Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Venerable Louis of Granada on Serving God and the Virtuous Life

     The following is from the Venerable Roman Catholic—and prominent writer during the Catholic Church's Counter-Reformation—Louis of Granada.  He has long been an inspiration to many Catholics over the last several centuries (he wrote during the 16th century) and I think he is a perfect witness to classical Christian spirituality.
     Currently, I am reading his book "The Sinner's Guide", and I will post excerpts from it when I come across some material that I believe to be of benefit to readers.  And what follows are just that: excerpts.  If you want to read the book in its entirety, then I strongly recommend that you do so.  Included is a link to Saint Benedict Press at the bottom of the post.  They are publishers of high-quality Catholic classics, and they publish a very beautiful edition of this ascetical and mystical work.


Louis of Granada


The First Motive Which Obliges Us to Practice Virtue and to Serve God:
His Being in itself, and the excellence of His Perfections:

     Two things, Christian reader, particularly excite the will of man to good.  A principle of justice is one, the other the profit we may derive therefrom.  All wise men, therefore, agree that justice and profit are the two most powerful inducements to move our wills to any undertaking.  Now, though men seek profit more frequently than justice, yet justice is in itself more powerful; for, as Aristotle teaches, no worldly advantage can equal the justice of virtue, nor is any loss so great that a wise man should not suffer it rather than yield to vice.

     God being essentially goodness and beauty, there is nothing more pleasing to Him than virtue, nothing He more earnestly requires.  Let us first consider upon what grounds God demands this tribute from us.

     The first, the greatest, and the most inexplicable is the very essence of God, embracing His infinite majesty, goodness, beauty, mercy, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, excellence, fidelity, immutability, sweetness, truth, beatitude, and all the inexhaustible riches and perfections which are contained in the Divine Being.
     All of these are so great that if the whole world, according to Saint Augustine, were full of books, if the sea were turned to ink, and every creature employed to writing, the books would be filled, the sea would be drained, and the writers would be exhausted before any of His perfections could be adequately expressed.  Augustine adds, "Were any man created with a heart as large and capacious as all men together, and if he were enabled by extraordinary light to apprehend one of the Divine Attributes, his joy and delight would be such that, unless supported by special assistance from God, he could not endure them"

     All beings are in His power; He disposes of them as He wills.  It is He who propels the heavenly bodies, commands the winds, changes the seasons, guides the elements, distributes the waters, controls the stars, creates all things; it is He, in fine, who, as King and Lord of the universe, maintains and nourishes all creatures.

     To lead us to a knowledge of God, St. Dionysius teaches us first to turn our eyes from the qualities or perfections of creatures, lest we be tempted to measure by them the perfections of the Creator.  Then, turning from things of the earth, he raises our souls to the contemplation of a Being above all beings, a Substance above all substances, a Light above all lights—rather a Light before which all light is darkness—Beauty above all beauties and before which all other beauty is deformity.  This is what we are taught by the cloud into which Moses entered to converse with God, and which shut out from his senses all which was not God.  And the action of Elias, covering his face with his cloak when he saw the glory of God passing before him, is a lively expression of the same sentiment.  Therefore, to contemplate the glory of God, man must close his eyes to earthly things, which bear no proportion to this supreme Being.


https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/sinners-guide-1888.html





Sunday, March 27, 2016

Elder Sophrony on Knowledge of the Divine Person

     O Thou Who art
     O God the Father, Almighty Master:
     Who has created us and brought us into life:
     Vouchsafe that we may know Thee,
     The One true God.
                 —prayer of Archimandrite Sophrony

Icon of Elder Sophrony


     One of the most mis-understood theological terms in all of Christian theology is that of the Divine Persons (Hypostasis) of the God that we Christians hold to be Triune.  It is just as misunderstood among Christians, unfortunately, as it is among pagans, atheists, and modern secularists.
     One of the clearest voices in recent times on Triune theology was/is that of Archimandrite Sophrony of blessed memory, also known as Elder Sophrony of Essox.  Elder Sophrony knew well the Trinity because he had experienced the Triune Being in the depths of contemplative prayer.
     Here is what he had to say about the Divine Persons in his book His Life is Mine:

     The revelation of God as I AM THAT I AM proclaims the personal character of the Absolute God which is the core of His life.  To interpret this revelation, the Fathers adopted the term hypostasis, which first and foremost conveys actuality and can be applied to all things, to man or to God.  In many instances it was used as a synonym for essence.  (Substance is the exact Latin translation.)  In the second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11.17) hypostasis denotes sober reality and is translated into English as confidence or assurance.  In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the term describes the Person of the Father: "Who being... the express image of his Person."  Other renderings to be found in the same Epistle are substance—"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for"—and very being—"the stamp of God's very being."  So then, these three words, Person, substance, very being, taken together impart the content of the Greek theological expression hypostasis, to be understood as comprising, on the one hand, the notion of Countenance, Person, while, on the other, stressing the cardinal importance of the personal dimension in Being.  In the present text, the terms Hypostasis and Person are identical in meaning.

