The Holy Cross - A Sign-Post for the Soul
"Whosever will come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross and follow me.' (Mark 8:34)
These words of the Lord Jesus Christ echo
through our Churches on the Third Sunday of the Great Fast - the Sunday of the
Cross - and they stir our souls as we prepare during Holy Week to re-experience
His saving Passion, Death and Resurrection . They provide the key to
discipleship: cross-bearing. They provide the signpost for the ascetic struggle
to which we are called: self-negation - crucifixion. They are words that speak
less of an object and more of a course of action for those who would walk the
path of the Crucified Lord of Glory. In the Gospel passage, He offers the
Cross, the bitter means of healing of the soul to everyone who desires to be
saved from death.
Saint Nicetas Stethatos reminds us that our
souls, the living Divine image within us, were created by God to be one with
God in love. He writes: "Man's soul desires and seeks to be united with God
from whom it had its beginning and by its natural qualities it traces back to
Him and longs to imitate Him in simplicity and love for man." (Philokalia 3 P.
325, 1)
The oneness of the human soul with its
Creator-God was shattered by sin in a moment in Paradise
and is further destroyed each time we sin in our lives. This sin, which
separates us from God and darkens His image within us, causes profound sickness
in our souls. Of this sickness Saint Gregory Palamas writes: " The soul which
has rebelled against God become either bestial or demonic and, having rebelled
against the laws of nature, lusts after what belongs to others..." (Homily 51, 10
EPE 11, p. 114) The Fathers of the Church were abundantly clear when they
taught that this spiritual sickness, this sickness of the soul, manifests
itself in immoral behavior, physical illness, emotional instability,
psychological torment, and an achingly depressive state.
These are the result of our effort to live with
ourselves at the center of our hearts, to crave self-indulgence and ego
satisfaction, to bracket the need for the curing of our soul in favor of living
a life catering to the passions-which have supplanted the Light dwelling in our
hearts.
It is at this point that the Cross stands
before us as the difficult road to spiritual healing. We shy away form its
brutality and from the stern message that we too need crucifixion-because the
cure seems more painful than the illness. Saint Nicholas of Ochrid writes of
the human response to the Cross' stark presence: "if the Cross is the medicine,
we cannot take it; and if the Cross is the Way, we can't take that road, say
those whom sin has made ill. And so the Lord who loves mankind, took the
heaviest Cross on Himself, to show that it IS possible." (Homilies, Vol I, p.
152)
The key to Christ's invitation, and He does not
force us, is denial. He who would follow Christ, the Divine Physician, and
receive genuine healing of the soul, must deny himself. The Cross OF Christ
becomes and instruction book for the cure of the soul: negate, self, remove ego
from the heart's center, deny the constant images and thoughts which, once they
enter our intelligent self, prompt us to sinful desires and eventually to sinning
itself. The destruction of Christ's own flesh on the Cross becomes for us the
first and foremost ascetic way, the heart of the ascetic struggle. Saint John
Chrysostom confirms this when he writes:" The Lord ascended His Cross first,
leaving us an example, a pattern for all who would follows." (Orthodox Sermons,
Vol I, p. 36)
We seek peace of mind and a sense of wholeness
in our daily lives, yet we persist in asserting our ego, self-centeredness, and
pride. We long for a strong marriage, for a close family, and for material
prosperity from God, but we pray to Him from sickened souls in love with sin.
We crave for deliverance from physical pain, emotional of Psychological
illness, from depression and a sense of meaninglessness in life-yet we never
make the connection that these things are directly related, if not caused in
large measure by, our darkened soul's love affair with win and self-indulgence.
The Neptic Fathers cannot make it any more
evident: without beginning on the path of spiritual healing through self-denial
and the discipline of purification of our souls, we will never know complete
healing or happiness. Without self-crucifixion, we will never know spiritual
resurrection. Without bearing the painful splinters of the Cross in our
personal lives, enduring the wounding of our egos in order to effect their
healing, we are condemned to live in estrangement from God in this life, and
eternal isolation from Him in the next. Saint Theoloptos, Metropolitan of
Philadelphia puts it plainly: "Put an end to mixing with the outer world and to
giving in to self, and fight with the inner thoughts until you finds the place
of pure prayer and the home where Christ dwells." (Philokalia, 4 p. 6 Writings
p. 385) What does this mean but: Take up your cross?
How does this self-negation or denial of the
craving ego take place? How can we begin the healing of our souls? Through
ascetic practice. While we are most willing to give ourr time to Church
functions, fund-raising and other such external things, we are less inclined as
individuals and parishes to embrace the ancient practices of asceticism. Why?
Because they demand time, effort, pain and spiritual discipline. Adopting such
an attitude, as individuals and as parishes puts us on a perilous road to
spiritual self-destruction and death. The fact is this: when we stand before
the :dread judgment seat of the Lord of Glory", He will not be concerned about
fund-raisers, social activities, pleasure trips and other such things with
which we and our parishes fill time. He will be concerned only with whether or
not we accepted His invitation to take up our cross and follow Him.
What are these ascetic practices available to us for the healing of our
souls? St. Symeon the New Theologian in his Practical Chapters Chapter 91,
numbers five of them: vigils, study, prayer, self-control, hesychia
(stillness/withdrawal) Vigils is lessening our sleep and relaxation and keeping
watch over our souls night and day. Study is the daily reading of Scripture and
the writings of The spiritual fathers. Prayer is not just a few moments on the
run, but extended time in pray to God every morning and every evening, and in
listening to Him to determine His will. Self control is saying "No!" to our
cravings for food, drink physical pleasure, power self-importance and status.
Hesychia is withdrawing form the world's schedule and agenda to , in the words
of the Psalmist"....Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46)
These are the time-tested ways of asceticism which, if done regularly and
with discipline, as St Symeon notes, "quickly purify the nous of the soul and
by this refining make it dispassionate and clear-sighted."
At this critical point in our Journey to
Holy Pascha, let us decide whether we, as individuals and parishes, will
take up our cross, deny our baser selves, and follow the Way of ascetic
discipline for the healing of our souls, or, whether we will simply live in
denial of our spiritual illness, thus making Christ's Cross a mockery and
robbing it of its meaning and power in our live. The choice is that simple.
+METROPOLITAN
NICHOLAS
(Lent, 2004)
