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Chapter 97FeofanPisma.1.97

Письмо 97

The Illusion of Pure Faith

The author critiques those who reject Church tradition and discipline under the guise of seeking a 'pure' and inward faith.

Last time, I wrote to you that for these1 Messrs.2 the issue isn't the specific points they raise, but something larger: the mind's freedom from every bond with authority—even divine authority—because they interpret all of Scripture however they please.✦ And that isn't enough. They also seek freedom from every obligation to act according to the spirit and order of the faith, and from the labor of living as an Orthodox Christian should.3 Look: our entire faith—both its doctrines and commandments—has been put into practice; for example, you make the sign of the cross on yourself with the words: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—here, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and the mystery of redemption and the Incarnation are acknowledged.4 . . You observe the pre-Communion fast:—here you have the doctrine of the Fall and the need to purify yourself through confession and by receiving the Holy Mysteries.56 And so it is with everything. . . But these gentlemen want to be saved—only without even needing to make the sign of the cross on their forehead. So they dodge and weave, crying that all the Church's practice is human invention, accretion, and routine.7 And they say, "We want to believe in a pure way!"8 . . And so they believe so purely that their faith is bare.9 Why would they? Because they don't want to give the Lord even a minute of their time, or make the slightest effort. Oh, sure—get up for matins, go to church, fast, and keep the pre-Communion discipline.10 They want to live for their own pleasure, while still counting themselves people who please God inwardly—yet without any turning of the heart to God at all.11 For once that inward life is real, the outward follows too. Do you see what they're aiming for? . . To establish on earth a kingdom of play-actors who think they are serving God while being alienated from Him in heart.✦12

The Apostolic Foundation of Practice

The author defends Church practices like communal worship and prayer for the departed as rooted in Apostolic teaching.

Their claim that they strictly follow the Gospel and the Apostles is just an empty excuse. . . Have they even read them?13 Hardly. For instance, they believe that going to church is just a man-made invention of the hierarchy.14 . . But in our view it is a commandment of the Apostle, who ordered us not to forsake assembling together (Heb. 10:25). They think the Church's prayers are a human invention, but in reality, they are also a commandment of the Apostle, who says: "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Eph. 5:19), for what do all our services consist of, if not psalms and songs? And didn't the Apostles teach about fellowship with the saints? Look at what is said: "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the festal assembly and the church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect" (Heb.✦ 12:22). The believer exists in a living communion with the entire invisible world. How is this communion expressed? Among much else, also in the very thing this communion consisted in on earth—in prayer. The Apostles asked people to pray for them, and they commanded everyone to pray for one another. This same practice must also be maintained for the departed Orthodox and, in general, for the entire invisible world, with which the connection is just as real as with the visible.15 So we ask God's saints to pray for us. . . And for those whose standing with God we aren't sure of, we pray ourselves. . . In all this, as you can see, we act not by the spirit alone, but also by the letter of the Apostolic teaching—and not to satisfy the homemade inventions of hierarchs.✦16 Isn't that right? Judge the rest by this as well. You can see now that these gentlemen with their purified faith, while boasting that they hold to the Apostles, fall away from the Apostles and scrub the faith far too eagerly—at random, as the saying goes.17

A Call to Serious Self-Examination

The author addresses the spiritual state of the doubter, urging him to abandon empty speculation in favor of humble submission to the Church.

Write if anything of N.'s talk is still left in you. N.18 Even the trace of them has to be driven out.19 Look—he keeps moaning and fretting. Tell him this comes from a dissatisfaction of the heart and spirit. And there is only one satisfaction for them: in the Lord, who is everything to us. Until he believes with his whole heart and surrenders himself body and soul to the form of teaching received by the Church, he will have no peace.20 The soul is starving and asking for nourishing faith, but he keeps pounding it on the head with the mallet of empty speculation.21 Don't let him think that this bent of mind of his—contentious questioning—is perfection, or that he's risen high because he's reached these questions.22 It's simply combativeness.23 He should reflect on himself—and not just casually, but with seriousness. After all, there is death and judgment.✦ . . At the judgment, the Lord will judge—not by Molokan reasoning, but by the Church's standards.24 For now, of course, we allow ourselves plenty of leeway.25 . . Let him set himself before the face of the impartial Judge and settle the matter.26 . . Can he get out of it there with questions?27 He can't say, "I didn't know," because he saw everything happen right in front of him. I feel so sorry for him. . . Does he know that spiritually, because of his way of thinking, he is already no longer a member of the Church and has cut himself off from her, even though publicly she does not cut him off, waiting for his amendment? May the Lord give him understanding. And may He keep you from all wavering when you run into people like that. Well, what can you do? You live in the world. Endure it. And maybe this will even do good for both you and him. Peace be with you.✦

Read the original Russian

Прошлый раз писал я вам, что у г. г. умников дело не о тех частностях, на которыя они указывают, а поболее: о свободе ума от всякой связи с авторитетом, даже Божеским, ибо Писание они все толкуют по своему. Мало этого. Они ищут еще свободы от всякаго обязательства действовать по духу и устроению веры и от труда вести себя как следует православному.

