Alexandermen (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} alexandermen) wrote,@ 2007-11-24 09:00:00 |
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II-14 CHRISTIANITY-- Alexander Men's final lecture
Friends,
This lecture was given on the night of September 8 1990 the
night before Fr Alexander's assassination. It was at the opening
of the Alexander Men Open University and all in all it is a
writing of extraordinary importance. The source
is our own First hour and the translation of Steve Griffin.
CHRISTIANITY
Fr Alexander Men
lecture of September 8 1990
And so together we have reached the end of our journey which has taken us
through the ages, around the world philosophies, and we have come to the
summit, to that sparkling mountain spring wherein the sun is reflected
which is called Christianity.
While Christianity arose as a challenge to many philosophical and
religious systems,it at the same time fulfilled the expectations of
the majority of them. In fact the greatest thing in Christian
spirituality is not negation but affirmation,inclusion and completion.
As the passion for salvation and deliverance from evil permeates Buddhism
(the Buddha said that as the waters of the sea were saturated with salt,
so too his teaching--dharma--was permeated with the idea of salvation), so
the thirst for,and indeed promise of,salvation is inherent in Christianity.
Similarly in Christianity one finds as in Islam, absolute devotion to a
God who is sovereign ruler of the cosmos and mans destiny, and the notion
in Chinese thought that heaven (Tien) provides man with a compass in life.
even in its details and various traditional nuances. Even the Brahman belief
in diverse manifestations of the Divine, or the notion in pantheism that
God is in all, and that He, like a mysterious force, permeates every dro[p,
every atom of the universe(although it does not restrict the work of God to this
all-encompassing presence),are to be found in Christianity.
It would be a mistake, however to perceive Christianity as an eclectic world
view of the sorts which simply gathered together all elements of former belief
systems. On the contrary, it forcefully manifested something new, which was
to be found less in doctrine and more in the breaking-through of another life
into this everyday life of ours. The great teachers of humanity, like the authors
of the Upanishads, Lao Tse, Confucius,Buddha, Mohammed, Socrates, Plato
and others understood Truth to be like the top of a mountain to which one
ascends with great difficulty. And they were right, because Truth cannot be
obtained effortlessly, but is rather like a high mountain that one must climb,
short of breath, clambering about the ledges,occasionally looking back, and
feeling that a steep climb still lies ahead. I never shall forget that
remarkable comment made by a simple Himalayan highlander, a Sherpa
tribesman by the name of Tenxing, who climbed Mt Everest with Sir
Edmund Hillary. He said that one must approach mountains with
reverence. So too with God. Indeed ,the greatness and beauty of mountains
are understood only with a special attitude of soul. Truth is hidden from those
who seek it irreverently and who are unprepared to proceed regardless of
the dangers,precipices and clefts.
One might question the image of human history as an ascent of course,
pointing to all the regressions. To be sure,at first glance there are
more steps backwards than forwards; more people have slid back into
the abyss. But what matters to us is that man has in fact scaled the heights
of intellectual and spiritual contemplation, for his greatness lies in his
ability to ascend, as Pushkin put it, to "God's vicinity." We have two
homelands: the earth, where we are born and raised, and that precious
world of the Spirit which no eye can see nor ear can hear, but to which
we belong by nature. We are children of the earth and at the same time
guests in this world. Through religious quest we cultivate our higher
nature far more than when we wage war, plough, sow or build. Even
termites build after all, while ants sow and apes wage war(in their own
way of course--not so maliciously as humans). But no living creature
apart from man has ever pondered the meaning of life, risen above
natural physical necessity, or demonstrated the capacity to risk his
life for the sake of Truth or that which he cannot grasp in his hand. Amd
thousands of martyrs from all times and nations are a unique phenomenon
in the history of our solar system.
But when we turn to the gospels we find ourselves in a different realm:
not one which provides an array of stirring quests or surges into
heaven, but one where we find ourselves before the mystery of
responsibility. Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha,
spent twenty five years in ascetic discipline to achieve enlightenment.
In the same way yogic masters, philosophers and ascetics have also
labored intellectually ,spiritually and psychophysically. But Jesus Christ
who emerged from a simple village where he led the life of a common
man, never had to climb anywhere: in Him all was ready. Instead he
condescended to humanity.
Every great teacher has been aware of his ignorance. Socrates
said "I know that I know nothing." The greatest saints of all times and
nations sensed their own sinfulness more than we do because they
were closer to the light; each blemish on their life and conscience was
more evident than in our murky life. Christ however, knew no sin. Neither
did he come as one who had achieved something,but as one who brought
to humanity that which was in him by nature from the beginning.
I should immediately draw your attention to the fact that Jesus Christ did not
teach Christianity as some sort of concept. That which he proclaimed he
called besora, in Greek evangelion, which means "good news." What was this
good news?
