ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE
Orthodox Way of Life: Life of Repentance Repentance: What does this word mean to you? Metanoia (Mετάνοια) - a change of mind. a fundamental transformation of outlook of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God. Does not imply guilt.
Way of Life Why was Jesus’ first teaching: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”? (Matt 4:17) Why is it so hard to live by the teachings of our God, to live up to our potential and become in His likeness?
Way of Life God Our Fallen Condition Our concern about Body (Brain) bodily needs Fear of death & sickness Desire for social Soul acceptance All our self-centered thinking. Our Present Need a reorientation of Condition our way of thinking
God Soul Body
Our Natural Condition
Way of Life This fallen condition reinforced by our culture. Activities - Seek pleasure and avoid pain Television, movies, video games, internet surfing..... Advertisements. Sex, fear, social acceptance, achievement Can’t rest in the comfort of our culture. Why? Can’t be lulled to sleep by reliance on faith alone Spiritual warfare is necessary Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Eph 6:11)
Orthodox World View
In the Past
Today
Orthodox Churches everywhere Government proclaimed Orthodoxy Services every day Monasteries in every city Life centered around Orthodox Traditions One Church Life was simple focused on basic needs Values clear and absolute
Our work life Orthodox Life on Sunday Our Family Life Children are spoiled and pampered Awash in materialistic goods for our pleasure Secular government and schools Values are relative
Congruent Values
Mixed and Conflicting Values
Way of Life Paul warns Christians not to be deceived:
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)
Synergia Salvation depends on Cooperation Not between equals but finite man working with Almighty God “Our Father who art in heaven” Not about earning Salvation but about cooperating with Grace. “Thy will be done”
Faith and Works Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to wi" and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:12-13) James says “Faith without works is dead”. (James2:26) Paul, “As workers together with Him....”
2Cor 6:1
Synergia Most of Christian History salvation is seen as comprising all of life. 16th century in Western Europe Reformers concerned about a prevalent understanding that salvation depended on human works of merit and not on Grace. Their slogan of salvation became “Justification by faith alone�. Faith versus works was unheard of in Orthodox East. Very misleading slogan.
Synergia The Orthodox way is a life seeking union with Christ. Accepting His gift and cooperating with His grace. Struggling against our passions - spiritual warfare Hungering and thirsting for virtue. A way of life guided and supported by the sacraments of the Church, its Traditions, Scripture, Church Fathers. Based on humility (poor in spirit) and self-discipline (meekness) This is basis for a Life of Repentance - Metanoia.
How do we prepare ourselves to work in cooperation with God? Let’s explore the nature of our diďŹƒcult task.
God
Soul Mind Taste Smell
Reason Will
Holy Spirit
Brain
Assumptions Patterns
Sound Touch Sight
Heart
Through the Heart we find Union with God
Emotions Actions Bodily functions Heart beat Passions Digestion Breathing Body
Soul
What is the Soul? How do you know your soul?
Soul (Psyche) Breath of Life From Creator of Life The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Gen 2:7)
Soul makes the physical body conscious and capable of willful actions. Mind is part of the soul. Not a derivative of the brain or the body. Soul is the image of God and has the powers of nourishment, imagination and instinct and intelligence.
Soul A soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal, of its own nature invisible to bodily eyes, using the body as an organ giving it life endowed with wi" and the body, so is the mind to the soul. It is $ee, endowed with wi" and the power to act, and subject to change, that is, subject to change of wi" because it is also created.... This it has received according to nature, through that grace of the Creator... Saint John of Damascus.
With a soul in the body, spirit can meet the world.
Nous
Essence of soul - Scripture calls the “heart.”
Heart Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they sha" see God.” Matt 5:8 What did He mean by Heart? Innermost part of our being & part of our subconsciousness. Where the knowledge of God is revealed to us. Control center what reigns over the body. Place from which grace penetrates throughout the body and the mind. Where Christ comes to dwell within us. The Fathers see the heart as both a bodily organ and the center of our being. Peter says, “Do not let your adornment be merely outward... rather let it be the hidden person of the heart.” 1Peter 3:3-4
Mind
Mind is like the outer layer of the Nous Makes thinkable what the nous experiences experientially.
