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First I think it is necessary
for us to understand what renewal really means before we go on to talk
about asceticism. You have heard it said that Jesus Christ makes all things
news. According to St. Paul "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old is passed away, behold, the new has come," (II
Cor. Chapter 5 Vs. 18).
Renewal is not simply making something appear as new. We take an old piece
of silver, for example, and we polish it up until it shines and we say
it is like new. That is not renewal in the Christian sense. Renewal is
to take something old and worn and weighted down by sin and corruptibility
and by the exerting of the Divine Will to recreate it anew so that that
which had made it old no longer exists in its character. The word, "renewal,"
does not apply to material things. Anything that has existed for any length
of time cannot be renewed in the Christian sense but the human being who
is committed to Christ Who, by His Divine Will makes all things new, that
creature becomes a new recreated person. That newness in Christ means
the total expunging of all that was the old so that one may start again
as a new person. Our record is washed clean. All of our sins are wiped
away from the slate of our life and we are given a new start.
St. Paul said it best; "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household
of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ
Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a Holy Temple in the Lord; in whom you are also built into
it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit, (Ephesians 2:19 & 20).
If we are then a part of this household of God and members of his family,
certain things are expected of us. We are built into that household as
pillars, walls and roof resting on a Holy Foundation, and the Godhead
dwells in us and binds us together.
That which we are expected to do as Orthodox Christians is wrapped up
essentially in one word, asceticism. Following our honest to God, conscientious
commitment to Christ in which we dedicate our whole life to Him, we are
called upon to live the life of spiritual exercise.
Asceticism, as we Orthodox Christians understand it, acknowledges that
there is a state of constant warfare raging in the life of the individual
between good and evil . . . a state of warfare between us and the prince
of darkness who strives to embrace us and make us his. It is through the
various techniques and practices and disciplines of the ascetic life .
. . which I must add here is not restricted to mystics and monastics but
applies to all of us . . . that we may avoid the embrace of Satan and
march staunchly on the road to Theosis, union with God.
Asceticism begins when we give up our selves for something infinitely
better. As we apply our ascetic disciplines we grow from one level to
another, from one plateau to another, closer to God, further away from
sin, yet we become more keenly aware of and wary of sin. There actually
comes a time when we can look back on our lives over a period of five
or ten or fifteen years and see the kind of person we were when we started
and the person we have become and not be able to identify with the personality
we once were. We become so infused with living our lives as Christians
from day to day that it seems absolutely impossible that we could have
lived in any other style, at any other time. This is the product of Orthodox
ascetic living.
What is asceticism? It is prayer, fasting, good works and study, diligently
and faithfully applied out of our love for God and our desire to be united
with Him. Asceticism has an impact on the body, the soul, the mind and
the spirit. We fast for the body's sake, we pray to nourish the soul,
we do good works to feed the spirit. We study scripture and the inspired
literature of the fathers to enhance our ascetic life by feeding the mind.
When we pray we pray not only for our own sins but we pray for others.
When we fast, we fast not only for ourselves but we share that which we
have saved from fasting and more if possible, with those who are less
fortunate than we by giving alms. And when we do good works we do them
not simply for others but to lift our own spirit.
When we dedicate ourselves to this discipline or asceticism we are not
alone. The Holy Spirit works with us and the whole Church prays, meditates
and gives alms with us, generating within us the energy necessary to achieve
that which we desire, union with God. If we fail and if we fall and we
get up and start again with faith and determination, then our asceticism
has validity and meaning.
Ascetic living is living as though we were God's! Yes, that's right. Or
if it will help, living a holy life. We have heard it said many times
that the Saints in the Church are not merely those people whose icons
hang on the walls or those who are commemorated in the calendar of the
Church but rather that we are the living community of Saints, the fellowship
of holy ones, and if we are not that we are nothing! We've all said it:
"I'm no saint." But the Church responds: "Why not? That
is exactly what Jesus wants us to be." Therefore, it is necessary
for us to strive to live a godly life and if you think that's not possible
remember what God says to us through the Psalmist, "I said ye are
God's, and all of you are children of the Most High," (82:6).
We crown our ascetic lives by attending Church and functioning as a part
of the family of God, by receiving the sacraments because Holy Communion
and Penance are Life for the Soul and we pray always so that we can get
connected to God. Finally we are obedient, for the Lord said, "If
you love me keep my Commandments," (St. John 14:15).
We apply the principles of asceticism not because asceticism brings salvation,
but that we may become one with God and to fulfill the supplication of
our Lord who prayed, "That they all may be one as thou Father are
in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us," (John 17:21).
By asceticism we grow in godliness and as we grow closer to that desired
oneness, we are renewed . . . made brand new by the love of Christ who
makes all things new.
From Word
Magazine
Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North
America
March 1985
p. 21
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