THE MOUNTAIN PATH January 1964

[Guest guest]

Spiritual Traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church

 

By Father Lazarus

 

 

The word Orthodoxy* comes from two Greek words meaning 'right glory'. So Orthodoxy means right worship, and that implies right belief and right thinking. We are reminded of what our Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24).

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* The word 'Orthodoxy' is used in this article in a technical sense, as applying to the Greek Orthodox Church, just as members of the Church of Rome use 1 catholic' in a technical sense, as applying to their Church.- (Editor)

 

People sometimes say, "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live a good life." That is a very unthinking remark. In fact, it isn't true. The truth is that it is of vital importance what we believe, because:

 

(i) "Without faith it is impossible to please God," still less to be saved (Hebrews II: 6)

 

(ii) "The devils also believe, and tremble," i.e., they are terrified, having neither hope nor love, but believing that what we love and hope for will come true (Jas. 2:19)

 

(iii) If we do not believe in God we cannot receive His life and power to worship, love and glorify Him. Then, deprived of grace, we fall into idolatry and immorality (Romans 1:20-32; Wisdom, chapters. 13 & 14)

 

(iv) Our character and conduct depends on what we believe. Character is what we are. Conduct is what we do. What we are and what we do makes up the whole of our life. So our whole life depends on what we believe (Gal. 3:11)

 

An illustration: A mother tells her child that fire hurts, but the child does not believe it. The mother goes away. Left to itself, the child crawls to the fire and puts its hand in. It screams, cries and changes its faith, and consequently changes its conduct.

 

The Orthodox Church is very rich in dogma, doctrine, dogmatic belief. Where does this revealed truth come from? Orthodox dogma comes from Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture, and is to be found largely in the Church Service books. I suppose the Orthodox Service books are the richest in the world, and these services are based primarily on the twin sources I have just mentioned. In a sense there is only one source, for Holy Scripture is really part of Holy Tradition. It is a form of written tradition. In the life of the Church, and in the life of the individual, tradition comes first. From Adam for many centuries there were no books. Religion was dependent on the traditions handed down from father to son. Even in New Testament times, our Lord wrote nothing. How did the Apostles and early Christians get their faith and knowledge. By tradition. handed on by word of mouth. It was not until 397 AD that the Canon of the New Testament was fixed as we have it today. And in the life of the individual each of us gets his first knowledge of life and religion normally from his parents. Long before we can read we learn from their lives and lips. So the Apostle Paul says: "Hold the traditions which you have been taught by word or letter" (2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Corinthians 11:2).

 

Public worship holds a very large place in Orthodox life. The centre of Orthodox worship is the Holy Liturgy, or Holy Eucharist, or Holy Sacrifice or Lord's Supper, the various names indicating different aspects of the service. Here we are reminded of the nature of the Gospel, of the heart of redemption. For in the Liturgy the whole of Christ's life and Passion is commemorated and re-enacted by word, symbol and action from His humble birth in the stable in Bethlehem to His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and the sitting at the right hand of the Father. In addition to all the other aspects of the service, the Liturgy is a deep sermon in itself. That is why in the Orthodox Church it is not such a tragedy as it is with other Christians if the priest is a poor preacher or for some reason cannot preach, for the service in itself is a most profound and vivid sermon.

 

At a meeting of Presbyterian ministers, while discussing the Virgin birth of Christ one minister said, "There are many in this Presbytery who do not believe in that particular fable. I myself am one who does not accept it."

 

One of them asked, "Then how did you become a Presbyterian minister?"

 

He replied, "I did accept it when I was much younger. But I have since become educated and no longer hold my previous belief."

 

One asked, "Do you mind telling us just why you do not believe in the virgin birth?"

 

He said, "I don't believe in that doctrine because it is only found on two pages of the New Testament. Matthew and Luke are the only ones who ever mention it. In all the writings of Paul he never introduced the question of the virgin birth. Peter never mentions it in his writings, and Jesus was utterly ignorant of any such suggestion. You never find it in a single sentence or statement uttered by Jesus Himself."

