Considerations
There is a Way That Seems Right…
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12 KJV).
In the beginning of the pandemic, some things just seemed to be the right way to go. In the end, it was catastrophic for those following the error. Now we witness the melee as a train-wreck in slow motion that will continue for generations, as the thief will steal good people’s health, acquired wealth, and unrealized contributions to the Faith. Only a few could truly sort the issues that eventually became manifest. Now we know, but in the beginning, it wasn’t so obvious.
Modern times are perilous times, with each day revealing new evils beyond anything Man has known; our technology is killing us on many levels. Without wisdom, no one will escape evil’s intent on fully annihilating the Image of God. Keep in mind: all fallen angels are engaged in getting back at God –which in no way can they do otherwise—by their full-fledged attack on Man. Their hatred for God is beyond measure and beyond comprehension. All those who cooperated in any way are carrying Satan’s grudge against God and enabling their own destruction and the destruction of others of immature faith.
For this sudden advancement of evil, the human race—especially those in modernized cultures—have been fully sedated. Like a comatose patient on the operating table, all vestiges of Man—all things that make Man what he is—are being removed without so much as a whimper. Everything is being flipped upside down; all things of Man are under assault, even things so basic as the distinction between male and female.
As we speak, foolish Orthodox parents are putting the future of their children at risk by having them vaccinated, putting them in public schools, and not guarding their supple, fertile, and inquisitive young minds. In my estimation, the average life expectancy of the current youth generation might not reach 50. Many will leave the Faith in apostasy. But this is all needless, useless, and a failure to adequately protect our most sacred trust before God—the next generation.
No longer can we blame our hierarchs; it’s time to grow up, take the preservation of our welfare from those who would—due to incompetence —abuse it. Navigating these new hazards will take more than heeding the classical dispensers of wisdom. Each person must hear God on their own, become illumined in their being, and acquire Wisdom at any cost.
Our forbearers—the saints named and unnamed—heard God’s voice, saw visions, had dreams from God, and even appearances of the saints. If our experience in life is void of these things, we will disappoint them. If we stand on their shoulders, then our attainment to spiritual heights should be all the easier. Now is the time to join them in the quest for God, to hear His voice, and to obtain wisdom suitable for our day and time. The question is: are we up to the challenge?
According to St Paul, “In all these things [adversity] we are more than conquerors” [1] The Church will always exist, but not as it appears right now; things will—and must—change. What is true will endure, what is not will fade away; the shakable things are now shaking. However, God’s people were not slated for judgement; to them God will reveal His salvation.
Meditations
Commune With Wisdom !!
In the Byzantine paradigm, Wisdom was a person created before everything else[2] as seen in multiple icons. [3] So enthralled by her, they named the most impressive building ever built after her: the Hagia Sophia. Modern architects and engineers still marvel at the wonders of her composition.
Take time to assimilate the icon: she is given honor by Christ, the Holy Mother of God, and St John; with wings, she is angelic; seated, she is at rest; the world is under her feet; the rod of authority is in her hand (like archangels); and notice the 7 pillars. Above, the angels marvel to each other at her beauty, majesty, and glory.
What is the true meaning of beauty? Of course, it is symmetry and balance, it is perfection in integration of everything, and its Wisdom in all her glory.
Throughout Scripture, Wisdom is constantly cast in the feminine,[4] meaning she sits before us as a counselor and not a governor. [5] In modesty, she will never force any issue. In Proverbs, she is juxtaposed to the harlot—more broadly the “base woman”— who destroys men leading them down into Hades and Death[6] and the woman who destroys her own home.[7]
In the English language, “wisdom” is a contraction of two words—wise dominion. Thinking of it this way, it’s obvious when we see it, and obvious when we don’t.
During the pandemic, she was there, “Wisdom sings in the streets; She moves boldly in the squares. She preaches on the city walls and sits at the gates of lords…” (Proverbs 2:20,1). While she was there all the time, few consulted her. How bereft of wisdom we were and still are.
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Becomes Wisdom’s Child
Wisdom exalts her children and lays hold of these who seek her. Whoever loves her loves life, and those who come to her early in the morning will be fill with gladness. He who holds to her will inherit glory and the Lord blesses every place she enters. Those who serve her will will minister to the Holy One, and the Lord loves those who love her. He who obeys her will judge the nation; he that gives heed to her will live with confidence. If he trusts in her, he will inherit her, and his posterity will be in possession of her (Wisdom of Sirach 4: 11-6).
Gaining wisdom is not passive or automatic. Note the action verbs: seek, loves, come, hold fast, serve, obeys, gives heed, trusts.[8]
Wisdom is a woman you can trust. Many voices around us are simply harlots, peddling things that will take us into hell, both physically and spiritually. Only by guarding the heart, bringing our thoughts under the tutelage of mother Wisdom, she will bring forth many good things, many blessings, and guide us to safety every time.
Naming the Hagia Sophia after her, indicates she inhabits the Church. Yet, obviously, some places she has abandoned. Arguably, those places where she no longer has voice could be labeled as not the Church—in the truest sense. At the very least, these places are diseased and should be quarantined until amendment takes place.
