Outside the gate

II Lent Monday

Today’s reading from Genesis:

And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin, and clothed them. And God said, Behold, Adam is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now lest at any time he stretch forth his hand, and take of the tree of life and eat, and so he shall live forever— So the Lord God sent him forth out of the garden of Delight to cultivate the ground out of which he was taken. And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight, and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about to keep the way of the tree of life. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain and said, I have gained a man through God. And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord. And Abel also brought of the first born of his sheep and of his fatlings, and God looked upon Abel and his gifts, but Cain and his sacrifices he regarded not, and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his countenance fell. And the Lord God said to Cain, Why art thou become very sorrowful and why is thy countenance fallen? Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou shalt rule over him. – Genesis 3:21-4:7

“And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight, and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about to keep the way of the tree of life.” The Lord placed Adam “over against” (i.e., nearby and directly across from) the gate to Paradise, so that the sight of Paradise, the rustling of its leaves, and its ineffable life-giving fragrance, ever near to him yet ever closed to him by the fiery cherubic sword, would provoke him to weep fiery tears constantly in profound grief over the perfect happiness he threw away for one moment of “freedom” from God. Adam and Eve lived the rest of their long lives in constant repentance, and we rank them with the saints of the Church.

Man, even in his most depraved representatives, still seeks Paradise. He desires an ultimate happiness that he cannot lose, and he spends his life seeking it. He seeks it on this fallen earth and cannot find it. He seeks to build Paradise on earth and creates hell for himself. He ignores God’s command and tries to circumvent the fiery sword of God’s judgment, to take Paradise by stealth. He always fails.

Blessed are they who bow to God’s judgment and weep over their sins. Blessed are they who take compassion on their fellow penitents and weep with them, feeling the sorrows of the other as their own. Blessed are they who gratefully acquiesce to the limited earthly happiness God has decreed for them in this life, whether great or small. Blessed are they who do not seek Paradise on earth but in the age to come.

May we, this Great Lent, stand before the fiery sword at the gate of Paradise, scenting its fragrance and hearing the rustle of its leaves from afar: that is, may we stand in the Church of God, judging ourselves before the Judgment and receiving within our hearts the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins, the bright sorrow which gives hope, and the pledge of eternal life.

This commentary was taken from The Eternal Sacrifice: The Genesis Readings for Great Lent by Fr. Steven Allen. You can order a copy from Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/FrStevenAllen

Today’s reading from Esaias (Isaiah) with commentary:

Thus saith the Lord: And in that day God shall shine gloriously in counsel on the earth, to exalt and glorify the remnant of Israel. 3 And it shall be, that the remnant left in Sion, and the remnant left in Jerusalem, even all that are appointed to life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy. 4 For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and shall purge out the blood from the midst of them, with the spirit of judgement, and the spirit of burning. 5 And he shall come, and it shall be with regard to every place of mount Sion, yea, all the region round about it shall a cloud overshadow by day, and there shall be as it were the smoke and light of fire burning by night: and upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6 And it shall be for a shadow from the heat, and as a shelter and a hiding place from inclemency of weather and from rain. 5:1 Now I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile place. 2 And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns. 3 And now, ye dwellers in Jerusalem, and every man of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected it to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns. 5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be left to be trodden down. 6 And I will forsake my vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Juda his beloved plant: I expected it to bring forth judgement, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry. - Esaias 4:2 - 5: 7

Today’s reading begins with nearly the whole of chapter four, one of the consoling passages in which the Lord promises to forgive and to save the holy remnant who will have remained faithful to Him. St. Irenaeus of Lyons, with all the Fathers, sees the fulfillment of this prophecy in the economy of the Incarnate Word:

In the “last days” (Heb. 1:1), “when the fulness of time of liberty had arrived (Gal. 4:4),” The Word Himself in His own person washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion (Esaias 4:4) by washing His disciples’ feet with His own hands (John 13:5). This is the end to which the human race was destined, namely, to become inheritors of God. As in the beginning we were all brought into bondage by the actions of our first parents and made subject to death, so in these last days through the person of the Last Man all who were His disciples from the beginning, being cleansed and washed from those things that pertain to death, come to share the life of God. For the One Who washed the feet of His disciples sanctified and made pure the entire body.” – Against Heresies, 4.22.1

