Lent is a time of especially focused spiritual life. And although we are called to fight our passions daily, if not every minute, at other, “non-Lenten” times, we are confused by the bustle and frantic rhythm modern life, we find ourselves distracted from spiritual work. The post brings us back to her. That is why right now we turned to the pastors of the Russian Orthodox Church with a request to give advice on how to fight passions for us, Christians of the information age, what to pay attention to first of all, how to tune in, where to look for help and support - in the hope that this spiritual work will continue after the end of Lent.
Take care of yourself
- One of the most important points struggle with passions - what is called attentive life. This is especially relevant now, because man has never been so overloaded with information, so overloaded with everything that enters him from the outside, and has never been so inattentive as he is now. This is why it is so difficult for us today to fight passions. Not only because we are very proud, not only because we are very weak, but also because our attention is constantly distracted.
You need not only the will to fight passions, but it is also very important to take care of attention. And when we lose this attention to ourselves, we must definitely acquire it again, because with the help of attention you can see what you are going to do, what you are going to say, what is happening in your heart.
Talking about the fight against passions today is a matter of careful Christian life. It is most important.
Turn to the experience of the holy fathers and ascetics
– The experience of struggling with passions today is no different in any way from the experience of past centuries. Our century has brought little new to this struggle. But I can’t help but be amazed at the questioner’s courage. Who am I to give three or five pieces of advice?! In “Memorable Tales” we find absolutely amazing advice from the spiritually inspired fathers of antiquity with extraordinary brevity. And what a five! One or two sayings that contained their whole life and their entire feat. You read, and you are pierced by the burning intensity of meaning and spirit of the words of the holy ascetic. So what can an ordinary parish priest say in response to these questions? Of course, nothing!
Except for one thing – not statements, but simply observations. The habit of judging left and right comes from school, from student years. Before an exam or test, you need to read a lot of material and remember: this is good, and this is bad; this is black and this is white; this is good and this is evil. But time passes, and finally we must understand that there is no such thing as only good or only bad people. There is a constant struggle between the good and the bad in one person. And who are you that you easily draw a conclusion with lightning speed and sentence one person to the right, another to the left? Maybe stop holding on to " eternal youth", for constantly remaining in a student state?! Maybe it's time to decisively discard this teenage perception?! Moreover, it is natural to constantly look younger more for women than men.
Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) advised praying the Jesus Prayer 100 times a day
One more thing. Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) advised everyone - both laymen and lay priests - to pray the Jesus Prayer 100 times a day. This is a lot, considering that Father John advised not to rush, but to read slowly. But this prayer helps so much to collect the mind, not to have fun, to be aware and meaningfully read the prayers of the Liturgy, that it turns out to serve in a completely different way. And gradually the realization of many things comes, not only in the understanding of prayers, but also of one’s sins. This helps precisely in the fight against sinful thoughts, it helps precisely in the fight against passions.
– Your experience is such a thing... How can you broadcast it, because “do not call anyone blessed until death” (Sir. 11: 28). However, some things can be voiced. First: in order to fight passions, you need to want it - really want it. Saint Ignatius of the Caucasus says: “He who wills is able” - that is: whoever wants to, can. And you need to want to fight now. There is a wonderful recollection of Blessed Augustine in Confessions, where he repentantly speaks of his youth: “So I then asked God: “Lord, make me clean - just not now.” So if we want to fight passions, then we need to do it now and we need to pray that the Lord will send us help now. Third: we need to imagine that the fight against passions is not hocus pocus, which will immediately work out if you just ask us to wake up white, fluffy and passionless, or, as Professor Alexey Ilyich Osipov likes to say, “in a non-fallen state.” You won’t wake up in a non-falling state without your own efforts. This is probably enough for a start.
– How to deal with passions today? The book of Ecclesiastes says: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). If we are told that this is something new, we should not trust it: it is simply a forgotten old thing. In fact, if the situation changed dramatically, a new revelation from God would be required. But we are not waiting for a new revelation; there is Holy Scripture, which teaches and guides us into all truth. There is the experience of the holy fathers who told us how to more correctly deal with certain passions.
So, for example, the Monk Macarius of Egypt identifies three main passions, which, in his understanding, give rise to all the others. This is the passion of love of fame, voluptuousness and love of money. What is the passion of popularity? This is when a person demands and achieves special treatment for himself, that is, he wants to stand out from the general mass of people, he develops a spirit of pride and the spirit of such gambling competition with other people. Such passion is very dangerous. Voluptuousness is a passionate feeling that dominates the present world, because people are infected with this passion not only due to the depravity of our nature as a result of the Fall, but also due to the fact that this passion is cultivated through means mass media, through books, through films, through speeches of various government officials, through the media, etc. The passion of the love of money is generally a very dangerous cult. Let us remember: when the Jews came out of Egyptian slavery, they did not have time to reach Holy Canaan, when in the desert the devil gave them the cult of the golden calf. Something similar is happening with modern Russian consciousness. We left communist “Egypt” and had not even reached Orthodox “Canaan” when, in the desert of some uncertainty, the devil gave us the cult of enrichment - the golden calf - as some kind of new national idea. So that everyone competes with each other, everyone against everyone, everyone for themselves. There is a serious danger in this. And if the desire for popularity, lust, and money dominates, then we can hardly count on the revival of our people.
– Modern experience corresponds to patristic experience - from the first centuries of Christianity to the present day. Nothing changed. The most dangerous passions, according to the holy fathers, are pride and love of money. The love of money is a human passion, pride is satanic. From pride comes despondency, from despondency comes drunkenness and many other sins. It is scary that a person does not want to recognize any power over himself. “We are not slaves, slaves are not us” has been strongly ingrained in the consciousness of the people since some times. Humble yourself, proud man: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Fighting passions is long and hard work
– Nowadays, of course, passions are intensifying. Today the cult of passions dominates. Advertising is also geared towards this: many products are promoted through a certain passion that every person has. Most often this prodigal passion, or the passion of pride, vanity, gluttony. There are certain “buttons” that are pressed, forcing a person to buy some goods. So today the propaganda of passions is very serious.