Смотрите: наша вера вся и догматами, и заповедями введена в практику; напр. , вы кладете на себя крестное знамение с словами: во имя Отца и Сына, и Святаго Духа; – тут исповедуется таинство Пресвятыя Троицы и таинство искупления и воплощения. . . Говеете: – тут догмат о падении, о необходимости очищения себя исповедию и причащением Святых Таин. Так и все. . .

А этим господам хочется спастись, но так, чтоб и лба не было нужды перекрестить. Вот они и виляют, крича, что вся практика Церкви есть самоделие человеческое, наросты, рутина. А мы де хотим очищенно веровать! . . Вот и веруют так чисто, что голо. Чего бы ради так? Того ради, что не хотят Господу отдать ни минуты времени, ни малаго напряжения сил.

Поди там – вставай к заутрени, иди в церковь, постись, говей. Жить хотят в свое удовольствие, считаясь вместе и Богу угождающими внутренно-де, без всякаго впрочем обращения сердца к Богу. Ибо, коль скоро сие внутреннее есть, то есть и внешнее. Видите, куда они метят? . . Чтоб основать на земле царство лицедеев, мнящихся службу приносить Богу и отчужденных от Него сердцем.

То, что они говорят, будто строго держатся Евангелия и Апостолов, пустая отговорка. . . Читали-ль? – Едва ли! Напр. , то, что надо в церковь ходить, по их мнению, есть самоделие иерархов. .

. А по нашему – заповедь Апостола, который велел «не оставлять собраний» (Евр. 10:25). По их мнению, молитвы церковные суть самоделие, а на деле – тоже заповедь Апостола, который говорит: «исполняйтесь духом, глаголюще себе во псалмех и пениях и песнях духовных» (Еф. 5:19), ибо все наши службы из чего состоят, как не из псалмов и песней?

А об общении со святыми разве не учили Апостолы? Смотрите, что говорится: «Приступисте к Сионстей горе и ко граду Бога живаго, Иерусалиму небесному, и тмам Ангелов, торжеству и церкви первородных на небесех написанных, и Судии всех Богу, и духом праведник совершенных» (Евр. 12:22).

Верующий состоит в живом общении со всем невидимым миром. В чем выражается сие общение? Кроме многаго, и в том, в чем общение сие состояло на земле, – в молитве. Апостолы о себе просили молиться и всем заповедали молиться друг за друга. Это же должно быть соблюдаемо и в отношении к отшедшим православным и вообще ко всему невидимому миру, с коим союз так же действителен, как и с видимым. Вот мы и просим святых Божиих молиться за нас. . .

а о ком не уверены, что они сильны у Бога, о тех молимся сами. . . Во всем этом, как видите, мы действуем не по духу только, но и по букве учения Апостольскаго, а не в угодность самоделиям иерархов. Так ли? От сего и о прочем разумевайте. Видите теперь, что эти господа с очищенною верою, хвалясь, что держатся Апостолов, отступают от Апостолов и слишком усердно чистят веру – куда зря, как говорится.

Пишите, ежели что либо осталось в вас от речей N. N. : надо изгнать и след их. Вот, он ноет и тужит! Скажите ему, что это от неудовлетворенности сердца и духа. А удовлетворение им одно – в Господе, Который для нас все. Пока не уверует всем сердцем и не предастся вседушно образу учения, приемлемому Церковию, покоя не будет иметь. Душа голодает, просит питательной веры, а он ее стукает в голову долбнею суемудрия.

Пусть не думает, что настроение его ума – совопросничество, есть совершенство, и он высок, что дошел до сих вопросов. Это просто задорность. Попросите его подумать о себе, да не как-нибудь, а посерьезнее. Ведь есть смерть и суд. . . На суде будет Господь судить, но не по молоканскому смышлению, а по церковному уставу. Теперь-то мы широки.

. . Пусть поставит себя пред лице неумытнаго Судии и порешит. . . может ли там отделаться вопросами? Он не может сказать: я не знал; ибо видел все действуемым пред глазами. Как жаль его!

. . Знает ли он, что духовно, за образ мыслей, он уже не член Церкви и сам себя отсек от нея, хотя гласно она не отсекает его, ожидая его исправления.