Practicum
Ye Have Not Because Ye Ask Not
But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and unbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5 ASV[9])
The starting point of any endeavor is to first ask God for what you want to do or pursue. To just pursue, is to pursue blindly with hit-or-miss results. If you ask—in honest desire—you will be surprised how quickly God answers. In the promise, there is the surety you will receive liberally.
First step: just ask.
Amplify the Inner Desire
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls: All thy waves billow over me (Psalms 42: 7 ASV).
When we have asked, then a faint desire will rise up in the inner man—this is Wisdom knocking at the door. Something in you (deep) is being called unto by another Deep—even wisdom.
Focusing on this craving, magnify it until it becomes a profound yearning. As nature cannot tolerate a vacuum, creating an intense inner vacuum for God and Wisdom will bring a filling, a breaking forth –“waves”—, often overwhelming.
Desire is the key to all things; cultivate the right desires. In life, we desire many things—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life[10]—, but when that mechanism of desire is recalibrated to its original locus—focused God-ward—, spiritual growth accelerates copiously. In this we become fully satisfied regarding earthly things—thankful for everything no matter our estate—and impoverished in spiritual things. Contentment with godliness is great gain.
Constant Desire: Constant Wisdom
There is an old saying:
“As long as you are green you will grow, when you are ripe, you will rot.”
One who seeks—and lives by—wisdom never ceases to search out things and never ceases to be a learner. Once one becomes overly confident in what he knows, wisdom leaves, leaving a man to make stupid decisions. If one thinks he has acquired anything, she flies away like a bird.
Wisdom can only be held on to by always being “poor in spirit”; to constantly be aware of one’s spiritual poverty; to always be lacking and ever seeking for more. Many a man has met with disgrace by becoming knowledgeable in a few things. Pride brings him down. These experiences are quite humbling, speaking from experience. When humbled this way, we must drink our medicine embracing the pain of humiliation. Only then will Wisdom return and with new graces as we have learned a lesson by discipline.
In my decisions in life, if this desire keeps welling up within me, I know I am on the right track. The wellspring of love is still flowing. When she—Wisdom—stops knocking at the door of my heart, I start check to see where I am missing God. Where was the point of my departure? I start praying, “Oh, God, what am I missing here?” Often, it is simply a lack of prayer: time to fast, get alone with God, take a pray-cation, be refreshed, and become recalibrated by Wisdom.
To be continued….
John Lee – an Orthodox Christian
[1] Romans 8:37
[2] Wisdom of Sirach 1:4
[3] https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2000/09/08/108957-icon-of-sophia-the-wisdom-of-god
[4] Without the meaning of gender, we could never comprehend these imageries.
[5] Husbands and Fathers are governors. Without the meaning of gender, we could never comprehend these imageries.
[6] Proverbs 5: 4. Make no mistake; the modern “base woman” is porn. Going into her, will take you through hell; you cannot touch her without being burned.
[7] 14:1
[8] Quote from the OSB notes, p. 921
[9] American Standard Version 1901
[10] 1 John 2:17
Food for thought:Blessed Fr. Seraphim Rose once asked the question:‘Why should we concern ourselves with what is going on in world Orthodoxy; or what this priest-bishop-or patriarch is doing or saying?… isn’t it safer or easier to just occupy ourselves with saying our prayers, going to church – and not think about these things, or subjects, or actions? In answer to these statements, we follow the holy elders and Fathers who tell us that “there is a direct relationship between what you believe and how you behave.” We must open ourselves to the wisdom of the God-bearing men of the past – the Holy Fathers who are our key to understanding – whatever we encounter – for in the Holy Fathers we find the “mind of the Church” – the living understanding of God’s revelation. They are our link between the ancient texts which contain God’s revelation and today’s reality. Without such a link it is every man for himself – and the result is a myriad of interpretations and sects. Let us then try to enter the world of the Holy Fathers and their understanding of the Divinely inspired texts – let us love and respect their writings, which in our confused times are a beacon of clarity which shines most clearly on the inspired texts itself…Let us not be quick to think “we know better” than they, and if we think we have some understanding they did not see, let us be humble and hesitant about offering it, knowing the poverty and fallibility of our own minds. Let them open our minds to understand God’s revelation to mankind.’ – Genesis, Creation, and Early Man
‘”Sophia” translated from the Greek means “Divine Wisdom”. As used in the Bible this term designates a general attribute of Divinity, His all-wise authority, as well as His superior reason.
The terms personifying Wisdom, commonly used in the Old Testament, particularly in the passages which are akin to the New Testament, and the revelation of Christ, were unanimously perceived by the Fathers as the Hypostasis of the Son of God. For instance, such is the general Church understanding of words about the Wisdom contained in the Book of Proverbs (9,1-9).