What to do? Let's first figure out what passion is and how it differs from ordinary sin. Passion is a kind of chronic disease. There is an ordinary disease, and there is a disease that has become permanent for a person. This is an addiction, this is a sinful habit, a person becomes a slave to this habit, he can no longer live without it, he wants to break away from it, he suffers, but... this habit has become a part of his soul, a part of his life. This is the specialty of passion. It starts with committing an ordinary sin, then it becomes an addiction, a person plunges into this abyss... It’s very difficult to “jump off.”
Passion is suffering. It gives a person not only some “pleasant bonuses”, but also causes a person great suffering. Why does a person suffer? Chronic illness is always suffering.
How to deal with this? For this there is a science called asceticism. There are wonderful books about this: “The Ladder”, “The Philokalia”, the teachings of Abba Dorotheos... Also the works of St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) - their advice is suitable not only for the people of that time, but also for modern laity. Of today's ascetics, we can recommend the wonderful teachings of St. Paisius of Athos.
What features of the fight against passions do the holy fathers write about? First: passion cannot be defeated if you don’t really want to fight it. Just trying to sluggishly drive her away is useless. Why? Because the degree of damage is very serious. Chronic illness It is impossible to cure if you occasionally take some pills. It must be very serious work. And you won’t be able to overcome passion quickly. After all, if passion has been acquired over the years, then you won’t cure it in two weeks. I repeat: this is serious work, it requires a very serious desire.
What needs to be done to make this desire appear? You need, firstly, to realize all your weakness. You need to understand that you don’t control your life, it’s passion that controls it. And you, like an obedient donkey, go wherever they lead you. When a person realizes that he, an adult, strong, has become a slave to some habit of his that is completely destroying him, destroying his life and relationships with loved ones, then, horrified by this, he begins to fight. He understands that this is not just some kind of attachment, but this is a serious addiction. And when he already knows that it is not he who controls passion, but his passion controls him, he begins to call on God for help, because without God it is impossible to defeat passion.
And second: having realized your weakness and turning to God for help, you need to begin serious spiritual work to replace this passion with the opposite virtue. What is this? A person should confess, take communion, repent of his sins as often as possible, work with a confessor, read ascetic literature - there are different methods struggle with passions. But the most important thing is not to forget that when he was able to connect his passion in his soul, to fight it with the help of God, he must - for a holy place is never empty - replace it with a virtue opposite to this passion. Saint Ignatius speaks about this in his works.
In order for virtue to take root in the soul, you need to seriously practice. Because one bad habit is replaced by the acquisition of a good, sustainable skill. And this also takes time. This is the work called asceticism. The work is very interesting, by the way, because you really see how your life changes, when passions leave it, it becomes easier for you to breathe, and completely new joys open up.
Be smart, but smart in a patristic way
– The modern experience of fighting passions exists thanks to what is called “asceticism”: this is the teaching of the Church Fathers about the fight against passions. And this amazing science begins in the New Testament with how the Lord says: not even the action itself can be sinful, but a thought or a look that a person must be able to cut off. Therefore, the fight against passions always begins with deepest attention to yourself. And it is absolutely wonderful if our modern Christians, planning to go through this path of struggle with passions, begin to a greater extent do not get carried away with books like, say, “One Hundred Thousand Advice from Father on Some Reasons,” but rather pick up, say, the first volume of “Philokalia” and carefully read the teachings St. Anthony Great. Or they will read the teachings of John Cassian the Roman, who speaks very precisely, very clearly, very clearly and understandably to modern man about the fight against passions. And it's best if reference book Modern Orthodox Christians will read the book of the Venerable Abba Dorotheos, “Soulful Teachings.” It seems to me that in these teachings a modern person can find for himself a huge number of important, wonderful things that will put everything in its place.
For example, in the teachings of Anthony the Great such clear and beautiful things are said: “People are usually called smart when this word is used incorrectly. Not those who are smart are those who have studied the sayings and writings of the sages, but those whose souls are smart, who can judge what is good and what is evil. And they run away from evil, but care about what is good and beneficial to the soul and do it with great thanksgiving to God. These people alone should truly be called smart.” That's how simple it is! And today, by the word “mind”, humanity has come to mean intelligence. And intelligence became a kind of product for people. Intelligence is what makes a person successful. Intelligence is what makes a person rich. Intelligence is what allows a person to achieve career growth. And so on. And we see that in spiritual sense, in the ascetic sense, intellect and mind are different things. The mind is connected with a person’s heart, the mind is connected with a person’s choice, with the moral content of a person.
And people today don’t want to be that smart. Moreover, they believe that those who choose good are fools compared to those who choose profit. And one of the absolutely wonderful teachings about spiritual life, including the fight against passions, says how a person must, first of all, make his choice correctly, distinguish good from evil, and give true meaning to every word. And these true values and meanings are to be sought in the Holy Scriptures and in the experience of our Church. It seems to me that this is a very important lesson for modern man. After all, what is important to us is modern world? How is the world today different from the world of past generations? Our words have lost their original meaning, but this meaning has changed very much. This is how Anthony says: already in those days the word “mind” changed its meaning, and he returns us to the original meaning of this word. The mind is not a cunning, resourceful intellect, the mind is a divine gift given to man to distinguish between good and evil. And the struggle with passions cannot begin without a person correctly determining what is what: what is love, what is freedom, what is good and what is evil. This distinction is the first step in the fight against passions.
