Speaker 1: Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Nunciation
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an
Speaker 1: old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles
Speaker 1: and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,
Speaker 1: let's listen to this week's homily, the.
Speaker 2: Name of the Father and Son of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: Lord to Jesus Christ. I see if you wish, beloved
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters in Christ. On this second Sunday of
Speaker 2: great Land, we gather to honor the memory of Saint Gregory. Paulamas,
Speaker 2: the Archbishop of Thessalaminki Thessalonica, probably heard defender of the
Speaker 2: Holy Hesi Chasm and illuminate her of the Orthodox faith.
Speaker 2: The teachings of Saint Gregory pierced through the centuries, much
Speaker 2: like the uncreated light of Mount Tabar, and guide us
Speaker 2: through and toward the true knowledge of God and the
Speaker 2: path of salvation that has been prepared for us. Saint
Speaker 2: Gregory lived in a very troubled time when the very
Speaker 2: heart of the Orthodox spiritual life came under attack. A
Speaker 2: Latin monk named Varlam had journeyed to the Holy Mountain
Speaker 2: of Athos and had witnessed the monastics engaged in their
Speaker 2: ancient practice of inner prayer, of seeking stillness, experiencing God
Speaker 2: interceding for the world. Yet instead of marveling at their holiness,
Speaker 2: Barlam launched an attack on their very way of life.
Speaker 2: And what was his complaint? What did Varlom grasp on
Speaker 2: to attack these holy monks? While the monks had told
Speaker 2: him that in their prayer, some of them have been
Speaker 2: blessed to behold the uncreated light of Tabor, the same
Speaker 2: divine radiance that shone at the time of Christ's crucifixion,
Speaker 2: and Varlang denounced this as a heresy, declaring that no
Speaker 2: one can know the essence of God. And in his arrogance,
Speaker 2: he proclaimed that if these monks wished to truly know God,
Speaker 2: they should abandon their life of prayer and instead seek
Speaker 2: a formal education where they would study about God rather
Speaker 2: than encounter Him in their prayer. Now, this type of
Speaker 2: an approach, even though it took place early in the
Speaker 2: second millennium, sounds very much like the way people think
Speaker 2: about the faith today. The same temptation exists the world,
Speaker 2: and sadly, even some of those that call themselves Christian
Speaker 2: insists that knowledge of God comes through books, through degrees,
Speaker 2: through intellectual debate, internet apologies, rather than through purification of
Speaker 2: heart and communion with the living God. Saint Gregory rose
Speaker 2: up against the attacks of Barlan to defend the experential
Speaker 2: knowledge of God. He articulated with clarity the Orthodox teaching
Speaker 2: on God's essence and his energies, a distinction that said,
Speaker 2: the very foundation of the mystical theology of our faith.
Speaker 2: And listen carefully, because this is not mere philosophical speculation,
Speaker 2: but it is the key to understanding our relationship with
Speaker 2: divine God is unknowable in his essence, The actuality, the substance,
Speaker 2: what is God remains forever beyond our human comprehension. It
Speaker 2: is too great for our feeble minds to grasp. But
Speaker 2: in his infant love and mercy for his creation, God
Speaker 2: reveals himself to us through his energies. And these energies
Speaker 2: they are distinct from his essence. They are nonetheless God himself,
Speaker 2: not created, not separate, but the divine activity by which
Speaker 2: God makes himself present in his creation. Saint Gregory confirmed
Speaker 2: and expressed this mystery. Beautifully, God, inaccessible in his essence,
Speaker 2: is present in his energies he wrote, as in a mirror,
Speaker 2: remain invisible in what he is. In the same way
Speaker 2: that we're able to see our faces, they are themselves
Speaker 2: invisible to us. We can't see our own face, but
Speaker 2: it becomes seen through the glass, and that's how God
Speaker 2: reflects his own greatness and grace and energy back to us.
Speaker 2: These divine energies are the way in which we encounter
Speaker 2: the living God without violating the transcendence of his essence.