The Acts of the First, the Third, the Sixth and the Seventh Ecumenical Councils testify to the fact that the entire Orthodox Church applied the term Divine Wisdom to the Second Divine Hypostasis. Thus, the First Ecumenical Council spoke of the inscrutable Wisdom, “Which created everything that was created”, — of the uncreated, unoriginate Wisdom, Wisdom without beginning i.e. of Christ, because Christ is God’s Power and God’s Wisdom (1 Cor. 1,24) [140].
In the Acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council we read: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, the self-existent Wisdom of God the Father, Who manifested Himself in the flesh, and by His great and divine dispensation (lit., economy) freed us from the snares of idolatry, clothing Himself in our nature, restored it through the cooperation of the Spirit, Who shares His mind…” [141]
“From the most ancient times and onwards many Orthodox countries have been consecrating churches to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Wisdom of God”. This fact also confirms that the words “Wisdom of God” refers to the Second Divine Hypostasis [142].
Archpriest Michael Pomazansky notes the fact that generally ancient Christian temples were not infrequently given the names of Christian concepts. Thus, in Chalcedon there was a church of St. Irene — “not of the martyr Irene, but of Irene, the peace of Christ”, as is explained in Chet’yi Mineyi (The Lives of Saints in the order of their commemoration days) for January 27. “In Constantinople St. Gregory the Theologian has uttered the famous words concerning the Holy Trinity in the temple of Anastasia — not the martyr Anastasia, but Anastasia, the Resurrection of Christ. Such also is the temple of Paraskeva — not the martyr Paraskeva, but Paraskeva-Friday, the day of our Savior’s suffering and of His descent into hell (very frequently depicted in ancient icons)”.
“Therefore”, says Archpriest M. Pomazansky, “the sophiologists reference to the Church tradition in the East in the preservation of the idea of Sophia which expressed itself in the building of temples of St. Sophia and in the icon-painting suffers from being extremely strained” (Archpriest Michael Pomazansky “O zhizni, o vere, o Tserkvi” /On Life, Faith and Church/, a collection of articles, Second issue, Jordanville, 1976, p. 136).
The teaching of the Fathers of the Church about Jesus Christ as the Wisdom of God and this name of the Second Divine Hypostasis was perceived “as a clear and indisputable truth by the entire universal Church” [143].
However, the pseudo-wisdom of this world chose to see a special, spiritual personal being in the Old Testament term of “Sophia”.
Vladimir Soloviev’s (1853 – 1900) writings have in many ways contributed to dissemination of the Sophian mythology in Russia. This brilliant thinker exercised an enormous influence upon Russian religious philosophy and theological thinking. His impact is great even today.
The concept of Sophia occupies an exceptional place in Soloviev’s writings [144] where it underwent all kinds of metamorphoses. He would associate it with Christ, with the “soul of the world” (World Soul), with “ideal and eternal universal humanity”, with the Mother of God, with the “guardian Angel of the world” [145]. (Soloviev’s) Sophia acquired also a completely different spiritually questionable aspect — that of Eternal Femininity (Die ewige Weiblichkeit) which arose on the basis of Romanticism, rabbinic cabbala and stormy gnostic fantasy.
This feminine aspect of Sophia had a special personal meaning for Soloviev. It was a kind of mystical experience of love which accompanied him all his life. “Sophia” inspired not only his poetry but his entire philosophic creativity. For Soloviev the philosopher she was not so much a speculative, as a mystically-real phenomenon (no matter how paradoxical it may sound). Soloviev (as also later Fr. S. Bulgakov) had a visual perception of Sophia and he described his mystical encounters with her image in his innermost lyrical poems which subsequently inspired the whole generation of Russian symbolists (A. Blok and A. Bely, in particular).
We would not speak of this obvious spiritual delusion and somewhat sinister metaphysical “romance” of Soloviev with “Sophia” had they not persisted in the teaching of two famous theological thinkers of the 20th c. — priests Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov [whom St John of Shanghai and San Francisco knew personally and called him a heretic for this teaching] who today have many followers in Russia and in many other countries. ‘1) A decree of Moscow Patriarchate dated 24 August, 1935, No.93. In this document the following is said: “By our decision of 24 August, 1935, No.93 it was determined:
i) The teaching of Professor and Archpriest S.N. Bulgakov — which, by its peculiar and arbitrary (Sophian) interpretation, often distorts the dogmas of the Orthodox faith, which in some of its points directly repeats false teachings already condemned by conciliar decisions of the Church, and the possible deductions resulting from which could even prove dangerous to spiritual life — this teaching is to be recognized as alien to the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ, and all its faithful servants and children are to be cautioned against an acceptance of this teaching.
ii) Those Orthodox Reverend Archpastors, clergy and laity who have indiscreetly embraced Bulgakov’s teaching and who have promoted it in their preaching and works, either written or printed, are to be called upon to correct the errors committed and to be steadfastly faithful to “sound teaching”.2) A Decision of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad of the 17/30 October 1935 concerning the new teaching of Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov on Sophia, the Wisdom of God.