The more a person forbids himself, the freer he is
– The methods of dealing with passions are the same at all times: this is repentance for one’s sins, which develop into passion. This is where we need to start, there is no other way: repentance in church, before a priest. Next is the manifestation of your personal will to fight passions. This is an obligatory moment, and necessary in the first place.
Self-prohibition skills must be cultivated in a person from childhood. A person is freer the more he can prohibit himself, and vice versa. K. Ushinsky, our brilliant teacher, devoted much of his writings to the child’s ability to forbid himself. The opposite of Ushinsky is Dr. Spock, for example, a famous American teacher, who said that a child should be allowed everything, that the more external freedom you give him, the better. But the opposite is true: the more a child knows how to prohibit himself, the freer he is. And the more he allows himself, the more he falls into passion and, accordingly, becomes a slave to passions.
Therefore, it is necessary to teach a child, and not only a child, the ability to forbid himself. And only then, when a person has done everything that he can do on his own, with his own will, if he no longer has enough strength, then we need to turn to God so that He strengthens our good will. You can’t start with this, it seems to me. When a person doesn’t want to do anything, but only “God, help me do this,” this is not entirely correct, I think. Try it yourself first! And when you no longer have enough strength, you begin to drown, then you say: “Lord, save!”, and He extends his hand to you, that is, when you yourself have worked hard. And some people think like this: we will only pray, ask God, and we will not do anything ourselves. Then you won’t be able to pray, by the way. It seems to me that in this case there should be such a sequence as I mentioned.
Patience, abstinence, obedience must be cultivated from childhood
Patience and abstinence must be cultivated in a child from the very beginning. And the most basic passions today are: first of all, of course, disobedience. Nobody wants to listen to anyone. Even in the Church we see sad examples of when church officials who have been removed from their posts begin to show not only disobedience, but simply unbridledness. Disobedience in the family - when the wife does not obey her husband, the children do not obey their parents. Disobedience is passion. Further: this is the monstrous impatience of people. People don't want to tolerate anything.
These are spiritual passions. To defeat them, you need to listen to the Church, first of all, you need to educate yourself, consciously subordinate yourself, learn to obey. It is not simple. Here both humility and patience are cultivated, and, as we remember, the beginning of all virtues is patience. Therefore, you need to learn patience. They told you: “Do this” - you don’t like it, but you have to do it, that is, you have to show your will in the right direction. And children need to be taught the ability to obey.
It is important to respect the hierarchy - any: church, state, family. Why do all revolutions happen? – People don’t want to tolerate and obey. “Everything is bad, we don’t want to endure it anymore!” - “On what basis do you want to live better? What have we done to deserve a better life? - you ask some revolutionaries today. “You deserve a better life, or what?” Thank God we have one like this now! We are not dying of hunger, we have a roof over our heads, there is no war - but they say: “Give more!” More and more - a person never wants to stop. And he blames all the authorities - state, church - for the lack of more, for his troubles. And it all ends in tragedy, a revolution that destroys everything and deprives a person of everything. Therefore, the most important thing is to teach children from the very beginning early age endure and obey. Then life will be stable, there will be no such terrible cataclysms, revolutions and terrible destruction, after which life cannot be restored.
Don't give in to provocations
Protect yourself from the flow of information
– Fighting passions... I can’t say that I, a sinner, have been very successful in this, but the experience here is as follows. In the modern world, the video sphere plays a huge role. And the Internet, television, and advertising products offer many temptations, especially carnal ones. As one hieromonk I know said, modern technology provides enormous opportunities, but only a moral person can truly use them. Therefore, advice: use the Internet for purely pragmatic purposes. You have a specific task: for example, write an article or abstract, watch the weather. Climb, look. All! Don't get carried away. And here we're talking about not just about gross things like images beautiful women, but there is no need to get carried away even by information flows. Because they are cloudy, they have not been tested, they are tempting and are precisely designed to control society, to evoke appropriate feelings - most often feelings of fear, hatred, uncertainty and aggression. Or “drain” these feelings. The Internet plays the role of a valve, plays both a role and famous family sewerage. It infuses a person with aggression and unclean feelings, and at the same time, as it were, allows them to merge - a kind of “black confession”.
Tolkien has a stunning image of the Palantir - a crystal ball through which you can see the whole world, but through which you can also become a slave to evil. So, the Internet and television can easily become Palantir for you, which will suck you in and disfigure you. And he will burn spiritually, just as the hero of “The Lord of the Rings” Denethor burned because of the Palantir. It is in relation to video sequences and video products that one must be extremely careful. Nothing extra.
Second advice: in our world everything is at speed. At times it takes seconds to make a decision. So, during these seconds, still find time to pray. Advice from the Guardian Angel. Even in the most extreme situations, when, say, you are driving or in the operator's chair, take the time to do this.
Third: try to avoid rushing. We all have to hurry, but inside you still try to maintain noble slowness and balance. Do not join this terrible rhythm of haste, in the process of which you can become hardened, hardened and finally petrified in the deadening petrification of light. You could injure someone, possibly fatally. If you hurt someone, then they won’t forgive you, and, most importantly, you may not forgive.
And the next piece of advice: do not give in to provocations, whatever they may be. There are a lot of them around – both advertising and informational. Do not rush to believe every rumor. But check everything. There should be a noble distrust of everything you hear, especially from strangers.
Well, as for communication on the Internet: never talk to strangers - as a rule, they are provocateurs and scoundrels.
Readers are invited to the report of Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diocleia, which was presented on September 12, 2009 to the participants of the XVII International Ecumenical Conference - an annual conference in Bosa (Italy), traditionally dedicated to issues of spiritual life in the Orthodox ascetic tradition. It examines the views of various holy fathers on such a phenomenon of our life as “passion”, and also examines six aspects of spiritual struggle in the modern world. Translation from English was carried out by N.I. Kolotovkin (“Theologian. Ru”).
