Chapter 2
- Cognizance of the
Truth
1.
Those taught by God
From what has been said, it has become obvious that when we
refer to the "knowledge of God", we do not imply any logical
comprehension of Him, but rather a personal encounter with
God. When a person surrenders wholly to God and
desires to encounter the One that his soul yearns for, only
then - after passing through the dense fog of ignorance -
will God come to him and make everything around him luminous
and will reveal Himself to that person. "He reveals
the deep and secret things, knowing what is in
the darkness, and the light is with Him" (Daniel 2:22).
However, man must hunger and thirst truly for God. (Psalms
41:3, Jeremiah 38:25)
But, whoever acquires a taste of the presence of the divine
light will sense his immense weakness and his vast
unworthiness and will shout the words of the sinful woman:
«Lord, this woman who had fallen into many sins,
on
sensing Your Divinity did undertake to become a myrrh-bearer...», and «Lord, while immersed whole in
sin, I can feel Your Divinity!… ».
All the Fathers of the Church agree on this point and they
proclaim that the knowledge of God is a divine gift and not
the result of a human endeavour.
Nobody can acquire knowledge of God, unless he becomes
one who is taught by God. "There is no means by which we can
come to know God - only to live within Him", says Saint
Gregory the Theologian. Saint Nilus the Ascetic also
teaches: "If you are a theologian, you will truly pray, and
if you pray, you are a theologian" (On Prayer, 61).
2.
The prerequisites of the
knowledge of God (Theognosy)
God does not reveal Himself to the man who seeks Him with
his intellect.
He reveals Himself to the one who will love Him: "But
if anyone loves God, this
one is known by Him".(1 Cor.8:3) The one who loves God with his heart will hear His voice
calling him to pass through the cloud, to ascend the
mountain. However, for a man to meet God he must have
humility (Matth. 5:3, 18:3, 1 Pet.5:5). Furthermore, he must
have a cleanliness of heart (Psalms 33:19) "Blessed are the
pure of heart, for they shall see God", says the Lord (Matth.
5:8)
But all these are not enough, for man to attain divine
revelation. He needs to also follow the teaching of Christ.
"Whoever
transgresses and does not
abide in the doctrine of
Christ does not have God. He
who abides in the doctrine
of Christ has both the
Father and the Son"
(2 John 9)
"...whosoever does good,
he is of God; whosoever does
evil, he has not seen God."
(3 John 11)
If one is not a man of love,
if he does not have
humility, if he does not
purify himself and does not
preserve the teaching of
Christ, he cannot be a true
theologian - that is, a man
who has come to know God. "...the
one who says he abides in
him ought himself to
walk, just as He walked."
(1 John 2:6) For the
one that does not purify
himself, Saint Maximus uses
an extremely severe
expression. He characterizes
him as "a demon's
theologian".
"Beloved",
writes saint John the
Evangelist, "now
we are children of God; and
it has not yet been revealed
what we shall be, but we
know that when He is
revealed, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as
He is. And everyone who has
this hope in Him purifies
himself, just as He is pure. ....
Whoever sins has neither
seen Him nor known Him."
(1 John 3:2-6)
The inner purity of man is
not presented solely as a
prerequisite for knowing God
and as the fruit of his
union with Him. The
Lord Himself, when
addressing the Father, says
of His disciples:
"I
have declared to them Your
name, and will declare it,
that the love with which You
loved Me may be in them, and
I in them.."
(John 17:26)
Knowledge of God is an act
of giving (Gal.4:9; John
6:44) and presupposes a
personal relationship of man
with Christ:
«No-one
comes to the Father except
through Me" (John
14:6). "No-one knows the Son except the Father, nor
does anyone know the Father
except for the Son
and the one to whom the Son
wills to reveal Him."
(Matth.
11:27) This personal
relationship with the Son is
realized - as we shall
mention - with the presence
of the Holy Spirit. (John
14:26. 15:26. 16:13 and thereafter).
3. Starting point and
purpose of the knowledge of God
The starting point of the
knowledge of God is,
therefore, totally different
inside the Church than it is
in a philosophical quest
thereof. However, its
purpose - the end of the
knowledge of God - is also
different inside the Church.
This purpose was proclaimed
by Christ with great
clarity, in His prayer to
the Father: "that
the love with which You
loved Me may be in them, and
I in them." (John
17:26)
The starting point of the
knowledge of God is the
personal acquaintance with
Christ, and its end is Love,
which is the expression of
the life of the Holy Trinity
- in other words, man's
participation in that life.
"I am in them, and You
are in Me, so that they may
be made perfect in one....
that the love with which You
loved Me may be in them, and
I in them."
(John 17:23, 26)
Christ is the starting point
for the knowledge of God.
It is that which John the
Evangelist underlines at the
beginning of his Gospel: "And
the Word (Logos)
became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth".
(John
1:14) The Purpose and
the end of the knowledge of
God is the in-Christ life -
the perfect unity of man
with Christ.
