ST. SERAPHIM OF SAROV ON ADAM IN PARADISE

ST. SERAPHIM OF SAROV ON ADAM IN PARADISE

ST. SERAPHIM OF SAROV

          The following is an excerpt from St. Seraphim of Sarov’s conversation with Nicholas Motovilov, his disciple that explains the purpose of Christian life as being the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.  To make his point, St. Seraphim gives a brief overview of the history of Holy Scripture to show that this purpose for mankind existed from the beginning of creation, with Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.  By explaining that man was initially created just like all animals is significant, because what distinguishes mankind from the animals is that mankind has been given the gift of the Grace of God in order to keep us immortal and make us gods.  This is the essential key to the theological interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis, and all of Holy Scripture in general, as well as the sacramental and ascetic life of the Church.

          “We have become so inattentive to the work of our salvation that we misinterpret many other words in Holy Scripture as well, all because we do not seek the Grace of God because of our pride, we do not allow it to dwell in our souls.  That is why we are without true enlightenment from the Lord, which He sends into the hearts of men who hunger and thirst wholeheartedly for God’s righteousness.

          Many explain that when it says in the Bible: ‘God breathed the breath of life into the face of Adam the first-created, who was created by God out of the dust of the ground, it must mean that until then there was neither a human soul or spirit in Adam, but only the flesh created from the dust of the ground.’  This interpretation is wrong, for the Lord God created Adam from the dust of the ground with the constitution which the Holy Apostle Paul describes: ‘May your spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Thess. 5:23).  And all these three parts of our nature were created from the dust of the earth, and Adam was not created dead, but was created as an active living being like all the other animate creatures of God living on earth.  The point is that if the Lord God had not breathed afterwards into his face this breath of life (that is, the Grace of our Lord God, the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son and is sent into the world for the Son’s sake), Adam would have remained without having within him the Holy Spirit Who raises him to godlike dignity. However perfect he had been created and superior to all the other creatures of God, as the crown of creation on earth, he would have been just like all the other creatures which, though they have a body, soul and spirit each according to its kind, yet do not have the Holy Spirit within them.  But when the Lord God breathed into Adam’s face the breath of life, then, according to Moses’ word, Adam became ‘a living soul.’ (Gen. 2:7), that is, completely and in every way like God, and, like Him, forever immortal.  Adam was immune to the action of the elements to such a degree that water could not drown him, fire could not burn him, the earth could not swallow him in its abysses, and the air could not harm him by any kind of action whatever.  Everything was subject to him as the beloved of God, as the king and lord of creation, and everything looked up to him as the perfect crown of God’s creatures.  Adam was made so wise by this breath of life which was breathed into his face from the creative lips of God, the Creator and Ruler of all, that there never has been a man on earth wiser or more intelligent than him, and it is hardly likely that there ever will be.  When the Lord commanded him to give names to all the creatures, he gave every creature a name which completely expressed all the qualities, powers and properties given to it by God at its creation.

          Owing to this very gift of the supernatural Grace of God which was infused into him by the breath of life, Adam could see and understand the Lord walking in paradise, and comprehend His words, and the conversation of the Holy Angles, and the language of all beasts, birds and reptiles and all that is now hidden from us fallen and sinful creatures, but was so clear to Adam before his fall.  To Eve also the Lord God gave the same wisdom, strength and unlimited power, and all the other good and holy qualities.  And He created her not from the dust of the ground but from Adam’s rib in the Eden of delight, in the Paradise which He had planted in the midst of the earth.

          In order that they might always easily maintain within themselves the immortal, divine and perfect properties of this breath of life, God planted in the midst of the garden the tree of life and endowed its fruits with all the essence and fullness of His divine breath.  If they had not sinned, Adam and Eve themselves as well as all their posterity could have always eaten of the fruit of the tree of life and so would have eternally maintained the quickening power of Divine Grace.

