Purpose of existence: to become true images of Christ

Commandments of Christ - a divine way of life

Discovering the will of God

Speaker 1 0:01

In St Augustine. Sure, knowledge comes in the life to come, in the next life, in patria. So I think it's important to point out that when we say knowledge in the Orthodox tradition, we don't mean a body of knowledge, we don't mean a series of ideas, of concepts that you learn, you grasp and then you know. What do we mean? Christ? Christ is knowledge, christ is the truth, christ is the truth and Christ is all the truth. And the Lord says he's going to send us the other comforter who will reveal, who will lead you into all truth. So the King James Version says all truth and most translations, I think into English, seem to follow that pattern. But it is significant in this case that the Greek says ispasam din alithian, din alithian, into all the truth, because the truth is a specific thing and that thing is not in fact a thing. That thing is Jesus Christ himself. So the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us and in the Holy Spirit and by the Holy Spirit we are taught who Christ is, that he is our God, that he is our creator. So from the Orthodox perspective, the purpose of our existence, the existence of each one of us, is to become true images of Christ, and that can only be accomplished when we not figuratively, not poetically we are in Christ and Christ is in us. How is that done? How is that achieved? Well, we have the commandments of Christ. The saving commandments of Christ are the way we learn to live and to react to any and every situation as Christ would, as Christ does, with love, with forgiveness, with mercy, with humility, loving God and loving our neighbor. So this is the foundation of the spiritual life. The thing is is that in order to do that, you need to discover the will of God for you in any and every situation. So discovering the will of God is another way of describing the spiritual life. How do we discover the will of God? Because the commandments of Christ are general prescriptions as to how we live, and we recognize that this is not a human way of life, but it's a divine way of life, and no one would have the right to ask us to live a divine way of life other than God himself. Who is able to help us to live that way? Because as soon as you begin the first five minutes of trying to live the commandments of Christ, you see that you can't not without God's help.

Learning to call upon the Name of the Lord, the Gospel and worship

The Divine Liturgy

Enos the son of Seth (Gen. 4.26)

Spiritual life based on repentance and joy

Speaker 1 4:10

So then begins the whole unfolding of our lives in terms of constantly discovering the will of God for this or that situation, whichever situation we might find ourselves in situation, whichever situation we might find ourselves in, learning to call upon the name of the Lord, reading the Word of God, which is the best image that we have of Christ, is the Gospel, where we have the example as well as the teaching of Christ. So we have the gospel, we have the divine liturgy, because the way that we approach God is not intellectually, but it's by worship, through worship, through worship, we enter into communion with God and learning to call upon the name of the Lord, which goes right back in scriptural terms. It goes back to Enos, the son of Seth, so who is Seth? To adam and eve replacing abel. So you have seth, seth's son, enos, and then began men to call upon the name of the lord. There was still a connection with god, a union with god, with God, a union with God which apparently did not require calling upon the name of the Lord. But you see, it didn't take long, it didn't take many generations for us to reach the point where we need to call upon the name of the Lord. So we have a spiritual life and in that spiritual life is contained repentance. And repentance is understood as this constant changing, constant growing into the likeness of Christ. This begins in this life. The character of it changes in the next life. We don't call it repentance in the next life, but that changing continues, that growing into the likeness of Christ continues in the next life, because the perfection of Christ has no end. The perfection of Christ is infinite. No end, the perfection of Christ is infinite. So there is a dynamic state of constant growth and, to use the words of Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, constant learning Well, what are we learning again? Brings us back to Christ, going more and more deeply into the mystery of Christ, and this is unique and characteristic to the Orthodox faith.

A person who is repenting has no desire to judge anyone

Learning Christlike humility

Speaker 1 7:13

The life of repentance, which ironically produces joy. We think of it in terms of a rather morbid, miserable state. I mean, that's how it's presented in the West right Joy. Joy is the result of repentance. Father Zacharias wrote once. He said to a group of priests when on the holy mountain they see someone who is irritable or angry. On the holy mountain they see someone who is irritable or angry, they say, ah, that person did not weep for his sins last night. That's significant because it shows you that, yes, a repentance of weeping, asking for mercy, asking for forgiveness, asking for forgiveness, asking for healing, but that is joy producing. That is joy producing. That's why it's such a joy and it brings such peace when we meet a holy person, when we are in the presence of someone who is repenting and of course, a person who is repenting has no desire to judge anyone, much less condemn them. But together with this, and contained within it, is learning the humility of Christ, christ like humility.

