Saint Sophrony the Athonite.
[ ... ] I sent my Christmas wishes before receiving yours.
Since then, I have been so carried along by the stream of life that
I haven't been able to write to you again.
It is natural for us, as Christians, to begin our contacts with
those close to us by prayer and a blessing. For me this has become mandatory,
and that is why I begin with that in each one of my letters addressed to those
who I am sure will accept my blessing.
Now that you are so anxious, I must not delay answering.
But -forgive me - I will tell you openly that you have put me in a
difficult spot. I will explain how.
You write: 'In the past my intuition never deceived me, but now I
would be glad to know that I was mistaken.' If I tell you that this time your
intuition has really gone wrong, or as you put it, deceived you, I am afraid
that this will not really make you satisfied and happy. The more so because it
is not the first time you were deceived about me and about those here with me.
But if I say nothing of this subject or if I delay writing, you
will feel confirmed in your intuition, and the matter will take a completely
unacceptable turn. In this connexion, let's first of all say something about
this: to many people it has happened, and still does happen, that their dreams
often prove somehow prophetic. So they get accustomed to trusting their dreams.
And that is extremely dangerous, according to our ascetical understanding.
Something similar happens to many people with their intuitions [ ... ]. When it
concerns matters of little importance, a mistake is not yet so serious. But if
it concerns questions of great importance, every error will result in the
uttermost catastrophe. Something like this happens constantly to most people in
the world.
No less important is the problem posed by our excessive confidence
in the conclusions of our intellect. In my book, I write very briefly on the
question of the limits of our logic, that is, our logical thinking, and I say
that the deductions of our reason are never absolutely correct. The same goes
for the judgments we make about people. That is why the commandment was given
to those who seek after Truth: 'Judge not'.!..
And what sort of judgment are we looking for, when it comes down to
it? Surely one which is absolutely true, if we are `really humans and not
'pre-humans'. It is the same with our quest for knowledge - we aspire with an
extreme tension of all our being to nothing less than absolute knowledge of the
Truth. For every human being who is normal, that is, truly created in God's
image, this is completely natural, and there is no other way to be. In our
'logical thinking', however, there is an inevitable flaw: the insufficiency of
the 'sufficient grounds'.
So, usually, on the psychological level people consider the
deductions of their reason as right to the point of being 'obviously right'.
But if they are capable of self-analysis, they could, by the same logical
means, understand that this 'obviousness' misleads us and that we should not
rely on it.
To bring forward a verdict, an absolutely true judgment, and so on,
it is indispensable for us to be bearers of an all-embracing experience and a
thorough knowledge. But we all know only 'in part', as St Paul said."? Of
course, you, and anyone else will say: 'But then how can we live, that is, act
in everyday life?' Yes, it's not straightforward. Our science is too great, and
the goals set before it are so majestic, that any other 'science', however
proud of itself, is NOTHING compared to it. Take for example the journeys in
space of our contemporary 'astronauts' or 'cosmonauts' - they are nothing in
comparison with the infinite immensity of the universe.
Yes, undoubtedly, in this world, in one way or another we always
suffer. It is natural for us to yearn towards Unoriginate Being and to seek
union with the First Origin of all being, but within the confines of earth and
the restrictions of our flesh we do not attain perfection. Hence our suffering,
We forget the insignificant details of this earthly plane, we give way to
everyone; we often lay ourselves open even to dishonour, rather than carve out
our own career, whatever it may be. We are powerless, not that we really are so,
but because of our love for God and our fellow-humans we step back and give
way.
So then, I beg you to draw from these few remarks the appropriate
conclusion, which is: in the first place, moderate your confidence in your
intuition, and then you will make less errors. It will become considerably
easier to love you, and you yourself will be more free in your love for others.
Be sure that more than once you have coldly passed by sincere love shown
towards you. Knowing your ardent quest for truth and perfection, I allow myself
to say - according to the Apostle Paul once again - that I may be in debt in
many respects, but not that of love. You will tell me I have altered St Paul's
words. Yes, I accept that it's an adaptation, but it is to underline the
meaning, as I see it, of his exhortation, which is that we must love others, at
the very least as much as they love us. Indeed, M. loves you, but no more than
several others do. Besides, she has done much less for you than others who
never cease thinking about what more they could undertake to make you happy in
one way or another. Don't 'needle' them any more with criticism, however
disguised.
The other day I got a letter from M. She writes to me: 'X, now,
there is a person who does not wound people, who isn't "prickly" with
people.' That is how Staretz Silouan was too. And even though we are not all
like these people, let us make an effort at least to be a little 'easier'.
[ ... ] I have often said to people that if they had no intention
of radically altering their lifestyle after it happened that they obtained
healing through prayer, they would do better to turn to the usual doctors. The
doctors receive their salary, and that is the end of the matter as far as they
are concerned. Doctors do not take upon themselves more responsibility than
they deem necessary, and that depends on the sensitivity of each doctor. [ ...
]
With Christian prayer it is quite different. The one who prays
takes upon himself inwardly something of the sufferings of the one he is
praying for, and, beyond that, the responsibility for this person before God.
I am not saying that with the intention of refusing. to pray for M., but to say
that we place even God in an impossible situation. One could speak at length
about this subject, but, one way or another, we have brought Him to the Cross,
we have killed Him, and now we fabricate a 'theology of the death of God'.
Contemporary science has made considerable advances in its mastery over the
forces of nature, but what an outcome: the Creator 'of nature is at each step
further and further ousted from the world and from human consciousness. The
more the true miracles of the world are revealed, the less sensitive man is to
miracles.
Reference:
Letters to his
family. Archimandrite Sophrony(Sakharov). Essex 2015.