Introduction
I am honored to have been invited to make the closing address to the delegates of this conference. This morning I will try to do two things. First, given that we have been talking about “passions” every now and then throughout the conference, I will take a closer look at this term and try to define its meaning more precisely than before. Secondly, I will speak on the topic indicated in the title of my speech: “Spiritual struggle in the modern world.”
Nonenewsins?
More than fifty years ago, the famous Anglican confessor Father Algie Robertson (of the Society of St. Francis), who used to listen to confessions for many hours every week, told me with a note of weariness in his voice: “What a pity, there are no new sins!” Contrary to the prevailing worldly view, it is not holiness, but sin that is dull and boring. At its core, evil is uncreative and monotonous, while saints show inexhaustible diversity and originality.
If sin, in fact, constantly repeats itself, then it follows that the spiritual struggle, understood as spiritual warfare against our evil thoughts and sinful passions, in the modern world continues to remain the same as it has always been in the past. External forms may change, but the inner essence remains unchanged. A book like Ladder of Divine Ascension St. John Climacus can serve as a practical guide in the twenty-first century as well as in the seventh century. Today, as in the past, our enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Today, as in the past, Satan is becoming an angel of light. Today, as in the past, God calls us to a spirit of vigilance, the essence of which was summed up by the ascetic fathers of the Christian East in the word nepsis“be sober”, “watch out”.
"To put to death"or"transform"?
Throughout our present discussion we have made constant reference to passions: but what exactly is meant by this term? Unfortunately, the English word passion(passion), which is usually used to translate the word pathos, is completely insufficient to convey the variety of meanings present in the Greek term. Related to the word paschein"suffer", pathos basically means a passive state, as opposed to dynamis, active force. It means something experienced by a person or subject, an event or state experienced passively, thus sleep and death are defined pathos Clement of Nazianzus, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus describes the faces of the moon as pathē . Applied to our inner life pathos What matters is the feelings or emotions that a person has suffered or experienced.
Already in Greek philosophy of the pre-patristic period, two different attitudes towards passions can be distinguished. First, for the early Stoics pathos means confused and excessive impulse, horme pleonazousa in Zeno's definition. This is a pathological disorder of the personality, a disease ( morbus), as Cicero defines it. Therefore, the sage strives for apatheia, to freedom from passions.
However, along with this unfavorable view of the passions, there is also a more optimistic assessment of them, which can be found in Plato and in a more developed form in Aristotle. In your dialogue Phaedrus Plato uses the analogy of a charioteer and two horses. Here the soul is represented as a chariot, and the mind ( to logistikon) in the form of a charioteer; two horses harnessed to a chariot: one noble blood, the other is uncontrollable and rebellious, respectively denoting the higher movements of the “spiritualized” or “inclusive” part of the soul ( to thymikon) and the more base movements of the “lusting” (appetitive) part ( to epithymitikon). So, to move the paired chariot, horses are required; without the life energy they provide pathē , the soul does not have the power and strength to act. Moreover, if a paired chariot is to move in the right direction, it needs not one, but both horses; reason, therefore, cannot do without either noble feelings or baser passions, but it tries to control them. Thus this analogy implies that the sage should strive not to completely suppress the passions in any part of his soul, but to preserve them in due balance and harmony.
A similar view is developed by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. In his opinion, pathē include not only such things as desire and anger, but also friendship, courage and joy. Passions in themselves, he says, are “neither vices nor virtues,” they are essentially neither good nor evil, and they do not control us, and we are not blamed because of them. They are neutral impulses, and everything depends, as Metropolitan Philaret Minsky emphasized in his address, on how to use them. Our goal in this case is not complete elimination passions (as in Stoicism), but rather on average, to meson, so to speak, moderate and prudent use of them. The ideal is not apatheia, But metropatheia(however, in reality Aristotle himself did not use this last term).
Which of these two understandings of passion is accepted in patristic theology? There is, in essence, no unanimity among the fathers. First of all, a significant group of writers follows the Stoics in their negative attitude towards passion. Clement of Alexandria repeats the definition pathos Zeno as pleonazousa horme, "excessive impulse", "disobedient to reason" and "against nature". Passions are “diseases,” and a truly good person has no passions. Nemesius of Emesa also follows the Stoic view. Evagrius of Pontus closely connects passions with demons; therefore, the goal of a spiritual fighter is apatheia, but Evagrius fills this term with positive content, connecting it with love. In the sermons of Saint Macarius, the passions are almost always understood in a pejorative sense.
But in second place are fathers who, while generally assessing passions negatively, still allow for their positive use. Saint Gregory of Nyssa believes that pathos was not originally a part of human nature, but "was subsequently introduced into man after the first creation," and thus it is not part of the definition of the soul. Passions have an “animal” character ( ktenodes), which makes us akin to unreasonable animals. But as he approaches the Aristotelian point of view, Gregory adds that passions can be used for good purposes: evil does not lie in pathē as such, but in free choice ( proairesis) of the person using them.
Saint John Climacus generally agrees with Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Sometimes he uses negative terms, equating pathos to vice or evil ( kakia), and insists that pathos“was not originally part of human nature”: “God is not the creator of passions,” he says. They belong to man, especially in his fallen state, and are to be considered "ungodly." No one should even try to become a theologian without achieving the state apatheia. But he still admits that passions can be used for good purposes. The impulse underlying all passion is not in itself evil; it is we who, through the test of free choice, have “taken our natural impulses and turned them into passions.” It is interesting to note that Climacus does not judge eros, sexual desire, as essentially sinful, but believes that it can be directed towards God.