The first three points of this Decision state:
“i) To recognize the teaching of Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov on Sophia the Wisdom of God as heretical.
ii) To inform Metropolitan Yevlogy of this Decision of the Council and to request that he admonish Archpriest Bulgakov with the intention of prompting him to publicly renounce his heretical teaching concerning Sophia and to make a report about the consequences of such admonition to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
iii) In the event that Archpriest Bulgakov does not repent, the present Decision of the Council which condemns the heresy of Sophianism is to be made known to all Autocephalous Churches.”
Among the works refuting the heresy of Sophianism one must first of all mention the works of St. John (Maximovitch) [149] and Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev’s) book “A New Teaching concerning Sophia the Wisdom of God”, Sofia, 1935. This is “the most significant critical work of Archbishop Seraphim on Sophiology in the 20-th century, — with regard to both its volume (525 pages) and its content (Theological Works, 27, M., p. 61).
…The above mentioned works, written in a patristic spirit completely demolish the Sophianist heresy of Bulgakov and Florensky.
The decision of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad which condemned the false teaching of Archpriest S. Bulgakov was founded on a most serious theological analysis made by Archbishops John (Maximovitch) and Seraphim (Sobolev). For this reason the claim made by Sophianists that those Bishops who have declared Bulgakov to be a heretic allegedly did not read his works, is a flimsy lie.
-THE SOPHIAN HERESY AND ATTEMPTS TO FEMINIZE GOD
Doxa to Theo, John D
John D. I certainly can appreciate your familiarity with Church Fathers. I swiftly deduce, you to be a clergyman or at the very least a well-informed parishioner.
I could never take anything away from your comments, as, indeed, Christ is Wisdom. At the same time I would offer a slight change in your operative presuppositions. All truth is in a mystery (See The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Lossky). By that we mean, all truth is in The Truth—Christ. But Christ is a mystery, an enigma, an antinomy of two opposite things being true at the same time: fully God, fully Man. By default then, everything we perceive as truth—through the lens of the Incarnation— is in an enigma; two things are true at the same time. When you encounter a truth—as a fragment—it is necessary to find its corresponding counterpart. Only with two eyes do we have depth perception. If you see Christ as God, then you must also locate Christ as Man, if not you fall into the ditch of Nestorianism. If you see Christ as Man, you must also locate and see Him as God or you fall into the ditch of Arianism. No doubt, the verse I quoted—Wisdom of Sirach 1:4—was part of Arius’ dilemma in arguing there was a time when Christ was not.
Bottom line: two things can be true at the same time (Christ=fully God, fully Man). Some Church Fathers defined the Ark of the Covenant as Christ; others defined it as the Holy Virgin. Who is correct? If I disregard one at the expense of the other, I have made a Protestant mistake to taking either/or rather than both/and. Protestantism—taking mystery out of everything—take one brick and make it the whole building by forging ahead with fragments: that’s their cosmological failure that undermines all their thinking (at its base, its actually pagan because it sets creation as standing independent of God making it His equal). Without Essence and Energies—an enigma—all theology falls apart. Without the understanding of mystery—as enigmas—we fall into imbalance which can lead to error.
While I would never argue with you about Christ being wisdom, what has been said about Wisdom being a created personality is not only Biblical but finds foundation among the Fathers especially those of Byzantium or we would never have so many icons. While I personally am not defending it either way (I am comfortable with both), I am using it to persuade people to find guidance—not just from their church authorities—that right now resembles a crapshoot in some places—but to grow up and cultivate enough hearing of God’s voice—he that hath an ear, let him hear—to help folk avoid the ever multiplying hazards the Fathers never encountered directly. We are in the brave new world, and we must be up to the challenge or it will eat us alive along with the future generation of Orthodox. The dragon is assaulting the Woman—the Church—to devour the next generation which is the future of the Church. They must be able to discern matters on the fly when consulting a Church guide is impossible or unreliable.
Greetings John Lee –
John D’s response got posted as a response to our question to him. It is too long to redo, so please just respond to him there. It is down the page. Here’s the direct link:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/get-wisdom-at-any-price/#comment-4316
Do you think, based on what you posted above, that the way the article addresses Wisdom and the icon of Hagia Sophia are heretical?
Being a Christian is not defined by becoming a moral person, performing acts of religion, carrying out acts of charity work or feeding the hungry. These are all fruits of a Christian life. The defining characteristic of being a Christian is being in communion with and expressing the Truth, which requires loving the truth, loving Christ. We must love Truth both as a Person and in the realm of ideas. If you know Truth as a Person, you will easily know and understand truth in ideas. – Fr. Petr Heers
Where secular people may feel they have the option to divorce the spiritual realm from the physical and do one thing with their bodies while believing another in their minds, we Christian people do not. We know that the actions of our bodies, and the things we do with our lives, affect our hearts and are directly connected to spiritual realms of which we are, on account of our weakness, not always immediately aware. Can you honestly think—you who gaze at and touch the holy icons in your home and in our temples, and know that the saints are present with you, and that you are drawn into their holy lives—that to be willingly surrounded by images of the demons (however childish and infantile their representation) will not also affect your heart, and your children’s hearts, and draw them closer to powers that none would call holy? And not just to gaze upon such images, but to fashion them into clothes and costumes and wear them on one’s body? – His Grace Bishop Irenei Ruling ROCOR Bishop of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe
John,
Borrowing from Ven Fr. Seraphim Rose, “I am not at all concerned merely to “prove my point,” – I am interested first and foremost in finding how the Holy Fathers thought on this, the decisions they came to and what the Church teaches, for I believe that is the way we should think also. May Christ our God bless me to speak truthfully. –
I hope this finds you and yours well. Thank God, we’re well.