Господь да вразумит его! А вас да предохранит от всех колебаний по случаю таких встреч. Что ж делать? В мире живете. Терпите. А может быть, это на пользу и вам, и ему. Мир вам!

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩2Pet.1.20 — Knowing this first: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation.
  2. ↩John.16.2 — They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
  3. ↩Heb.12.22-Heb.12.23 — But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, Heb.12.23 — to the assembly and festival gathering of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
  4. ↩2Cor.3.6 — who also has made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
  5. ↩Heb.9.27 — And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this comes judgment,
  6. ↩John.20.19 — On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Sentence is cut mid-abbreviation: Russian 'у г.' is the first half of 'у гг.' (Messrs./these gentlemen), completed in s2–s3 as 'гг. умников'.
  2. 2 ↩Standalone 'г.' is the second letter of the old abbreviation 'гг.' (господа, 'Messrs./gentlemen'), ironic with 'умников' in s3.
  3. 3 ↩'устроению веры' rendered as 'order of the faith' (the arranged shape/discipline of Orthodox belief and practice), not merely abstract 'system'.
  4. 4 ↩Russian 'таинство' covers both 'mystery' and 'sacrament'; here it names dogmatic mysteries (Trinity; redemption and Incarnation), not the Eucharistic Sacrament.
  5. 5 ↩'Говеете' names the Orthodox discipline of preparation before confession and Communion (говение), not ordinary dietary fasting alone.
  6. 6 ↩'Святых Таин' rendered as 'the Holy Mysteries', the traditional Orthodox English for Holy Communion; not flattened to a generic meal.
  7. 7 ↩самоделие rendered as 'human invention' (man-made contrivance); наросты as 'accretion' (excrescences/overgrowths on the Church's practice).
  8. 8 ↩Particle де marks reported speech/their claim; очищенно = in a purified/cleansed manner, not merely 'cleanly'.
  9. 9 ↩Wordplay: чисто (purely/cleanly) vs. голо (bare/naked)—purity pressed so far that nothing remains.
  10. 10 ↩«Поди там» is ironic dismissal of the effort such practices demand; «говей» is the traditional Russian pre-Communion/Lenten discipline of fasting, prayer, and confession (говение).
  11. 11 ↩The particle «-де» marks their own claimed self-description: they say they please God inwardly.
  12. 12 ↩«Лицедеи» is theatrical play-actors; the word carries the charge of hypocrisy without collapsing into the bare English label «hypocrites» alone.
  13. 13 ↩Читали-ль? is a clipped rhetorical question; the implied object is the Gospel and the Apostles named in s1.
  14. 14 ↩самоделие rendered as 'self-made invention' (human fabrication), not mere craftsmanship; next section contrasts this with the apostolic command not to forsake the assembly.
  15. 15 ↩«отшедшим православным» rendered as 'the departed Orthodox' (those who have reposed in the Orthodox faith), not merely 'departed Christians' in a generic sense.
  16. 16 ↩самоделиям: self-made inventions/fabrications of their own making, not merely 'works' in a neutral sense.
  17. 17 ↩куда зря: colloquial Russian for acting at random / without knowing where one is going; 'at random' preserves the proverbial tone of 'как говорится'.
  18. 18 ↩Sentence is only the redacted initial N., almost certainly a segmentation artifact from the surrounding clauses about N.'s talk.
  19. 19 ↩Source begins with a colon and continues prior matter; rendered as a freestanding imperative sense without inventing missing subject words.
  20. 20 ↩«образ учения» is the set pattern/form of Church teaching (cf. Rom 6:17), not a loose 'way of thinking.'
  21. 21 ↩«долбня» is a heavy mallet/club; «суемудрие» is vain wisdom / empty cleverness, not mere intellectual study.
  22. 22 ↩совопросничество: habit of disputatious/contentious questioning, not mere honest inquiry; pejorative in Feofan's usage.
  23. 23 ↩задорность: combative zeal / cocky obstinacy, not wholesome zeal.
  24. 24 ↩молоканскому смышлению: Molokan (sectarian) reasoning/understanding; церковному уставу: the Church's rule/ordinance, not merely custom.
  25. 25 ↩широки: spiritually broad/lax/permissive, not merely open-minded; Feofan contrasts present latitude with the coming strict judgment.
  26. 26 ↩неумытнаго Судии: неумытный = impartial/incorruptible (not open to bribe or favor); rendered 'impartial Judge'.
  27. 27 ↩отделаться вопросами: idiomatic 'get off / wriggle free by means of questions'—escape accountability through disputatious quibbling.

Letters on the Christian Life companion

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