Man has the right to distrust the universe, to feel he is in a strange and hostile
world. Modern writers like Albert Camus,Jean Paul Sartre and others have
spoken of the terrible absurdity of existence. We live in a cold, dead or
dying world which we cannot trust because it is threatening, inhuman,
meaningless and absurd. Of course these writers, novelists, dramatists and
philosophers spoke as atheists(Sartre and Camus spoke from the
standpoint of atheistic existentialism),and seemed to have overlooked one
thing. When they said that the world was absurd and meaningless they knew
this only because man possesses the opposite notion of meaning. The person
who does not know what meaning is does not feel, nor will he understand,
what meaning is. He will never rebel against, nor be disturbed by,absurdity;but
will live in it like a fish in water. And the fact that man revolts against the absurd
and the meaninglessness of existence speaks for the existence of that meaning.
The ancient scriptures teach that we can change inwardly and say "yes"
to our existence : to trust what seems terrible and frightful. When we
do the eye of God like the sun through dark clouds appears through the
chaos, absurdity and monstrosity of life. And this God is personal,
for his personality is reflected in each individual so that contact with him
is possible as between like beings. Man finds ultimate meaning in the fact
that he is made in the likeness of the one who created the world. While
Charles Darwin did not perceive the world mechanistically, as a process,
he still found it hard to understand how blind coincidence could have
brought about our enormously complex world, and wondered whether
some form of reason like ours(indeed endlessly surpassing our reason,
one might say) lay behind it.
Old Testament religion developed the notion of faith as trust: not as
a theoretical, philosophical or religious conviction, but as a break from
deathly and absurd reality, when man says to God " I accept and
take heed." In this way the ancient covenant or union between God and
man came about.
But of course the union between primitive, ancient man and the divine
could not be final and perfect, but represented only man's infancy or
period of nurturing. The human race's youth would be announced in the
seventh century B.C. by the prophet Jeremiah. "Behold the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant(brit hadasha
or new union) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the
covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt...I will put my law within them, and I
will write it upon their hearts."
Seven hundred years later twelve men gathered in a small room and a
sacrifice was offered. Usually the sacrifice was a blood sacrifice, symbolizing
life, which belongs only to God. The custom from ancient times among all
peoples,right up to the late primeval time and paleolithic man,was to
sprinkle the members of the community gathered together with the blood of
the sacrificed animal. So Moses,as he contracted the covenant with God
and His people sprinkled everyone with the blood of a lamb. But on that night
in the Spring of the year 30A.D. Jesus of Nazereth surrounded by the twelve
memorialized the freedom which God grants; for there was no blood,but
instead bread and a cup of wine. Jesus took the bread and gave it to his
disciples saying "This is my body", offering it as the sacrificial lamb on
behalf of the people. Then he offered them the cup saying "This cup which
is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
Thus at this holy table God and man are united not in real physical blood but
in the symbolic blood of the earth. Grape juice(or wine)is the earth's
blood,while bread is the earth's fruit. nature which feeds us,and God who offers
himself as a sacrifice for humanity. Since that holy night when Jesus of
Nazareth performed this sacrifice the cup continues to be raised and the
eucharist celebrated. This sign can be found in every current of Christianity,
in all churches and denominations.
It is sometimes said that Christ taught a new ethic when he said: "This
is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you." While
the commandment "Love thy neighbor as thyself" had been given before
through Moses, Christ gave it a completely new sound with the words "as
I have loved you" because he remained with us in this filthy,bloody and sinful
world out of self-giving love. For this reason he said that the one who would
follow him must deny himself(not his personality--for that is holy--but
his ego or false self-affirmation),give himself up, take up his cross,
which is to say his service in suffering and joy,then follow him.
Christ calls humanity to bring about the divine ideal. Only near-sighted people
can suppose that Christianity has seen its time. Christianity has only taken its
first,I would say timid, steps in human history. To this day many of Christ's
words are incomprehensible because we are still moral and spiritual
neanderthal men. The gospel arrow is aimed towards eternity. and that which
we call Christian history is in many ways a series of clumsy and
unsuccessful attempts to bring Christianity about.
One might ask then, how have we had such great masters. like unknown
iconographers, Andrei Rublev and the like? Of course, there have been great
saints: precursors who stand out against a black sea of dirt,blood and tears.
Apparently that was the main thing that Tarkovsky wanted (perhaps unwittingly)
to show in his film Andrei Rublev. Just imagine the circumstances in which that
most magical tender and divine vision of the Trinity was created! The wars,
torture,treachery,violence,fires and barbarity depicted in that film were true.
Against such a background man ,without God's illumination ,could only
create Goya's Los Caprichos. But Rublev created a divine vision, which
meant he drew it not from the world around him, but from the spiritual world.
Christianity is not a new ethical system, but a new life which brings humanity
into direct contact with God through a new union or covenant. How is this
mystery to be understood? How are we to comprehend the way in which
humanity is attracted like a magnet,to the person of Jesus Christ, even though
he came into the world in humility,without the mysterious quality of the
Indian sages, nor the poetic exoticism of eastern philosophy?
Everything Jesus said was plain and clear. His parable illustrations were taken
from everyday life and he used simple words to reveal the mystery.