          They could have also maintained to all eternity the full powers of their body, soul and spirit in a state of immortality and everlasting youth, and they could have continued in this immortal blessed state of theirs forever.  At the present time, it is difficult for us even to imagine such Grace.  But when through the tasting of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—which was premature and contrary to the will of God—they learned the difference between good and evil and were subjected to all the afflictions which followed the transgression of the commandment of God, then they lost this priceless gift of the Grace of the Spirit of God, so that, until the actual coming into the world of the God-Man Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God was not yet in the world because Jesus was ‘not yet glorified.’ (John 7:39)

          However, that does not mean that the Spirit of God was not in the world at all, but His presence was not as apparent as in Adam or in us Orthodox Christians.  It manifested itself only externally; yet the signs of His presence in the world were known to mankind.  Thus, for instance, many mysteries in connection with the future salvation of the human race were revealed to Adam as well as to Eve after the fall.  And for Cain, in spite of his impiety and his transgression, it was easy to understand the voice which held gracious and divine conversation with him which was convicting.  Noah conversed with God.  Abraham saw God; “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56).  The Grace of the Holy Spirit acting externally was also reflected in all the Old Testament prophets and Saints of Israel.  The Hebrews afterwards established special prophetic schools where the sons of the prophets were taught to discern the signs of the manifestation of God or of Angels, and to distinguish the operations of the Holy Spirit from the ordinary natural phenomena of our graceless earthly life.  Saint Simeon, who held the Christ-Child in his arms, Joachim and Anna, the grandparents of Jesus, and countless other servants of God continually, had quite openly various divine apparitions, voices and revelations which were justified by evident miraculous events.   Though not with the same power as in the people of God, nevertheless, the presence of the Spirit of God also acted amongst the pagans who did not know the true God, because even among them God found for Himself chosen people.  Such, for instance, were the virgin prophetess Sibyls who vowed virginity to an unknown God, but still to God the Creator of the universe, the all-powerful Ruler of the world, as he was conceived by the pagans.  Though the pagan philosophers also wandered in the darkness of ignorance of God, yet they sought the truth which is loved by God, and on account of this God-pleasing effort, they could partake of the Spirit of God, for it is said that the nations who do not know God practice by nature the demands of the law and this is pleasing to God. “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,” (Romans 2:14).  The Lord so praises the truth that He says it Himself by the Holy Spirit: ‘Truth has sprung out of the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven.’ (Ps. 84:11). 

          So you see, dear Motovilov, both in the holy Hebrew people, a people beloved of God, and in the pagans who did not know God, there was preserved a knowledge of God—that is, my son, a clear and rational comprehension of how our Lord God, the Holy Spirit acts in man, and by means of what inner and outer feelings one can be sure that this is really the action of our Lord God, the Holy Spirit, and not a delusion of the enemy.  That is how it was from Adam’s fall until the coming in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world.

          Without this perceptible realization of the actions of the Holy Spirit which had always been preserved in human nature, men could not possibly have known for certain whether the fruit of the seed of the woman who had been promised to Adam and Eve had come into the world to bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15).

          At last the Holy Spirit had foretold to St. Simeon, who was then in his 65^th year of life, the mystery of the virginal conception and birth of Christ from the most pure Ever-Virgin Mary.  Afterwards, having lived by the Grace of the Holy Spirit of God for three hundred years, in the 365^th year of his life he said openly in the Temple of the Lord that he knew for certain through the gift of the Holy Spirit that this was the very Christ, the Savior of the world, Whose supernatural conception and birth from the Holy Spirit had been foretold to him by an Angel three hundred years previously.

          And there was also St. Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, who from her widowhood had served the Lord God in the Temple of God for eighty years, and who was known to be a righteous widow, a chaste servant of God, from the special gifts of Grace she had received. She too announced that He was actually the Messiah Who had been promised to the world, the true Christ, God and Man, the King of Israel, Who had come to save Adam and mankind.

          But when our Lord Jesus Christ condescended to accomplish the whole work of salvation, after His Resurrection, He breathed on the Apostles, restored the breath of life lost by Adam, and gave them the same Grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God as Adam had enjoyed.  But that was not all.  He also told them that it was expedient for them that He should go to the Father, for if He did not go, the Spirit of God would not come into the world.  But if He, the Christ, went to the Father, He would send Holy Spirit into the world, and He, the Comforter, would guide them and all who followed their teaching into all truth and would remind them of all that He had said to them when he was still in the world.  “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)

