In the
first chapter of Genesis we read that man is made in God's image and called to
be like Him. The image, the Church Fathers say, is mainly our intelligence and
free will. God so loved us, He sent His only begotten Son for our salvation
(John 3:16).
If we put
on Christ at baptism and continue to wash ourselves through repentance, then we
are able to reflect the light of Christ. Our constant prayer is "Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner." We are creatures.
We have no independent existence. We depend on God for all and by his mercy we
can have the light of Christ indwell in us. This is a spiritual reality
revealed by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The value of this is unfathomable.
Bishop
Hierotheos Vlachos (1994, 1998) refers to the worth human beings can have:
It is said that God has essence and energy
and that this distinction does not destroy the divine simplicity. We confess
and believe that 'uncreated and natural grace and illumination and energy
always proceed inseparably from this divine energy' And since, according to the
saints, created energy means created essence as well . . . God's energy is
uncreated. Indeed the name of divinity is placed not only upon the divine
essence, but 'also on thee divine energy no less'. This means that in the
teachings of the holy Fathers, 'this (the essence) is completely incapable of
being shared, but by divine grace the energy can be shared.
This is a
reality and truth. Based on the illuminative teaching of St. Gregory Palamas,
Bishop Hierotheos tells us this is available to us "through God's
benevolence towards those who have purified their nous." Bishop Hierotheos
(1994) calls the Church a hospital that can cure our infirmities so our nous
can be purified and this life in Christ can take place in us.
Passions: The Inclinations to Sin
After the
Fall we are predisposed to self-centered choices directed by the passions
(lusts) rather than choices based on agape. St. Isaac of Syria tells us:
". . . pandering to the flesh, produce(s) in us shameful urges and
unseemly fantasies" (Early Fathers from the Philokalia).
The
passions spring from the heart of the person. Jesus told us: "For from
within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft,
murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander,
pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a
man" (Mark 7: 21-23).
St. Paul
wrote "While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by
the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death" (Romans
5:7). The work of the passions can take place either before marriage or after
the marital union takes place. In either case they lead to a choice of
singularity or self-satisfaction over a righteous joined union.
Passions
may predispose a individuals to discord from God and mankind. St. Paul's
warning applies to the "demon's" attack union with God and neighbor:
"Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger,
selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the
like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21). The Church Fathers
attribute this to the demon of each passion that never tires of breaking union
with God and mankind.
An
example of how this works may aid our understanding. The demon of lust, the
Church Fathers tell us, may take over our lives. Modern society facilitates
this malady. Sex is broadcast everywhere for almost every use: art, fashion,
music, news, pornography (especially the Internet), and the sale of almost any
product from automobiles to computers. The secular world flagrantly exposes
body parts, especially the genital areas.
The
Church Fathers knew about such enticements a thousand years ago. St. Isaac of
Syria wrote: "Passions are brought either by images or by sensations
devoid of images and by memory, which at first is unaccompanied by passionate
movements or thoughts, but which later produces excitation." One way to
deal with these passions, continued St. Isaac: " . . . their thought must
become attached to nothing except their own soul."
One has
to make a choice between Christ and demon. St. Paul asked:
Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation . . . distress . . . persecution . . . hunger . . .
nakedness . . . danger . . . the sword? For I am sure that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
Vigilance
and discernment are major virtues to be acquired by those seeking Christ
indwelling in them and desire to overcome the power of passions.
Ilias the
Presbyter tells us: "Demons wage war against the soul primarily through
thoughts . . . " (Philokalia, III). Ideally Orthodox Christians will make
a "spiritual desert" for themselves removing them from the
"enticements" so prevalent in modern life. Spiritual death occurs
when these thoughts are self centered.
St.
Maximus the Confessor knew this as well: "The self love and cleverness of
men, alienating them from each other and perverting the law, have cut our
single human nature into many fragments." How much more should St.
Maximus' words apply to those all of us seeing union with God and our all
mankind.
Sin is Disunion
Sin makes
us to be out of communion or what might be called disunion with God and
neighbor. St. John Chrysostom states: "Did you commit sin? Enter the
Church and repent for your sin; for here is the physician, not the judge; here
one is not investigated, one receives remission of sins". If the church is
a "physician," then this break with God and neighbor needs healing.
It is missing the mark of being centered on God and His Will. Sin is
considered, therefore to be an illness or infirmity. With healing we are
restored to a former condition.
