AND YOU WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS ...

“’Forgive me’ is the conduit through which the grace of God reconciles the desire and action ever at war within us into the synergy that moves mountains.” His Eminence, Archbishop Damianos of Sinai,

AND YOU WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS ...

[Saint Catherine’s life] speaks volumes of a love for Christ beyond contemplation. Thus, the question absorbing those who thirst for God, “How did she attain such heights?” On such pursuit the patristic saints are at no loss for words. Even the ancients had understood the importance of living according to one’s inner light.

In Plato’s Republic, Socrates had already found the soul divided between reason, desire, and anger. Differences between people, indeed between peoples, were ascribed by the seer to whichever of these forces dominated the others in a person or population. The Athenians were ruled by knowledge; the Phoenicians, desire; while the impassioned Scythians were ready to fight. … Reason would ideally rule over anger and desire – an ambition supported by secular society until today.

Taking a more deeply nuanced approach through their own, very different perspective, patristic sources find the model generally consistent with biblical revelation on purification of soul toward acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

For good or evil, desire generates the incensive anger that defends its sovereignty. Just separate a toddler from his toy to see the common essence of desire and anger … Pushing the limits of over-simplification: desire for God, generating the anger that supports it, gives origin to the virtues (like humility) that free us from sin. Such anger stands sentry not just against sin, but evil itself – forgiving, and seeking forgiveness, until union with God fulfills the desire for Him breathed into our very creation.

The epic narrative of Saint Catherine’s brilliance portrays this when fifty pagan orators who debated her beg forgiveness from God as the first step toward their own martyrdom for His love. “Forgive me,” noted His Eminence, Archbishop Damianos of Sinai, is the conduit through which the grace of God reconciles the desire and action ever at war within us into the synergy that moves mountains.

No victory arrives easily in this life, and neither does this most exalted of all: progression from the image to the likeness of God that restores the divine attributes lost to human nature at the fall.

Not all are called to martyrdom. But all are called to incensive, courageous effort – for motion requires energy. Without the hydroelectric forces unleashed by anger like water from a burst dam, what would empower the towering achievements of valor? Persistent, indignant, unrelenting struggle is required for victory on every praiseworthy front – for our weakened will is already exhausted by lesser pursuits … Who joyously boasts of discovering newfound time for prayer during pandemic lockdowns? Not many, perhaps. For one thing, those struggling for time to pray already knew where to find it … in an elevator, a waiting room, unmoving traffic...

Reason ruled the soul for the philosophers; for Orthodox Christianity, purified desire is the force that leads to knowledge – through its Source – by drawing us ever closer to the Word of God. Millions of Saints have sacrificed everything to the heavenly Bridegroom Christ; none more memorably than the royal Bride who reigns beside Him on the opulent iconostasis of the world’s most celebrated monastery.

Purified by baptism into the Holy Trinity, “desire, anger and reason” synergize with the energies of Christ in the soul of Saint Catherine the Great of Alexandria to cast an enormous mountain into the sea – the immeasurable evil of idolatry. …

For the complete Article "Standing Sentry over Love" by Sr. Joanna at the FMSM News Blog, please go to:  http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/news-blog/standing-sentry-over-love