This evening we started a new Hypothesis, number 20. The focus is on receiving the advice of the fathers and how important it is not to develop an individualistic approach to the spiritual life. Asceticism can very quickly become something of our own making. Whenever we are guided simply by our own judgment, spiritual practices can very easily lead us into pride. The longer that we are in such a state, the greater the danger of falling into delusion. One who thinks he is above the elders’ or anyone else’s judgment, he who seeks no one else’s counsel, will come to experience the greatest darkness. We are part of the living body of the Church and God has given us that which is most essential for our sanctity. Despite the darkness that we see within the world and sometimes see within the life of the Church, we do not want to lose sight of God‘s Providential care and the guidance of the Spirit. Nor do we want to lose sight of those God has put on our path to help support us and guide us. Such an attitude requires from us an openness to the guidance of the Spirit in our lives. Above all it requires humility. Our path as Christian men and women is distinctly the path of humility, the path of the cross, and so we must never be deluded to the extent that we place our own judgment above others. In the end such an attitude will eventually lead us to place our judgment above God himself. From such a tragic darkness - we may never emerge.
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Text of chat during the group:
Forrest Cavalier:
I wanted to share a connection I made to Hypothesis 20. The topic summary for Hypothesis 20 is in the 1783 edition in greek, translated as
"That no man should trust in himself for anything, but should listen to the counsel of the fathers in all things, and should confess the secrets of his heart without concealing anything."
But it seems to me that the first few stories are monks cutting themselves off from the goodness of community. And some of it can seem very brutal and harsh, and that is why I am writing.
I was also reading this week St. John Chrysostom Homily 12 on Acts. (Next Sunday the reading from Acts is immediately after the story of Ananias and Sapphira. I wondered about Peter's shadow, and the homily covers both stories in Acts and shows that they are integrally connected.)
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210112.htm
I think the ideas in Homily 12 are connected to the stories at the start of Hypothesis 20, and I found this accidentally. We in the modern church do not have too many experiences of people being cast out of community, and maybe we even have frustration that more people are not cast out. But we want it to be medicinal. We want people to be forgiven and reconciled and rejoined into community.
As I read the first parts of Hypothesis 20, my gut reaction is difficulty in seeing the stories as being a good model of community discipline.
But then I happened to read Homily 12, which makes a strong argument that it is not extreme that prideful people are cut off from goodness, and that their wounding of the community is partially healed by casting them out. Homily 12 says that there was a superabundance of grace in the community after Ananias and Sapphira were cut off from the land of the living, and there would have been no benefit to let them live longer than they did. That's harsh! Yet, the superabundance included even Peter's shadow being salvific, which Homily 12 says was a sign greater than what Christ himself performed, a partial fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of the greater signs they would perform in his name!
And then when I went searching for "pride" in scripture, I found many other Bible passages with similar harsh consequences for being so prideful. (I found these with my search tool, and selected some of them. I included the Mt 25:21 because of the story about the pot of beans, which I think you probably will not get to read tonight, but maybe.)
Num 15:30-31 But anyone who acts defiantly, whether a native or an alien, reviles the LORD, and shall be cut off from among the people. For having despised the word of the LORD and broken his commandment, he must be cut off entirely and bear the punishment.
Prov 16:2 All one’s ways are pure* in one’s own eyes, but the measurer of motives is the LORD.
Dt 18:20 But if a prophet presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
Prov 16:4 The LORD has made everything for a purpose, even the wicked for the evil day.
Prov 16:5 Every proud heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured that none will go unpunished.
Prov 16:18 Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Mt 25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’
1 Tim 3:6 He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not become conceited and thus incur the devil’s punishment.
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The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-seven Part II and Homily Sixty-eight Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-seven Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-six Part IV
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-six Part III
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-six Part II
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-five Part IV and Homily Sixty-six Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-five Part III
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-five Part II
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part XII and Homily Sixty-five Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part XI
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part X
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part IX
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part VIII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part VII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part VI
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part V
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part IV
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part III
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part II
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