I’m sending a slew of articles and commentaries for you to review. I am no priest. Just a “pilgrim,” a lay-compiler of the Fathers and as yourself, a ‘lover of the truth.’
Yes, I agree with your understanding that theology is a mystery. St Nikolai Velimirovic wonderfully explains the Patristic understanding of this in his book/treatise The Universe as Symbols and Signs.
In it, St. Nikolai puts forward the point of view that the visible world is essentially symbolic- its primary purpose is to reveal to us spiritual truths by representation, until we can finally apprehend those truths without symbolic mediation. Finally, when we have bypassed all created realities and achieved union with God, we can fully understand the meaning behind all creation and look on creation as it really is. This approach to the creation is not new, but is well-founded in the scriptures and Fathers.
St. Nikolai begins with an interesting analogy- nature is like an alphabet. When children first apprehend an alphabet, they don’t understand the sounds the letters represent. Similarly, idol-worshippers and materialists “scarcely go beyond their childlike repetition of the letters that comprise nature.” (p. 9) Further on, he says,
‘Therefore, it may be said that nature worshippers are analphabetic and spirit worshippers only are alphabetic. To the mind of the former, things and creatures in the natural world represent an ultimate reality, expressed in their forms, colors, functions, and relations. While to the mind of the latter things and creatures are only the symbols of a spiritual reality which is the actual meaning and life and justification of those symbols.’ (p. 10)
‘It is clear from this that whoever reads the natural without knowing the spiritual content and significance of what he has read, reads death, sees death, appropriates death. Also, whoever considers visible nature as the only reality and not as a riddle in the mirror of the spirit, does not know more than the child who may recognize letters but is far from understanding written words. And again, whoever looks at a visible thing as at something absolutely real and eternal by itself, as the ancient Hellenic naturalists did, and their modern followers do, is certainly an analphabetic idol worshipper. He sees the letters but cannot guess their meaning. Spiritual reality belongs to eternity while the symbols of that reality belong to time.’ (p. 11)
St. Nikolai describes how Adam was able to immediately contemplate spiritual realities without the mediation of symbols. This is why God allowed him to name the animals- he immediately knew the spiritual significance of each creature and was able to give it the very best name that represented this meaning. Instead of needing to pass through symbols to understand spiritual truths, his knowledge of God allowed him to accurately bestow symbols on creation, i.e. his immediate knowledge of God gave him immediate knowledge of creation.
‘Such contemplation of realities without parables, which Adam had lost, which the Apostles having lost, regained, is meant for all Christians. And all of us Christians would have had that wonderful capacity, that immediate awareness of the truth in its symbols, had we remained unspotted and unfettered by sin after our baptism. But every sin turns our eyes from heaven to earth, and from our Creator to creation…until nature unwillingly becomes to us a god instead of God. In this way it happens that the truth disappears from our sight and the symbol is regarded as the only truth, the only reality. Finally the most fatal disaster occurs to us: our spiritual eyes are closed and blinded and we give ourselves to our physical eyes to lead us through the dark and incomprehensible jungle of nature. Physical nature becomes our only guide. Then justified is the saying, “the blind lead the blind.”‘ (13-14)
St. Nikolai devotes several sections to examples of how various physical phenomena- celestial bodies, minerals, plants, animals, etc., have spiritual interpretations. Most of his examples are from scripture. He makes a point of distinguished the Christian’s “symbolic” understanding of nature from the view (which he calls “Buddhist) that nature is illusory.
Thus, we can know God through revelation; as well as through theosis -where we will ‘see Him as He is.’
Second, the icon used in your article is not the same as it’s prototype. See The Icons of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (of Kiev) below
compared to SOPHIA THE WISDOM OF GOD Icon from-December 19, 2019Trinity Iconography Institute which are closer to the one you used from the OCA website.
Upon closer inspection, one can see the that differences are obvious. “Wisdom,” like in Scripture and the writings of the Fathers, in the Kiev icons are connected to the Theotokos. No other representation is affiliated with something or someone else. Even though there is a historical precedent to depict “wisdom” as in the Kiev icon, this , from what little I have read, is something particular to Russia. You make reference to “In the Byzantine paradigm, Wisdom was a person created before everything else[2] as seen in multiple icons. [3]”
Do you mean Russia, and in their icons depicting this as the receiver of that “Byzantine paradigm”?
Or modernist ones as shown on the OCA website?
If so, which icon[s] associates “wisdom” with anyone other than the Theotokos as shown in the Kiev icon’s?
