Saturday, December 26, 2009

On stoning thy neighbor

The feast day of proto-martyr Stephen the Deacon is coming up right on the heels of the Nativity of Christ on December 27th, and that made me think of death by stoning, a punishment specified for a number of offenses in the laws of the Torah. Last February I explored the concept during my study of the five books of Moses, which I posted HERE. Today as I was perusing the blog of a Christian brother, I came upon this very good word of Elder Païsios, which I want to reproduce here in its entirety. The Elder is one of two recently reposed saints whose words and acts I follow with the attentive eye of a bird intent on catching a worm. The other is, of course, Elder Porphyrios. I confess, these are my two favorite modern 'desert fathers,' and it's because they lived and taught by word and example the way of following Jesus in the modern world.
Here is what Elder Païsios says...


A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.

I once met a theologian who was extremely pious, but who had the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated so deeply that it shook them very severely. He told me once: “During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady.” But the way that he said it, crushed her. “Look”, I said to him, “you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also.”

Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a so-called “Christian manner.” The person who – in the presence of others – checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person), is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.

The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.

I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or strong-headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever remain attached to the “letter of the Law”, and the letter of the Law can be quite deadly.

A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he replies like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.

A person that begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point, lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that well, which is why he goes to extremes.

Lord, have mercy on me, Romanós the sinner!

15 comments:

Walking Church said...

Good post- I needed to hear that.

'Romanós the sinner!' say it is not so...I believe our true identity is that we are SAINTS...Check out Eph 1.1.

We are Children of the Almighty, who sin, but our true identity is found in Jesus in whom our lives are hidden. There is no condemnation brother NONE...we a heirs of His grace. (I know I sound like a teacher - but you are NOT a sinner you are a SAINT brother bought with a very precious price).

You are alive to God!!! Dead to Sin. You are filled with His precious essence. This is indeed the great news about the good news gospel. I will get off my soapbox...dear brother...you are huge in Him.

In Christ, I am:

God's child, for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever.
(1 Peter 1:23).

Forgiven of all my sins and washed in the blood
(Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:14, Colossians 1:14, 1 John 2:12, 1 John 1:9)

A New Creature
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

The Temple of the Holy Spirit
(1 Corinthians 6:19)

Delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God's kingdom.
(Colossians 1:13)

Redeemed from the curse of the law
(1 Peter 1:18,19 Galatians 3:13)

A Saint
(Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Philippians 1:1)

Blessed
(Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Galatians 3:9)

The Head and not the tail
(Deuteronomy 20:13)

Holy and without blame before Him in love.
(1 Peter 1:1, Ephesians 1:4)

Victorious
(Revelation 21:7)

Set Free
(John 8:31-33)

Strong in the Lord.
(Ephesians 6:10)

Dead to sin
(Romans 6:2,11; 1 Peter 2:24)

More than a conqueror
(Romans 8:37)

Joint heir with Christ
(Romans 8:17)

Complete in Him.
(Colossians 2:10)

Crucified with Christ
(Galatians 2:20)

Alive with Christ
(Ephesians 2:5)

Reconciled to God
(2 Corinthians 5:18)

Free from Condemnation
(Romans 8:1)

Firmly rooted, built up, established in the faith and overflowing with gratitude.
(Colossians 2:7)

Born of God, and the evil one does not touch me.
(1 John 5:18)

The Righteousness of God
(2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24)

Chosen
(1 Thessalonians 1:4; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 2:9)

The Apple of My Father's Eye
(Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8)

Healed by the stripes of Jesus.
(1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:6)

Being changed into His image
(2 Corinthians 3:18; Philiippians 1:6)

Raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places.
(Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6)

Beloved of God
(Colossians 3:12; Romans 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)

Established to the end
(Colossians 1:8)

One in Christ
(John 17:21-23)

Arsenios said...

"A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly."

Word Verification: sionesp (Zion ESP)

Walking Church said...

Did our precious Jesus not teach? Was He not called Rabbi? Is not the definition of Humility?

One of the gifts is teaching.