But in third place there are other writers who go even further than this, and they seem to admit that the passions can not only be used for good, but that they are also part of our original nature, created by God. This especially applies to Abba Isaiah (☨491). In his second Word he takes what are usually considered passions, such as desire ( epithymia), envy or jealousy ( zē los), anger, hatred and pride, and claims that they are all fundamentally kata physion“in accordance with nature” and all of them can be used for good purposes. Thus, the desire, which by nature should be directed towards God, we misdirected towards “all types of uncleanness.” Zeal and zeal, which should lead us to imitate holiness (“Be zealous for greater gifts,” says St. Paul (1 Cor 12:31)), we have perverted, and now they lead us to envy each other. We have falsely directed the anger and hatred that should be directed against the devil and all his works towards our neighbor. Even pride can be used for good: there is a good sense of self-worth that allows us to resist the destructive self-pity and despondency. Thus, for Abba Isaiah, passions such as anger and pride, which Evagrius would consider “demons” or especially evil thoughts, are, on the contrary, a natural part of our personality, created by God. Craving or anger are not in themselves sinful; what matters is how they are used, or kata physion, or para physion. It does not appear that Isaiah was directly influenced by Plato or Aristotle, whom he probably never read, but it is possible that he draws on the Coptic tradition, which we find, for example, in the letters attributed to St. Anthony the Great.
A positive approach to the passions can also be found in later authors. When Saint Dionysius the Areopagite describes that Hierotheus “not only studies the divine, but also knows it through suffering” (ou monon mathon alla kai pathon ta theia), no doubt he means that secret vision is in some sense pathos(passion). Saint Maximus the Confessor, although inclined to support the view of Saint Gregory of Nyssa that passions entered into human nature after the first creation, nevertheless, as Father Andrew Lut noted, refers to the “blessed passion of holy love” ( makarion pathos tes theias agapes); and he is not afraid to talk about union with God in erotic terms. Passions, he insists, can be worthy of both “praise” and “blame.” According to Saint Gregory Palamas, the goal of the Christian life is not mortification ( necrosis) passions, but their transformation or change in their direction ( metathesis).
Therefore, there is ample evidence that the Greek fathers were influenced not only by the negative Stoic approach, but also (directly or indirectly) by the more positive Aristotelian assessment. Those fathers who accept positive or, according to at least, passion-neutral views are a minority, but an important minority nonetheless. It can, of course, be proven that controversial issue is mainly a semantic one, a question of how we want to use the word "passion". But is it really various uses Don't these words have much deeper meanings? Words have great symbolic power, and the way we use them has a decisive influence on how we comprehend reality. The same applies to the word pathos. Should we follow the negative usage of the Stoics or the generous usage of Aristotle? This may have serious consequences for our pastoral care of others - and for ourselves. Do we say “put to death” or “transform”? Do we say “eradicate” or “educate”? Do we say "eliminate" or "change direction"? And there is a huge difference here.
Regarding our spiritual struggle in the modern world, I firmly believe that we will be much more successful if we speak of “transforming” rather than “destroying.” The modern world in which we live, at least in Western Europe- This is a largely secularized world, alienated from the Church. If we are faced with the task of returning this world to Christ, if we ourselves need to preserve our Christian identity in this atmosphere of alienation, then we will have more success, if we present Christian preaching in positive rather than accusatory terminology. We need to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.
ThreegloomyTopics
Returning now to the second part of my address, I would like to highlight six aspects of spiritual struggle in the modern world. My list is not systematic and does not purport to be exhaustive. I will speak from the perspective of both darkness and light. Three of the aspects I have chosen are, at first glance, gloomy in nature, while the other three are more light shade; but, at the most, all six of them are not negative, but eminently positive.
1. Descent into hell.
We can consider that hell is the absence of God, it is a place where there is no God (of course, it is true that, from a more subtle point of view, hell is not free from God, for, as St. Isaac the Syrian insists, Divine love is everywhere). It is not surprising that twentieth-century Christians, living in a world marked by a sense of the absence of God, must have interpreted their calling as descensus ad inferos(descent into hell). Pavel Evdokimov develops this idea in connection with the sacrament of baptism, which forms the basis of Christian spiritual struggle (as Brother Enzo insisted in his welcoming address). “Speaking about the rite of immersion during baptism,” notes Evdokimov, “St. John Chrysostom notes: “The process of descending into water, and then ascending from it again, symbolizes Christ’s descent into hell and His return from hell again.” Therefore, to undergo baptism not only means to die and rise with Christ: it also means that we are descending into hell, which we bear stigmata(bodily wounds) Christ the Priest, His pastoral care, His apostolic pain for the fate of those who chose hell.” Evdokimov's train of thought largely coincides with the ideas of Hans Urs von Balthasar. But we must not forget, as Archbishop Hilarion Alfeev showed in his recent book, that the descent of Christ into hell is, first of all, an act of victory.
A twentieth-century Orthodox saint who placed particular emphasis on the descent into hell is St. Silouan of Athonite. “Keep your mind in hell and do not despair,” he teaches, adding that this is the way to acquire humility. His student Father Sophrony states: “He referred to the actual experience of hell.” In his reflections, Saint Silouan remembers a shoemaker in Alexandria, whom Saint Anthony visited and who used to say: “Everyone will be saved, and only I will perish.” Silouan applies these words to himself: “Soon I will die and dwell in the dark dungeon of hell. And I alone will burn there.”
Yet it would be wrong to interpret the position of Saint Silouan in purely negative and gloomy terms. Both parts of his statement must be taken seriously: he not only says, “Keep your mind in hell,” but he immediately adds, “and do not despair.” Elsewhere he argues that belief in one's own condemnation eternal torment- this is a temptation from the evil one. According to him, there are two thoughts that come from the enemy: “you are a saint” and “you will not be saved.” Silouan was seriously influenced by the teachings of St. Isaac the Syrian on the irresistible character divine love. “If there is no love,” he asserts, “everything is difficult.” And vice versa, if there is love, then everything is possible. Christ's descent into hell and his victorious resurrection from the dead form one indivisible event, a single and unified action.
