Cynthia, the operative word in your fine critique is “hatred.” Frank is full of it. That is why we should pray for him. And hope he receives spiritual guidance.

Chrys,
I perfectly understand what you mean. I’ve been sleepwalking through life for a long time, going through the motions without having a purpose. Actually, I had a plan but I did not know what is really important and worthy to focus on.

I am very, very grateful for all those who, loving God, were striving to know Him better. Our Lord gives grace and works in those who believe in Him. An encounter with such people can indeed be life-changing. Here is a powerful example:

St. Seraphim of Sarov – Life and Teachings
A close admirer and follower of St. Seraphim — Motovilov, describes the miraculous transfiguration of the Elder. St. Seraphim was taking to him about the meaning of a Christian life, explaining for what we Christians live on earth.

It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us,” he said.

“Father,” answered Motovilov, “how can I see the grace of the Holy Spirit? How can I know if He is with me or not?”

St. Seraphim began to give him examples from the lives of the saints and apostles, but Motovilov still did not understand. The elder then firmly took him by the shoulder and said to him, “We are both now, my dear fellow, in the Holy Spirit.” It was as if Motovilov’s eyes had been opened, for he saw that the face of the elder was brighter than the sun. In his heart Motovilov felt joy and peace, in his body a warmth as if it were summer, and a fragrance began to spread around them. Motovilov was terrified by the unusual change, but especially by the fact that the face of the starets shone like the sun. But St. Seraphim said to him, “Do not fear, dear fellow. You would not even be able to see me if you yourself were not in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Thank the Lord for His mercy toward us.

Again, great quotes! I must confess that I deeply wish I had had a chance to meet Elder Paisios. I am convinced that while sanctity may be taught, it is much more thoroughly caught than taught. Thank God that there are others walking in the same footsteps. For those I have met or known, I am very, very grateful. May God grant that we, too, may some day become what we are called to be in God and be the same blessing to others as he was.

Chrys,

The saints were often ordinary people, just like us: wounded by sin, hot-tempered, quick to judge others. I believe the first step toward sanctity is to study our own conscience, the first low of God and to regain the lost awareness of sin. When one realizes one’s sinfulness and chooses to change he is set on the right path. It is not necessarily such an extraordinary thing to do but we’ll certainly start to live a little different from the way we used to live.

Let us struggle with all our powers to gain Paradise. The gate is very narrow, and don’t listen to those who say that everyone will be saved. This is a trap of satan so that we won’t struggle. Elder Paisios

We need role models and reading the lives of the saints would give us an understanding of what it means to lead a holy life. In their day-to-day struggles, the saints were often provided with the opportunity for the very things they were avoiding and it could be disastrous to speak of it to others.

There are no people more blessed than those who have made contact with the “heavenly television station” and who are piously connected to God. In the same way, no people are more wretched than those who have cut contact with God and wander, dizzy, around the world, flipping through the world’s many television stations so as to forget, if only for a short time, the anguish of the derailment of their lives. Elder Paisios

Holy asceticism, together with its great self-denial, which is born from great faith in a burst of love for God, brings man to true joy. He is happy to live, for his heart flutters, glorifying his God of benefactions. He is also happy to die, for he thus goes close to God again, and will continue there his doxology. Elder Paisios

It is important to instill a “good uneasiness” into every person, to make them aware of the things they will be deprived due to their carelessness. The “weeping and grinding of teeth” is the sorrow caused when seeing how easy would have been to gain the eternal blessings.

Whoever is at peace in the material world and is not concerned about the salvation of his soul is like the senseless birds who don’t make a noise from within the egg, so as to break the shell and come out to enjoy the sun-the heavenly flight in the life of Paradise-but instead remain unmoving and die inside the egg shell. Elder Paisios

Where is everybody?

Very well said. And more great stuff from the Fathers.

By way of clarification: you are right, of course, that the saints are always humble and honest – these are, in fact, requisites for growth in sanctity. Any confusion on that point was only the result of my poor phrasing. (I often struggle to try to write as a reader would read it; here, I failed.) In this case, I meant only to point out that hagiographers sometimes do a disservice by presenting the saints without acknowledging the challenges by which they became saints. The glossy version that results can convey the (untrue) idea that these were preternaturally holy people, rather than folks who started off as “sinners like us.” The unintended consequence of this effort to make their sanctity clear is that we discourage those readers who have some sense of their own sin, make the journey to sanctity look like a path reserved only for perfect people, diminish God’s grace by making it look like their sanctity was rooted in some kind of special nature, and take away the “crowns” acquired by the saints in their struggle. In my view, their “achievement” is actually magnified, and not minimized, by recognizing what they overcame through grace.

One comment did seem to warrant clarification:
“When one sins, Christ is not in him but we ought to treat him as if Christ was in him.”
Now, I’m pretty sure I know what you meant, but I’m not sure this way of expressing it accurately captures the change in relationship resulting from sin. After all, Christ does not change toward us; His steadfast love endures all things and, indeed, endures forever. It is rather we who change toward Him. Maybe one could say that when we actively sin, we remove Christ from the throne of our hearts and crucify Him anew. Maybe. Since I am clearly not a theologian, however, I must leave it to others to express more accurately the effects of our sins.

