Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see
God.
Continuing our commentary on the Beatitudes by Saint
Gregory of Nyssa:
We have now climbed great hieghts. In this beatitude
we are promised “for they shall see God.” But John says, “no man hath
seen God at any time.”(John 1:18)
Gregory writes:
This is the slippery, steep rock that affords no basis
for our thoughts, which the teaching of Moses, too, declared to be so
inaccessible that our mind can nowhere approach Him. For all possibility of
apprehension is taken away by this explicit denial, No man can see the Lord and
live.(Exod 33:20) Yet to see the Lord is eternal life.
What does Jesus mean when he promises we will see God?
Gregory says,
Hence the man who sees God possesses in this act of
seeing all there is of the things that are good. By this we understand life
without end, eternal incorruption, undying beatitude. With these we shall enjoy
the everlasting Kingdom of unceasing happiness; we shall see the true Light and
hear the sweet voice of the Spirit; we shall exult perpetually in all that is
good in the inaccessible glory.
Jesus tells us here that seeing God depends on having
a pure heart. But if the effort is impossible as Moses says, what’s the use,
Gregory asks. The Lord surely would not tell us to do something that is
impossible.
First Gregory reasons the Divine nature is beyond all
mental concepts. Therefore the way to knowledge of Divine Essence cannot be
through thought. So how doe we grasp what is not know by mental concepts?
Gregory writes,
Since such is He whose nature is above every nature,
the Invisible and Incomprehensible is seen and apprehended in another manner.
Many are the modes of such perception. For it is possible to see Him who has
made all things in wisdom by way of inference through the wisdom that appears
in the universe. It is the same as with human works of art where, in a way, the
mind can perceive the maker of the product that is before it, because he has
left on his work the stamp of his art. In this, however, is seen not the nature
of the artist, but only his artistic skill which he has left impressed on his
handiwork. Thus also, when we look at the order of creation, we form in our
mind an image not of the essence, but of the wisdom of Him who has made all
things wisely. And if we consider the cause of our life, that He came to create
man not from necessity, but from the free decision of His Goodness, we say that
we have contemplated God by this way, that we have apprehended His
Goodness–though again not His Essence, but His Goodness. It is the same with all
other things that raise the mind to transcendent Goodness, all these we can
term apprehensions of God, since each one of these sublime meditations places
God within our sight.
Hence it is clear through what has just been said that
the Lord speaks the truth when He promises that God will be seen by those who
have a pure heart; nor does Paul deceive when he asserts in his letters that no
one has seen God nor can see Him. For He is invisible by nature, but becomes
visible in His energies, for He may be contemplated in the things that are
referred to Him.
But Gregory says there is more to the meaning of the
Beatitude.
We
have learned that even though in several places in Scripture it says we cannot
see God, we see Him by inference in all that has been created by Him. We cannot
see him with normal thought. We can grasp His Goodness. He can be grasped
through His energies. This is the wonder and awe we experience when in nature.
But
Gregory says there is more to the meaning of this Beatitude.
He
says, The Lord does not say it is blessed to know something about God,
but to have God present within oneself…. perhaps this marvelous saying
may suggest what the Word expresses more clearly when He says to others, The
Kingdom of God is within you.(Luke 17:21)
Gregory
says
I
think that in this short saying the Word expresses some such counsel as this:
There is in you... a desire to contemplate the true good. But when you hear
that the Divine Majesty is exalted above the heavens, that Its glory is
inexpressible, Its beauty ineffable, and Its Nature inaccessible, do not
despair of ever beholding what you desire. It is indeed within your reach; you
have within yourselves the standard by which to apprehend the Divine. For He
who made you did at the same time endow your nature with this wonderful
quality. For God imprinted on it the likeness of the glories of His own Nature,
as if moulding the form of a carving into wax.
But
this image that God has implanted in each of us has been tarnished. It is
coated with evil and remains hidden. Therefore, Gregory says, you
wash off by a good life the filth that has been stuck on your heart like
plaster, the Divine Beauty will again shine forth in you.
How
do we wash off the filth, he asks next. This may seem to be
impossible to many.
