On the World and our Relationship to it |
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We Christians, young
men, hold that this human life is not a supremely precious thing, nor do
we recognize anything as unconditionally a blessing which benefits us in
this life only. Neither pride of ancestry, nor bodily strength, nor
beauty, nor greatness, nor the esteem of all men, nor kingly authority,
nor, indeed, whatever of human affairs may be called great, do we
consider worthy of desire, or the possessors of them as objects of envy;
but we place our hopes upon the things which are beyond, and in
preparation for the life eternal do all things that we do. Accordingly,
whatever helps us towards this we say that we must love and follow after
with all our might, but those things which have no bearing upon it
should be held as naught.
St. Basil the Great: Address to Young Men on the Right use of Greek Literature
Nowadays,
however, whether we are under obedience or in authority, we are not
willing to abandon our own will, and so none of us makes any progress.
None the less, it is still possible to escape from human society and from
worldly affairs, and to take the 'royal way' through living the life of
stillness with one or two others, studying the commandments of Christ and
all the Scriptures day and night. By this means, through being tested in
all things by our conscience and application, by reading and by prayer, we
may perhaps attain the first commandment, the fear of God, which comes
through faith and the study of the Holy Scriptures; and through this we
may achieve inward grief, and so arrive at the commandments of which St
Paul spoke: faith, hope and love (cf. I Cor. I3 : (3). For he who has
faith in the Lord fears chastisement; and this fear prompts him to keep
the commandments. The keeping of the commandments leads him to endure
affliction; and the enduring of affliction produces hope in God. Such hope
separates the intellect from all material attachment; and the person freed
from such attachment possesses love for God. Whoever follows this sequence
will be saved.
Whoever is aware of all this
[that God has done for us] recognizes that there is nothing incidental or
evil in creation, and that even what takes place against God's will is
miraculously changed by God into something good. For example, the fall of
the devil was not God's will, yet it has been turned to the advantage of
those being saved. For the devil is permitted to tempt the elect -
according to the strength of each, as St Isaac says - so that he may be
mocked and, with God's help, defeated by them. And these people, who have
achieved equality with the angels, include not only men, but also great
numbers of women. Because of their patient endurance and faith in the
divine Judge they receive, by His grace and compassion, crowns of
immortality: for God has defeated and continues to defeat the murderous
and insolent snake. |
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