Speaker 2: Saint Gregory not only defended the theology in the very
Speaker 2: way of life that Barron attacked, the practice of inner stillness,
Speaker 2: of hesichastic prayer of purification over worldly learning. His reasoning
Speaker 2: strikes at the heart of what it means to be
Speaker 2: human and how we are saved. We were created in
Speaker 2: the image of God and called to grow into His likeness.
Speaker 2: But in the fall we lost our direction towards that likeness,
Speaker 2: and the divine image, though still present within us, became darkened.
Speaker 2: Became darkened. How then, do we restore this image? Can
Speaker 2: we study our way to purity? Can we read our
Speaker 2: way into holiness? No, because the image was darkened by sin.
Speaker 2: It is restored through the removal of that sin, through
Speaker 2: repentance through inner prayer, through the actual experience of God's
Speaker 2: grace transforming our hearts. And when we attain this inner prayer,
Speaker 2: cleanse from passion and united to God, then we truly
Speaker 2: again reflect back the image of God which was created
Speaker 2: within us. Saint Gregory pointed to the greatest example of
Speaker 2: this in Saint John, the Forerunner, he who was greater
Speaker 2: than all the poets from his youth. John lived in
Speaker 2: the desert where there were no schools, no libraries, no
Speaker 2: teachers of worldly wisdom, none of what Varlam called a
Speaker 2: saving philosophy. Yet this man, unschooled by worldly standards, became
Speaker 2: the very beacon pointing all humanity to God. You might ask,
Speaker 2: why does this ancient theological dispute from seven centuries back
Speaker 2: matter to us, simple non believers, theologians, just trying to
Speaker 2: live our life faithfully day by day in the modern world.
Speaker 2: Let me offer three compelling reasons why this was important. First,
Speaker 2: it was important so that we are not misled, because today,
Speaker 2: especially here in the West, there persists a dangerous belief
Speaker 2: that knowing God comes primarily through study. You read enough books,
Speaker 2: enough study Bibles, read all the footnotes, highlight all the
Speaker 2: things that are on the power points. Earn enough degrees
Speaker 2: and then you'll know God. It's whispering temptation to us.
Speaker 2: And this appeals to our culture's values, where we've been
Speaker 2: told that the education, the degree, the college is the
Speaker 2: most important thing. That where we've replaced, we've replaced exponential
Speaker 2: learning with formal training in every area of our life.
Speaker 2: Once the tradesmen learned through apprenticeship, now we have technical colleges.
Speaker 2: Once lawyers studied for the bar under practicing attorneys. Now
Speaker 2: they spend seven years in colleges in law schools. Once
Speaker 2: priests learned in the parishes and the monasteries. And today
Speaker 2: many jurisdictions demand a seminary education as a basis as
Speaker 2: an admission ticket to the priesthood. But did Christ share
Speaker 2: in these values. When the rich young ruler asked him
Speaker 2: what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Christ
Speaker 2: didn't send him off to study. He told him, sell
Speaker 2: your possessions, give to the poor, and follow me. Did
Speaker 2: our Lord choose the educated pharisees or the learned temple
Speaker 2: priests as apostles? Now he chose the common, the unschooled fisherman. Yes,
Speaker 2: Christ urged us to search the scriptures. But knowing Christ,
Speaker 2: knowing the Father, these are exponential realities, are not academic achievements.
Speaker 2: Remember the parable the Last Judgment that we read just
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago. When did we see Christ? When
Speaker 2: did we feed the hungry, clothing naked, visit the sick
Speaker 2: and the imprison It wasn't in the classroom. It was
Speaker 2: in the streets, in ministering to the least of our
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters. This is where we encounter Christ himself.