This is the reason that the
preaching of the Apostles
always had its beginning in
the Person of Christ, and
had as its purpose the tie
with Christ and the
"in-Christ" salvation (Acts 4:12; 5:28-32).
4. The provocation of the
Cross
The person of Christ
constitutes the beginning
and the end of theognosy and
man's redemption. That is
the Gospel - the salvific
message - that the Lord
brought to us.
However, neither the Judeans
of the Apostolic era nor the
Gentiles managed to accept
it. Christ's
Incarnation, and especially
His Cross and His death,
were for the former a
scandal and for the latter,
folly. The reason for this
was that Christ's Cross - as
well as His Incarnation -
were a huge provocation for
human logic.
"For
the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power
of God."
(1
Cor.1:18).
"For
Jews request a sign, and
Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ
crucified, to the Jews a
stumbling block and to the
Greeks foolishness, but to
those who are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom
of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser
than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men.." (1
Cor.1:22-25. cmp. Gal.5:11).
One could say that here the
Apostle is provoking both
the Jews and the Gentiles.
He does not feel the need to
logically support his
preaching, nor is he
overcome by a sense of
inferiority for it. On the
contrary, he does this
consciously, his purpose
being NOT the support of the
people's faith on the basis
of the power of human words
and human wisdom, but "..in
demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, that your
faith should not be in the
wisdom of men but in the
power of God.". "We
speak," he
says, the "wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom, which God had
ordained before the ages
unto
our glory." (1
Cor.2:4-7).
This same teaching was
already being proclaimed by
the Prophets of the Old
Testament, whom the Apostle
also invokes (1 Cor.1:19-20)
"...in vain do they
worship Me, by teaching
human precepts and
teachings. Therefore look, I
will proceed to remove this
people. I will remove them
and destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and the
discernment of the
discerning I will hide."
(Isaiah 29:13-14)
5. The power of the Spirit
The knowledge of God, the
true faith, is the result of
the sermon pertaining to the
Cross. However, the sermon
alone is not capable of
revealing God to mankind.
Just as the sermon has God
as its source (Who revealed
Himself in the Person of
Christ), likewise, the
acceptance of that sermon on
the part of man springs from
the Holy Spirit, Who guides
man towards Christ.
"Now
we have received, not the
spirit of the world"
says the Apostle, "but
the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the
things that have been freely
given to us by God."
(1
Cor. 2:12).
,
"...These
things we also speak, not in
words which man’s wisdom
teaches but which the Holy
Spirit teaches, comparing
spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural
man does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to
him; nor can he know them,
because they are spiritually
discerned. But he who is
spiritual judges all things,
yet he himself is rightly
judged by no one. For
“who has known the mind of
the LORD that he may
instruct Him?” But we have
the mind of Christ.."
(1
Cor.2:13-16 - cmp.
Isaiah 40:13).
Therefore, it is not a
matter of "persuasive words
of human wisdom", but
"...in demonstration
of the Spirit and
of power, so that your faith
should not
be in the wisdom
of men but in the power of
God".
(1 Cor.2:4-5)
The above help us to
understand why many people
did not succeed in finding
the path that leads to the
truth and to life; in other
words, the path that leads
to Christ. We also
comprehend why the Apostles
- prior to the event of the
Pentecost - were unable to
recognize the Lord and
perceive His glory.
And even those three
disciples - who were present
at the mount of the
Transfiguration - did not
experience at that moment
the full majesty of the
Lord's glory. The
apolytikion hymn of our
Church says this quite
characteristically, when it
presents Christ as
demonstrating His glory to
His disciples "as much as
they were able"; in
other words, to the extent
that were able to perceive
the glory of Christ - not
fully.
We also understand why the
disciples abandoned Christ
while He was on the Cross
and why they were afraid
(Matth.26:56; Mark 14:50;
John 20:19) and why they
didn't immediately proclaim
the Resurrection of Christ
after He had revealed
Himself to them.
The Apostles in actual fact
recognized Christ, only
after the Pentecost. Only
then did they begin to
preach, no longer feeling
any fear towards the
reactions of the Judeans and
the Gentiles: with power and
with authority.
6. Why are there
atheists?
The Apostle James makes a
basic discernment between
the wisdom that "descends
from above" and the
"wisdom" which is
characterized as "earthly,
sensual, demonic"
(James 3:15)
The one "wisdom"
is the kind that is entirely
disconnected from God; it is
the one that does not result
in the glorification of God
but instead the
glorification of man without
God. That is why it is
characterized as "demonic"
(cmp. also Genesis 3:4
onwards).
The other kind of "wisdom"
is not attributed to man's
effort, which is why it is
kept hidden from the "wise
and the prudent" of
this world. It is
revealed only to the "infants"
(Matth.11:25; Luke 10:21) -
to "the foolish ones
of the world", the "base
ones" and the "weak
ones", so that
"no
flesh should glory in His
presence". (1
Cor.1:27-29)
All that we have mentioned
here assists us to explain
why so many people find
difficulty in confessing the
dogmas of our Church.
The reason is because they
rely exclusively on their
own powers and seek
something that they cannot
"bear" with them alone.
