Beyond Books: Encountering the Living God

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Nunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,

let's listen to this week's homily, the.

Name of the Father and Son of the Holy Spirit

Lord to Jesus Christ. I see if you wish, beloved

brothers and sisters in Christ. On this second Sunday of

great Land, we gather to honor the memory of Saint Gregory. Paulamas,

the Archbishop of Thessalaminki Thessalonica, probably heard defender of the

Holy Hesi Chasm and illuminate her of the Orthodox faith.

The teachings of Saint Gregory pierced through the centuries, much

like the uncreated light of Mount Tabar, and guide us

through and toward the true knowledge of God and the

path of salvation that has been prepared for us. Saint

Gregory lived in a very troubled time when the very

heart of the Orthodox spiritual life came under attack. A

Latin monk named Varlam had journeyed to the Holy Mountain

of Athos and had witnessed the monastics engaged in their

ancient practice of inner prayer, of seeking stillness, experiencing God

interceding for the world. Yet instead of marveling at their holiness,

Barlam launched an attack on their very way of life.

And what was his complaint? What did Varlom grasp on

to attack these holy monks? While the monks had told

him that in their prayer, some of them have been

blessed to behold the uncreated light of Tabor, the same

divine radiance that shone at the time of Christ's crucifixion,

and Varlang denounced this as a heresy, declaring that no

one can know the essence of God. And in his arrogance,

he proclaimed that if these monks wished to truly know God,

they should abandon their life of prayer and instead seek

a formal education where they would study about God rather

than encounter Him in their prayer. Now, this type of

an approach, even though it took place early in the

second millennium, sounds very much like the way people think

about the faith today. The same temptation exists the world,

and sadly, even some of those that call themselves Christian

insists that knowledge of God comes through books, through degrees,

through intellectual debate, internet apologies, rather than through purification of

heart and communion with the living God. Saint Gregory rose

up against the attacks of Barlan to defend the experential

knowledge of God. He articulated with clarity the Orthodox teaching

on God's essence and his energies, a distinction that said,

the very foundation of the mystical theology of our faith.

And listen carefully, because this is not mere philosophical speculation,

but it is the key to understanding our relationship with

divine God is unknowable in his essence, The actuality, the substance,

what is God remains forever beyond our human comprehension. It

is too great for our feeble minds to grasp. But

in his infant love and mercy for his creation, God

reveals himself to us through his energies. And these energies

they are distinct from his essence. They are nonetheless God himself,

not created, not separate, but the divine activity by which

God makes himself present in his creation. Saint Gregory confirmed

and expressed this mystery. Beautifully, God, inaccessible in his essence,

is present in his energies he wrote, as in a mirror,

remain invisible in what he is. In the same way

that we're able to see our faces, they are themselves

invisible to us. We can't see our own face, but

it becomes seen through the glass, and that's how God

reflects his own greatness and grace and energy back to us.

These divine energies are the way in which we encounter

the living God without violating the transcendence of his essence.

Saint Gregory not only defended the theology in the very

way of life that Barron attacked, the practice of inner stillness,

of hesichastic prayer of purification over worldly learning. His reasoning

strikes at the heart of what it means to be

human and how we are saved. We were created in

the image of God and called to grow into His likeness.

But in the fall we lost our direction towards that likeness,

and the divine image, though still present within us, became darkened.

Became darkened. How then, do we restore this image? Can

we study our way to purity? Can we read our

way into holiness? No, because the image was darkened by sin.

It is restored through the removal of that sin, through

repentance through inner prayer, through the actual experience of God's

grace transforming our hearts. And when we attain this inner prayer,

cleanse from passion and united to God, then we truly

again reflect back the image of God which was created

within us. Saint Gregory pointed to the greatest example of

this in Saint John, the Forerunner, he who was greater

than all the poets from his youth. John lived in

the desert where there were no schools, no libraries, no

teachers of worldly wisdom, none of what Varlam called a

saving philosophy. Yet this man, unschooled by worldly standards, became

the very beacon pointing all humanity to God. You might ask,

why does this ancient theological dispute from seven centuries back

matter to us, simple non believers, theologians, just trying to

live our life faithfully day by day in the modern world.

Let me offer three compelling reasons why this was important. First,

it was important so that we are not misled, because today,

especially here in the West, there persists a dangerous belief

that knowing God comes primarily through study. You read enough books,

enough study Bibles, read all the footnotes, highlight all the

things that are on the power points. Earn enough degrees

and then you'll know God. It's whispering temptation to us.