When in the gospel of John we read how Philip had asked to be shown the Father
(or the One the Greeks called arkhe, "the first beginning") Jesus answered as
no philosopher on earth had ever answered:"Have I been with you so long and
yet you do not know me Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus
spoke such words on other occasions,and many turned their backs on him and
left in indignation because these words were always a call. One had to grasp the
special mystery, which Christ never formulated directly, but instead asked":who
do the people say that I am? A prophet, the resurrected John the Baptist?
And who do you say that I am?" "You are the Anointed One, King, Messiah, the
Son of the Living God." they answered. This revelation must be experienced
internally. And he still asks each person the question, because God speaks with
human lips.
Jesus Christ is the human image of the Eternal,Ineffable, Boundless,Inscrutable, Nameless
One. And Lao-Tse was right when he said that the eternal name is the one we do not
utter. If God is Nameless and Unfathomable,in Jesus Christ he becomes not only
nameable, but he can be known even by name,even a human name,as the one
who carries with us the burdens of life. Herein lies the center and axis of Christianity.
When we move from the gospels to the Acts of the Apostles and epistles we focus
our attention on the second personality of the New Testament. As one French scholar
said, the New Testament is made up of two biographies, that of Jesus Christ,and
that of his follower Saul of Tarsus: the Apostle Paul. Of course any of us,turning
from the gospels to Paul's epistles,falls from heaven to earth,as it were.even
though Paul in many ways surpassed the gospel writers. He was a man of immense
talent,spiritual strength and learning who created very personal works; his epistles
are written with his hearts blood. But to compare them to the gospels is difficult in
any case because the gospels reflect not so much the literary talent of their
authors, but the very Model that they saw before them. And while the apostle Paul
stands before us as a mere man, Christ is the revelation of God.
But why is St Paul important for us, and why did the Church place him beside Christ
in the New Testament? How do we account for the fact that the majority of the
epistles bear his signature, and that his life plays a major role in the Acts of the
Apostles?
The fact is that Paul, as far as we can tell, never encountered Christ during his
earthly life, although it has been suggested that they might have crossed paths
in Jerusalem(for Paul was born in the first years A.D. in Asia Minor, but
studied in Jerusalem, when he might have seen Jesus). In any case it is
unlikely that he ever saw him. This fact,I think, attracts the Church to Paul,
for neither have we seen Jesus. But Christ appeared to Paul so authentically,
far surpassing any superficial physical encounter. For even Christ's enemies
saw him,as did the scribes, pharisees, and Pilate, but that did not save them.
Paul too was an enemy, until he encountered Christ on the way to Damascus
and was called to be an apostle. That event changed not only his life but the
destiny of the entire early Church, because as "apostle to the nations"
(or "apostle to the heathens") Paul became one of those who carried the Gospel
from Syria and Palestine throughout the world.
Educated in the Jewish faith,Paul knew that one cannot merge with God:
that one is mistaken if one believes, according to the eastern notion,
that to experience ecstasy is to merge with the Absolute. One can only
make contact, for in the heart of the Divine there burns an
all-consuming,everlasting fire. Between the Creator and creation,
as between what is absolute and what is conditional,there is an abyss
which one cannot cross either by means of logic or existentially.
But there is a bridge which extends across that abyss. Paul himself
felt it because he encountered Christ and joined with him internally,
in endless love, so that he sensed that he carried Christ's wounds
within him, and that he died and was resurrected with him. As he wrote:
"No longer I live, but Christ in me. I died with him and with him I am
raised to life." If one cannot merge with God then one can with the God-man
for he belongs to two worlds simultaneously, ours and the eternal.
And the entire Christian mystical tradition from Paul to the present is built on
this: that the way to the Father is only through the Son. Christ said "I am the
door", the gateway to heaven.
As Christian ascetics recite various prayers they in certain respects resemble
their eastern or Indian counterparts who recite various mantras. But one of the
most important prayers of the Christian ascetic tradition is called the
"Jesus Prayer" where one continually repeats the name of the One who was
bor,lived on earth,and was crucified and resurrected. The Christocentrism
of this foundational Christian prayer radically distinguishes it from all
other meditations and mantras,because through it an encounter takes place:
not mere concentration of thought or submersion in an ocean or spiritual
abyss, but a personal encounter with the face of Jesus Christ,who stands
both in and on the earth. I recall one of Turgenev's "Poems in Prose",
where he stood in a village church and suddenly felt that Christ was
standing beside him. Turning around he saw an ordinary man,then when he
turned away again he felt that He was there. Indeed the Church of Christ
exists and grows because He stands within it.
While Plato left his Dialogues, Moses the tablets with the Law inscribed on
them and Mohammed the Koran, Christ left behind not a single written line.
Neither did he form orders,as did Gautama Buddha. Instead he said: "I am
with you always to the close of the age." When his followers sensed that
they would part with him he pronounced those prophetic and eternal words:
"I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you." And he continues to
come even today.
On this only is Christianity founded; everything else amounts to
superficial layers. In every other respect Christianity is like any other
religion.
World religions are cultural expressions which develop together with
man's spiritual impulse towards eternity and transcendent values.
