In his
Centuries on Theology St. Maximus the Confessor refers to the nexus of the
dualism of pleasure and pain, which, by any standard, is an important subject.
This means that we cannot discuss Orthodox Theology if we fail to face this
crucial point, because the transcendence of pleasure and pain is, precisely, a
prerequisite for correct Orthodox Theology. As St. Maximus the Confessor says,
the transcendence of pleasure and pain proves that man has cleansed his heart
from the passions.
As we
pointed out above, the whole of modern life is governed by pleasure and pain,
since, in our age, enjoyment and the gratification of the senses dominate,
while at the same time deep grief, an inner pain, prevails. In reality, modern
man tries to escape pain through the satisfaction of sensual pleasure. All
contemporary problems, such as AIDS and drugs, are to be found in this
connection. This is why I believe it is extremely important to see this link
between pleasure and pain, as elaborated by St. Maximus the Confessor.
a) The
origin of pleasure and pain
The world
was created by God in Trinity. The most perfect creature is man, for he is the
apex of creation, the microcosm in the macrocosm. Analyzing the issue of the
creation of man and its relation to the birth and the origin of pleasure and
pain, St. Maximus says that God the Word who created man's nature, made it
without pleasure and pain. "He did not make the senses susceptible to
either pleasure or pain." He insists on this point by saying:
"Pleasure and pain were not created simultaneously with the flesh."
While
there was no pleasure and pain in man before the fall, there was a noetic
faculty towards pleasure, through which man could enjoy God ineffably. But he
misused this natural faculty. Man oriented the "the natural longing of the
nous for God" to sensible things and thus "by the initial movement
towards sensible things, the first man transferred this longing to his senses,
and through them began to experience this pleasure in a way contrary to
nature". The words "according to nature" and "contrary to
nature" show the complete ontological change that took place in man and
depict his fallen state clearly.
Of
course, man did not invent this mode of operation of the faculties of the soul
on his own, but with the advice of the devil. The devil was motivated by
jealously against man, for whom God had shown special care and attention. It is
interesting that the devil envied not only man but God Himself: "Since the
devil is jealous of both us and god, he persuaded man by guile that God was
jealous of him, and so made him break the commandment".
After the
unnatural movement of the noetic capacity of the soul to sensible things and
the birth of pleasure, God, being interested in man's salvation "implanted
pain, as a kind of chastising force". Pain, which God, in His love for
man, tied to sensual pleasure, is the whole complex of the mortal and passible
body, that is the law of death, which has, ever since then, been very closely
connected to human nature. In this way, the "manic longing of the
nous" which incites the unnatural inclination of the soul to sensible
things, is restrained.
This
whole analysis by St. Maximus the Confessor in no way reminds us of Platonic
teaching about the movement of the immortal soul from the unborn realm of the
ideas, and its confinement to a mortal body which is the prison of the soul.
This is simply because St. Maximus the Confessor, being an integral member of
the entire Orthodox tradition, makes no distinction between a naturally
immortal soul and a naturally mortal body, he does not believe in an immortal
and unborn realm of ideas, and, obviously, does not adopt a dualistic view of
man, according to which salvation consists in his liberation from the prison of
the soul, which is the body. In St. Maximus' teaching there is a clear
reference to the unnatural movement of the faculties of the soul and to the
"manic longing of the nous", which draws the body into situations and
acts which are against nature.
It is
clear, then, that ancestral sin consists of the "initial movement of the
soul" toward sensible things and in the "law of death" granted
by God's love for man. Therefore, pleasure and pain constitute so-called
original sin. Pleasure is the soul's initial movement toward sensible things,
while pain is the whole law of death which took roots in man's existence and
constitutes the law of the mortal flesh.
St.
Maximus makes some marvellous observations. He states that the transgression
(of the commandment) devised pleasure "in order to corrupt the will",
i.e. man's freedom, and also imposed pain (death) "to cause the
dissolution of man's nature". This means that pleasure causes sin, which
is a voluntary death of the soul, while pain, through the separation of soul
and body, causes the disintegration of the flesh. This was, actually, the work
and objective of the devil, but God allowed the link between pleasure and pain.
That is, He allowed death to come into man's existence on grounds of love and
philanthropy, for pain is the refutation of pleasure. Thus, "God has
providentially given man pain he has not chosen, together with death that
follows from it, in order to chasten him for the pleasure he has chosen."
On
several occasions, St. Maximus refers to "voluntary pleasure" and
"irrational pleasure", as well as to "involuntary" and
"sensible" pain. Pain balances the results of pleasure, that is, it
subtracts pain, but does not completely revoke it.