Brain A part of the Body Integrates soul and body and the external world. Allows the body to adapt and interact with its environment. Takes input from all the senses and creates a integrated view of the world. Contains the means for regulation all the bodily functions. Its focus is on the body and its needs and desires (passions) Incredibly complex network of physical connections.
Neurons
Synapses are awash in hormones and neurotransmitters that modulate the transmission of signals, and they constantly form and dissolve, weaken and strengthen in response to new experiences.
100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses.
Brain
A part of our Physical Body
Why is it that we find it so diďŹƒcult to do what God commands us to do? Why are our intentions so often not carried out?
How Paul Struggles For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (Rom 7:18 -23)
Brain Mental programming Our brain has etched in it patterns of behavior to assist in our survival over death. The devil knows our weakness and continually temps us.
We can look at sinful tendency in two ways 1. The devil who tempts us 2. Our mental programming that produces automatic responses - passions
Passions - πάθος Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Gal 5:24
What are Passions? Emotions that control us. Sexual desire, anger, envy, desire for material goods, rejection, fear, love... Desires that cannot be satisfied. Material goodies, recognition, food, sex... Express our egoism or self-centeredness. Attempts to satisfy spiritual longing by this world means.
Passions Jesus Christ says, From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, the&, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within and they defile man.� Mark 7: 21-23
Passions Parable of the sower and the seeds that fell among the thorns Christ says, As for what fe" among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14
Passions Passions are forces that enter into our soul, etched into our brains, programed into our automatic responses, and need to be rooted out. Some of this is probably also hereditary. Overcoming sinfulness is a most diďŹƒcult task – a lifelong task
Passions
gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness, self-esteem, pride and vainglory
Passions Two types: Natural and Unnatural Passions Natural passions depend on nature and not on the will. Appetite for food, fear of being harmed, sexual attraction Necessary to preserve our nature. The animal aspect of our being. Not a problem unless they go beyond the need for self preservation.
Passions Saint Maximus “The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them $om the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example, they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into the pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gi&s; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin; and sadness into corrective repentance for present evil.� (St. Maximus Questions to Thalassios 1, PG 90.269 - OS 9)
Passions Unnatural Passions We mistakenly connect our longing for spiritual wholeness with the natural passions We seek pleasure or happiness only to find pain on the other end. Then seek more pleasure. (self-help and “New Age” spirituality) When man isn’t focused on distinguishing between what is spiritual and things of the senses he disobeys the divine command. He errs when the irrationality of feeling is the only form of discernment. He is captured by pleasure and avoidance of pain. (St. Maximos, Questions to Thalassios 1, 43, PG90.412-13 - OS 87)
Passions
Saint Anthony Things that are done according to nature aren’t sins, but those done by choice; it’s not a sin to eat, so that the body wi" be properly maintained in life without any evil thought, but it is to eat without gratitude and improperly and without restraint; neither is it a sin to look with chastity, but it is a sin to look with envy, pride and desire; it is not a sin to listen quietly, but it is with anger. It’s not a sin to let the tongue be unrestrained in thanksgiving and prayer, but it is to speak evil; to not let your hands do acts of mercy, but to commit murder and the&. So each of our members sins if it does evil instead of good, doing things its own way and not according to the will of God. (On the Character of Men 60, GrPh 1, p 12; cf. Phi 1, p. 338 - OS 92)
How Emotions Work Antonio Damasio - The Feeling of What Happens Something from our senses initiates a response. Brain sends commands to other regions of the brain and most everywhere in the body proper. 1. Bloodstream - commands are sent in the form of chemical molecules that act on receptors in the cells of body tissues. 2. Neuron pathways - commands take the form of electromechanical signals which act on other neurons or on muscular fibers or on organs which in turn can release chemicals of their own into the blood stream. Results in global change in the state of the organism. Then we become aware of a feeling.
We can’t wait for our feelings to develop to control our behavior. We need to interact at the time of the stimulus and work to change the automatic response of the emotional response.
Two places we can interrupt the cycle 1. When we first receive the sensual stimulus 2. When we notice the emotional feeling but before we automatically take an action. Church Fathers advise us to learn to do both especially the first Guarding the Heart or Watchfulness.
Attention and Watchfulness Mindful Brain, Daniel J. Siegel We can actually focus our minds in a way that changes the structures and function of the brain throughout our lives. (96) Attentional processes, emotion regulation, and capacity to observe internally, to introspect and reflect, are all considered trainable skills. (Lutz and colleagues 204) (97) This is how we can prepare for cooperation with God. We must develop attentiveness in our mind.
Appreciate the limited nature of our understanding of what we sense. Our senses, memories, and mental images only give us a symbolic representation of the world. The brain identifies what it believes to be significant and ignores the rest.
Brain imaging studies suggest frontal lobe is critical in directing our ability to act freely and make decisions and this can be interpreted that free will is conscious choice involving an introspective monitoring of the self. (158) The more you concentrate on a moral idea, the easier it becomes to act on that belief. Hunger and Thirst for righteousness and you sha" be fi"ed.� Frontal lobes monitor our ability to stay attentive and alert, helping us to focus on a task. Nuns showed greater activity in the frontal lobes.
Andrew Newberg
To maintain a sense of well being – work at it continually reinforcing positive feeling and beliefs. One of the benefits of religious ritual and daily prayer. Key to creating any reality is based on a concentrated repetition of ideas. (189) The more we stay focused on our object of contemplation, the more real the thought becomes. Be careful about what you pray for or meditate on... If you want to make spirituality central part of your life then by all means focus on spiritual ideals as often as you can. Andrew Newberg, Why We Believe What We Believe, p 190
Spiritual Warfare This eort is called Spiritual warfare We are constantly being distracted by evil forces. We need develop a high degree of self control This comes with strong faith and reliance on God. We are engaged in a war for our souls. Prepare for the battle
Peter
Gird up the loins of your mind... not conforming yourselves to the former lusts but ... you also be holy in a" your conduct. 1 Peter 1:13-15
Abstain $om fleshly lusts which war against the soul... submit yourself to every ordinance... 1 Peter 2:11, 13
Paul Put to death therefore what is earthly in you; unchastity, uncleanness,, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry... But now put them a" away: anger, wrath, malice, slander and foul talk $om your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Col 3: 5-10
Paul Arm Yourself for War Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil... ...having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with preparation of the gospel...; ...taking the shield of faith with which you wi" be able to quench a" the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
Orthodox Way of LIfe Church shows us the way to deal with this difficult but most important challenge we face. We cannot do it by our own effort but only through grace of the Holy Spirit. This effort is called a purification of the Heart. It is a difficult path requiring persistence and endurance.
Synergia Salvation depends on Cooperation Not between equals but finite man working with Almighty God Not about earning Salvation but about cooperating with Grace.
Life of Repentance Church provides us with many “tools or weapons� to aid us along our path to Salvation. Prayer and Fasting Repentance and Holy Confession Worship and Holy Communion Praying with Icons Reading the Bible & Church Fathers Ordering our Life Putting others first.
Orthodox Way of Life Begins with Faith Embrace the teachings of the Church. Become obedient to the direction of your spiritual Father and practices of the Church. A surrender based on love and trust in Christ. A continual attitude of repentance. Humility, meekness, mourning, hungering & thirsting
Orthodox Life Incarnation Resurrection
P a r Theosis a Virtuous Life Death & d Final Judgment i s Prayer Ascetic Fasting e Love God Love neighbor
Baptism Awaken
Grace
Worship & Communion
Synergy
C r e a Fall t i o n
Discipline
Will Repentance
The Church
Study Meditation