Now there are icons which depict “wisdom” as someone other than the Theotokos from roughly the same period, but this is something new, particular to the Russian tradition, which is a break with the iconographic tradition.
This is especially shown so in the non-canonical depiction of God, the Father in the lower icon. I chose the second to illustrate that when you break with tradition, innovations abound.
Ven Father Seraphim Rose’s gave us a warning about breaking with the tradition “handed down” to us from the fathers before us and that they – the Fathers – were our genuine sources and foundations to study and guide us. –from his Introduction to Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky: The Man Behind the Philokalia orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/intro_bpv.aspx
“…for Orthodox Christians of the 20th century there is no more important Holy Father of recent times than Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky. This is so not merely because of his holy life; not merely because, like another Saint Gregory Palamas, he defended the hesychast practice of the mental Prayer of Jesus; not only because he, through his many disciples, inspired the great monastic revival of the 19th century which flowered most notably in the holy Elders of Optina Monastery; but most of all because he redirected the attention of Orthodox Christians to the sources of Holy Orthodoxy, which are the only foundation of true Orthodox life and thought whether of the past or of the present, whether of monks or of laymen.
It is these very same sources the Divine Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers which are the foundation of all genuine Orthodoxy in our own times. The observer of the Orthodox world today can see easily enough what “Orthodoxy” becomes when these sources are not made the foundation of life and thought.
The followers of unenlightened custom are themselves innocent; they merely accept what has been “handed down” to them. But not seeing the meaning and not knowing the sources of what has been handed down, they are easily led into error, accepting customs which the Church has allowed only out of her condescension or economy as if they were the best of Orthodoxy, and also improper customs of recent heterodox origin and inspiration, together with the pure and meaningful Orthodox customs handed down from the Holy Fathers. Under strict yet prudent pastors, such people can be guided in the true path of Orthodoxy; but in our own time of such widespread irresponsible Church leadership, these people are more often guided gradually into a path of ever greater and more senseless innovation and reform,
[…]
Far worse, however, is the state of those who, being unrooted in the true sources of Holy Orthodoxy, occupy the positions of pastors and theologians and in their “learned ignorance” seek to guide their flocks according to some fashionable intellectual current of the day. Such are the leaders of the “charismatic movement,” swept off their feet by an experience which, while compatible with Protestantism and Papism, is easily discerned as a satanic deception by those who are rooted in and live in the Holy Fathers. Such also are the “theologians” of the “Paris” [where Fr. Bulgakov was dean – also his students were Frs. Schmemann, Behr, Meyendorff, Bloom, Men-who started the OCA here*] and other modernist schools who, being at home in heterodox modes of thought and life, dare to present the Holy Fathers themselves according to the disfigured modern understanding of them, transmitting neither their true message nor (much less) their Orthodox savor, giving rather an academic two-dimensional caricature of them, suitable only for presentation in decadent ecumenical salons and in lifeless academic journals.
Both of these types of “Orthodox” people are precisely those who are cut off from the sources of Orthodoxy, and who in turn help to cut others off from these sources. The movement of true Orthodoxy in our own times has seen with increasing clarity the need to separate itself from this pseudo- or semi-Orthodoxy and re-find its roots in the true and unadulterated sources of Orthodoxy, the Holy Fathers. And this is precisely what the Blessed Paisius saw and did, making him a key figure for us today.”
Forgive me for “throwing” all this at you, but we must be vigilant in the spiritual formation of our understanding of Orthodoxy and that which is the “consensus Patrum” based on our holy and God-bearing Fathers.
Forgive me for any offense. You are in my prayers, please pray for me.
Doxa to Theo, John
Ven. Father Seraphim recommended a wonderful book and the history of these “Paris School- Rue Daru” theologians and their beginnings here in the USA-
A HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD AND THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN METROPOLIA’S AUTOCEPHALY
Original Title: The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States
Published By: St. Nectarios Press, 9223-20th Ave.
N.E., Seattle, WA 98115
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 72-79507
ISBN 0-913026-04-2
http://rocorhistoryhtm.blogspot.ca/2011/03/chapterv-ought-metropolia-to-have.html
Ven. Fr. Seraphim’s review:
A History of the Russian Church Abroad Book Review by Fr. Seraphim Rose
Unrewritten History of ROCOR 1917-1971
https://readerdanielsharing.blogspot.com/2018/05/book-review-by-fr-hieromonk-seraphim.html
note: “Metropolia” was the old name of the OCA (Orthodox Church of America today, 2014, under OCA Primate Tikhon Mollard)
Orthodox Word #44 May/June 1972 Book Review by Fr. Seraphim Rose
A History of the Russian Church Abroad edited by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston.
St. Nectarios Orthodox Church, Seattle, 1972. 209 pp.