 

"Then tell us," one minister asked, "What do you teach and preach?The Sermon on the Mount," was his instant reply. "That is enough Gospel for anyone."

 

"Not for me," answered the other minister, "because I don't believe in the Sermon on the Mount!"

 

If a bomb had been dropped, it could not have created more excitement. Somewhat bewildered, the first minister asked, "What do you mean when you say that you don't believe in the Sermon on the Mount?"

 

The other replied, "I don't believe that Jesus ever uttered the words that you call the Sermon on the Mount."

 

Greatly astonished, he said, "Why ever not?"

 

"Because it only occurs on two pages of the New Testament. Matthew and Luke are the only men who ever mention it. Paul never talked of the Sermon on the Mount. Peter says nothing about it. James, John and Jude are equally ignorant of it. Now, following your line of reason, if Matthew and Luke lied about the Virgin Birth, why should I believe them concerning the Sermon on the Mount?"

 

Of course, it is not true that St. Paul knew nothing of the Virgin Birth, for he never once calls Jesus "Son of Man" but constantly calls Him the Son of God. And where did Matthew and Luke get the information they give us in the Gospels if not from Jesus and Mary? That, however, is not my subject for the moment. The point I wish to make is this. There are many people in the world today who think that the Sermon on the Mount is the essence and heart of the Gospel. "Give us more of the Sermon on the Mount and less theology," they say. Even such a great man as Mahatma Gandhi said: "The message of Jesus is contained in the Sermon on the Mount, unadulterated and taken as a whole." It is one of the popular heresies and it needs to be answered.

 

The Sermon on the Mount is not the Gospel that the early Church taught. When St. Paul wanted to recall the Corinthians to the fundamentals of Christianity, he did not say: "Blessed are the peacemakers. Do not resist an evil person. Love your enemies. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Do to others what you would like them to do to you. Be perfect." Those are magnificent principles. They could be called good advice. They could not possibly be called good news. No, St. Paul wrote something quite different. Here are his words: "I delivered to you among the fundamentals what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than 500 brothers at once, then to James, then to all the Apostles. Last of all He appeared to me" (1 Corinthians 15:1-9).

 

And here is what St. Peter preached

 

The God of our fathers raised Jesus Whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. It is this Jesus Whom God has exalted at His right hand to be our Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit Whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5: 30-32).

 

In any case the original Gospel was not a sermon, and not just the Beatitudes. It was thrilling news, glad tidings of great joy for all the peoples of the world. It was Jesus Himself, the divine Saviour, His life, His death, His Cross, His Empty Tomb, His Kingdom, His love and forgiveness, His power and His glory. It is this great truth that our salvation depends on, the act of God, on what God in His great love has done for us, that Orthodox Spirituality insists upon and emphasises in a remarkable way. In order to fix in the minds and hearts of the faithful what God has done for us, the Orthodox church, besides the Creed, has twelve great annual Feasts commemorating events in the drama of Redemption.

 

You may be surprised to learn that Easter is not one of the twelve. So great is the Resurrection in the mind of the Church that it is in a class by itself and is called "The Feast of Feasts and Triumph of Triumphs." Easter is always celebrated at midnight and the service usually takes till about dawn. To attend an Orthodox Easter Service is an unforgettable experience. Many people, including Roman Catholic priests and monks, have told me that they have never seen any service to compare with it. The singing, especially as performed in the Russian Church, is uplifting in the extreme. One detail: at certain points in the service the priest greets the people in a loud voice with the words, "Christ is Risen," and the congregation responds, "He is Risen indeed!" This is also how people greet one another at Easter time. Instead of saying Good Day or Namaskaram, one says "Christ is Risen" and the response is "He is Risen Indeed." On Sundays and at Easter there is a rule that prostrations to the ground are not to be made, as the joy of the Resurrection overwhelms even the sense of penitence. Also at Easter the psalms are not used for a whole week, and there is no fasting.

