Confidence - St Symeon the New Theologian

One thing I've discovered in the writings of ancient monks is humility. They are unaware of us arrogant protestant critics bearing rocks. Unaware of us disrespectful charismatics who lift proof texts from their mystic teachers and put them in our books that condemn obedience. Unaware of how disgusting to us is their desperation to be saved.

The harder you try, the more desperate you get for help. That's why the monastics jettison everything they can, even good things, to live simply and pray for mercy.

I hope that in reading this, we do not allow our understanding of justification to override the Gospel; Jesus said a lot about obedience to Himself. Let me point out for example, something that shows up in our cultural blind spot: Responding to an altar-call is very much a work.

Praying a prayer with sincerity is also a work. Warding ourselves against any hint of legalism is a very difficult work, and a burden Jesus never gave us. That's something the reformers gleaned from Paul, using only half of what he said and no Gospel texts at all. Modernism hit the fan and we now have a new law of no-law and no one is lifting a finger to help us bear it. It's a deadly error to think that saving faith consists in doing nothing at all; that effort causes us to forfeit grace.  It might be that the effort to do nothing forfeits grace.

The antidote for despair is not presumption; it's desperate repentance and watching yourself grow up into Christ (Eph 4:15).

Be not deceived, my brethren. God loves mankind, He is merciful and compassionate. Of this I bear witness and this I confess, for it is by His compassion that I am confident that I will be saved. But know this, that it will be of no avail for those who are impenitent and do not keep His commandments with all exactitude and with much fear; they will be punished far more severely than the unbelieving and unbaptized heathen. Be not deceived, brethren; let not any of your offenses appear insignificant to you, nor dismiss them with contempt as though they do not greatly damage your souls. Servants who are grateful do not recognize any difference between a small offense and a great one. Even if their offense consist merely in a glance or in a thought or word, they feel about it as though they have fallen from the love of God, which I believe is true (III.7).

[…]

The deadly wound consists of every sin that is not repented and confessed, and of falling into despair. This depends on our choice and will. If we do not yield ourselves to the pit of carelessness and despair the devils cannot at all prevail over us. Even when we have been wounded, if we so wish we may through fervent penitence become more courageous and skillful fighters. To rise again and fight after being wounded and slain belongs to the noblest and bravest – it is worthy of great praise and most admirable. It does not depend on us whether we should be preserved from suffering wounds. To become either mortal or immortal depends on us, for if we do not despair we shall not die, “death will have no dominion over us” (Rom 6:9), but we shall always be strong if we flee in penitence to our all-powerful and gracious God.

Therefore I encourage myself and us all to display all eagerness, all patient courage and endurance by means of good deeds. Thus may we make our way through all the commandments and precepts of Christ, so that in readiness of soul we may attain to the eternal habitations by the guidance of the Spirit. So shall we be found worthy to stand before the one and indivisible Trinity and in Him worship Christ our God, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen (III.10).

– St Symeon, The Discourses

God's Economy

[The] notion of an overarching plan in creation and salvation history is ... everywhere in Hebrew and Christian thought; and it finds its summary statement in Ephesians 1:9, which describes "the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things." The Greek word translated here as "plan" is oikonomia (Latin, dispensatio). Etymologically, it derives from oikos and nomos, household and law. The oikonomia, the divine economy, is the principle governing all creation as well as all the events of salvation history. It is the law of God's cosmic "household."

From Letter and Spirit by Scott Hahn

Love of God - St Maximos the Confessor

Love of God is opposed to desire, for it persuades the intellect to control itself with regard to sensual pleasures.  Love for our neighbor is opposed to anger, for it makes us scorn fame and riches.  These are the two pence which our Saviour gave to the innkeeper (cf. Luke 10:35), so that he should take care of you. But do not be thoughtless and associate with robbers; otherwise you will be beaten again and left not merely unconscious but dead.

St Maximos the Confessor from Four Hundred Texts on Love, The Philokalia Volume II


I laughed out loud when I read this.  Seems like it's supposed to be funny, actually, and at the same time deadly serious.  St Maximos does something typical of earlier fathers with this parable; he applies it to the interior war.  He was a monk, that group of Christians which is notably serious about being made holy; not afraid of "offending the Cross" by doing everything possible in their efforts to please God and be free of sin in their thoughts and actions.