Therefore,
pleasure precedes pain, since all pain is caused by pleasure, and this is why
it is called natural pain. For Adam and Eve, pleasure was without cause, that
is, it was not preceded by pain, while pain, which is a natural consequence of
pleasure, is an obligation, a debt, paid by all men who have the same human
nature. This is what happened to Adam and Eve. For their descendants, things
are a little different; the experience of pain leads them to the enjoyment of
pleasure.
After the
Fall and the entry of the law of sin and death into his existence, man is in a
tragic state, because, even though pain reverses pleasure and annuls its active
movement, man cannot reverse and eliminate the law of death which is found
within his being, and this law brings a new experience of pleasure.
"Philosophy towards virtue", namely man's whole ascetic struggle
brings dispassion not in his will but in his nature, because asceticism cannot
defeat death, which is found as a powerful law within man’s being. Herein lies
the tragedy of man, who may cure pleasure and obtain inner balance through
voluntary pain (asceticism) and involuntary events (external grief, death) but
is unable to liberate himself from pain, which is determined by the law of
death.
b) The
purpose of Christ's incarnation
So far we
have described how the link between pleasure and pain was established after the
Fall. Pleasure was a result of the irrational movement of the faculty of the
soul , with its natural consequence the coming of pain, along with the entire
law of death. This combination of pleasure and pain became a law of human
nature. Obviously, while living a life contrary to nature, man could not be
delivered from this state which had become natural. Christ's incarnation
contributed to man's liberation from this connection between pleasure and pain.
St. Maximus the Confessor also makes some marvellous observations on this point
too.
It was
absolutely impossible for human nature which had fallen to voluntary pleasure
and involuntary pain to return to the former state "had the Creator not
become man". The mystery of incarnation lies in the fact that Christ was
born human, but the beginning and cause of His birth was not sensual pleasure,
for He was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, outside the human way
of generation, and He embraced pain and death by His own free choice. For man,
pain came as a result of sin, it was involuntary. While for Christ, who was
born without sensual pleasure, pain was received by choice.
All
humans born after the transgression, are born with sensual pleasure, which
precedes their birth, because man is an offspring of his parents’ pleasure and,
of course, no one is free, by nature, from impassioned generation provoked by
pleasure. Thus man had the origin of his birth "in the corruption that
comes from pleasure" and would finish his life "in the corruption
that comes through death". Therefore, he was a complete slave to pleasure
and pain "and he could not find the way to freedom". Humans are
tortured by unjust pleasure and just pain and, of course, by their outcome
which is death.
For man
to return to his previous state and to be deified, an unjust pain and death
without cause had to be invented. Death had to be without cause, not to be
caused by pleasure, and unjust, not following an impassioned life. In this way,
most unjust death would cure unjust pleasure which had caused just death and
just pain. In this way mankind would enjoy freedom again, delivered from
pleasure and pain. Christ became perfect man, having a noetic soul and a
passible body, like ours, but without sin. He was born as a man by an
immaculate conception and, thus, did not have any sensual pleasure whatsoever,
but voluntarily accepted pain and death and suffered unjustly, out of love for
man, in order to revoke the principle of human generation from unjust pleasure,
which dominates human nature, and in order to eliminate nature’s just
termination by death. Thus, Christ's immaculate conception as man and His
voluntary assumption of the passibility of human nature, as well as His unjust
death, liberated mankind from sensual pleasure, pain and death.
Christ's
birth as man took place in a way contrary to that of humans. After the Fall,
human nature has its principle of generation in "pleasure-provoked conception
by sperm" from the father. A direct consequence of this sensual birth is
the end, namely "painful death through corruption." But Christ could
not possibly be ruled over by death, because He was not born in this
pleasure-provoked way. With His incarnation, Christ offered a different
principle of generation to man, the pleasure of the life to come, by means of
pain. Adam, with his transgression, introduced a different way of generation, a
generation originating in sensual pleasure and ending in pain, grief and death.
Thus, everyone who descends from Adam according to the flesh, justly and
painfully suffers the end from death. Christ offered a different way of
generation, because, through His seedless generation (birth) and His voluntary
and unjust death, He eliminated the principle of generation according to Adam
(sensual pleasure) and the end which Adam came to (pain-death). In this way
"he liberated from all those reborn spiritually in him".
The way
by which Christ became incarnate and cured human nature reveals indisputably
that He is wise, just and powerful. He is wise because He became a true man
according to nature without being subjected to any change. He is just, because
He voluntarily assumed passible human flesh, out of great condescension and
love for man. This is also why He did not make man's salvation tortuous. He is
also powerful, because He created eternal life and unchangeable dispassion in
nature, through suffering and death, and in this way He did not show Himself to
be at all incapable of achieving the cure of human nature.
By Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos
Source: www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/12/why-jesus-had-to-be-virgin-born.html
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