spirit itself in our temporal lives is impotent without the natural force we give it in adorning the majesty of Our Lord to our greatest abilities. So it is with the child in a more explicit sense, save through the direct contact between souls through the heart or feeling.

By feelings here we take Vladyka to mean something more like moral tenor rather than what is commonly portrayed by mushy, flippant appeal to affectation and nostalgia.

The parents, however, find it easy to exert their influence on the infant's soul -- a power engendered by the fullness and depth of their feeling for or along with the child. It's as if they disappear into the child or pour their whole soul into his or her welfare.

Whatever the case, Vladyka writes, their soul will indeed influence the child if they are pious. And the best "outward conductor" of such powers are that meeting place of anyone's soul with any other's: the eyes. Vladyka exhorts the parents to use the eyes for "the passage of holy feeling," which cannot but help "annoint the soul of the child with their holy oil."

The parents' gaze constitutes Love itself -- its Faith in and of the power to preserve this very gift from God which afterall is not but a simple child. The overall spiritual atmosphere, thusly, will pour its character into the child, "like blood itself deriving nutrients and such from its surrounding atmosphere."

Or, like a newly crafted vessel perpetually smelling of that which was first poured into it, the proper influence of the pious souls of the parents from within and without univocally "place its seal upon the child" in a Grace-giving and saving way and should be continued into adolescence and early adulthood.

When the child comes to awareness in adolescence, moreover, the attention should be doubled. Vladyka reminds us that all along sin does not sleep, but taps at the door of the parents through soul and body, and potentially "rocks the cradle," as it were.

Inward warfare is inevitable at every stage, always and already. This means we must vigilantly uproot our souls and bodies from sin and give them over, fully, to God. We extend this to the soul and body of the child by laying a solid foundation and by using our rational knowledge of the reliability of the chosen means for raising him or her up.

Thus we must make clear what sin desires, what nourishes it, and precisely how it takes possession of us. Vladyka gives here three fundamental allures to sin in three primary faculties and their corresponding allures:

Mental - arbitrariness of mind (i.e. curiosity)
Will - self-will gratified
Feeling - self-centeredness and pleasures

We must train the child, says Vladyka, exactly how to separate oneself from these allures, how to master them, and how to render them powerless.

Certainly an overarching question comes to mind here of how feasible any of this minutia truly is taken as a whole -- which Vladyka says is required -- given the overwhelming task the child already has of mastering the immediately surrounding physical world?

Let us take up this discussion in a new post, as we look to the issue of directing the developing powers of the soul and body, and their chief activies along with the spirit.

How to comment...

2010-01-23T18:15:00.000-06:00

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Introduction to the book club and our first book: "The Path to Salvation," by St. Theophan the Recluse.

2010-01-06T13:01:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! Christ is born and in our midst!

Welcome to the first post for St. Basil’s Book Club. It is an honor to have been asked by Father to help direct this along with Basil (Richard) Miller. As a newcomer to the parish and the Orthodox Faith, thanks, and I am sure I will learn a great deal from all of you!

I would also like to begin by saying first off that, as one who recently taught “ethics” for a few years in the public university setting, I have a particular interest in this text which I am gracious for Father Martin to have recommended to kick off the club.

As you know our first quarter (three months) will include St. Theophan’s The Path to Salvation, translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose and the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood (St. Paisius Monastery, Safford: 2006). The January reading is pp. 11 – 123, which includes Part I How Does the Christian Life Begin In Us? and most of Part II On Repentance and the Sinner’s Turning Toward God. We will follow the Julian Calendar for the club’s scheduled readings.

First, let me attempt a brief introduction to the book, and then I will provide a set of questions that I invite readers to consider in the first reading. If other questions or comments come to mind and you do not mind sharing, by all means, please do so here.

St. Theophan is well-known as a great ascetic, who despite his reclusion in Vysha had a profound and broad influence on the morality of the Russian community in the Nineteenth Century.

The Path to Salvation is subtitled, “A Manual for Spiritual Transformation.” As you all likely know and has been famously said by both our author and our translator, calling oneself a Christian or becoming Orthodox does not make it so.

Clearly, then, being saved is not just a matter of following an inerrant step-by-step manual or scientific formula, either.

What, then, did Bishop Theophan intend by subtitling the book “A Manual of Spiritual Transformation?” Is this just another promissory note that may or may not get one through to the goal (salvation)?

E. Sumarokov writes the following in his 1945 lecture, included here as the preface:

“[A]s a living example of this correct view of the world and the destiny of the soul stand [Bishop Theophan's] own self-denial, his reclusion, his desire to take nothing from life but a striving toward God” (12).

The point is not that we must become recluses with long beards who carry staffs and squint into the candlelight in the wee hours of the morning. The point is rather that each impression Bishop Theophan gives of “the steps” on the path of Our Lord are “imprinted by [Bishop Theophan's] life.”

And how we live is key!

Therefore, we find this book within Bishop Theophan’s traditional program of publishing en masse “[h]ow to live a Christian life, how, amidst the slough of temptations, misfortunes, weaknesses, the weight of our sinful habits, not to fall into despair,” and, further, “how to desire salvation for oneself and begin the work of moral perfection; how to do battle on this path step by step, and to enter ever more deeply into the saving enclosure of the Church" (11)[.]

In a moment I will present a few questions to consider as we begin our reading.

First, let it be known that the club assumes its participants believe that humans are not self-grounding beings, and that, left to their own devices, they fall into an unwieldy, sinful nature, as inherited from our first ancestors — even if such nature begets the most rational ways to be.

Hence, the club assumes we understand the idea that Christian salvation is the only waypoint towards a complete, grounded, and moral life-form, and that “the self,” while necessary in a raw sense, has commonly been placed in the throne of morality by the world since the Fall. We understand that this self-enthronement is regarded as lewd, and so also is the pagan notion that nature is all there is.

These are all ideas that we agree upon, but are not exactly what St. Theophan sets out in this book. Rather, what he sets before us is an indication as to how, precisely, to make striving for moral perfection and thus salvation particularly desirable for ourselves!

Whence comes an overarching question for the entire text, and it is an existential question:

How is the business of my OWN salvation TRULY at work in MY LIFE?

Or, as Bishop Theophan asks, “What does one do so that the law [of Christ] will imprint itself on the heart, and man, acting according to this law, will act as if from himself, unconstrained, so that this law will not lie on him, but will as it were proceed from him?

Another question out of this first one is this.

St. Theophan says that, given faith, following God’s Commandments by divine grace is not as easy as just walking on the path. The purpose of a given path is not simply to walk. It is also sooner or later to GET WHERE YOU ARE GOING!

Is desiring to walk the path of Christ’s law enough to be successful? And does one walk toward God out of necessity? Or is it merely the same kind of thing as choosing to eat at Maggiano’s rather than Qdoba tonite for dinner?

What does St. Theophan say we must also have in addition to the desire for success, and what does he mean by this? If knowledge is power and power is success — as it often is in the business world today — why is he asking about this? Don’t we just need to know more about it all?

We will leave it at that for reading the Preface and Introduction and the general commencement of the club. Questions for Part I are shortly to follow.

In ICXC,

Ephrem