It is doubtless symptomatic of the state of Orthodoxy today that this important book which reflects the mature Orthodox thought of one part of Orthodoxy in America should be precisely about Orthodox immaturity of a much larger part of Orthodoxy in America. Until the last decade or so the development of what it is perhaps still too early to call American Orthodoxy had been largely unconscious, as it indeed remains in the majority of those who call themselves “Orthodox” today. But, as the history of Orthodoxy in America has made abundantly clear, “unconscious” Orthodoxy is but a step on the road to the abandonment of Orthodoxy altogether. With some of the Orthodox “jurisdictions,” which neither in externals nor in faith have any close resemblance to genuine Orthodoxy, this is more than obvious. But with one of the American “jurisdictions,” the American Metropolia, the unconsciousness of its Orthodoxy is not so readily apparent. Its piety, at least in the older generation of Russian priests, is closer to the Orthodox model; some of its churches lack pews and have a more traditional appearance; no open heresy is taught by its hierarchs; and the “theologians” of its Academy enjoy a world-wide reputation for supposedly Orthodox thought. But if one looks very closely one finds that all this is but a shell within which the kernel of Orthodoxy is very dubious indeed. In order to expose the true nature of the Metropolia’s Orthodoxy, a crisis was needed – some major Orthodox (or anti-Orthodox)event in the response to which it could be seen how really Orthodox the Metropolia was.
Such a crisis was provided in the “autocephaly” offered by the Moscow Patriarchate to the Metropolia and accepted by the latter in 1970. The present book is an examination of the background of the “autocephaly” scandal, and it is a very thorough one, investigating, chiefly from leading Russian sources and one important French work (in addition to Metropolia sources), the whole church situation of the Russian diaspora since 1917 and the causes for the several schisms from the Russian Church Abroad; the church situation in America; the readiness (or rather, the woeful lack thereof) of the Metropolia for autocephaly; the situation of the Moscow Patriarchate and the possibility of dealing with her as with a genuine Orthodox Church; and the gross inaccuracies and contradictions in the Metropolia’s propaganda against the Russian Church Abroad and in favor of the “autocephaly” – which, as the book points out, is actually the fourth “autocephaly” that the Metropolia has tried to proclaim since 1924. The result of this investigation, as the title indicates, is actually in essence a history of the Russian Church Abroad and gives by far the best picture to date in English of the reasons for the Russian “jurisdictional” disputes which, while confusing to many who do not know the full picture, are really basically simple and come down to a question of principle, conscience, and Orthodoxy verses the absence (or overlooking) of these indispensable foundations of Orthodox faith and life.
The book of necessity is “negative,” even though it is scrupulously objective, frankly pointing out the errors and lack of principle which have caused such confusion and led so many astray from Holy Orthodoxy in our times. For this reason some well-meaning Orthodox Christians may choose to ignore it, seeking to limit themselves to “positive” manifestations of Orthodoxy. But alas, such is the character of our times – indeed, such is the whole history of Christ’s Church – that without knowing the negative side, the work of the Church’s enemies and their often naive and well-meaning fellow-travelers – it is scarcely possible to be a conscious Orthodox Christian at all, for thereby one only holds oneself open to the sophistries of the worldly “theologians” who would make the Church the servant of indifference and compromise. This book is actually a work of confession, comparable for America to the bold underground documents that have lately been coming out of the Soviet Union accusing the betrayal of the Moscow Patriarchate: a cry of conscience from the true Orthodox Christians of America who want nothing to do with the lukewarm, respectable, harmless “fourth major faith” which, sadly, satisfies so many, but who want only the genuine unchanging Orthodoxy of the Holy Fathers.
The book is the joint work of a group of Orthodox scholars and laymen. It will take its place as one of the essential books for the building of a true Orthodox Christian consciousness in America.
Pdf download of book:
http://rocorhistoryhtm.blogspot.com
Short synopsis of the “Paris School-Rue Daru” theologians:
*The Essence of the Rue Daru Crisis: The Protestant-Style Rejection of Episcopal Authority Fr. Andrew Phillips Orthodox England
Dedicated to Protopresbyter Alexij Kniazeff, Rector of Saint Sergius, Who Knew and Loved and Wanted to Return to the Russian Church
A small group of financially well-off Orthodox, mainly from four Western European countries and centered around their quite small church on Rue Daru in Paris (a church which they did not build and which does not belong to them), their leaders mostly of aristocratic Russian descent, is in crisis. Why? Because after nearly 90 years the Turkish-based Patriarchate of Constantinople no longer wants to keep them as a separate entity within itself, but to absorb them into its local Greek dioceses. There should not really be a crisis because, logically, the group should simply obey their Patriarch: indeed, many would say that the group should have been assimilated after the last Russian-born archbishop died in 1981 and the Greeks have been very patient. Yet, crisis there is. Why?
The essence of the Rue Daru problem is that this unstable group has never accepted any episcopal authority. This is why it left both parts of the Russian Church (inside and outside Russia), both on two occasions, so four times in all, (though claiming to be ‘of the Russian tradition’!!). This is why it refused to obey its first Metropolitan, Eulogius, in 1945 and, unlike him, return to the Russian Church and why, much more recently, it refused to obey its Archbishop Job, sent to it by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, effectively ejecting him. For nearly 90 years the group has been under no Synodal episcopal authority and has been allowed to develop its own fantasies as much as it wanted. Many of its parishes for many decades never saw a bishop even once. And they did not wish to.
