Each of us, every day, plays several roles: child, spouse, parent, worker, friend, gardener, artist, and so on. Some of the roles require more technical skill, others more interpersonal skills – they highlight different facets of our personalities. That is normal part of life. There is, however, a different kind of temptation that is somewhat related to playing different roles in different parts of life and that is the temptation to put on a mask, an appearance of being something we are not. For years social media has been a leading example of this sort of mask, of putting on the appearance of perfection.
Feigning online perfection, however, is not the only way this temptation can manifest. It can manifest itself not only in pretending that we are better than we are, but also in pretending that we are worse. It can also appear in every role that we play in life., including that of being an Orthodox Christian.
I should make a parenthesis here and say that being an Orthodox Christian should be different from any other role that we have in life. When we are not at work, our role as workers fades into the background. More important roles, like that of being a parent or spouse, experience less of a fade, but they still become secondary as other roles are active. Our role as Orthodox Christians, however, is meant to be the foundation upon which all other roles exist. It cannot, if we are true to our calling, fade into the background. If we are parents, we are Orthodox Christian parents. At work, we are Orthodox Christian workers, etc. In order to “seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33), we need to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5) – whether that thought relates to our friends,children, work, or any other thing.
That being said, how can masks appear in church? I think there are two main ways in which that can happen. The first is by doing things in an exaggerated manner around other people. We all know people who are loud, larger than life, exuberant. That is not a mask; it is their personality. The mask appears when we exaggerate things in order for others to see us, for example by making bigger (or more) prostrations,
The other way a mask appears is when there is a disconnect between our daily lives and the Church. Our presence in Church can be a seamless continuation of our regular lives: our daily prayers prepare us for the communal liturgy, our fasts (whether the major fasts, or the regular Wednesday-Friday) adding a physical component and giving spiritual energy to those prayers, and our kindness and generosity being the fruit and witness to our life in Christ. This is not to say that there is a one-size-fits-all approach to any of these components. For a variety of reasons, our prayer rule, fasting rule, and alms-giving will vary from one person to another. Whatever form our individual practice may take, each of them roots us in the life of the Church and prevents the need to put on a mask.
There are, of course, different kinds of masks in this second instance. There are thin veils that need to be put on when we neglect one of the three elements mentioned above. The masks get increasingly less transparent if we begin to neglect other fundamental aspects of Christian life like kindness and honesty. There is an entire continuum of masks, the worst of which render us unrecognizable. From this perspective, we can think of the life of the Church as the means by which we learn how to shed any mask we may have put on.
There are two reasons to work on taking off our masks. The first is that God knows who we are. As the saying goes, we may be able to fool some people all the time, but we cannot fool God. And, in the end, He is the one who can make us stand, whose judgment (the judgment of the Creator God, not that of a god people often make in their own image, who approves of their every action) is that matters, who, while we were yet sinners, showed His love for us through the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of His Son. So, on one hand, putting on a mask serves no ultimate purpose.
The second reason masks are detrimental is that we were created in God’s image. The masks that we wear only serve to obscure that image. This is different from a sincere desire to improve and emulate the saints. We should always strive to live saintly lives and put our best foot forward, as it were. This may occasionally mean trying a little harder and putting a bit more effort when we are around other people: we want to give honor to the name of Christian and have the idea of a Christian be held in honor by those around us: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). And again, this is an extension, an intensification of our regular efforts to live as Christians, not a departure and change.
As we go towards the fast and feast of the Dormition, let us ask the Theotokos for her help. She embodied in her life this masklessness. She dedicated her life to God and lived from her youth in accordance to His teachings. She became greater in honor than the cherubim and the mother of each of us. Many have been saved by her intercessions. So let us look to her example, let us draw near to her in our individual prayers as well as the paraklesis services that we will chant, and, through her intercessions, may we see the image of God in ourselves and those around us, and ever grow in His likeness.
With love in Christ,
+Fr. Peter