 

No days are blank in the Orthodox calendar. Every day some saints are remembered. Saints are of various classes. The Greek work Martyr means a witness.. The martyrs bore witness to Christ with their blood. It is possible to be a martyr in various ways. "Feel the tortures of conscience," says St. Athanasius, "die to sin, amputate sinful desires, and you will be martyr in will. The martyrs struggled with the torturers, kings and princes. You have a torturer, the devil; he is the king of sin. There are also prince-persecutors, namely demons. If you refrain from these passions and from sinful desires, it will mean that you have trampled on the idols and become a martyr." So much for St. Athanasius.

 

Typical of Orthodoxy is the group of saints called 'Fools for Christ's sake'. These were men and women who, for the love of God and in response to a special call, pretended to be mad or mentally abnormal. I think the earliest was a nun of Tabenna in the Egyptian desert, St. Isidora (380). She was never known to eat proper food. She lived on the scraps the nuns left. It was a large community and she was mostly treated with disdain and abhorrence. But such was her humility that she never refused to serve and obey everyone in the lowliest tasks.

 

Another Fool was St. Basil of Moscow who died in 1552, aged 88. One of the most magnificent churches in the world was built in his honour and can be seen in Moscow today. Once the Russian Emperor was building a new palace on Sparrow Mountains. One day he went to church, but instead of praying he was thinking about beautifying the new palace. St. Basil went to the same church and stood in a corner unnoticed. But he saw what the Emperor was doing with his mind. After the Liturgy the Emperor went home and Basil followed him. The Emperor asked him, "Where have you been?There, where you were, at the Holy Liturgy.How was that? I didn't see you.But I saw you and I saw where you really were.I was nowhere else, only in church," said the Emperor. "Your words are not true, O Emperor, for I saw you in spirit on Sparrow Mountains building your palace." Deeply moved, the Emperor said: "It is true, that is just what happened to me." That is typical of the spiritual insight to which the saints attained.

 

Here it may be good to mention that monasticism has always been highly regarded in the Orthodox Church. It is based on Christ's words: "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it" (Mathew 19: 10-12). And "sell what you have and give to the poor, and come and follow Me" (Mathew 19:21). And the promises to those who renounce everything (Mathew 19:29). Monks are pledged to battle with evil. Monasticism is not an escape from service.

 

A great virture in Orthodox Spirituality is dispassion (Greek. Apatheia), which is often misunderstood and mistranslated as 'apathy', 'indifference,' or 'insensibility' in a stoic sense. But true dispassion is freedom from passion through being filled with the spirit of God as a fruit of divine love.. It is a state of soul in which a burning love for God and men leaves no room for selfish and human passions. How far it is from the cold stoic conception, we can see from the fact that St. Diadochus can speak of "the fire of dispassion."*

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* It corresponds to the Hindu 'vairagya' and could perhaps best be rendered as 'non-attachment' or 'equal-mindedness'. (Editor).

 

The thought of deification may seem strange,* yet that is a word constantly met with in Orthodox works. It is based on Holy Scripture, of course. St. Peter tells us that God has given us His "great and precious promises that through them we may be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1: 4). And St. Athanasius explains that it is through the Incarnation that "the flesh has been deified." This deification is worked out, according to St. Maximus the Confessor, by the identification of our human will with the divine will. That prevents all pantheism. It is union with the divine life and activity, not with the divine being and essence. Iron placed in a fire becomes red hot and fiery, but it remains iron.

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* It will not seem strange to Hindu readers. (Editor).

 

Everyone is hungry for life and happiness. That is just what Jesus Christ came to give. "I have come," He said, "that you may have life and may have it abundantly." There is nothing wrong in being hungry for life and happiness, because that is the way we are made. Yet it is one of life's paradoxes that the pursuit of happiness, like the pursuit of pleasure, defeats its own purpose. We find happiness only when we do not directly seek it. So God gave us the spiritual law: "Seek first the Kingdom of God" (Luke 12:31). Then He promises that all our needs will be supplied. So Orthodox Christians have seasons of special seeking by penitence, prayer and abstinence that they may partake more fully of that life and happiness which constitutes the Kingdom of God. People think that wealth and honours mean happiness. But God tells us that a man's life and happiness does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). In the Orthodox view, so great is the human heart that nothing less than God can satisfy it. And the truth is that God is man's happiness. So all men are really seeking God. But it is one thing to try to get happiness for yourself, and quite another to try to establish God's Kingdom of divine power and happiness in the hearts of all men everywhere.