Speaker 2: Second reason that it's important to understand the exponential basis
Speaker 2: of our faith so that we understand what it means
Speaker 2: to be partakers of the divine nature. The Second Epistle
Speaker 2: of Peter offers us an astounding whereby are given unto
Speaker 2: us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye
Speaker 2: may be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the
Speaker 2: corruption that is in the world. What does this mean? Well,
Speaker 2: Saint Gregory's teaching illuminates this mystery. Our union with God
Speaker 2: is neither hypostatic like Christ's human nature unites to his divinity,
Speaker 2: nor is it substantial like the union of three persons
Speaker 2: in the Holy Trinity. Rather, it is this union of
Speaker 2: us with God in his energies, a union by grace
Speaker 2: that makes us able to participate into the divine nature
Speaker 2: without our essence becoming the essence of God. In deification,
Speaker 2: we become by grace that which God is by nature.
Speaker 2: Except for the identity of the nature itself. We remain
Speaker 2: creatures even while becoming gods by grace, just as Christ
Speaker 2: remain God while become a man in the incarnation. This
Speaker 2: is the stunning reality of our calling. That divine nature
Speaker 2: has been promised to us, we experience it in the
Speaker 2: grace of God. Finally, this distincish is importance so that
Speaker 2: we recognize God when he reveals himself to us. Understanding
Speaker 2: the essence and the energies distinction helps us recognize our
Speaker 2: daily encounters with God. We know God in his creation
Speaker 2: the sun, the wind, the clouds, and the stars. These
Speaker 2: things are not God's essence, but they are the energies
Speaker 2: of God. There means by which God has revealed himself
Speaker 2: to us. We encounter God in love. When we love
Speaker 2: one another, we experience the love of God himself. For
Speaker 2: God is the author and the creator of love. Love
Speaker 2: isn't tangible or analyzable. You can't put it in a laboratory.
Speaker 2: But when you encounter true love, you encounter the uncreated
Speaker 2: God and foremost grace itself is an energy of God.
Speaker 2: We receive it in countless ways, and the forgiveness granted,
Speaker 2: and confession absolution in our prayers and our reconciliation with
Speaker 2: one another. Certainly, when we partake of the Holy communion,
Speaker 2: after the gifts of bread and wine have been transformed
Speaker 2: into the body and the bood of Christ through the
Speaker 2: grace of the Holy Spirit, we partake of the divine nature. Indeed,
Speaker 2: this is the energy of God communicating his grace to us.
Speaker 2: Through the holy mysteries, we encounter God and his energies
Speaker 2: far more than we realize, And in each encounter with
Speaker 2: these energies, we are encountering God himself. Brothers and sisters,
Speaker 2: as we continue our Lenten journey, let us embrace the
Speaker 2: wisdom of Saint Gregory Paul Mass. Let us not be
Speaker 2: deceived into thinking that knowing about God is the same
Speaker 2: as knowing God. Let us commit ourselves to the hard
Speaker 2: work of purification, fasting, prayer, almsgiving, forgiveness, love for a brother,
Speaker 2: love for enemy. Let us approach the divine services not
Speaker 2: as spectators or students, but as participants in the divine
Speaker 2: energies that are poured out through these sacred mysteries. Let
Speaker 2: us not seek merely information or transformation. Let us strive
Speaker 2: not for academic mastery, but for purity of heart. For
Speaker 2: blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Speaker 2: And now, as we depart from this divine lidergy, let
Speaker 2: us give thanks to God for having revealed himself to us,
Speaker 2: and his energies for showering us with his grace. May
Speaker 2: we be ever mindful of our encounters with Him who
Speaker 2: created all, and may we buy his grace, And, through
Speaker 2: the intercessions of Saint Gregory Paulmouth, progress from the image
Speaker 2: the likeness of God, becoming true partakers a divine nature.
Speaker 2: For the prayers Holy Fathers Gregory Palmas, Our special Essuathi,
Speaker 2: Old Lord Jesus Christ, Our God, have mercy in us
Speaker 2: and save us. Amen.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Hill Country Homilies. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation, Tx
Speaker 1: dot com and please join us again next week