Yes, teachers need not be overbearing to be heard.

Arsenios said...

Did Romanos ask your opinion on whether or not he should call himself a sinner?

Who are you to be teaching him, anyway?

We are free Orthodox Christian believers and followers of Jesus Christ, the Pantokrator. Whom do you follow?

"...you have one Teacher, the Christ." (Matthew 23:10)

"you have not lost the anointing He gave you,
and you do not need anyone to teach you;
the anointing He gave you teaches you everything..." (1 John 2:27)

Forgive me, brothers, for bringing these things to your remembrance.

Word Verification: sesivera (Ceci vrai!)

Walking Church said...

No offense meant or intended.

It is scriptural to spur and encourage one another along in our faith.

Question: Do Free Orthodox Christians have seminaries? (seriously) asked in Love in our Christ who is our life.

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

I was going to delete all these comments, because it looked like it was turning into a row, and that's something I do not want to happen on my blog, but especially at Christmas.

I think what Arsenios meant by calling us "free" Orthodox Christians is not a denominational label, as you seem to be taking it, WC, but rather a general term meaning that we are Orthodox Christians, not members of some kind of church, like Roman Catholic, that exacts unquestioning obedience and belief in things not warranted by scripture, the councils, or the fathers of the Church.

Arsenios, correct me if I'm wrong about this.

As for seminaries, Orthodox priests in modern times and especially in America have been and are trained in seminaries, but for most of Christian history, training was carried on more informally.

Walking Church said...

I am glad you did not delete the comments. I really do not want to be 'stoning' my dear brothers in Christ. No one wins and we are indeed called to love one another.

I recently graduated from seminary in Toronto with a Masters of Theology. I was not impressed with how much 'flesh' (man) driven our Churches have become. I realized that I do not fit into traditional Church.

One of the greatest things I did take away was that the Church seems to have gone down the tubes around 300 AD.

I have no denominational tags. Perhaps we have more in common than you think.

My comment re: sinner was meant in love. We are Saints - this is tremendous news. The very purpose of Christmas - is the grace He has extended us.

I am pleased to have met you two dear brothers of mine found in His Church.

Thank you for informing me - it helps me understand where you are coming from. I can learn something from almost any brother.

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

I cannot agree that the Church went down the tubes around AD 300. That would be preposterous and make Christ out to be a liar, since He says, "The gates of hell will not prevail against her [His Bride, the Church]."

My oldest son graduated from Orthodox seminary with an MDiv but has not been ordained yet for a variety of reasons. One of them is, he's not yet married.

Apparently you have not experienced the Orthodox Church, except perhaps for some stray visits (we often get Protestant seminarians visiting our church as part of their training in "other religions" or "ancient Christianity").

I don't know how much of my blog you have perused (there's over 600 posts on this blog, and I have a few other blogs), but in many places I try to give Christians an idea of what the Orthodox Church is, because it is not a denomination. Orthodox Christianity is our common inheritance, all followers of Jesus are de facto members of it, yet so few understand that, and see it as a denomination that they must categorize. It doesn't help much that many if not most Orthodox in North America have now been exposed to the concept of denominations for so long, that they think the same way, and tend to portray Orthodoxy as a religion and as an ethnic experience of Christianity, both misconceptions.

That's why there are Orthodox bloggers, and in general, Orthodox witnesses "out there" in the real world (I'm one of them) witnessing for Christ (not for the Orthodox Church, but for Christ), because He is the Bridegroom and we are His Bride. If you can find the Bridegroom. and "stay close to the shepherds' tents" (Song of Solomon 1:8) you will eventually find yourself here, where we are... it's called Orthodoxy, but it may as well be called Paradoxy (a word I've blogged about), because it is everything that you deep down knew for true but couldn't articulate because it defies description.

Continued...

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

Anyway, brother, the Church did not go down the tubes around 300. Various historical forces have at times commandeered the Church, or caused the loosely attached to fall away from it, but at the heart of every institutionalized form of the Church, you will always find the followers of Jesus, who know Him and speak to Him face to face every day, who follow Him and do what they see Him doing, because they not only believe, but know, that He is the Living One in our midst.