2. Martyrdom.
A special form of descent into hell in the twentieth century in the spiritual struggle of Orthodox Christians was the experience of persecution and martyrdom. Yes, for the Christian East the past century was mainly a century of martyrdom. Moreover, we should not forget that although communism has fallen in Russia and Eastern Europe, there are still many places in the world where Christians - Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike - continue to experience persecution (for example, in Turkey, Iraq , Pakistan, China...). In the words of one Russian emigrant priest, Father Alexander Elchaninov, who died in 1934, “the world is crooked, and God straightens it. Therefore, Christ suffered (and continues to suffer), like all martyrs, confessors and saints, and we, who love Christ, also cannot help but suffer.” Saint Silouan emphasizes that martyrdom can be both internal and external: “To pray for people,” he says, “means to shed blood.” And at the same time, as in his apothegm (“Keep your soul in hell and do not despair”), he insists on the coincidence of darkness and light, despair and hope. Thus, the suffering of the martyrs is also a source of joy, in his words, "extreme suffering is associated with extreme bliss."
One martyr whose spiritual struggle has particularly captured the Orthodox imagination in the last sixty years is St. Maria Skobtsova, who died in gas chamber Ravensbruck on March 13, 1945, possibly taking the place of another prisoner. If this were real, then it shows how the martyr - like Christ the First Martyr himself - fulfills a redemptive role, dying for the sake of others, dying so that others may live. The martyr fulfills to the highest degree the command of St. Paul: “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). In fact, this was a theme that Mother Mary emphasized in her writings. In the anthology of the lives of the saints, which she compiled, she records the story of St. Ioannikios the Great and the possessed girl: “He laid his hand on the head of the suffering sick woman and calmly said: “By the power of the living God, I, His unworthy servant Ioannikios, take upon myself your sin.” , if you have sinned... because my shoulders are stronger than yours; because I want to accept your test for the sake of love.” The girl was healed, and Ioannikios took on her suffering and was close to death before emerging victorious from his struggle with the power of evil.”
So this is extreme important aspect spiritual struggle - to endure martyrdom, to shed one's blood externally or internally for the sake of others.
3. Kenosis.
Closely related to the first two elements that we talked about above - the descent into hell and martyrdom - is the third: kenosis, or self-deprecation. A person waging a spiritual struggle compares himself with the humiliated Christ (and here I recall a wonderful book written seventy years ago by the Russian author Nadezhda Gorodetskaya Humiliated Christ in modern Russian thought; even now it has retained its relevance). Before her imprisonment, Saint Maria Skobtsova showed this kenotic spirit in a striking way: she showed solidarity that later cost her dearly, solidarity with the poor, the outcast, with all those who were outside the boundaries of society, and also with the Jews after the outbreak of World War II. “The bodies of our neighbors,” she wrote, “must be treated with greater care than ours.” own bodies. Christian love teaches us to give our brothers not only spiritual, but also material gifts. We must give them even our last shirt, even our last piece of bread. Private donations and the broadest public work are justified and necessary.”
One of the Greek saints who showed this kenotic spirit to a significant degree is Nektarios of Pentapolis, who died in 1920. There are many stories of his humility. While still a young bishop in Alexandria and subjected to unjust attacks, he refuses to take revenge or defend himself against slander. When he was rector of the Risarian Theological School in Athens, the janitor there fell ill; In order not to be removed from work, Saint Nektarios got up early every day and swept the corridors and cleaned the toilets himself until the man was able to return to work. In his last years visitors who met him at work in the monastery garden, which he himself founded, mistakenly took him for a worker, not suspecting that he was a bishop. One way or another, Saint Nektarios imitated the words of the Apostle Paul: “For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus... He made Himself of no reputation” (Phil. 2:5-7).
Lightindarkness
Describing this spiritual struggle, St. Paul emphasizes its antinomian character: “... in honor and dishonor, with blame and praise... we are considered dead, but behold, we are alive... we are grieved, but we always rejoice... we have nothing, but we possess everything "(2 Cor. 6:8-10). Let us now bring into balance these three dark elements of spiritual struggle with the three more joyful elements which have special meaning in modern world.
1. Transfiguration.
Earlier, in the process of analyzing various ways of understanding the spiritual battle with passions, I suggested that in the critical state of affairs at the moment, it would be wiser for us to speak rather than “kill” or “eradicate,” but rather “transform.” In fact, the sacrament of transfiguration is of particular value to us at this time. Our spiritual struggle must undoubtedly include renunciation, ascetic efforts, sweat, blood and tears, internal and perhaps also external martyrdom; but we may lose intrinsic value all this until it is enlightened by the uncreated light of Tabor. In this regard, of course, it is no coincidence that the most influential saint in the life and experience of twentieth-century Orthodoxy was Seraphim of Sarov, who is precisely the saint of the transfiguration. During my first visit to Greece fifty-five years ago, virtually no one knew about St. Seraphim. Now, wherever I set foot on Greek soil, I see his icon in churches and houses; and in monasteries I often meet monks and nuns named “Seraphim” and “Seraphim” in his honor. Everything should be so, since he is a saint of our time.
And at the same time, let's not get sentimental about the Sarov saint or oversimplify the nature of his spiritual struggle. We are right when we remember that he wore white, and not the usual black monastic robes; that he addressed his visitors “my joy” and greeted them throughout the year with the Easter cry “Christ is Risen”; that his face shone with Glory in the presence of his student Nikolai Motovilov. But let's not forget about the demonic spirits that he had to endure when he prayed on a stone near his hermitage and heard the crackling flames of hell around him; let us not forget the physical pain he had endured since he was maimed by three robbers in the forest; Let us not forget the misunderstanding that he had to endure from his own abbot, and the slander that haunted him until his death. Yes, he understood well what St. Paul meant when he said: “They make us sad, but we always rejoice.” In spiritual struggle, transfiguration and bearing the cross are two inseparable things.
