( Dirge ) Jubilate, Jubilate ! ( Brother Buxtehude )

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( Illustration ) On Christed Relations .

A Y O U :. A N D A M E : . I S O N E W H O L E O F A W E : .

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( Passage ) On Stillness .

The holy Fathers attach a great importance and weight to the inner purity of man, to the struggle to attain inner peace and inner freedom. This inner state of peace and freedom comes through Hesychasm and is what can be called godly stillness. From the great number of patristic passages I Shall select the teaching of Abba Isaac the Syrian.

The Saint writes that carefree and Christlike hesychia " is a higher station than that of the almsgiver . . . Almsgiving is like the rearing of children, but stillness is the summit of perfection". He who has the care of many " is the slave of many". He who has forsaken all and cares for the state of his own soul " is a friend of God".

There are many who concern themselves with the first work, but those who do the second, hesychia, are rare.

In another place Abba Isaac the Syrian is astonishing. He compares those who perform miracles and signs in the world with those who practise hesychia, who live in stillness, and he finds the latter superior to the former. Concretely, he writes : "Do not compare those who work signs and wonders and mighty acts in the world with those who practise stillness and knowledge. Love the idleness of stillness above providing for the world's starving and the conversion of a multitude of heathen to the worship of God. It is better for you to free yourself from the shackles of sin than to free slaves from their slavery. It is better for you to make peace with your soul, causing concord to reign over the trinity within you ( I mean the body, soul, and the spirit ), than by your teaching to bring peace among men at variance."






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( Passage ) On "Dogmas" .

The teaching about the human person is an existential fact. When the Fathers busied themselves with theological topics, they did not do it out of philosophical interest, but because they were sure that distortion of the dogma about God seriously upsets the matter of of man's salvation. Moreover, the dogmas are medicines which cure man and guide him to acquiring health. The same is true concerning man. Our occupation with the question of what is man, what is his ontology, what are his interpersonal relations, what is the depth of man's purpose, are topics which form the essential part of Christianity, but which also interest man directly. Moreover, the so-called existential problems have first place in contemporary life.

Analyses of the person are essential, because within this framework can we solve the social problems as well. A society can not exist without man. Man is making our society and all the social institutions ill. A person who is ill creates various disturbances and is a divisive factor. The mask is what destroys the unity of Society. If a man is not a real person, he cannot live in love and freedom. Societies automatically become dominated by tyranny and hatred.

I do not mean by saying this that we expect man to improve first, and society after that. But the struggles must go on in parallel, with priority given to the cure of man. Those who give priority to the social problems are unaware of the reality and are also possessed by a western notion of how these problems are solved. They are possessed by the illusion that the improvement of social customs will bring the improvement of man. But the reality is tragic. For peace and justice to prevail without man being cured, without his becoming true man, would reveal the whole tragedy of existence. And then no one would be able to cure him.

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