THE CATHOLIC WAY OF LIFE

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE CATHOLIC WAY OF LIFE
By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos, Hierotheos

All that has been said indicates that the Christian who is baptized in the Name of the Trinitarian God should LIVE THE NEW LIFE AS A RESULT, AND THIS IS ACHIEVED THROUGH APPLICATING THE COMMANDMENTS OF CHRIST, THROUGH HOLY COMMUNION AND THROUGH PRAYER. All people should be directed towards this aim. There are no people who by nature cannot do the will of God, by nature cannot pray. If there were, God would not be so hard as to demand the same things from all.

Saint John Chrysostom, speaking of the raising of children, and having in mind parents who did NOT advise their children to do the whole will of God on the excuse that this applies to monks, said characteristically: From the very first "Bring him up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord." And immediately he added: "Never say, this is the business of monks. Am I making a monk of him? NO. There is no need for him to become a monk. Why be so afraid of a thing so replete with so much advantage? Make him a Christian." The keeping of Christ’s commandments DOES NOT REFER ONLY TO MONKS, but TO THE CHRISTIAN IN GENERAL. Our Christian quality, if we can express it that way, ENTAILS THE KEEPING OF CHRIST’S COMMANDMENTS.

Thus the Christian’s way of life is catholic. All the Christians must have A COMMON ETHOS. The aim of Christ’s commandments and the holy Canons of the Church is for Christians to attain a common ethos, this UNIFORM LIFE.

To be sure, I must also emphasize for us to keep in view about the things said further one, that while all of us can keep the commandments of God and have the aim of theosis (deification), THERE ARE DIFFERENT DEGREES, BUT ALSO DIFFERENT WAYS. The path is the same, but the way varies according to the way in which each person lives. We can understand this from the Parable of the talents. Some received five talents, some two, some one. But ALL CAN PROVE TO BE PROPORTIONALLY GOOD ADMINISTRATORS AND GOOD STEWARDS OF DIVINE GRACE, AND ALL CAN HER THE "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT." The quantity of talents differs, butTHE SAME WORD OF BLESSING WILL BE HEARD. So THERE IS A VARIETY OF GIFTS, PROPORTIONAL TO PEOPLE’S WAY OF LIFE AND SPIRITUAL MATURITY. The fact is that theres is a common life and all have to tread the same path of salvation.

But unfortunately, since we are fragmentary and, what is worse, since we want to remain fragmentary and on low levels of spiritual life because they suit us, we created fragments and divisions in the spiritual life.

In what follows I would like us to look at a few such divisions which we create in our thought and life.

a) Theologians and non-theologians

We divide people into theologians and non-theologians. We consider that theologians are those who possess some intellectual knowledge, and we think that theology is a speciality of some people who are studying scientifically the history of the Church. Without excluding the possibility that this too may be one distinction between students and teachers, we must say that theology IS CHIEFLY LIFE, EXPERIENCE, AND THAT THEOLOGIANS, ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH, ARE ESSENTIALLY THOSE WHO SEE GOD.

Saint Gregory the Theologian says that THEOLOGIANS ARE "THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EXAMINED AND ARE PASSED MASTERS IN THE VISION OF GOD," WHICH IS TO SAY THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN TESTED AND PURIFIED AND, AS A RESULT, REACHED THEOSIS (DEIFICATION). Likewise, to Saint Neilos, A THEOLOGIAN IS ONE WHO PRAYS. Therefore theologians are those who experience the purifying, especially THE ILLUMINATING AND DEIFYING ENERGY OF GOD.

Thus one person can have completed theological school, taught theology, and yet NOT KNOW EXPERIENTIALLY WHAT THEOLOGY IS. And another person and be mentally illiterate, but have developed his noetic energy to the extreme, and BE A THEOLOGIAN. On the Holy Mountain one can meet such people, who are able to interpret and analyze the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church.

b) Neptic and social theology

We divide theology into NEPTIC and SOCIAL, and we regard some Fathers as belonging to the first and others as belonging to the second category. But in the teaching of the Holy Fathers this division is not seen. To be sure, outwardly, from the way in which each one has worked, a division can be seen between the neptics and socials, because some Fathers had a particular flock and did their work there, and others were in the desert, praying constantly. Even from this aspect, however, there cannot be a perfect division, because even the Fathers who worked pastorally lived neptically, and the hermits worked in a missionary way, in the sense that they were magnets for many men who approached them to learn "words" of salvation. Thus the hermits indirectly did pastoral work. [Nepsis is the kind of sober-minded vigilance that characterizes the ASCETIC LIFE.  It is usually translated as WATCHFULNESS.  The adjective is NEPTIC].

Beyond this, the teaching of the Saints is not divided into social and neptic. When the Holy Fathers speak of social topics, they look at them within the TRUE THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH, WHICH IS ASCETIC. And when they speak of neptic topics, they do it IN ORDER FOR PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO BE PURIFIED AND THEN TO ATTAIN REAL COMMUNION WITH GOD AND men. Besides, we know very well that in the Church THE THEOLOGIANS DO SHEPHERDING AND THE PASTORS DO THEIR WORK THEOLOGICALLY.

We are accustomed to seeing the Three Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and Chrysostom as social Fathers. But this does not correspond with reality, because the Three Hierarchs in their writings also explain THE WHOLE NEPTIC TEACHING OF THE CHURCH.

The fact that there is a close link between NEPSIS and COMMUNION, between neptic and social Fathers, and that the Holy Fathers shepherd their flocks theologically is seen from the homilies written by Saint Gregory Palamas to his flock in Thessaloniki. Anyone who reads these homilies will discover THAT SHEPHERDING IS THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGY IS TRULY A FRUIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, BUT ALSO A PATH FOR MAN TO REACH THEOSIS (DEIFICATION). [Resources:  The Mind of the Orthodox Church]

(To be continued)

____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George