Comparative religions can be an interesting pastime. I myself know a lot about non-Christian and Christian religions. In all these religions there is present the universal longing of the human soul for God, but only in Christianity is that longing fulfilled with certainty—that is, if you really do meet Christ, receive His call, and follow Him.
It is impossible to compare Jesus Christ to any world teacher. Both Christ and the world teachers—gurus, prophets, swamis, whatever they call themselves—have teachings. Both Christ and many of the world teachers perform miracles. Both Christ and the world teachers as well as some of the pagan gods have disciples and worshipers who, like our holy elders, seem to have supernatural powers and gifts.
But Elder Païsios is no guru, neither are any of our other holy elders and eldresses. They are just simple people who by faith have conquered themselves and found the royal road of Christ's holy Cross. I want to be like them, and not because of their miraculous powers, but because of their utter abandonment to the will of God.
I too have met Orthodox Christians who have sought religious experiences and proofs of God in other religions. I admit that in my teenage years and early twenties I did too. But these other paths are just that, paths, treadmills actually. They are not the royal road of Christ's holy Cross, nor are they the Way, which is not a thing but a Person, the Person with whom, in whom, and by whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ our Lord Jesus Christ, who living on earth as a mere man and accepting mortality, proved by His resurrection from the dead that He was no mortal, but the Eternal, living God of Israel and of the whole universe, and also its Creator and its Renewer.
‘Glory to You who have shown us the Light...’
It is impossible to compare Jesus Christ to any world teacher. Both Christ and the world teachers—gurus, prophets, swamis, whatever they call themselves—have teachings. Both Christ and many of the world teachers perform miracles. Both Christ and the world teachers as well as some of the pagan gods have disciples and worshipers who, like our holy elders, seem to have supernatural powers and gifts.
But Elder Païsios is no guru, neither are any of our other holy elders and eldresses. They are just simple people who by faith have conquered themselves and found the royal road of Christ's holy Cross. I want to be like them, and not because of their miraculous powers, but because of their utter abandonment to the will of God.
I too have met Orthodox Christians who have sought religious experiences and proofs of God in other religions. I admit that in my teenage years and early twenties I did too. But these other paths are just that, paths, treadmills actually. They are not the royal road of Christ's holy Cross, nor are they the Way, which is not a thing but a Person, the Person with whom, in whom, and by whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ our Lord Jesus Christ, who living on earth as a mere man and accepting mortality, proved by His resurrection from the dead that He was no mortal, but the Eternal, living God of Israel and of the whole universe, and also its Creator and its Renewer.
‘Glory to You who have shown us the Light...’
2 comments:
Is this a painting by El Greco, or by someone who paints in his style? I always loved the humanity yet odd other-worldliness of El Greco's paintings. His paintings are not pretty, so to speak, but they draw me into a certain presence and instill a contemplative mood. "Utter abandonment:" it seems possible and desirable when I look at this painting.
Yes, this is an El Greco, 'the Greek', who was from Crete and trained as an ikon painter before he developed his own unique style. He's my favorite Western religious painter.
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