There are key words that need to be understood here. The first is 'desire'. In this context it's a Platonic idea, but one that's widely accepted by the Greek Christian fathers. Desire is (I think, I don't have the Greek text to double check this) the work of one part of the soul, according to Plato's tripartite model. None of these parts are evil by nature (not after regeneration, at least). But this part especially, "when not transformed by positive spiritual influences, is susceptive to the influence of negative and self-destructive forces". If this is accurate, it's not a stretch to read this as 'lust' in the broad sense.

The other word is 'intellect,' probably nous in Greek. It deserves an explanation, since this is not at all what we understand by the word. From The Philokalia glossary:

Intellect (νους - nous): the highest faculty in man, through which - provided it is purified - he knows God or the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia or reason, from which it must be carefully distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or 'simple cognition' (the term used by St Isaac the Syrian). The intellect dwells in the 'depths of the soul'; it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart.  The intellect is the organ of contemplation, the 'eye of the heart'.

No getting off the hook of Jesus' commandments to do stuff.  No assurance of salvation except what the Holy Spirit gives you directly.  In fact, the two go together (cf. John 10:27, Matt 7:21).  Welcome to Eastern Orthodoxy.

Pentecostal Catholics

[This is a repost from Pastor Terry's Blog originally posted Wednesday, 3/10/10.]

Today's post will mean more if you read yesterday's post first. I shared how two events were occurring simultaneously on the same day – January 1, 1901: In Rome, the Pope was leading a prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and in Topeka, Kansas, the Holy Spirit was being poured out on a group of protestant Bible College students. The Catholic church didn't experience its own Pentecost until 1967, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on students at Duquesne University. Shortly afterwards, a similar event occurred at Notre Dame. From these initial sparks the Charismatic Renewal spread throughout the Catholic Church.

NOW, FOR THE REST OF THE STORY: Today, in Topeka, Kansas, on the very spot where once stood that Bible College, now stands a Roman Catholic Church – a charismatic Catholic church! Since 1967 more than 5,000 Catholics have received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues at this church! My professor, Dr. Vinson Synan, spoke there for a week of meetings in the late 1980's and led 120 Catholics into Spirit Baptism that week. While there he took the priest to the foundation stones of the Bible College, where the rectory now stands, and told him the story of the 1901 outpouring on that spot. The Charismatic Renewal is continuing and increasing, especially in developing nations, and among all kinds of people. Truly, God is pouring out His Spirit "on all flesh" (Joel 2:28).

TOMORROW – I'll talk about the Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Protestant Churches.

Repost from Pastor Terry's Blog.

Pentecostals and Catholics

[This is a repost from Pastor Terry's Blog originally posted Tuesday, 3/9/10.]

I want to tell you a true story every student of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement knows well:

On January 1, 1901, at a small Bible College in Topeka Kansas, a student named Agnes Ozman received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This event sparked a revival that has since spread all over the world and has come to be known as the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Today, over 600 million Christians worldwide speak in tongues or identify with those who do.

But blessings always carry hidden dangers. In this case, Pentecostals face the subtle temptation to think that God is only moving among us and people like us. Such exclusivism not only indicates spiritual pride, it manifests plain old ignorance. Let me tell you another story few Pentecostals/Charismatics know.

In 1897, in Lucca, Italy, a Roman Catholic nun by the name of Elena Guerra, wrote to Pope Leo XIII, asking him to proclaim nine days of prayer to the Holy Spirit, beseeching Him to come again, just as He came at Pentecost. The Pope complied and went a step further. He called Catholics to a new appreciation for the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. All over the world millions of Catholics began focusing on the Holy Spirit as never before. The Pope also proclaimed the coming twentieth century the "Century of the Holy Spirit." On January 1, 1901, He led prayer for this at the Vatican, and even led the faithful in singing "Come Holy Spirit."

Think about that. On the same day the Pope was singing, "Come Holy Spirit" at the Vatican in Rome, Agnes Ozman was receiving the Baptism in the Spirit at Topeka, Kansas! God was working simultaneously in two very different groups of people – and neither group was aware of the other. That's just like God! He's bigger than the little boxes we tend to put Him in.

But there's another part of this story that makes it even more exciting. God answered the prayers of those Catholics in another way that went far beyond Topeka, Kansas. DON'T MISS TOMORROW'S POST. I'm going to share "THE REST OF THE STORY."

Repost from Pastor Terry's Blog.