There is no end to the number of books about Christian spiritually. As the expense of printing books lessened the number of books expanded. Now, with the internet, one doesn't even need pen and ink to write, and to reach a global audience. As a result, it is important to understand that one cannot blindly accept what one reads, even if it comes from some sort of "expert".
The Orthodox Church has been guarding itself against the so-called experts since the beginning: from the first discussions among the disciples, to the Jerusalem Council, to the great Ecumenical Councils, right back to the local parish priest who must discern what is being said and done among his own flock.
To those of us who have grown up with a western, scholastic model of learning the ways of the East are quite foreign. In the Orthodox Church, only three men have been given the title of "Theologian": the apostle John, the great cappadocian father Gregory of Nazianzus, and Symeon the New. These men exposed to the world what the Orthodox construe as true theology: knowing God (as compared to knowing about God).
Symeon was born around 949, as a young man worked in the imperial court in Constantinople, before turning completely to the spiritual life. Like many before him, he experienced the illumination of God in a brilliant light that encompassed him one night as he was praying. This illumination has been compared to the brilliance that shown on Moses' face when he descended with the Ten Commandments. This illumination is not at all foreign to those in the Orthodox tradition, and there are numerous examples of its occurance among those who live a virtuous life and who are devoted to prayer.
Symeon got himself in trouble with the local church authorities when he stated that only those who had received divine illumination should be speaking on divine things. Later, as people looked at his life, and at the things that he wrote he was given the title of "Theologian". Shortsightedness was overcome with illumination, time and context.
What all three of these Theologians had in common was extreme piety, direct experience of God (think of John's vision as recorded as the Book of the Revelation), and actions that matched their words. We would all do well to aspire to emulate their lives, and read what they wrote.
If we did we might shy away from the "vain speculations" that we are warned about in the New Testament. A case in point is trying to synthesize the so-called "higher criticism" of the Bible with the teachings of the Church. For example, the critics say that the Books of Moses in the Old Testament were written by four sources that they call J,E,P,D. The critics of the New Testament say that the synoptic gospels were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, but rather, they used a source called "Q" (of which there is not one shred of physical evidence among all of the thousands of pieces of the scriptures from the first few centuries) along with other sources.
My opinion is that if Jesus said that Moses wrote the Law, who are we to question Him ? Do we know more than the God-Man who we believed died so that we might live? Concerning the New Testament, it is no coincidence that we have written testimony of people like Clement and Ignatius who knew the gospel writers personally, and who testify to their authenticity. For my money, I will accept the testimony of first hand sources who were known as virtuous, Godly men before I will accept the testimony of theologians who write 2000 years after the fact, and who do not share any of the presuppositions that we do as Orthodox Christians.
Be economical with your time. Pray, read the scriptures and the great Fathers of the Church. Don't dwell on things that don't matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment