Message from Fr. Peter Andronache

The second great feast of the ecclesiastical year is the Elevation of the Cross. It is a solemn commemoration, a fast day, and a reminder, through the readings for the following Sunday, of to call to carry our own crosses. The reading, from the gospel of Mark, says, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk. 8:34). thus, the cross and self-denial have been closely associated in the understanding of the Church.

As we all know, self-denial is often more easily said than done. It is, in other words, a struggle – an askesis. And so it is, based on Jesus’s own words, that asceticism is an essential element of Christian life. Yet, for all its importance to the spiritual life, it can be both misunderstood and, therefore, ignored.  I will try to give a brief overview of asceticism in what follows in the hope that it will also pique your curiosity for the fall adult religious education series, which will delve more deeply into the subject. We will be looking at asceticism through the lens of St. Isaac the Syrian’s Ascetical Discourses, with additional material from other sources.

That being said, let us begin: how can asceticism be misunderstood? First, it can be misunderstood as optional. Asceticism can be viewed as something only for monks, zealots, or saints.  However, the tools of the spiritual life are the same for monks and lay people; zeal was a characteristic of Christ (and one apostle was known specifically as the Zealot), and all of us are called to be saints. Besides, the words of Christ were spoken to all of us. He said “whoever would follow me,” not excluding any from the requirement.

Somewhat related to this thought is the idea that asceticism is not necessary. This can be undergirded by ideas like: I believe in God, and that is enough” or “I was baptized in the Church and that is enough,” or “God will take care of everything.” To the first thought, the Lord says “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 7:21). To the second and third thoughts, St. Paul says that we are to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” 9Phil. 2:12).

Asceticism can also be misunderstood in the opposite direction: “If I just keep all the fasts, and do all the prostrations, and attend all the services, I will be saved.” Note that none of the things mentioned are bad. Fasting is, again, commanded by the Lord. Prostrations can be both a means of humbling our minds and of bringing our bodies into obedience to the spirit. And, of course, all the services of the Church offer us grace and the opportunity to allow God to shape our hearts. But it is in this last element – the shaping of our hearts – that the crux of the matter lay. The ascetical practices of the Church are not an end in themselves. Rather, they are tools that the life of the Church has revealed as useful in turning our lives towards God.

A final potential misunderstanding that I will try to address is that asceticism is gloomy. It can be, but it very much depends on how we approach it. One approach is to focus on things like the foods we cannot have or the reduced time in front of electronic devices, or the difficulty of restraining our thoughts for longer periods of time as we focus on longer prayers. It is, admittedly, an easy thing to do, in particular because we have been conditioned to focus on the immediate. However, any worthwhile endeavor requires training and a long-term outlook. Any trade, craft, science, sport, or art requires training; time spent learning the fundamentals of the field, exercises applying what was learned, time spent working in order to improve. If the goal of an artist is to create great art, or that of an athlete to win a contest, the goal of a Christian is to be transformed into the likeness of God. Our training involves both the body (fasting, prostrations) and the soul (prayers, the cultivation of the virtues). If we take the long view, asceticism loses its potential dour character and we are freed to begin to see the fruits that it bears in our lives; we begin to understand what the Church refers to as a joyful sorrow, especially in that period where our ascetical endeavors are redoubled, Great Lent.

To conclude this brief excursion into asceticism, I would like to look at how it is presented in the Church. Through the centuries, many saints have have talked about asceticism. Some were so well known for their ascetical practices that they the term has become associated with them as with St. Mark the Ascetic or St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic. Many have praised the virtues of fasting, noting its benefits in the struggle against certain passions (gluttony and lust, in particular), as well as the beneficial effect it often has on the character of our prayers. Again many have written about the importance of vigilance towards our thoughts, noting that every sin begins with a thought and the art of discerning and selecting thoughts is of great use in the spiritual life. The usefulness of vigils, of night is also extolled for cultivating alertness, cultivating the life of prayer, and driving away sluggishness.

All these are but bird’s eye views of various topics that relate to asceticism. Because of that, things may still seem too abstract and, perhaps, without a direct application to your life. Having established, at the beginning of this article, that asceticism is a necessary part of a Christian life, one of my goals for the fall education series is to make these ideas concrete; to apply them to our everyday lives. So, I hope you can join us in our exploration of asceticism in th e Orthodox Church to learn, discuss, and apply the wisdom of the saints to our lives.

With love in Christ
+Fr. Peter