2. Eucharist.
It was said above that baptism forms the basis of the spiritual struggle of a Christian. But baptism cannot be separated from Holy Communion; thus, the Eucharist also plays a fundamental role in our spiritual warfare. In the earlier patristic period, many ascetic writers, such as St. John Climacus or St. Isaac the Syrian, made little or no reference to the Eucharist. But our spiritual struggle today requires that the Eucharistic aspect be clear and at the center of our attention. This is exactly what Saint John of Kronstadt did at the dawn of the twentieth century, great priest, who constantly served the Liturgy. “The Eucharist is a continuous miracle,” he used to say; and he was completely immersed in this “continuous miracle”, celebrating the Divine Liturgy daily. The intensity of his Eucharistic service surprised his contemporaries: St. Silouan, for example, speaks of “the power of his prayer” and adds: “His whole being was a flame of love.” He insisted that everyone present at the service should receive communion with him. Because of him and some other preachers, communion in the Orthodox Church of the twentieth century actually became more frequent; and yet there are still many places where believers approach this sacrament only three to four times a year. This is, of course, worth regretting. In the modern world, our spiritual struggle must necessarily be, in the fullest sense, a Eucharistic struggle.
At the heart of the Divine Liturgy, immediately before the invocation of the Holy Spirit, the deacon raises the Holy Gifts, while the priest says: “Thine from Thine is offered to Thee, for all and for all” ( ta za ek ton zon soi prospherontes, kata panta kai dia panta). This brings us to an aspect of the Divine Liturgy that is of particular importance for our spiritual struggle in the modern world - the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist. The important thing is that in the Eucharist we offer Gifts not only “for all people” ( dia pantas), but also “for all things” ( dia panta). The scope of the Eucharistic sacrifice covers not only humanity, but the entire kingdom of nature. It is comprehensive. Thus, the Eucharist calls us to environmental responsibility. It obliges us to protect and love not only our neighbors, but all living beings; Moreover, it obliges us to protect and love grass, trees, rocks, water and air. By fully consciously celebrating the Eucharist, we look at the whole world as a sacrament.
This means that our spiritual struggle is not simply anthropocentric. We are saved not from the world, but with it; and so we strive to sanctify and restore to God not only ourselves, but all creation. This ecological preaching in our spiritual struggle has been especially emphasized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate more than once in the last two decades. Patriarch Demetrius and his successor, the current Patriarch Bartholomew, established September 1 - the beginning church year- as “day of protection” environment”, which (we dare to hope) should be observed not only by the Orthodox, but also by other Christians. “Let us consider ourselves,” said Patriarch Dimitri in his Christmas message in 1988, “each, according to his rank, to be personally responsible for the world entrusted by God into our hands. Everything that the Son of God accepted and made into His Body through the Incarnation must not perish. But everything must become a Eucharistic sacrifice to the Creator, living bread shared in truth and love with others, a praise of peace for all God’s creatures.” In the words of Saint Silouan, “a heart that has known love has compassion for all creation.” This cosmic responsiveness, as Don André Louf reminded us, is the leitmotif of the writings of Saint Isaac.
3. Heart Prayer.
No matter how important the Eucharistic and liturgical side of the spiritual struggle is, at the same time it is necessary to pay great attention to the struggle for inner prayer. In the spiritual struggle of the twentieth century, inner prayer (especially for the Orthodox, but by no means exclusively for them) meant the Jesus Prayer. The importance of invoking this Holy Name has come to be especially appreciated in the last hundred years under the influence primarily of these two books: Candid stories wanderer And Philokalia. Both received completely unexpected success in the West. It is possible that the Jesus Prayer is being said today more people than ever before. Our age is not only a worldly age!
These are some of the elements of spiritual struggle in the modern world: on the one hand, descent into hell, martyrdom, kenosis; on the other hand, the transfiguration, the Eucharist, prayer of the heart. These two triads should not be opposed to each other, but united together, as St. John Climacus does (and here I remember the conversation with Father Justin) when he forms the word charmolype“sorrow-joy” and talks about charopoion penthos"sorrow creating joy." Two additional aspects of spiritual struggle are well summed up in two short sayings of St. Seraphim of Sarov, which I try to constantly keep in mind: “Where there is no sorrow, there is no salvation”; “The Holy Spirit fills everything He touches with joy.”
2. Eucharist.It was said above that baptism forms the basis of the spiritual struggle of a Christian. But baptism cannot be separated from Holy Communion; thus, the Eucharist also plays a fundamental role in our spiritual warfare. In the earlier patristic period, many ascetic writers, such as St. John Climacus or St. Isaac the Syrian, made little or no reference to the Eucharist. But our spiritual struggle today requires that the Eucharistic aspect be clear and at the center of our attention. This is exactly what St. John of Kronstadt, the great priest who constantly served the Liturgy, did at the dawn of the twentieth century. “The Eucharist is a continuous miracle,” he used to say; and he was completely immersed in this “continuous miracle”, celebrating the Divine Liturgy daily. The intensity of his Eucharistic service surprised his contemporaries: St. Silouan, for example, speaks of “the power of his prayer” and adds: “His whole being was a flame of love.” He insisted that everyone present at the service should receive communion with him. Because of him and some other preachers, communion in the Orthodox Church of the twentieth century actually became more frequent; and yet there are still many places where believers approach this sacrament only three to four times a year. This is, of course, worth regretting. In the modern world, our spiritual struggle must necessarily be, in the fullest sense, a Eucharistic struggle.