Criteria of repentance, humility and love for enemies

God’s purpose in His creation of man seen in the Transfiguration

Vision of Christ in glory is moment of salvation (deification)

Speaker 1 8:45

And I would dare to say, take any religion or philosophical system that might seem enchanting and attractive and apply the criteria of repentance and Christ-like humility, and I would also add, love for one's enemies. I mean, this is the highest of Christ's commandments and the most challenging and the most absurd in worldly terms. But these characteristics, these criteria, distinguish the Orthodox faith from any other and from any other form of Christianity. So the Christian life is characterized by this understanding that our purpose, god's purpose in his creation of man, is to become Christ-like, and this is the significance of the transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. What does the transfiguration reveal to us in a graphic and succinct manner, but the fact that, all right, we know that god, christ, our god, possesses a glory which is before the ages, which is pre-eternal, because he is God. This is revealed to us in Christ, on Mount Tabor, through the witness of the three chosen disciples. But that in itself is not the amazing thing about the Transfiguration, that Christ is God and that he has such glory which is before the ages, together with his Father. This is not such a great revelation to us in the sense that we know we live the fact in the church that Christ is God. What is amazing is that this glory is revealed to us in and through his assumed human flesh, his human nature, body as well as soul. Soul because it is an icon, a representation again, a graphic representation of what God has prepared for us.

Saints pray for the whole world

Speaker 1 11:36

And it is the tradition of the church that when a person experiences the vision of Christ in glory, which is possible in this life, this is the moment of that person's salvation, that's the moment of that person's theosis, deification, and then we see, characteristically, the saints emerging from this experience, praying for the whole world. What do you do when your soul, your heart, your mind, even your body, receives the assurance of salvation for yourself? What do you do when you have reached the point where you have become Christ-like. Like Christ, your prayer is for the whole world. Your desire is that the whole world should know this. The whole world should be saved. It doesn't bring the saints any joy to think that anyone would be excluded from the love of god, from the joy and the glory of the life that christ is offering us. So it's experienced from this life. We see the saints transformed by it. We see that, far from resting and remaining content with themselves, at that point they begin to pray for the whole world. They intercede for the whole world as for themselves themselves, with tears, weeping.

Speaker 1 13:29

And Father Zacharias points out in his books the Enlargement of the Heart and the Hidden man that this signifies an exchange of lives which takes place in that vision. We see this in the example of Saint Silouan. In that vision, an exchange of lives takes place. So in exchange for us offering, the saints continue to live as Christ lives. His life becomes their life by grace, a pure gift.

Saints having received the mind of Christ live as Christ lives

Perfection in Christ vs perfectionism

Speaker 1 14:18

Who is worthy of such a gift? The saints recognize this immediately, that they're not worthy of it. And yet their desire is not for themselves, because they've received the mind of Christ, the life of Christ. Their desire is that all should be saved. So this is characteristic of authentic life in God, authentic life in Jesus Christ, who is our God. This is characteristic of the spiritual life, the richness of the spiritual life in the Orthodox tradition that each one of us, no matter what that person's station in life may be, has been called to perfection in Christ.

What do we mean by “Saint”?

Speaker 1 15:14

And I think that it does bear repeating when we say perfection in Christ, because on the spiritual level these things mean something entirely different. We say perfection. Well, we know most human beings tend to be perfectionists. But the perfectionism of human beings is really on the intellectual level. Is really on the intellectual level there's a perfectionism which says that you mustn't make any mistakes and when mistakes are made, you are deeply disappointed with others when they make mistakes. It's unforgiving, but christian perfection is forgiving. What characterizes perfection in christ is love, unconditional love, is humility, christ-like humility, forgiveness.

Prayer as a spiritual state: example of St. Paisios

Speaker 1 16:35

When we say someone is a saint, has become a saint, that's really what we mean that the state of grace has become permanent. It's not intermittent. With most of us, I dare say we have moments and we experience god, the presence of god, the grace of god in our lives, grace of God in our lives, to varying degrees and sometimes not at all, often not at all, and we learn what we need to do when that is the case. If you're experiencing the grace of God, you give thanks, and if you find yourself experiencing a loss of grace or a diminution of grace, then it's time to turn to God as quickly as possible, ask for mercy, ask for forgiveness, ask for healing, because we know that something is wrong. Because we know that something is wrong. But with the saints, they have reached a point where they have become steadfast in the grace of god.