 

When Our Lord began His public life, the gist of His message was: "The Kingdom Of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1: 15). To repent means, according to the Greek, to change our mind, our outlook, and consequently our life. Instead of thinking thoughts of fear, revenge, anxiety, depression, acquisitiveness and sickness, it means to live and think in terms of the heavenly kingdom which is all around us, and in which we live and move and have our being. Man is a spirit, housed in a body. So he lives at once in Time and Eternity. Eternal life begins here and now. Our business or church is heaven on earth. The ikons or pictures remind us of things not of this world. "Our life, our home is in Heaven" (Philip 3:20). We are surrounded by Saints and Angels and all the heavenly inhabitants. A prayer that occurs daily in Lent reads: "Standing in the temple of Thy glory, we think that we are standing in Heaven.The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" (Luke 17: 21), so unless you take Heaven with you in your heart, you will never go there.

 

God made the world of Time as a school for Eternity. During this brief spell on earth, we are meant to be schooling ourselves to live with God Our Father in perfect joy forever. But many people find this world so beautiful, so attractive, that they get attached to it and even do not want to leave it.. So St. John says: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For the world passes away and the desire for it; but he, who does the will of God lives for ever." (1 John 2:15).

 

We are meant to find God in His creation, to pass through the visible to the invisible, to "look at the rainbow and praise Him Who made it" (Ecclesiastes 43:12). In order to be attached to our Creator we must be detached from creatures. Detachment is a virtue which holds a high place in Orthodox thought. "A small hair disturbs the eye, and a small care prevents detachment," says St. John of the Ladder. To love creatures instead of the Creator is idolatry.

 

A remarkable feature in the Orthodox Church is what may be called her sacramentalism. In order to train her children and teach them to pass through the visible to the Invisible, she uses pictures, crosses, various symbols and sacraments. The Orthodox Church calls sacraments mysteries. A mystery is not something of which you can understand nothing, something which is all darkness; it is more like a circle of light surrounded by darkness.

 

The Holy Mysteries or Sacraments are neither the end nor the essence of the spiritual life. They are means of grace, and only means. But these means have a great importance in the life of the Church. Because God has clothed our spirits in material bodies, He binds Himself to use material things in communicating with us. And so His law and practice in nature and grace is to give us His Gifts through the hands of His creatures. In other words God works through agents. So our life comes through a human father and mother, light through the sun, breath through the air, food through the earth. It is the same with spiritual things. The science of the Sacraments is through the material to the spiritual, through the visible to the Invisible. They teach us to find God through His creatures, to find Life through matter. The wonderful works of creation all tell us of the divine Presence, Power, Beauty, and Love.

 

As man is soul and body, so Orthodox worship requires the homage of both, an Old Testament ideal, of course: "That you may worship the Lord our God by everything that you do" (Joshua 4:24). Says St. Isaac the Syrian: "Every prayer in which the body does not participate and by which the heart is not affected is to be reckoned as an abortion without a soul." So in Orthodox worship we bow with our will and with our body as well, that is we make prostrations to the ground. Another feature is the sign of the cross. Just as the Name of Jesus is made by a movement of the tongue, so the sign of the cross is made by a movement of hand and arm. The cross is the sign of faith, hope and love; it is the Christian sign, which God wants us never to forget so He puts it everywhere. Every tree, every telegraph pole is a cross. What a book is to a literate person, a picture is to an illiterate. It brings him understanding.

 

And we believe in the Communion of the Saints, because there is now no death and all are alive to God. We ask the Saints to pray for us, and we pray for those who are not yet saints.