In Christianity,though, the current is from above. For this reason a
theologian of our century could say: "Christianity is not one religion
among many, but the crisis of all religions." It raises itself above all
others because ,as St Paul said, no one is saved by works of the Law,
but only by faith in Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, I must explain to you these words of Paul. "Works of
the Law" are a system of religious rites and rules, necessary as a means
of nurturing. They are man-made, sometimes through great insight,
other times through the force of tradition,but in some cases through
delusion. In the Old Testament they are revealed,but are meant
for a specific phase of intellectual and spiritual development. To be
"saved" means to unite one's ephemeral,temporal life with immortality
and God. The thirst for salvation, or desire for union with the divine
life,is found inside each one of us. It is hidden, and we can conceal it
deep within, but it is there all the same. The apostle said that the
Law is holy. Indeed the Old Testament law which God gave is holy and
good, but one can join in the Divine life only by faith in Jesus Christ.
What does it mean,however, to have faith in Jesus Christ? Does it
mean to believe that such a man lived on earth? That would not be faith
but knowledge. The fact that he lived was recorded by his contemporaries
and the gospel writers left reliable evidence. Today's historian will
agree that such a man was a real historical figure. Attempts to assert
that Christ was a mere myth have long been refuted, except, of course,
in our country,where the notion has been upheld as in a wonder preserve.
So what does it mean to believe in Him? Does it mean to believe that
he came from the world beyond? This is also true,but only theory all
the same. Here we must recall that faith which was declared in the
Old Testament:faith as trust in being.
When Abraham said "yes" to God, more accurately, did not say it but
silently obeyed His call, this was when faith was born. In ancient
Hebrew the word "faith" is 'emuna,' from the word 'aman,' faithfulness.
Faith is an understanding very close to the understanding of faithfulness.
God is faithful to his promise, man is faithful to God; weak and sinful,
he is nevertheless faithful to God. But to which God? Secret and awesome
as the universe, sometimes as far from man as the ocean.
But if the God to whom man was then faithful was a secret and awesome,
sometimes remote Creator God, Christ revealed through himself a new
dimension of God. He hardly ever used the word "God" but instead
addressed him as his "Father" And in his earthly life he used the
tender and affectionate(but untranslatable) word that children in the
East use when addressing their father. Christ reveals God as our
heavenly Father, and in so doing he creates brothers and sisters, for
brothers and sisters are possible only where there is a common father.
So our common spiritual Father is God. And the mystery of the Gospel
is this: an openness of the heart to the news of Jesus Christ. This
is because each of us knows very well how weak and confused we
are, and how every manner of sin and disorder has built its nest inside
us.
Of course there is a strength which Christ gives freely. In Russian it is
called blagodat; a blessing which is given, not earned. We must make
the effort ,as well as struggle with sin and strive for self-perfection, as long
as we remember that we can only do the preparatory work. Herein lies the
fundamental difference between Christianity and Yoga, which maintains
that man can reach God and become part of Him of his own accord, so
to speak.Christianity teaches, on the contrary, that while man can perfect
himself, it is impossible to reach God as long as He himself does not come
to man.
So grace surpasses the Law. The Law is the first stage of religion, which
begins with childhood, where do's and don'ts are necessary until grace comes
through an internal encounter with God. That encounter is like love,
rejoicing, victory and the music of the spheres.
Grace is new life. St Paul tells us of the dispute which arose between those who
wished to keep the ancient Old Testament rites and those (Greeks) who did not.
And in fact the only thing that was ultimately important was a new creation, and
faith, which acts in love. This is authentic Christianity. All else--everything
associated with culture --is historical wrapping, frame,and environment.
I am speaking of the very essence of Christian faith: the limitless
value of human individuality, the victory over death and decay,and
a new covenant which grows like a little acorn into a tree, or which
does to history that which leaven does to dough. And today God's
kingdom mysteriously manifests itself among us as we do good,
show love,contemplate beauty, or feel the fullness of life.
Jesus taught that the Kingdom is not only in the distant future or om
futuristic contemplation:it exists here and now. The Kingdom of Heaven
will come, but it has already come. The world will be judged but is
already being judged. "Now is the judgment of this world" said
Christ when he proclaimed the gospel for the first time. Elsewhere he
said "and this is judgment that light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light..." The judgment began during Jesus'
ministry in Galilee, and spread to Jerusalem,Golgotha, the Roman
Empire, Europe in the Middle Ages, Russia, and into this century and
beyond. The judgement will continue through human history ,because
history is Christian as the world keeps step with the Son of Man.
Finally, the essence of Christianity is found in God-manhood, or the
joining of the organic and temporal human spirit with that of the Eternal
and Divine. It is found in the sanctification of the flesh, for the world
and nature, which is the birthplace of the Son of Man as both man and
God-man, was not cast away or degraded, but elevated to a new level and
sanctified ever since the Son of Man took upon himself our joys and
sufferings, our creation our love and labor.