          Then on the Day of Pentecost He sent down to them in a tempestuous wind the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire which alighted on each of them and entered within them and filled them with the fiery strength of Divine Grace which bestowed a bedewing breath and acted gladly in their souls which partake of His power and energies (Acts 2:1-4).  And this same fire-infusing Grace of the Holy Spirit which is given to us all, the faithful of Christ, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, is sealed by the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation (Chrism) on the chief parts of our body as appointed by the Holy Church, the eternal keeper of this Grace.  It is said: ‘The seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.’  On what do we put our seals, dear Motovilov, if not on vessels containing some very precious treasure?  But what on earth can be higher and what can be more precious than the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are sent down to us from above in the Sacrament of Baptism?  This baptismal grace is so great and so indispensible, so vital for mankind, that even a heretic is not deprived of it until his very death; that is, till the end of the period appointed on high by the Providence of God as a life-long test of man on earth, in order to see what he will be able to achieve (during this period given to him by God) by means of the power of Grace granted him from on high.                                                                           

METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS OF MESOGAIA & LAVREOTIKI ANSWERS FOUR

QUESTIONS ABOUT SCIENCE & THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION

          Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki studied Physics at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1976 and after serving in the Greek army he continued his studies at Harvard and M.I.T. where he received his Masters of Arts and Masters of Science, and then in a combined program at Harvard and M.I.T. he received his Ph. D in Biomedical Engineering.  Upon completing his studies he worked simultaneously for New England Deaconess Hospital, NASA and Arthur D. Little.  After teaching at Harvard and M.I.T., he went on to teach at the School of Medicine at the University of Crete as well as at the University of Athens.  He then went back to Boston where he received both a Masters of Theological Studies and a Masters in Theology from Holy Cross School of Theology, and a doctorate from the University of Thessaloniki in Bioethics.  In 2008 he received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the University Of Athens School Of Theology in Science and Religion.   The following questions on science and the theory of evolution were recently presented to His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas.

Q. As a person who believes in God, what is your perspective on someone who wants to deal with modern research, especially that which in the end challenges God, such as genetic engineering, cosmology or neurology?

A. Research that is done to challenge God has the disease of prejudice.  Research is done to discover scientific truth.  What problem is there with someone wanting to broaden the horizons of their thoughts and knowledge?  God is approached better this way.  God is not an ideology that we should by all means defend, but we believe in Him because He is Truth.  In this sense, even scientific truth reveals Him.  If He is still questioned, it is time to find out about Him.  A believer who fears scientific research, fears the truth.  Perhaps he is a believer who does not believe.

Q.  What do you have to say about the theory of evolution?  Does it not contradict the teaching of the Church?

A.  In regards to this issue, the teaching of the Church is based on the inspired book of Genesis.  This is not a book about Physics or Biology.  The important thing it talks about is not whether God molded man from soil and where he found it, but that man was made “in the image and likeness” of God.  Everything else is insignificant.  How can science subvert this?  Beyond this, if science improves our understanding of this world and our image of Him, why should we challenge it?  The most we can say is that we understand some things better.

Q. So it doesn’t matter if man descended from animals?

A. What matters is the divine origin of man and his relationship to God, namely that God created us, not how He created us.  And also, the danger is not that man descended from the animals, but rather that we end up like them: “People, despite their honor, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.” (Ps. 49:12).  While our purpose is to be like God, are we trying to prove that we are animals?

The problem therefore is not the scientific confirmation of evolution, but the commitment to the sick interpretation of it.  The latter does not prove the non-existence of God, but affirms the impassioned nearsightedness of man.  To exchange the divine purpose with an unwise degeneration to an animal! Not even animals would like this.

Q.  But we have similarities with animals and we need to find their importance.

A.  The interest in our likeness with animals surprises me.  If there was similar interest in our affinity with God, how different things would be.  We should discover the significance of this affinity.  As for the animals, there are certainly similarities.  Our body in one way or another resembles the higher primates.  We can even teach animals instinctive virtues.  There are so many examples that exist in Holy Scripture.  Christ Himself says in the Sermon on the Mount to “look at the birds in the air” and in what way we can imitate them.

But what matters are our differences from the animals.  Man is psychosomatic.  This is the source of his value.  It is time to turn our attention away from our similarity with animals and towards the possibility of our likeness to God.

THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE IS COMPLETED THROUGH FAITH

          Research is intoxicating.  Our world is made with unimaginable beauty and wisdom.  It is worth discovering both of these things as much as possible.  Simply it must be done with the humility of a man, not with the audacity of a pseudo-god.  One must compromise within limits.  Human knowledge, understanding and wisdom are not infinite or complete.  Our own nature shows our limits.  The universe presents the principle of singularity (a mathematical anomaly).  It hides its secrets.  In accordance with the principle of uncertainty as nature reveals one of her secrets, so she also will hide another.  We are blessed to know many and great things, but doomed to be unable to conquer the infinite and all.  Yet this infinity and all, which is beyond our senses and knowledge, is what leads to God. Anyone who is made dizzy from their knowledge has lost contact with God.  Their life is like a chain where each link is a success.  But the final result is total failure and underachievement.  Knowledge is very beautiful, but it does little to make us free.  It has limits, it is finite.  This is why we need faith.  This is what leads to infinity and to all.

SCIENTISTS & THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

          The Fathers of the Church studied the creation of the cosmos with a theological purpose.  They renounced both materialism and metaphysics.  Thus, the two philosophical orientations “in the beginning was matter” and “in the beginning was the idea” was contrasted with “in the beginning was the Word.”  God is a person; He is love, because love is an uncreated energy of God.  Therefore God is neither an idea nor matter.  Later they say that God created the cosmos “out of nothing,” “without the existence of matter” but with His Word which is His uncreated energy, which creates created beings.

          Contemporary scientists are divided into two categories in interpreting new discoveries.  In the first category are those who accept that some power outside of space and time created the cosmos.  In the second category are the agnostics and atheists who interpret the creation of the cosmos without believing in the existence of God.

          According to the Fathers of the Church, scientists can study the cosmos, examine what it is, how it happened, but they cannot enter into other areas, such as the existence or non-existence of God.  Besides, the work of science is one thing and the work of Orthodox theologians is another and there should be no conflict or confusion between them.  Science investigates the created world, matter, atoms, molecules, protons, particles, cells, genes, etc. while theology, which is empirical, deals with how man can know the person of God with His uncreated energies. Science progresses in various discoveries which should benefit and not harm people, and Orthodox theology gives answers to the spiritual matters of man and how he can acquire unconditional love towards God and his fellow man, at a time not only when the “death of God” is preached, but also at a time when the “death of one’s neighbor” is preached.

          Finally, no matter how many discoveries science makes man hungers and thirsts for a personal God, for unconditional love, inner peace and freedom, for spiritual completeness.   He wants to know what exists beyond creation, what happens after death, what is eternal life, etc.  Man is not an unreasonable being, but develops culture, nurtures spiritual principles, searches for God and seeks to experience His love.  Hence, science is trying to give an explanation for creation and the establishment of the cosmos, but that which has great significance is Who created the cosmos and man.  God is not an irrational force, nor a blissful being, but a person.  He is the Logos who created the cosmos and within all of creation there is “logo of being,” the energies of God.

Edited by:

+Fr. Constantine J. Simones, Waterford, CT, September 15, 2014, USA,  cjsimones300@gmail.com

Postscript:

Saint Seraphim was born Prokhor Moshinin August 1, 1746 and he reposed in the Lord January 14, 1833.  He is one of the most beloved Russian monks and ascetics in the Orthodox Christian world.   He was canonized a saint in 1903.   Nicholas Motovilov is his biographer and disciple.  The most famous conversation that Nicholas writes about with Saint Seraphim is when they were speaking about the purpose of human life.  The Saint tells Nicholas that the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the ultimate purpose of life.  As soon as the saint said this to Nicholas they were both enveloped by a brilliant Light that enveloped them.  As soon as this happened Motovilov could no longer look at Saint Seraphim for he became brighter than the sun.  Then Saint Seraphim asked Motovilov what he was feeling.  He responded by saying that he felt warm, overwhelmed by a sense of peace and there was a sweet-smelling fragrance that permeated the air.   That is when Saint Seraphim told Nicholas that they were both now in the embrace of the Holy Spirit.  This is one of the most profound eye-witness accounts describing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox Christian Church.   

+Fr. Constantine (Charles) J. Simones, October 6, 2014