Welcome to Classical Christianity


     Christianity is still rather popular these days in America.  If you live in the South as I do—the so-called “Bible Belt”, to be precise—then you might even say that it’s wildly popular.
     And therein lies the problem.  Popular. Pop.
     When things are popular in our modern culture, then one needs to take a serious look at just what is being taught and practiced.  Much of what passes for Christianity these days rarely resembles the ancient Tradition[1].  Christianity in today’s world is too often simply a reflection of the culture itself.  And modern culture is most decidedly not Christian.
     The goal of this blog will be to present essays, articles, quotes, art, and prayers that are representative of traditional, classical Christianity.
Conversion
     About 8 years ago, I “re-converted” to the religion of my youth.[2]  And 4 years ago, I formally converted to the Orthodox Church.  Orthodoxy is ancient, classical, and traditional.  That’s what I love about it and part of the reason for my conversion.
     I grew up in the South—Texas, Arkansas, Alabama—and, like a vast majority of southerners, what I learned about Christianity came from my upbringing in the Southern Baptist Church.  And, although I am sure that there are classical Christians in many Southern Baptist churches, the church doesn’t teach, and therefore practice, classical Christianity.[3]  When I discovered Christianity as it was practiced in the Early Church, and then the classical branches that sprang forth from it, I recall being miffed that none of it was taught in the churches I attended during childhood.
     But that’s exactly what this blog is going to be about: Classical Christianity, its thought, and its practice, and how it should be applied in the modern, secular world that we live in.  Here are some of the things that we will cover (although this is not necessarily an exhaustive list):
  • Classical theism: Traditional Christians, both ancient and modern, were, and always have been, proponents of what is typically termed classical theism.  This is in opposition to what is commonly (but not always) termed theistic personalism.  Most modern-day atheists, for instance, attack not classical theism, but theistic personalism, but that is not the theistic God of classical Christianity.  (Nor is it the God of classical Islam or Judaism, for that matter.)
  • Sacraments: Classical Christianity is, by and large, sacramental Christianity.  (If you are confused at all by what that means, I will attempt to find plenty of articles to answer your confusion.)
  • Salvation:  When classical Christians speak of salvation—especially as the term is often used in the Early Church—they typically mean something different than what is meant by modern-day Americans.  (Along these same lines, we will discuss theosis as the synonym for salvation.)
  • The reading of Holy Scripture: Classical Christians typically read scripture in ways other than literalism—although it may certainly be read that way on occasion, too.  Often, the allegorical, metaphorical, and mystical meanings of scripture are just as important—more so, in many cases—than the literal meaning.  We will approach Holy Scripture from the vantage of point of how it was classically read in the Early Church and by the Church Fathers.
  • Saints: Christianity—to paraphrase Tertullian—was built on the blood of the martyrs.  We will discuss why the Saints are important in order to properly understand Christianity in its classic context.
  • Prayer: Prayer is much more than the vague prayers that many modern-day Christians utter to an equally vague deity.  Classical Christianity has a rich heritage of prayers that will be posted here.
Varied Sources
     I have a couple of other “Christian” blogs that primarily deal with specifically Orthodox issues and elements.  Unfortunately, due to the time involved in crafting pieces, I never get around to writing on them.  That’s where this blog comes in; it’s going to be different.  Instead of relying on my own mind and writing ability, I will post articles, essays, quotes, and excerpts from books written by more qualified authors than myself.  Much of the material will be directly from classical—and, therefore, ancient—texts, while others will be new material written from the classical point of view.
     I will try to include a lot of material that will be of interest to the average reader and churchgoer.  A lot of the artwork, poetry, prayers, and theologically rich hymnography of the Church can be understood by all people—I don’t want readers to think that it will simply be stuffy academia that’s presented (although I won’t shy away from some of that).
     I will try my best to include writers both Eastern and Western, Greek and Latin, Orthodox and Catholic—not to mention some Protestants that “fit the mould” of the classicist.




[1] Here I have in mind much of popular “non-denominational” Christianity, mega-churches, and movies such as the recent “God is NOT dead.”  If modern Christians actually think these things constitute Christianity, then we are already in deep trouble.  And, yes, I understand that there are well-meaning, “good” people that are followers of all of the above, but it’s still not Christianity, in the classical, traditional sense.
[2] To put an exact date, or even a year, on it would be inaccurate.  It wasn’t simply a matter of there being a “before” and an “after”, but, rather, it was an ongoing, organically evolving process with many halts, and then many leaps forward—and sometimes backward—at other times.
[3] A lot of evangelical Christians are “conservative”, to be sure, but this doesn’t mean that they are traditional.