In Christianity the world is sanctified, while evil, sin and death are
conquered. But the victory is God's. It began on Resurrection morning
and will continue as long as the world remains.
Friends,
This lecture was given on the night of September 8 1990 the
night before Fr Alexander's assassination. It was at the opening
of the Alexander Men Open University and all in all it is a
writing of extraordinary importance. The source
is our own First hour and the translation of Steve Griffin.
CHRISTIANITY
Fr Alexander Men
lecture of September 8 1990
And so together we have reached the end of our journey which has taken us
through the ages, around the world philosophies, and we have come to the
summit, to that sparkling mountain spring wherein the sun is reflected
which is called Christianity.
While Christianity arose as a challenge to many philosophical and
religious systems,it at the same time fulfilled the expectations of
the majority of them. In fact the greatest thing in Christian
spirituality is not negation but affirmation,inclusion and completion.
As the passion for salvation and deliverance from evil permeates Buddhism
(the Buddha said that as the waters of the sea were saturated with salt,
so too his teaching--dharma--was permeated with the idea of salvation), so
the thirst for,and indeed promise of,salvation is inherent in Christianity.
Similarly in Christianity one finds as in Islam, absolute devotion to a
God who is sovereign ruler of the cosmos and mans destiny, and the notion
in Chinese thought that heaven (Tien) provides man with a compass in life.
even in its details and various traditional nuances. Even the Brahman belief
in diverse manifestations of the Divine, or the notion in pantheism that
God is in all, and that He, like a mysterious force, permeates every dro[p,
every atom of the universe(although it does not restrict the work of God to this
all-encompassing presence),are to be found in Christianity.
It would be a mistake, however to perceive Christianity as an eclectic world
view of the sorts which simply gathered together all elements of former belief
systems. On the contrary, it forcefully manifested something new, which was
to be found less in doctrine and more in the breaking-through of another life
into this everyday life of ours. The great teachers of humanity, like the authors
of the Upanishads, Lao Tse, Confucius,Buddha, Mohammed, Socrates, Plato
and others understood Truth to be like the top of a mountain to which one
ascends with great difficulty. And they were right, because Truth cannot be
obtained effortlessly, but is rather like a high mountain that one must climb,
short of breath, clambering about the ledges,occasionally looking back, and
feeling that a steep climb still lies ahead. I never shall forget that
remarkable comment made by a simple Himalayan highlander, a Sherpa
tribesman by the name of Tenxing, who climbed Mt Everest with Sir
Edmund Hillary. He said that one must approach mountains with
reverence. So too with God. Indeed ,the greatness and beauty of mountains
are understood only with a special attitude of soul. Truth is hidden from those
who seek it irreverently and who are unprepared to proceed regardless of
the dangers,precipices and clefts.
One might question the image of human history as an ascent of course,
pointing to all the regressions. To be sure,at first glance there are
more steps backwards than forwards; more people have slid back into
the abyss. But what matters to us is that man has in fact scaled the heights
of intellectual and spiritual contemplation, for his greatness lies in his
ability to ascend, as Pushkin put it, to "God's vicinity." We have two
homelands: the earth, where we are born and raised, and that precious
world of the Spirit which no eye can see nor ear can hear, but to which
we belong by nature. We are children of the earth and at the same time
guests in this world. Through religious quest we cultivate our higher
nature far more than when we wage war, plough, sow or build. Even
termites build after all, while ants sow and apes wage war(in their own
way of course--not so maliciously as humans). But no living creature
apart from man has ever pondered the meaning of life, risen above
natural physical necessity, or demonstrated the capacity to risk his
life for the sake of Truth or that which he cannot grasp in his hand. Amd
thousands of martyrs from all times and nations are a unique phenomenon
in the history of our solar system.
But when we turn to the gospels we find ourselves in a different realm:
not one which provides an array of stirring quests or surges into
heaven, but one where we find ourselves before the mystery of
responsibility. Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha,
spent twenty five years in ascetic discipline to achieve enlightenment.
In the same way yogic masters, philosophers and ascetics have also
labored intellectually ,spiritually and psychophysically. But Jesus Christ
who emerged from a simple village where he led the life of a common
man, never had to climb anywhere: in Him all was ready. Instead he
condescended to humanity.
Every great teacher has been aware of his ignorance. Socrates
said "I know that I know nothing." The greatest saints of all times and
nations sensed their own sinfulness more than we do because they
were closer to the light; each blemish on their life and conscience was
more evident than in our murky life. Christ however, knew no sin. Neither
did he come as one who had achieved something,but as one who brought
to humanity that which was in him by nature from the beginning.
I should immediately draw your attention to the fact that Jesus Christ did not
teach Christianity as some sort of concept. That which he proclaimed he
called besora, in Greek evangelion, which means "good news." What was this
good news?