We know
this healing takes place in Holy Baptism, the Holy Mystery of Penance, Holy
Unction and by worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist: The Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Christ. St. John Chrysostom, in his Divine Liturgy reminds us,
of all that God did for us: take on our flesh, the cross, the grave and the
Resurrection. The end of which is to reconcile us to Him: "when we had
fallen away didst not cease to do all things until thou hast brought us back to
heaven." Need we be reminded that when Christ gave us the Eucharist he
said; "Take eat: this is my Body which is broken for you for the remission
of sins," and "Drink ye all of this: this is my Blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins"
(emphasis added).
Forgiveness
is to be reconciled with Christ and all mankind. St. Matthew tells us:
But I say to you that every one who is angry
with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall
be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the
hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the
altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your
gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to
court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out
till you have paid the last penny" (emphasis added) (Matthew 5: 22-26).
This
involves an active behavioral effort toward reconciliation.
Pride: A Barrier to Repentance; Humility: The
Gate of Repentance
St. John
of the Ladder (1982) points out:
Pride makes us forget our sins ... the
remembrance of them leads to humility." Thus we must heed the further
words of St. John: "He must not allow the memory of things that afflict
him to be stamped on his intellect lest he inwardly sunders human nature by
separating himself from other man although he is a man himself. When a man's
will in union with the principle of nature in this way, God and nature are
naturally reconciled.
St. Isaac
the Syrian said that the person who has attained to knowledge of his own
weakness has reached the summit of humility (Brock, 1997).
Repentance: The Condition for Forgiveness
When
someone who offends God or us they must repent. God, and we in imitation of
Him, should embrace the repentant sinner with God's own love, in order to
forgive him. We have to pray that we or anyone who has offended us or God, be
reconciled to God and to us through His Church. The foundation of this
repentance is a sense of his unfaithfulness to God and offense to us,
contrition of heart, and determination to amend and have a metanoia, a
fundamental change of mind and heart so as not to offend again.
Repentance
God
recognizes the difference between authentic and inauthentic repentance. If this
knowledge is used as a justification for sin, no true repentance occurred no
matter how many words might have been expended in prayer. If the fallen brother
calls out to Christ like the thief on the cross however, they will find the
forgiveness of God.
A wise
person once said that God doesn't look where we have come from, only where we
are going. If repentance is drawn from a desire for a pure heart, the repentant
will find God no matter how many times they have failed. "Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).
Theosis
St.
Silouan has pointed out that, "those who dislike and reject their
fellow-man are impoverished in their being. They do not know the true God, who
is all-embracing love." St. Peter in his second epistle tells us what God
has given us: "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain
to life and godliness ... and become partakers of the divine nature" (2
Peter 1:3-4). We know this is not participation or becoming God in His Being or
Essence but sharing in the warmth and light of His "Divine Energy"
(Staniloae, 2003).
Healing Passions Leads to Theosis
This can
only happen, indicates Bishop Hierotheos Vlachos (1994, 1998),if we heal the
passions of our soul. For the offender this means healing the passion that led
to the offense. For the one who to forgive this means healing the passion of anger
and increase in the virtues of humility and meekness. Forgiveness and
repentance are a two sided coin. One cannot exist without the other.
St.
Maximus the Confessor tells us the path this takes:
The first type of dispassion is abstention
from the body's impulsion towards the actual committing of sin. The second ...
rejection of the impassioned thoughts ..the thirds is quiescence of passionate
desire. ..the fourth type of dispassion is the compete exclusion from the mind
of sensible images (Philokalia II).
Psycho-spiritually
this means the decision and will to stop sin, act in accordance with Our Lord's
counsels, and do all we can to remove ourselves from events and images that
arouse sin. This means substituting and have available the works of God, exercise
and practice Godly virtuous thoughts and acts, and base all on the foundation
of prayer and the Holy Mysteries.
Let Us Commend Ourselves and Each Other ...
Unto Christ our God
Theosis
not only means being enlivined with the fire of God's warmth and light but
being in communion with one another. St. Dorotheos of Gaza (Wheeler, 1977)
likens our growth in union with God, to a compass. God is the center point.
Each person is like the radials going out from the center to all the 360
degrees encircling it. As each person moves toward God, the center, they also
move closer to one another, as each person moves away from God, the center,
they also are more distant from one another (Morelli, 2007).
Let us
end reflecting on the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian (1997):
If your brother is angry with you, then the
Lord is also angry with you. And if you have made peace with your brother
below, then you have made peace also with the Lord on high. If you receive your
brother, then you also receive your Lord.
Jesus
forgives our sins through the sacramental power given to the Church, first to
the Apostles, then to their successors, the bishops and priests right down to
the present day, when He told them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they
are retained" (John 20: 22-23).
By Fr. George Morelli
Source: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles8/Morelli-The-Orthodox-Understanding-of-Sin-A-Lenten-Reflection.php
CONVERSATION