And this appeals to our culture's values, where we've been

told that the education, the degree, the college is the

most important thing. That where we've replaced, we've replaced exponential

learning with formal training in every area of our life.

Once the tradesmen learned through apprenticeship, now we have technical colleges.

Once lawyers studied for the bar under practicing attorneys. Now

they spend seven years in colleges in law schools. Once

priests learned in the parishes and the monasteries. And today

many jurisdictions demand a seminary education as a basis as

an admission ticket to the priesthood. But did Christ share

in these values. When the rich young ruler asked him

what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Christ

didn't send him off to study. He told him, sell

your possessions, give to the poor, and follow me. Did

our Lord choose the educated pharisees or the learned temple

priests as apostles? Now he chose the common, the unschooled fisherman. Yes,

Christ urged us to search the scriptures. But knowing Christ,

knowing the Father, these are exponential realities, are not academic achievements.

Remember the parable the Last Judgment that we read just

a few weeks ago. When did we see Christ? When

did we feed the hungry, clothing naked, visit the sick

and the imprison It wasn't in the classroom. It was

in the streets, in ministering to the least of our

brothers and sisters. This is where we encounter Christ himself.

Second reason that it's important to understand the exponential basis

of our faith so that we understand what it means

to be partakers of the divine nature. The Second Epistle

of Peter offers us an astounding whereby are given unto

us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye

may be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the

corruption that is in the world. What does this mean? Well,

Saint Gregory's teaching illuminates this mystery. Our union with God

is neither hypostatic like Christ's human nature unites to his divinity,

nor is it substantial like the union of three persons

in the Holy Trinity. Rather, it is this union of

us with God in his energies, a union by grace

that makes us able to participate into the divine nature

without our essence becoming the essence of God. In deification,

we become by grace that which God is by nature.

Except for the identity of the nature itself. We remain

creatures even while becoming gods by grace, just as Christ

remain God while become a man in the incarnation. This

is the stunning reality of our calling. That divine nature

has been promised to us, we experience it in the

grace of God. Finally, this distincish is importance so that

we recognize God when he reveals himself to us. Understanding

the essence and the energies distinction helps us recognize our

daily encounters with God. We know God in his creation

the sun, the wind, the clouds, and the stars. These

things are not God's essence, but they are the energies

of God. There means by which God has revealed himself

to us. We encounter God in love. When we love

one another, we experience the love of God himself. For

God is the author and the creator of love. Love

isn't tangible or analyzable. You can't put it in a laboratory.

But when you encounter true love, you encounter the uncreated

God and foremost grace itself is an energy of God.

We receive it in countless ways, and the forgiveness granted,

and confession absolution in our prayers and our reconciliation with

one another. Certainly, when we partake of the Holy communion,

after the gifts of bread and wine have been transformed

into the body and the bood of Christ through the

grace of the Holy Spirit, we partake of the divine nature. Indeed,

this is the energy of God communicating his grace to us.

Through the holy mysteries, we encounter God and his energies

far more than we realize, And in each encounter with

these energies, we are encountering God himself. Brothers and sisters,

as we continue our Lenten journey, let us embrace the

wisdom of Saint Gregory Paul Mass. Let us not be

deceived into thinking that knowing about God is the same

as knowing God. Let us commit ourselves to the hard

work of purification, fasting, prayer, almsgiving, forgiveness, love for a brother,

love for enemy. Let us approach the divine services not

as spectators or students, but as participants in the divine

energies that are poured out through these sacred mysteries. Let

us not seek merely information or transformation. Let us strive

not for academic mastery, but for purity of heart. For

blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

And now, as we depart from this divine lidergy, let

us give thanks to God for having revealed himself to us,

and his energies for showering us with his grace. May

we be ever mindful of our encounters with Him who

created all, and may we buy his grace, And, through

the intercessions of Saint Gregory Paulmouth, progress from the image

the likeness of God, becoming true partakers a divine nature.

For the prayers Holy Fathers Gregory Palmas, Our special Essuathi,

Old Lord Jesus Christ, Our God, have mercy in us

and save us. Amen.

Thanks for listening to Hill Country Homilies. For more information,

visit Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation, Tx

dot com and please join us again next week