Going to seminary can teach one many things, mostly facts, but seminaries are dangerous: we call them cemetaries tongue-in-cheek because often what they turn out is dead men who were once alive, instead of the other way round.

To throw out a paradox, I would suggest that when faced with the ignominy of modern evangelicalism and even Roman catholicism in their current states of decadence, rather than operating as an "unchurchable" outside the institutions, you investigate the possibility of operating as one inside the Orthodox koinonia, where "unchurchables" are expected and welcome.

What is an "unchurchable"? It's someone who knows that most of what institutional Christianity does is a waste of time, and a way of keeping sheep docile and smug. Another word for an unchurchable might be, a prophetic spirit, someone who sees things as they are and who still lives within the Church institutional to open a door to anyone who wants to enter into the fellowship of the Church, the holy nation of priests and kings.

By the way, I used to live in Canada, in Edmonton, and still have a partly alive connexion to churches there, and so I know at least a little of what it's like. Not too different than here in the States. That's why I am hoping that the Lord will someday soon call me to go back to East Asia to witness for him there.

America seems to be a place where the gospel has been heard and been unwelcome, and the word of Jesus to us when we find the Word unwelcome, is to wipe the dust off our feet and go where the Word will be received.

Yet, all is in His hands. Glory to God.

Walking Church said...

Thank you for your comments.

I do agree with you that His Church still prevails...I find there are some of His Church in every denomination. They have encountered and walk with the risen Jesus. I am one of them. I am extremely Jesus-centric.

I had to giggle as to reference to seminaries...while attending..I went on record that they can take a spiritual man and drive spiritually right out of a him. I just saw so much human flesh. I saw people who had a relationship with doctrine and was not convinced they had a relationship with the living Christ. Would it be fair to say: a form of godliness denying the power.

It really bothers me that when we gather corporately there seems to always be a human agenda...why do we not act like Jesus is present and is leading His Church...I asked a dear brother of mine why....he mentioned it is reflective of what we do in our own personal lives. If we yield to Christ in our lives daily...it is not a big problem when we gather corporately.

I hope you stay in North America for a while. I have been blessed by your blog. It helps me see another aspect of Christ and what He does in other believers that do not look like me. I hear the world is sending missionaries to North America.

Sadly there is no room for Jesus for some - He seems to shake man's prideful paradigms. I love it!

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

"…walk with the risen Jesus…"
Amen.

"…a relationship with doctrine…"
An impossibility.

"…a relationship with the living Christ."
It's this, or nothing.

"…when we gather corporately there seems to always be a human agenda...why do we not act like Jesus is present and is leading His Church?"
Part 1, right, but wrong.
Part 2, in Orthodoxy, not the pulpit, not the altar, but Jesus…
Erchesthe kai opsesthe! (John 1:39 Greek NT, Alexandrian)

Come and see.

Walking Church said...

Where would one go - I am near London Ontario Canada

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

Holy Transfiguration Church
4647 Colonel Talbot Rd.
London, ON, N6P 1E4
226-663-6361
Fr. Martin Meitz
meitzfathermartin@gmail.com
http://www.antiochian.org/

Holy Trinity
131 Southdale Rd. W.
London, Ontario N6J 2J2
Tel: (519) 438-7951 (519) 438-6601
Fax: (519) 438-6834
E-mail: londongreekcommunity@bellnet.ca
Website: www.londongreekcommunity.org
Rev. Fr. Elias Drossos

The Antiochians (the first church cited above) are probably worshipping in English.
The Greeks in Canada (the second church above) are normally VERY Greek, but it's still nice to worship with them, and if you know New Testament Greek, that is our worship language along with English, not modern Greek. It's wonderful to be in a place where biblical Greek is still a living language!

Liz said...

Once again a VERY timely post. I've been learning this lesson the hard way.
Even when it has nothing to do with spiritual matters, I seem to have a way of inserting my foot into my mouth.

yudikris said...

:).... Indeed, Liz. very timely post! :D