Man has the right to distrust the universe, to feel he is in a strange and hostile
world. Modern writers like Albert Camus,Jean Paul Sartre and others have
spoken of the terrible absurdity of existence. We live in a cold, dead or
dying world which we cannot trust because it is threatening, inhuman,
meaningless and absurd. Of course these writers, novelists, dramatists and
philosophers spoke as atheists(Sartre and Camus spoke from the
standpoint of atheistic existentialism),and seemed to have overlooked one
thing. When they said that the world was absurd and meaningless they knew
this only because man possesses the opposite notion of meaning. The person
who does not know what meaning is does not feel, nor will he understand,
what meaning is. He will never rebel against, nor be disturbed by,absurdity;but
will live in it like a fish in water. And the fact that man revolts against the absurd
and the meaninglessness of existence speaks for the existence of that meaning.
The ancient scriptures teach that we can change inwardly and say "yes"
to our existence : to trust what seems terrible and frightful. When we
do the eye of God like the sun through dark clouds appears through the
chaos, absurdity and monstrosity of life. And this God is personal,
for his personality is reflected in each individual so that contact with him
is possible as between like beings. Man finds ultimate meaning in the fact
that he is made in the likeness of the one who created the world. While
Charles Darwin did not perceive the world mechanistically, as a process,
he still found it hard to understand how blind coincidence could have
brought about our enormously complex world, and wondered whether
some form of reason like ours(indeed endlessly surpassing our reason,
one might say) lay behind it.
Old Testament religion developed the notion of faith as trust: not as
a theoretical, philosophical or religious conviction, but as a break from
deathly and absurd reality, when man says to God " I accept and
take heed." In this way the ancient covenant or union between God and
man came about.
But of course the union between primitive, ancient man and the divine
could not be final and perfect, but represented only man's infancy or
period of nurturing. The human race's youth would be announced in the
seventh century B.C. by the prophet Jeremiah. "Behold the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant(brit hadasha
or new union) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the
covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt...I will put my law within them, and I
will write it upon their hearts."
Seven hundred years later twelve men gathered in a small room and a
sacrifice was offered. Usually the sacrifice was a blood sacrifice, symbolizing
life, which belongs only to God. The custom from ancient times among all
peoples,right up to the late primeval time and paleolithic man,was to
sprinkle the members of the community gathered together with the blood of
the sacrificed animal. So Moses,as he contracted the covenant with God
and His people sprinkled everyone with the blood of a lamb. But on that night
in the Spring of the year 30A.D. Jesus of Nazereth surrounded by the twelve
memorialized the freedom which God grants; for there was no blood,but
instead bread and a cup of wine. Jesus took the bread and gave it to his
disciples saying "This is my body", offering it as the sacrificial lamb on
behalf of the people. Then he offered them the cup saying "This cup which
is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
Thus at this holy table God and man are united not in real physical blood but
in the symbolic blood of the earth. Grape juice(or wine)is the earth's
blood,while bread is the earth's fruit. nature which feeds us,and God who offers
himself as a sacrifice for humanity. Since that holy night when Jesus of
Nazareth performed this sacrifice the cup continues to be raised and the
eucharist celebrated. This sign can be found in every current of Christianity,
in all churches and denominations.
It is sometimes said that Christ taught a new ethic when he said: "This
is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you." While
the commandment "Love thy neighbor as thyself" had been given before
through Moses, Christ gave it a completely new sound with the words "as
I have loved you" because he remained with us in this filthy,bloody and sinful
world out of self-giving love. For this reason he said that the one who would
follow him must deny himself(not his personality--for that is holy--but
his ego or false self-affirmation),give himself up, take up his cross,
which is to say his service in suffering and joy,then follow him.
Christ calls humanity to bring about the divine ideal. Only near-sighted people
can suppose that Christianity has seen its time. Christianity has only taken its
first,I would say timid, steps in human history. To this day many of Christ's
words are incomprehensible because we are still moral and spiritual
neanderthal men. The gospel arrow is aimed towards eternity. and that which
we call Christian history is in many ways a series of clumsy and
unsuccessful attempts to bring Christianity about.
One might ask then, how have we had such great masters. like unknown
iconographers, Andrei Rublev and the like? Of course, there have been great
saints: precursors who stand out against a black sea of dirt,blood and tears.
Apparently that was the main thing that Tarkovsky wanted (perhaps unwittingly)
to show in his film Andrei Rublev. Just imagine the circumstances in which that
most magical tender and divine vision of the Trinity was created! The wars,
torture,treachery,violence,fires and barbarity depicted in that film were true.
Against such a background man ,without God's illumination ,could only
create Goya's Los Caprichos. But Rublev created a divine vision, which
meant he drew it not from the world around him, but from the spiritual world.
Christianity is not a new ethical system, but a new life which brings humanity
into direct contact with God through a new union or covenant. How is this
mystery to be understood? How are we to comprehend the way in which
humanity is attracted like a magnet,to the person of Jesus Christ, even though
he came into the world in humility,without the mysterious quality of the
Indian sages, nor the poetic exoticism of eastern philosophy?
Everything Jesus said was plain and clear. His parable illustrations were taken
from everyday life and he used simple words to reveal the mystery.