Great Lent, as we know, is the time given us to prepare for the great annual commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We pray that by the time we arrive at Great and Holy Week, our minds and hearts will be disposed so as to know clearly and feel deeply the meaning of every word we shall hear spoken by the Lord and every action we shall see performed by the Lord, as they are recorded and portrayed in the unforgettable Gospel account we shall hear read aloud in Church that week. Among these actions the washing of the feet holds great significance, both as a moral exhortation to humility and service to our brethren, and as a prophecy in action foretelling the Good News of our redemption by the washing not of our feet only but of our entire being – in the water of Baptism that was to flow from the pierced side of the crucified Savior.

When St. Irenaeus call Christ “the Last Man,” he is echoing the words of St. Paul in I Corinthians 15: 45: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.” There are only two Adams: the First Adam our forefather, and the Second Adam, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Since there are only two, Our Lord being the second, He is also the last. But, of course, the word “last” (the Greek eschatos) in this instance means far more than simply the final item in a series. Our Lord is the “Last Man” in that He fulfills all that men were meant to be: He is the ultimate revelation – not simply by His words, but by His Person, by Who and What He is – He is the final word not only about Who God is, but also about what a man is supposed to be. Our Lord is also the Last Man in that His coming to earth is really the end of history. Yes, two thousand years have elapsed since He ascended from us and promised to return in glory, but these years are not a mere dreary chronology of human folly, as the secular historian usually paints it, but rather a joyful and dynamic betwixt and between period breathing already the breath of eternity, a short wait for the final revelation and fulfillment of something that has already been revealed and fulfilled. We need not worry about the outcome of the Great Story of which we are inescapably characters in the tale. The final chapter has already been written, and the good guys are going to win, in fact have won already. Our hearts can, at last, be at rest – as long as they rest at last in the Last Man, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Studying the texts of the Holy Week services would form an excellent Lenten exercise. Most of us already own a Holy Week service book, and those who do not can easily obtain one. As you read these inspired words carefully, you will discover throughout that Week this threefold character of the Paschal Mystery we have referred to today: There will be moral exhortations for the Christians to imitate the Lord’s voluntary humiliation by humbling themselves and living lives of sacrifice for others, there will be the obvious and central story of the Passion and Resurrection, and there will also be frequent references to the Lord’s Coming at the End, when He shall return not in humiliation as at His First Coming, but in glory, to judge the living and the dead.

This study would provide a God-pleasing way to spend our leisure time during Great Lent!

Today’s reading from Proverbs, with commentary:

The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble. 35 The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly have exalted their own dishonour. 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you a good gift; forsake ye not my law. 3 For I also was a son obedient to my father, and loved in the sight of my mother: 4 who spoke and instructed me, saying, Let our speech be fixed in thine heart, keep our commandments, forget them not: 5 and do not neglect the speech of my mouth. 6 And forsake her not, and she shall cleave to thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. 7 In all that you acquire, acquire her. 8 Secure her, and she shall exalt thee: honour her, that she may embrace thee; 9 that she may give unto thy head a crown of graces, and may cover thee with a crown of delight. 10 Hear, my son, and receive my words; and the years of thy life shall be increased, that the resources of thy life may be many. 11 For I teach thee the ways of wisdom; and I cause thee to go in right paths. 12 For when thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not be distressed. 13 Take hold of my instruction; let it not go, —but keep it for thyself for thy life. 14 Go not in the ways of the ungodly, neither covet the ways of transgressors. 15 In whatever place they shall pitch their camp, go not thither; but turn from them, and pass away. 16 For they cannot sleep, unless they have done evil: their sleep is taken away, and they rest not. 17 For these live upon the bread of ungodliness, and are drunken with wine of transgression. 18 But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go on and shine, until the day be fully come. 19 But the ways of the ungodly are dark; they know not how they stumble. 20 My son, attend to my speech; and apply thine ear to my words: 21 that thy fountains may not fail thee; keep them in thine heart. 22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.- Proverbs 3:34 – 4:22

Verse seven, “In all that you acquire, acquire her [that is, wisdom]”, is missing from most manuscripts of the Septuagint. St. John Chrysostom, however, must have been familiar with a version of the Greek Old Testament that preserved this verse, because he expounds its meaning in his commentary. Here is what he says:

“In all that you acquire, acquire her.” What is the meaning of In all: in gold and silver? In a house? And how is wisdom to be acquired in these things? They can be acquired along with her. Do you want to be rich? Be rich along with her. Do you want to be married? Be married along with her. Do you want to build a house? Build it along with her. This is what Paul also says, “Whether you eat or do anything else, do all for the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31).” Do nothing without fear of God.