Either way, your comments were – again – a blessing. Thank you.

Chrys,
I love quotes too. And honestly … I’ll pray for Fr. Archimandrite Karambis.

The only sin that I know in another person is what I can see or hear about him but I do not know the heart of any other person. All we can see is what’s on the outside. We know own heart first. It is always safe to assume that people are superior to us spiritually.

We can certainly make an objective judgment that a certain behavior is sinful. We know much God hates sin but also how much he loves us. When we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength we “hate every false way”. When one sins, Christ is not in him but we ought to treat him as if Christ was in him. We suffer for him because we see that he is in great danger. In our time so many people are in such terrible state, it is painful to see it… But it is not for us to judge if they will stand or fall.

Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand. Romans 14:4

http://www.orthodox.net/gleanings/humility.html

The most easy, brief and safe path to heaven is humility. This is the only safe and undangerous path Elder Joseph the Hesychast.

At the Last Judgment the righteous will be recognized only by their humility and their considering themselves worthless, and not by good deeds, even if they have done them. This is the true attitude. St. Peter of Damascus

It may seem difficult to think of others being superior to ourselves. Usually we think of others as less than ourselves. The Lord has said: ‘Without Me, you can do nothing’

.

we have never achieved anything good on our own, but all good things are ours from God by grace, and come as it were from nothingness into being. For ‘what do you have which you did not receive?’ asks St. Paul – receive, that is, freely from God; ‘and if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it’ (I Cor. 4:7), but had achieved it by yourself? Yet by yourself you cannot achieve anything, for the Lord has said: ‘Without Me, you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).”

The saints were ALWAYS honest and humble.
An anchorite wanted to see Abba Poemen. Abba Poemen received him with joy.

The anchorite began to speak of the Scriptures, of spiritual and of heavenly things. But Abba Poemen turned his face away and answered nothing. Seeing that he did not speak to him, the other went away deeply grieved and said to the brother who had brought him, “I have made this long journey in vain. For I have come to see the old man, and he does not wish to speak to me.”

Then the brother went inside to Abba Poemen and said to him, “Abba, this great man who has so great a reputation in his own country has come here because of you. Why did you not speak to him?” The old man said, “He is great and speaks of heavenly things and I am lowly and speak of earthly things. If he had spoken of the passions of the soul, I should have replied, but he speaks to me of spiritual things and I know nothing about that.”

Then the brother came outside and said to the visitor, “The old man does not readily speak of the Scriptures, but if anyone consults him about the passions of the soul, he replies.” Filled with compunction, the visitor returned to the old man and said to him, “What should I do, Abba, for the passions of the soul master me?”

The old man turned towards him and replied joyfully, “This time, you come as you should. Now open your mouth concerning this and I will fill it with good things.” Greatly edified, the other said to him, “Truly, this is the right way!”

He returned to his own country giving thanks to God that he had been counted worthy to meet so great a saint. “The Desert Christian,” by Benedicta Ward, (New York: MacMillan, 1975), p. 167

Eliot: great stuff! Until we conquer the passions, these quotes are real pearls and very edifying! I particularly treasure the story about Elder Paisios and the quote of Elder Joseph.

It should not be surprising that the saints themselves were often more honest and humble about themselves than their biographies sometimes present. Along those lines, I have often found it much more useful and beneficial to read candid accounts of how the saints dealt with the passions and day-to-day struggles than to read the hagiographies that treat the saints as preternaturally holy, as almost ontologically different from the rest of us.

And the point of your comments is also very much spot on: we, all of us, desperately need to receive and to offer every bit of prayer and love possible. Our salvation depends on it.

Of course, Harry’s qualification is still correct: so long as we are subject to violent passions we are certainly qualified for healing by being members of God’s “hospital” – namely, His Church – but that is a very different thing from being qualified to lead. I wish our hierarchy would recognize that personal forgiveness and restoration are not the same as professional absolution. To permit such people to be or remain leaders is to risk the salvation of both themselves and those around them. In a sense we can only be led by those who have made it, to some degree, to the other side of the struggle, who have found some sense of maturity in Christ. (Even the Twelve Step programs recognize that active addition qualifies you for attendance but not sponsorship (leadership).) Hence St. Paul’s admonishment to ordain only seasoned men of proven character.

Again, thanks!

Good old Elder Paisios. I notice focus on the various sexually fallen and their repentance didn’t include putting them in charge of decision making over all the clergy who managed to be actual and pastoral fathers for their entire lives. I’m impressed by that.

Once Elder Paisios chased away from the church a woman who was causing a great deal of trouble in the region due to her, let’s put it mildly, low moral standards
All of a sudden the Elder felt tremendous passion in his body. He had to use an axe to hit his legs to get rid of it. Later on he would show the scar on his leg on talking about that incident. Judging others is an act of monumental pride.