Because, as is evident, the
things of God cannot be
fully adapted to the
potentials of human thought.
God cannot possibly be known
by man in the manner that
man desires to know God.
"Wisdom" says
the wise Solomon, is "a
puff of the power of God,
and an emanation of the
glory of the Almighty";
it is a "a
reflection of eternal light
and a spotless mirror of the
activity of God and an image
of his goodness". (Wisdom
of Solomon 7:25-26 -
Septuagint). .
"Who
has learned your counsel
unless you gave wisdom and
sent your holy spirit from
on high?"
the same one asks again (Wisdom
of Solomon 9:17 - Septuagint).
History presents numerous
examples of people who were
unsuccessful in their quest
for God, because they relied
on their own powers and on
human potentials. Many
philosophers before Christ
as well as thinkers
attempted to become
acquainted with God through
their logic. It was of
course to be expected that
they would fail. Then
there are others, who ended
up in a total denial of God
and proclaimed that God
doesn't exist, while others
said that there is a
"certain power", an
"impersonal God" Who however
does not enter into any
personal relationship with
mankind.
God is the way and the truth
and life (John 14:6). He
therefore cannot be afar; He
cannot be an impersonal
being that does not come
into a relationship with man
or show any interest for the
world - as some assert. "I
am an approachable God says
the Lord, and not a God far
away": I am
the God Who is close to you;
I am not a distant God, says
the Lord through the mouth
of the prophet. "Do I
not fill the sky and the
earth?" He adds.
(Jeremiah 23:23-24; cmp.
Matth.23:32; Mark 12:26)
Therefore God - man's savior
- is not far away from him;
He is close to him - within
him. He is revealed inside
the heart of man, by the
Holy Spirit. (John 14:26; 1
John 2:20, 27)
For this to happen, man must
admit his weakness, cleanse
his heart with humility and
repentance and ask for God
to be revealed to him.
If he does not do this, he
is condemned to remain -
without the life-giving Lord
- as an atheist. But
not all "atheists" belong to
this category. Some
people, who were engulfed in
sin and carnal vices, had
denied God because faith
would have entailed
consequences in their
everyday behaviour (Proverbs
28:5, Psalms 13:1); whereas,
by denying Him or by
perceiving Him as distant -
as a Being that is not
concerned with man's life -
then they would be able to
quietly pursue their unruly
lives without the risk of
being checked for it.
The Lord "is found, by
those who do not test Him
and He reveals Himself to
those who do not disbelieve
in Him", says the
Wisdom of Solomon.
"...For crooked
thoughts separate from God,
and his power, when it is
tested, convicts the
foolish, because wisdom will
not enter a soul that plots
evil or reside in a body
involved in sin. For a holy
and disciplined spirit will
flee from deceit and depart
from senseless thoughts and
be ashamed when
unrighteousness approaches."
(Wisdom of Solomon 1:3-5 -
Septuagint)
The knowledge of God, therefore,
demands a cleanliness of
heart and a purity in
disposition. The
wicked man - just like the
devil, who is the
personification of every
wickedness and every
temptation - can never
attain the true knowledge of
God, as much as he may
search - even if he
memorizes the content of the
entire Holy Bible.
Characteristic of this point
is the second temptation of
Christ:
As we are informed by the
evangelist, the evil spirit
transports Christ to the
edge of the topmost point of
the Temple and says to Him:
"If
You are the Son of God,
throw Yourself down. For it
is written: ‘ He shall give
His angels charge over you,’
and,‘ In their hands they
shall bear you up, Lest you
dash your foot against a
stone." (Matth.4:6,
Psalms 90:11).
Here, Satan's intention was
not a pure one. Satan was
not seeking any personal
union with Christ - that is,
the true one, theognosy.
On the contrary, he sought
to lure the Lord into an
action that was wicked, as
it was not an action of
trust, love and obedience to
the Will of the Father.
It did not respond to the
divine plan; instead, it was
an attempt for His
subservience to Satan's
plan.
It was for this reason that
the Lord replied as follows:
"Again, it is written:
You shall not tempt the Lord
your God." (Matth.
4:7, Luke 4:12, Deut.6:16.
Cmp 1 Cor.10:9, Numb.21:5-6)
Thus, whoever does not begin
with a pure disposition will
never approach the divinity
of the Lord and will not be
able to become united with
Him - as much as he may
research, as much as he may
study the Holy Bible.
"My soul thirsted
for the living God. When
shall I come and appear to
the face of God?"
(Psalms 42:2)
The one who will yearn for
God with his soul and will
run like a thirsty deer to
the water springs (Psalms
42:1) - that is, to Christ
(John 4:10, 14, 7:37) - he
will receive the "living
water" (John 4:10).
The one who will try to
quench his thirst on his
own, will never achieve it.
"I shall give to the
one who thirsts, from the
spring of the water of life,
for free"
(Revel.21:6)
"And
let him who thirsts come.
Whoever desires, let him
take the water of life
freely"(Revel.22:17;
cmp.Isaiah 55,1).