Its original leaders, Westernized aristocrats and intellectuals, active in Saint Petersburg before the Revolution, always admired Protestantism. They developed a philosophy of Orthodoxy as a set of ideas, a liberal-bourgeois freethinking ideology, not as a way of life. This why the group has always been anti-episcopal, anti-monastic and congregational. This is why its senior laypeople have always controlled their bishops, electing weak personalities or academics (‘eveques de bibliotheque’) to the episcopate, and, whenever their bishops did want to control them, the laypeople disobeyed them. This is why it developed a heresy called Sophianism, some very bizarre liturgical practices, and many of its senior members were freemasons and some worked for the French Spy services.
The Rue Daru philosophers developed a Protestant-style ideology called ‘eucharistic ecclesiology’ in order to justify their actions. Controlling the Church media and printing presses, with the help of Catholicism (SOP) and Protestantism (YMCA), they propagandized this fantasy. However, in its weakness, until recently, the Patriarchate of Constantinople had left the group to its own fate and never tried to impose episcopal authority on it. Finally, it had enough of the rebels and in November 2018 it dissolved the group, which is now reduced to having a single 75-year old ex-Catholic (exactly like its previous archbishop) for archbishop. Such is the inevitable result of 90 years of anti-episcopalianism and anti-monasticism – it is unable to produce any bishops of its own.
Anti-episcopal, it has never wanted or been able to run its affairs on Synodal (Synod = a group of bishops) lines, like every other Local Orthodox Church always has. It has always been run by a group of power-keeping laypeople, often intermarried, working like a mafia. Any who did not belong to them (for example because they were born in Russia or Moldova, or came from a modest background or, above all, because they followed the Orthodox Tradition) had no say. As a result of its basically racist and class-based exclusivism, over the decades many parishes, clergy and people left it, including for instance the present Metropolitan Athenagoras, a Non-Russian, in Belgium. Thus, the group became ever and ever smaller, almost incestuous, more and more inward-looking and intolerant.
Paris School “theologians”: Bulkagov,[St John Maximovich knew him while in Paris and called him a heretic] Schmemann, Meyendorff, Men, Bloom; Heavily influenced and a continuation of the “post- patristic theology” taught by the above: St. Vladimir’s Seminary & OCA, Hopko, Behr [V. Losky and Fr. Georges Florovsky both left after their attempts to get the institute to “return to the Fathers” were rejected, repeatedly.]
Attachments below:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Holy-Wisdom-Orthodoxwiki.pdf
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Icon-of-Sophia-the-wisdom-of-God-Kiev.pdf
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/orthodoxinfo.com-Introduction-to-Blessed-Paisius-Velichkovsky-The-Man-Behind-the-Philokalia.pdf
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Seeking-Wisdom-Orthodox-Education-and-the-Right-Relationship-of-Human-and-Divine-Wisdom-According-to-St.-Gregory-Palamas.pdf
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Sophia-wisdomFrom-Wikipedia.pdf
https://orthodoxreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The-Teaching-of-the-Wisdom-of-God-in-Holy-Scripture-Bishop-Alexander-Mileant.pdf
“Navigating these new hazards will take more than heeding the classical dispensers of wisdom. Each person must hear God on their own, become illumined in their being, and acquire Wisdom at any cost.”Careful with ideas like this. There is nothing more dangerous than trying to take on larger spiritual tasks than one is ready for and thinking one knows enough to be able to sift through the spiritual ideas one stumbles on, as theyare often interjected by the demons. It is only through the guidance of a priest or staretz that one can succeed. Hearing “god’s” voice individually is the same thing pentacostals and such claim, but we know that the manifestation is more often than not demonic
Good counsel. John Lee can respond for himself, but we didn’t read into it that he was going to go at this alone, without the guidance of a spiritual father. More of the need for each of us to seek God’s guidance and will actively for ourselves, with the Church as our guide.
It’s not the demons that scare me. Becoming a Christian in 1965, I have seen demons, talked to demons (and they talked back), cast out demons, resisted demons and destroyed Free Masonry artifacts that was obviously laced with demons. Would you like to hear a story? Actually, by now I think the demons fear me.
Again, it’s not the demons that scare me; its bishops and priests—either through ignorance or political entanglements— telling their flock its ok for pregnant women and everybody else to get the frankenshot. That’s a lie straight from the pit of hell and please somebody shut the gate—the gates of hell are prevailing. And where the gates of hell prevail (where ever they advocate for the shot), that’s not the Church that Christ built.
Fact: if the demons could hurt you, you would be already dead. Their only power is a lie. Their only entrance is if you take the bait (like viewing porn). You take the bait, and you get the hook. I don’t take the bait
Thank you for this wonderful article. I appreciate the explanation of the Wisdom icon as well.
Glory to God for all things, and may He grant us Wisdom
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