At the heart of the Divine Liturgy, immediately before the invocation of the Holy Spirit, the deacon raises the Holy Gifts, while the priest says: “Thine from Thine is offered to Thee, for all and for all” (ta za ek ton zon soi prospherontes, kata panta kai dia panta ). This brings us to an aspect of the Divine Liturgy that is of particular importance for our spiritual struggle in the modern world - the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist. The important thing is that in the Eucharist we offer Gifts not only “for all people” (dia pantas), but also “for all things” (dia panta). The scope of the Eucharistic sacrifice covers not only humanity, but the entire kingdom of nature. It is comprehensive. Thus, the Eucharist calls us to environmental responsibility. It obliges us to protect and love not only our neighbors, but all living beings; Moreover, it obliges us to protect and love grass, trees, rocks, water and air. By fully consciously celebrating the Eucharist, we look at the whole world as a sacrament.
This means that our spiritual struggle is not simply anthropocentric. We are saved not from the world, but with it; and so we strive to sanctify and restore to God not only ourselves, but all creation. This ecological preaching in our spiritual struggle has been especially emphasized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate more than once in the last two decades. Patriarch Demetrius and his successor, the current Patriarch Bartholomew, established September 1 - the beginning of the church year - as an "environmental day", which (we dare to hope) should be observed not only by the Orthodox, but also by other Christians. “Let us consider ourselves,” said Patriarch Dimitri in his Christmas message in 1988, “each, according to his rank, to be personally responsible for the world entrusted by God into our hands. Everything that the Son of God accepted and made into His Body through the Incarnation must not perish. But everything must become a Eucharistic sacrifice to the Creator, living bread shared in truth and love with others, a praise of peace for all God’s creatures.” In the words of Saint Silouan, “a heart that has known love has compassion for all creation.” This cosmic responsiveness, as Don André Louf reminded us, is the leitmotif of the writings of Saint Isaac.
Text hiddenWhat is Orthodox hand-to-hand combat? How to perceive the expression Orthodox martial arts or Orthodox wrestling? Can Orthodox man engage in combat sports? These thoughts were prompted by many media reports about Orthodox squads, Cossack patrols, and the protection of Orthodox shrines. Could the Orthodox faith be associated with a direct blow to the head or a throw through the hip?
At first glance, of course not! After all, the gospel commandments of love are above all. Love for God, love for neighbor and hand-to-hand combat are two different banks of the river that will never meet. The Lord tells us:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; As I have loved you, so should you love one another; By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
And moreover, in the Sermon on the Mount we hear:
« But I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well. » (Matthew 5:38-39)
Well, what kind of struggle is there here, you will reasonably say and you will be absolutely right. Nikolai Berdyaev, for example, believed that by not responding to insult and evil, a person thereby rises above evil. Resistance to evil and aggression is a step up from cowardice, and non-resistance to evil in the Gospel understanding is an even higher degree of courage.
But what then to do with Russian saints - defenders of the Russian land, such as Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabya? Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga? Ruthless to enemies, brave, strong warriors, wise commanders. We find the following words in the Gospel.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
Orthodox warriors. Church tradition.
This means that the Lord blesses us to protect our family, our home, our country and the Orthodox faith if it is in danger. It is not for nothing that we treat the warriors-defenders of Rus' with such respect and honor their memory. Let's turn to church traditions:
When a saint Equal to the Apostles Cyril was sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to preach the Gospel and arrived in the capital of the Saracens, the learned followers of Mohammed entered into a dispute with him about faith. Among other questions they asked him: “Christ is your God. He commanded you to pray for your enemies, to do good to those who hate and persecute you, to those who hit you on the cheek, to substitute the other one too, but what are you doing? If someone offends you, you sharpen your weapons, go out to fight, and kill. Why don’t you listen to your Christ?”
Having heard this, Saint Cyril asked his co-questioners: “If two commandments are written in any law, which person will be the perfect fulfiller of the law - the one who fulfills one commandment, or the one who fulfills both commandments?” When the Hagarians said that the one who keeps both commandments will fulfill the law more perfectly, the holy preacher continued: “Christ our God, who commanded us to pray for those who offend us and to do good to them, also said that none of us can show greater love in this life.” unless someone lays down his life for his friends (John 15:3). That is why we generously tolerate insults inflicted on us as private people, but in society we defend each other and put our souls in battle for our neighbors, so that you, having captured our fellow citizens, do not capture their souls along with their bodies, forcing them to renounce their faith and ungodly acts.
Our Christ-loving warriors, with weapons in their hands, guard the Holy Church, protect the sovereign, in whose sacred person they honor the image of the power of the Heavenly King, protect the fatherland, with the destruction of which the domestic power will inevitably fall and the faith of the Gospel will be shaken. These are the precious deposits for which last straw Warriors must fight in blood, and if they lay down their souls on the battlefield, the Church canonizes them as holy martyrs and calls them prayer books before God.”
So, an Orthodox person is not necessarily a hunched bookworm with thick glasses or a grandmother with a candle box - defenseless, naive, kind. Martial arts clubs are now springing up at many churches, in which children and adults learn to resist aggression and protect their loved ones.
Martial arts and the Orthodox faith. Is it possible?
Our question rather relates to raising children. Indeed, now, when our security is guaranteed by the state very conditionally, we ourselves must learn to protect ourselves, our family, the temple, our Orthodox shrines. We must raise children who can stand up for themselves.
Our Orthodox boys should not turn into fearful children of the 21st century, having difficulty lifting anything heavier than a computer mouse. Times are troubled now and real male education is correct physical development our boys will be the best addition to Orthodox faith, in which we raise them. Martial arts make their body strong, temper their spirit.