I do not know who Fr. Archimandrite Karambis is and if he is guilty. But if he is indeed mastered by his passions and scandalizes people we should be praying for him wholeheartedly We know how terrible it will be for the one who betrays Him. It would be far ‘better for him if he had never been born’.

As for the retired priest, he needs our prayers too. Being retired for some time he is due to meet with the Lord rather sooner than later. He should certainly be focusing only on that.

There are many examples of holiness in the Orthodox Church. The example of great spiritual figures should be made known.
Elder Joseph the Hesychast: “On Sanctification and Dispassion”

The great Maximus the Confessor refers to three more general states commonly found in monks, which characterize those who are approaching sanctification. 1 (Second Century on love, 87; Philokalia, ii.80).

The first consists in ‘not sinning at all in action’: this is the stage of purification and the spiritual warrior, after ‘lawful striving’ (2 Tim. 2:5), passes beyond the state that is contrary to nature. The second is when ‘the soul does not dally with impassioned thoughts’: this is the state of illumination, characterized chiefly by the capac­ity to receive divine illumination, so that the intellect controls impassioned thoughts. The third state, that of perfection, is when we can ‘contemplate dispassionately in the mind the forms of women and those who have given us offence’: in this state the soul. succeeds in com­ing near to freedom, because even if impassioned con­ceptual images are still present they cannot stir the soul to be ravished by them, and this more or less is the prin­cipal aim of spiritual life. The right use of conceptual images follows the right use of things and thus evil in general is done away with, because if one does not first sin in the mind one will never sin in action, as the Fathers say.

Below is an extras from a commentary on the English Patient movie.

Once avva Serapion came in an Egyptian village and saw a whore standing by his cell and asked her: did you prepare the bed? Yes, father! She answered. Wait for me this night, I shall spend it with you! the old man said. Yes, father! answered the whore. So, she adorned herself, prepared the bed and waited for him. So, in the evening the old man came and entering the cell asked her: did you prepare the bed? Yes, father! she answered. He locked the door and told her: wait a minute; we have something very important to do! Let’s do it! And he old man began to read the Psalms; at each Psalm he prayed to God for her to repent and to save her soul. So, God listened to his prayer and the woman prayed trembling close to him. When the old man finished to read the Psalms (such a special reading takes 6 – 7 hours), she fell down to the earth. And the old man began to read the Apostle. And so he fulfilled the law. So, she understood the he did not come to her to commit a sin but to save her soul; she kneeled down before him and told him: have mercy of me, father and tell me where shall I go to please God?

This is the most difficult exam of manhood: to stop a woman from sinning and at the same time to give her no hope that you ever could sin with her. It is not difficult to make a woman commit a sin as she is attracted by the virility of a man through her own weak nature but to prevent her from committing the sin only by words, so that she can stop even if she is attracted physically by you and overwhelmed by your philosophy to obey the sword of your word like a lamb – that is manhood which never fails. In this way a woman can be guided to immortality, offering her the most precious gift. This supreme step of manhood is reached at only by the saints, like Saints Vitalie, avva John Colov and Serapion . They showed us that this thing may happen and that each period of time has its own saints who strengthen this word, including our own epoch. These men continue to affect us even after their body has completely disappeared; thousands of women give up physical pleasure, preferring to discuss with them during their prayers.

Today I just heard the EP defrocked a now _retired_ priest whose wife died decades ago (before retirement) who wanted to remarry.

But ‘Fr. Archimandrite Karambis’ can have his special needs met and remain also now senior to all married clergy. Clergy who’ve somehow all these years managed to not have a special time with a gay massuer and friend, who’ve not created explosion after explosion followed by loss of families followed by transfer after transfer. I’m all about second chances yet it is completely nut to have those folks be senior in decision making ability to so many others who have done so much better and for decade after decade. Other senior clergy who have as ‘their only fault’ managing to have sustained a marriage and be an actual father and pastoral father– ‘lacking’ only the death of their wife to be able to participate in leadership decision making. We should all have such ‘impediements and faults’. This pattern we allow is not consistent with survival. If it doesn’t change we are writing here for future academics who might care to study the end of this only.

Chris, your analysis reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines of all time. It comes from Educating Rita; the professor played by Michael Caine, was hauled before an academic disciplinary committee. His pupil (Rita) asked him if he had been sanctioned. He replied: “Good heavens no! That would entail them having to make a decision. Or do something really egregious, like buggering the bursar!”

God forbid the bishops should actually defrock Fr. Karambis. No such courage, character, integrity, and moral leadership from that bunch. They prefer to persecute, punish, and fire the decent, God-fearing, moral, and straight married Greek Orthodox priests instead. Only the perverted and corrupted ones are protected and defended. And we wonder why the Greek Orthodox Church in America continues to suffer and the young are leaving in droves!

I hear you Harry.