Unless we receive the grace of the monastic vocation, we must live our Christian faith in the world, and that means that a young man, in particular, is morally obligated to cultivate godly ambitions for various temporal achievements in order to do his duty to God and neighbor: a good education, the acquisition of useful skills for supporting a family, the acquisition of a suitable wife and the begetting of children, the acquisition of property, the habit of correct speech, clothing himself in a way suitable to his station in society, eschewing the adolescent mind and acquiring adult tastes in hobbies, the arts and music, and so forth. The Christian, however, does not pursue these goals for the sake of gratifying his ego, but for the service of God and neighbor, and all that he does, he does with the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. The Book of Needs (Euchologion, Trebnik) is replete with prayers for the blessing of the most mundane objects and activities. This is one thing that separates Orthodox Christianity from Gnosticism: Our faith involves doing, not just thinking. We are to transform and adorn God’s creation through activity and industry, and offer it back to God. Our Lord Himself teaches us this in His Parable of the Talents.

Those who translate the Prayer of St. Ephraim into English mislead the unwary worshipper when they render the Greek philarchia (lyubonachalie in Slavonic) as “ambition.” The original does not mean “ambition” in a general sense, but only in the specific sense of “ambition for power over others.” It literally means “love of rule,” “love of being in charge” – in other words, being power hungry, wanting to lord it over other people in order to gratify the ego. This, obviously, is a sin, but there are many godly ambitions that are not sins. Preachers and writers do the faithful a disservice when they preach an effeminate Christianity that discourages ambition in general, for without ambition, we become passive vegetables, zombies, drones – we live on an infantile level, mere consumers of what others have worked to provide. Such a life is not worth living. It means disgrace in this world and damnation in the next.

To understand this better, let us recall that there are three powers of the soul: the logos, the thinking power; thymos, the incensive power – that is, drive, ambition, our “get up and go”; and epithymia – the desiring power. In respect to the cardinal virtues, God expects us to cultivate all three powers in their appropriate directions. He expects us to use our minds for the exercise of prudence; He expects us to bend our ambition to the exercise of courage; and He expects us to train our desires in the exercise of temperance. When we exercise all three properly and thereby acquire prudence, courage, and temperance, we arrive at justice, which is the state of being in right relationship to God, man, creation, and ourselves.

Ambition, then, is related to courage, and courage, ultimately, to the theological virtue of Hope. Today we see a lot of hopeless young people, most of whom do not even know that they are hopeless, because they do not know what to hope for or that they should hope for anything. Their thymos has been either destroyed or misdirected by the consumer culture, by the sexual revolution, by various addictions, and by economic oppression. A critical mass of Christian young men – including Orthodox Christian young men – in particular, have become satisfied to be consumers and not producers. They are content to be drones. This is disastrous, of course, because in God’s plan for society, faithful men must be the leaders, lest malicious men and denatured women fill the vacuum of power. Faithful men must be the guardians, lest the women and children become prey to evildoers. Faithful men must be the providers, lest their women be forced into the man’s world of aggression and competition, where they become hardened and lose that particular gift that women have from God, to give sweetness, nurture, and comfort to their men and to their children, to create Paradise in the home.

Young Orthodox married people who are starting your families: You are the men and women of the hour. This is your moment. You have an historic opportunity to reverse all this degeneracy by training your boys to be real men and your girls to be real women. Each sex has its own peculiar vocation, its peculiar set of worthy ambitions in which to exercise its thymos. When properly and joyfully taught, boys and girls exult to run the appropriate race set before them. They acquire courage and hope, and they know that life is good.

O Lord and Master of my life, give me Thy servant that good ambition to exercise my incensive power as Thou willest, to acquire courage to run the race of this life, and to receive the grace of hope in the life to come. Amen.