Very Valuable Readings
An Excerpt from Man's Spiritual Evolution
by Dr. Constantine Cavarnos
Besides a Spiritual Guide, the reading of edifying Orthodox works, or listening
to others read such works, is of great value throughout ones journey on
the spiritual path. It was hearing a Gospel reading in the church of his
village, and taking it in all seriousness, that revolutionized St. Antonys
[the Great] life when he was a youth. To all such readings he listened very
attentively and applied their lessons to himself.
Regarding this, in his biography of him, St. Athanasios says: He (St. Antony)
gave such heed to what was read that none of the things that were written fell
from him to the ground, but he remembered all, and afterwards his memory served
him for books.
The Gospels have always occupied an especially important place in Orthodox
life. A select passage is read from one of the Gospels at every Divine Liturgy,
and often the reading is followed by a sermon on it. At Mount Athos, where
there is a Liturgy every day, a Gospel excerpt is read in the church. In
addition, many monks there and elsewhere make reading the Gospels part of their
private reading. St. Seraphim of Sarov, the most popular of Russian saints, is
known to have included in his daily reading parts of the Gospels.
In this and in other things Orthodox monks provide lessons for those in the
world who aspire for spiritual development. This statement is consonant with
the following saying of St. John Climacos, one of the great masters of the
spiritual life: Angels are the light of monastics, while the monastic way of
life is a light for all men.
Great value for the striver is also ascribed by the holy men of Athos to
reading (a) the lives of saints, (b) The Evergetinos, and (c) The
Philokalia. Once I asked a saintly monk, the hermit Gabriel who dwelt at
Karouliathe most secluded and inaccessible region of the Holy Mountainwhether
he recommended The Philokalia to persons like me who live in the
world. He replied: The Philokalia is an excellent work, but it is for
those advanced in the spiritual life. To use an analogy, it is university
education. First, one has to go to grammar school, next to high school,
and only then is he ready to go to a university.
Should one start with The Evergetinos? I asked.
No, he replied. this, too, is advanced. It is high school. One must start
with something more elementary. One should read simple lives of saints, in
order to learn what kind of persons they were, how they lived, and what they
did. Then one can proceed to the higher steps.
Manifest in these statements of Father Gabriel is the idea of stages in
the path of ones beautiful change. These stages or levels of understanding
spiritual writings corresponds to the three stages of spiritual growth that
I mentioned earlier: those of the beginner, of the intermediate, and of the
perfect.
For each of these levels of spiritual development a different kind of mental
food is particularly suitable: food that is digestible and assimilable by a
person at that level. Such food provides sustenance to the soul of one who
partakes of it, and promotes his advancement.
Clearly, there is food for the soul just as there is food for the body. Christ
Himself stressed the existence of these two kinds of food when He said: Man
shall not live by bread alone [which is food for the body], but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God [which is food for the soul] (Matthew
4:4).
St. Paul points out that for beginners in the spiritual life the spiritual food
that is to be provided has to be different from that of those who have grown
spiritually. It is the same as in the case of the body. For the physical babe,
the food that is suitable is physical milk. Similarly, for the spiritual babe:
spiritual milk is needed; whereas for the spiritual adult solid food is
proper. Thus, the Apostle writes to the Corinthians: I have fed you with milk,
and not with solid food: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet
are ye able, for ye are yet carnal (1 Corinthians 3:2). And writing to the
Hebrews, he says: Ye have need that one teach you again the elements
(stoicheia) of Gods word; and are become such as need milk, not solid
food. For every one that needeth milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature (teleioi),
for those who have their faculties trained to distinguish good from evil
(Hebrews 5:12-14).
Relating these points to the statements made by the Athonite hermit Gabriel, we
may say that simple lives of saints are pure spiritual milk for spiritual
babes; the Evergetinos is a kind of mixed fare, comprising both
spiritual milk and solid spiritual food; while the Philokalia provides
only solid food.
From Man's
Spiritual Evolution, by Dr. Constantine Cavarnos, pp. 43-47.
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