He
writes
Our
very birth has its beginning in passion, growth proceeds by way of passion, and
in passion life also ends. Somehow evil is mixed up with our nature through
those who first succumbed to passion, and by, their transgression made a
permanent place for the disease. Now the nature of living beings is transmitted
in each species by its descendants so that, according to the law of nature,
that which is born is the same as that from which it is born. So man is born
from man, the subject of passion from that which is subject to passion, the
sinner from the sinner. Hence sin in some way comes into existence together
with those who are born; it is born and grows with them, and at the end of life
it also ceases with them.
Here
he describes what we know today as the doctrine of ancestral sin or the
Orthodox view of original sin. We are born with a tendency to sin. Therefore to
acquire virtue requires much effort because of this human condition. This
cleansing of the heart is not a simple matter making it hard fror most of us to
attain virtue.
Gregory
says,
Virtue,
on the other hand, is hard for us to attain; even with much sweat and pain,
zeal and fatigue, one can hardly establish it. This we are taught in many
passages of the Divine Scriptures, when we are told that the way of the Kingdom
is strait and passes through narrow paths, whereas the way that leads through a
life of wickedness to perdition is broad and runs downhill with ease.
Yet
we also know, he points out, that attaining virtue is not impossible according
to Scripture. We find the stories of many holy men in the Bible.
The
Gospel teaches us how to become pure.
Gregory
has shown us that the way we see God is from within but it is hidden from our
apprehension due to our sinfulness. Our heart is clouded with evil. He has also
pointed out that attaining a pure state of virtue is difficult but not
impossible. He now gives some advise on how to proceed.
.
The
evil that clouds the heart comes from two sources: works and thoughts. He
writes, The former, that is to say, the iniquity that shows itself in
works, He has punished through the Old Law. Now, however, He has given the Law
regarding the other form of sin, which punishes not so much the evil deed
itself, as guards against even the beginning of it.
To
get at this new kind of sin we need to remove evil from our will so we will no
longer choose what is bad and choose instead what is good.
He
tells us how the Lord set out to help us.,
Since
evil has many parts and forms, He has opposed by His precepts its own remedy to
each of the forbidden things. The disease of wrath is present everywhere all
through life, so He begins the cure from what is most prominent, and first lays
down the law to refrain from anger. You have learned, He says, from the Old
Law, Thou shalt not kill. (Matt 5:21) Learn now to keep your soul from wrath
against your neighbor. He has not forbidden wrath completely. For sometimes one
may lawfully turn such an emotion also to good use; what the precept abolishes
is to be angry with one's brother for no good reason–for everyone who is angry
with his brother in vain: the addition in vain shows that the use of anger is
often opportune, namely, whenever this passion is roused for the chastisement
of sin.
He
then passes on to the healing of the sins committed for the sake of pleasure,
and, by His commandment, frees the heart from the vile desire of adultery. Thus
you will find in what follows how the Lord corrects them all one by one,
opposing by His Law each one of the forms of evil. He prevents the beginning of
unjust violence by not even permitting self-defense. He banishes the passion of
avarice by ordering a man who has been robbed and stripped to give up also what
is left to him. He heals cowardice by commanding to scorn death. And, in
general, you will find that by means of each of these commandments the Word
digs up the evil roots from the depths of our hearts as if by a plough, and so
through them we are purged from bringing forth thorns.
Gregory
concludes, by asking us to consider what a way of life that does not pursue
goodness of life would be like. This may keep you from being discouraged, but
there is still the effort required to pursue goodness. The fear of hell can
help us to seek goodness. He says, the fear that is present in the
thought alone will suffice to chase away the passions.
He
reminds us of the consequences
For
if the clean of heart are blessed, those with sordid minds are altogether
miserable, because they look at the face of the adversary. Further, if the
Divine character itself is impressed on the virtuous life, it is clear that the
evil life resembles the form and face of the enemy. Now, according to different
concepts, God is called by those representing the good, for example, light,
life, incorruption, and similar things. By contrast, everything opposed to these
is dedicated to the instigator of evil, for example, darkness, death,
corruption, and whatever else is like to these. Hence, as we have learned what
is an evil life and what is a good one–for we have It In the power of our free
will to choose either of these–let us flee from the form of the devil, let us
lay aside the evil mask and put on again the Divine Image. Let us become clean
of heart, so that we may become blessed when the Divine Image is formed in us
through purity of life, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and
ever.
Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2009/09/6th-beatitude-continued-blessed-are_16.html
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