When in the gospel of John we read how Philip had asked to be shown the Father
(or the One the Greeks called arkhe, "the first beginning") Jesus answered as
no philosopher on earth had ever answered:"Have I been with you so long and
yet you do not know me Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus
spoke such words on other occasions,and many turned their backs on him and
left in indignation because these words were always a call. One had to grasp the
special mystery, which Christ never formulated directly, but instead asked":who
do the people say that I am? A prophet, the resurrected John the Baptist?
And who do you say that I am?" "You are the Anointed One, King, Messiah, the
Son of the Living God." they answered. This revelation must be experienced
internally. And he still asks each person the question, because God speaks with
human lips.
Jesus Christ is the human image of the Eternal,Ineffable, Boundless,Inscrutable, Nameless
One. And Lao-Tse was right when he said that the eternal name is the one we do not
utter. If God is Nameless and Unfathomable,in Jesus Christ he becomes not only
nameable, but he can be known even by name,even a human name,as the one
who carries with us the burdens of life. Herein lies the center and axis of Christianity.
When we move from the gospels to the Acts of the Apostles and epistles we focus
our attention on the second personality of the New Testament. As one French scholar
said, the New Testament is made up of two biographies, that of Jesus Christ,and
that of his follower Saul of Tarsus: the Apostle Paul. Of course any of us,turning
from the gospels to Paul's epistles,falls from heaven to earth,as it were.even
though Paul in many ways surpassed the gospel writers. He was a man of immense
talent,spiritual strength and learning who created very personal works; his epistles
are written with his hearts blood. But to compare them to the gospels is difficult in
any case because the gospels reflect not so much the literary talent of their
authors, but the very Model that they saw before them. And while the apostle Paul
stands before us as a mere man, Christ is the revelation of God.
But why is St Paul important for us, and why did the Church place him beside Christ
in the New Testament? How do we account for the fact that the majority of the
epistles bear his signature, and that his life plays a major role in the Acts of the
Apostles?
The fact is that Paul, as far as we can tell, never encountered Christ during his
earthly life, although it has been suggested that they might have crossed paths
in Jerusalem(for Paul was born in the first years A.D. in Asia Minor, but
studied in Jerusalem, when he might have seen Jesus). In any case it is
unlikely that he ever saw him. This fact,I think, attracts the Church to Paul,
for neither have we seen Jesus. But Christ appeared to Paul so authentically,
far surpassing any superficial physical encounter. For even Christ's enemies
saw him,as did the scribes, pharisees, and Pilate, but that did not save them.
Paul too was an enemy, until he encountered Christ on the way to Damascus
and was called to be an apostle. That event changed not only his life but the
destiny of the entire early Church, because as "apostle to the nations"
(or "apostle to the heathens") Paul became one of those who carried the Gospel
from Syria and Palestine throughout the world.
Educated in the Jewish faith,Paul knew that one cannot merge with God:
that one is mistaken if one believes, according to the eastern notion,
that to experience ecstasy is to merge with the Absolute. One can only
make contact, for in the heart of the Divine there burns an
all-consuming,everlasting fire. Between the Creator and creation,
as between what is absolute and what is conditional,there is an abyss
which one cannot cross either by means of logic or existentially.
But there is a bridge which extends across that abyss. Paul himself
felt it because he encountered Christ and joined with him internally,
in endless love, so that he sensed that he carried Christ's wounds
within him, and that he died and was resurrected with him. As he wrote:
"No longer I live, but Christ in me. I died with him and with him I am
raised to life." If one cannot merge with God then one can with the God-man
for he belongs to two worlds simultaneously, ours and the eternal.
And the entire Christian mystical tradition from Paul to the present is built on
this: that the way to the Father is only through the Son. Christ said "I am the
door", the gateway to heaven.
As Christian ascetics recite various prayers they in certain respects resemble
their eastern or Indian counterparts who recite various mantras. But one of the
most important prayers of the Christian ascetic tradition is called the
"Jesus Prayer" where one continually repeats the name of the One who was
bor,lived on earth,and was crucified and resurrected. The Christocentrism
of this foundational Christian prayer radically distinguishes it from all
other meditations and mantras,because through it an encounter takes place:
not mere concentration of thought or submersion in an ocean or spiritual
abyss, but a personal encounter with the face of Jesus Christ,who stands
both in and on the earth. I recall one of Turgenev's "Poems in Prose",
where he stood in a village church and suddenly felt that Christ was
standing beside him. Turning around he saw an ordinary man,then when he
turned away again he felt that He was there. Indeed the Church of Christ
exists and grows because He stands within it.
While Plato left his Dialogues, Moses the tablets with the Law inscribed on
them and Mohammed the Koran, Christ left behind not a single written line.
Neither did he form orders,as did Gautama Buddha. Instead he said: "I am
with you always to the close of the age." When his followers sensed that
they would part with him he pronounced those prophetic and eternal words:
"I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you." And he continues to
come even today.
On this only is Christianity founded; everything else amounts to
superficial layers. In every other respect Christianity is like any other
religion.
World religions are cultural expressions which develop together with
man's spiritual impulse towards eternity and transcendent values.