Importance of the Saints: encouragement to us all

Speaker 1 17:54

I remember one of the spiritual children of saint. He said well, you know, when you go to a priest a good priest and you ask him a question, he'll pray to God and he'll give you an answer. So with Saint Paisios, he was in a state of prayer. Prayer was his life, grace is his life, communion with God is his life. So you ask him a question and the answer is prayerful, but he's always prayerful. There's a subtle difference there, because God is merciful. Go to confession or we go to a priest. We take a good spiritual disposition with us. God reveals his will to us through that person. It might not be a priest, it might be someone else, but you know typically. But the state of the saints is a state of grace, permanent state of grace, a continuous state of grace. This is very important to understand that it is possible for us. If it's possible for a Saint Paisios or a Saint Silouan, it's possible for each one of us.

Speaker 1 19:24

As Saint John Chrysostom says about Saint Paul, don't tell me ah, that was Saint Paul. Saint Paul is a human being, just like you, and this is very encouraging because it means that there's no them-and-us distinction made in the life of the church. We're all members of the church. We have stronger members of the church and weaker members. The weaker members are supported by the stronger members and all the members are supported by the head, which is Christ. This is how it is.

How to become like a St. Silouan?

Humility and the way of the Cross

The Cross and the Resurrection

Speaker 1 20:01

But what I wanted to add to that is there's a line I was going to say. There's a terrifying line in Saint Sophrony's description of Saint Silouan where he says and I'm paraphrasing each one of us can become like Saint Silouan, but in order to become like a Saint Silouan, we have to be as unsparing of one's life as was Saint Silouan. That's the hard part. It's like we're afraid to ask God to teach us humility, because I think we know instinctively that that will be a very painful lesson and how much denial that will entail. He who would follow after me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Well, it's scary, but the cross is the only way to the resurrection.

Pain and suffering - Christian life is martyric - Christ’s commandments a martyrdom

Speaker 1 21:09

I'm sure you've heard that before, but that's why we don't have megachurches. Why? Because at the heart of our lives is the mystery of the cross, which is also the mystery of the resurrection. The cross and the resurrection go together, but we always seek to avoid pain and suffering human beings. Christ didn't come as we have in certain other traditions, shall we say to teach us how to escape suffering.

Healing transformation of the heart

Speaker 1 21:51

Christ came to teach us how to deal with suffering and how to transform it into our glory. And that's why we have Christ himself first example, and then the martyrs and those who lived in the spirit of the martyrs, because the Christian life in general is martyric and it's martyric in character because, well, we mentioned the commandments of Christ. The commandments of Christ are a martyrdom constantly denying oneself, taking one's cross and following Christ. That's the life of repentance, in other words, when you're tempted to react to a situation according to the ways of the world, according to our instinct for survival, according to our fear of death, and you resist that and you say no, I'm going to follow instead the way of Christ. That's the point where you begin to deny yourself, that's the point where you begin to truly take up your cross and that's the point where you begin to repent and experience the healing transformation of the heart which is given by Christ.

“Strictness” of the Canons of the Church vs “Economia”

Speaker 1 23:30

But sadly, there are people who are full of good intentions, wanting to follow the spiritual life, and they don't know that the spiritual life is not about rules and regulations. It's not about beating people over the head with the Bible or with the tipicon, the book of the ordering of church services, or with the canons of the church. It's not about that. In fact, st S sophrony used to say those who have limited spiritual experience rely on the canons of the church. One of my best friends is a professor of canon law at theessalonica and he told me never in the history of the church have the canons been applied, never in the history of the church have the canons been applied.

Appeal

Speaker 1 24:38

You know, we tend to think there's the katakarivian, the strictness, the strict adherence to the canons, and kadikonomian economy, compassion. When you can't manage the agrivia, you have the ekonomia. The norm is the economia. That's the norm, because the Church is Christ. Christ is compassionate and the purpose is to save us. This is very important, I think. Please subscribe to our channel and share with your friends. Click on the join button below our video and become a friend or reader of the Mount Tabor Academy. Support our drive to introduce the theology and spiritual life of the Orthodox Church to the wider community.