In Christianity,though, the current is from above. For this reason a
theologian of our century could say: "Christianity is not one religion
among many, but the crisis of all religions." It raises itself above all
others because ,as St Paul said, no one is saved by works of the Law,
but only by faith in Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, I must explain to you these words of Paul. "Works of
the Law" are a system of religious rites and rules, necessary as a means
of nurturing. They are man-made, sometimes through great insight,
other times through the force of tradition,but in some cases through
delusion. In the Old Testament they are revealed,but are meant
for a specific phase of intellectual and spiritual development. To be
"saved" means to unite one's ephemeral,temporal life with immortality
and God. The thirst for salvation, or desire for union with the divine
life,is found inside each one of us. It is hidden, and we can conceal it
deep within, but it is there all the same. The apostle said that the
Law is holy. Indeed the Old Testament law which God gave is holy and
good, but one can join in the Divine life only by faith in Jesus Christ.
What does it mean,however, to have faith in Jesus Christ? Does it
mean to believe that such a man lived on earth? That would not be faith
but knowledge. The fact that he lived was recorded by his contemporaries
and the gospel writers left reliable evidence. Today's historian will
agree that such a man was a real historical figure. Attempts to assert
that Christ was a mere myth have long been refuted, except, of course,
in our country,where the notion has been upheld as in a wonder preserve.
So what does it mean to believe in Him? Does it mean to believe that
he came from the world beyond? This is also true,but only theory all
the same. Here we must recall that faith which was declared in the
Old Testament:faith as trust in being.
When Abraham said "yes" to God, more accurately, did not say it but
silently obeyed His call, this was when faith was born. In ancient
Hebrew the word "faith" is 'emuna,' from the word 'aman,' faithfulness.
Faith is an understanding very close to the understanding of faithfulness.
God is faithful to his promise, man is faithful to God; weak and sinful,
he is nevertheless faithful to God. But to which God? Secret and awesome
as the universe, sometimes as far from man as the ocean.
But if the God to whom man was then faithful was a secret and awesome,
sometimes remote Creator God, Christ revealed through himself a new
dimension of God. He hardly ever used the word "God" but instead
addressed him as his "Father" And in his earthly life he used the
tender and affectionate(but untranslatable) word that children in the
East use when addressing their father. Christ reveals God as our
heavenly Father, and in so doing he creates brothers and sisters, for
brothers and sisters are possible only where there is a common father.
So our common spiritual Father is God. And the mystery of the Gospel
is this: an openness of the heart to the news of Jesus Christ. This
is because each of us knows very well how weak and confused we
are, and how every manner of sin and disorder has built its nest inside
us.
Of course there is a strength which Christ gives freely. In Russian it is
called blagodat; a blessing which is given, not earned. We must make
the effort ,as well as struggle with sin and strive for self-perfection, as long
as we remember that we can only do the preparatory work. Herein lies the
fundamental difference between Christianity and Yoga, which maintains
that man can reach God and become part of Him of his own accord, so
to speak.Christianity teaches, on the contrary, that while man can perfect
himself, it is impossible to reach God as long as He himself does not come
to man.
So grace surpasses the Law. The Law is the first stage of religion, which
begins with childhood, where do's and don'ts are necessary until grace comes
through an internal encounter with God. That encounter is like love,
rejoicing, victory and the music of the spheres.
Grace is new life. St Paul tells us of the dispute which arose between those who
wished to keep the ancient Old Testament rites and those (Greeks) who did not.
And in fact the only thing that was ultimately important was a new creation, and
faith, which acts in love. This is authentic Christianity. All else--everything
associated with culture --is historical wrapping, frame,and environment.
I am speaking of the very essence of Christian faith: the limitless
value of human individuality, the victory over death and decay,and
a new covenant which grows like a little acorn into a tree, or which
does to history that which leaven does to dough. And today God's
kingdom mysteriously manifests itself among us as we do good,
show love,contemplate beauty, or feel the fullness of life.
Jesus taught that the Kingdom is not only in the distant future or om
futuristic contemplation:it exists here and now. The Kingdom of Heaven
will come, but it has already come. The world will be judged but is
already being judged. "Now is the judgment of this world" said
Christ when he proclaimed the gospel for the first time. Elsewhere he
said "and this is judgment that light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light..." The judgment began during Jesus'
ministry in Galilee, and spread to Jerusalem,Golgotha, the Roman
Empire, Europe in the Middle Ages, Russia, and into this century and
beyond. The judgement will continue through human history ,because
history is Christian as the world keeps step with the Son of Man.
Finally, the essence of Christianity is found in God-manhood, or the
joining of the organic and temporal human spirit with that of the Eternal
and Divine. It is found in the sanctification of the flesh, for the world
and nature, which is the birthplace of the Son of Man as both man and
God-man, was not cast away or degraded, but elevated to a new level and
sanctified ever since the Son of Man took upon himself our joys and
sufferings, our creation our love and labor.
In Christianity the world is sanctified, while evil, sin and death are
conquered. But the victory is God's. It began on Resurrection morning
and will continue as long as the world remains.
