February 4, 2001
"Directions
on the Spiritual Life -- Part V"
Abba Dorotheus
In this issue we will conclude our study on the
teachings of Abba Dorotheus of Gaza, one of my own personal favorites
among the Desert Fathers. Abba Dorotheus lived at the end of the sixth
and beginning of the seventh centuries. As a wealthy young man, he was
an ardent student of the secular sciences and was quite well educated by
the standards of his day. After completing his secular education, Abba
Dorotheus lived for a while near his birthplace, not far from the
monastery of Abba Serid, located in either Ashkalon or Gaza. He soon
made contact with Abba Barsanuphius and Abba John and became a ardent
student of their teachings. He soon became convinced to renounce
everything and take monastic vows in Abba Serid's monastery. Abba
Dorotheus soon completed his monastic education under Barsanuphius and
John and served in the monastery's hospice and infirmary. After Abba
Serid and Abba John died, and the great Barsanuphius shut himself up
completely in his cell, renouncing all contact with the outside world,
Abba Dorotheus left the monastery and became the abbot of another
monastery. It was at this point in his life that Abba Dorotheus began to
deliver homilies to his disciples -- 21 in all -- which were preserved
and passed on to us by his followers. The date of his death is not
known.
Next week, we will begin a multi-part series from
St. Isaac of Syria. Together, the teachings of these two great spiritual
fathers of the Early Church provide us with the guidance we need to
start a new commitment to growing spiritually in the weeks and months
ahead. Today's study focuses on presumptuousness.
BEGIN:
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PRESUMPTUOUSNESS
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26. Presumptuousness may have many forms; one may
be presumptuous by word, gesture, or look. It may lead a man to chatter,
to worldly talk, to doing something ridiculous, provoking others to
unseemly mirth. It is presumptuousness, too, if a man touches another
without need, points at someone who is laughing, pushes him, snatches
something out of his hands, shamelessly stares at him; all this is the
work of presumptuousness, all this comes of having no fear of God in the
soul and so little by little a man becomes utterly careless. Therefore
God, when He gave the commandments of the law, said, "Ye shall
cause the children of Israel to beware of their uncleannesses"
(Leviticus 15:31), for without reverence and modesty man cannot honor
even God Himself, nor can he keep a single commandment. Hence nothing is
more harmful than presumptuousness; it is the mother of all passions,
since it banishes reverence, drives the fear of God away from the soul,
and gives birth to carelessness.
28. Over whatever you have to do, even if it be
very urgent and demands great care, I would not have you argue or be
agitated. For rest assured, everything you do, be it great or small, is
but one eighth of the problem, whereas to keep one's state undisturbed
even if thereby one should fail to accomplish the task, is the other
seven eighths. So if you are busy at some task and wish to do it
perfectly, try to accomplish it -- which, as I said, would be one eighth
of the problem, and at the same time to preserve your state unharmed --
which constitutes seven eighths. If, however, in order to accomplish
your task you would inevitably be carried away and harm yourself or
another by arguing with him, you should not lose seven for the sake of
preserving one eighth.
29. The wise Solomon says in the Proverbs,
"They that have no guidance fall like leaves: but in counsel there
is safety" (Proverbs 11:14). So you see what the Holy Scriptures
teach us? They enjoin us not to rely on ourselves, not to regard
ourselves as knowing all, not to believe that we can control ourselves,
for we need help, are in need of those who would counsel us according to
God. No men are more unfortunate or nearer perdition than those who have
no teachers on the way of God. For what does it mean that where no
guidance is, the people fall like leaves? A leaf is at first green,
flourishing, beautiful; then it gradually withers, falls and is finally
trampled underfoot. So is it with a man who has no guide; at first he is
always zealous in fasting, vigil, silence, obedience and other virtues;
then his zeal little by little cools down and, having no one to
instruct, support and fire him with zeal, he insensibly withers, falls
and finally becomes a slave of the enemies, who do with him what they
will.
30. Of those who revel their thoughts and actions
and who do everything with counsel the Wise One says, "in much
counsel there is safety" (Proverbs 9:14). He does not say, "in
the counsels of many" that is, in seeking counsel from everyone,
but in seeking counsel in all things -- naturally from one we trust; and
not in such a way as to tell one thing and conceal another, but to
reveal everything and seek counsel in all things. For such a man, safety
is assured "in much counsel."
31. When we do not reveal our thoughts and
intentions and do not seek the counsel of the experienced, we hold on to
our own will and follow our own justifications. Then, apparently doing
something good, we spread nets for ourselves, and so without realizing
it we perish. For how can we understand the will of God or completely
surrender ourselves to it, when we trust ourselves and cling to our own
will? Therefore Abba Pimen said that "our will is a brass wall
between man and God."
32. The devil trips up as he likes the man who
trusts his own mind and keeps to his own will. But he has no access to a
man who does everything with counsel. That is why he hates questions and
the guidance in response, hates the very voice, the very sound of such
words. Is it not clear why? Because he knows that his evil wiles will at
once be exposed when people begin to ask questions and talk of useful
things. And there is nothing he fears more than being exposed, for then
he can no longer be wily as he wills. When a man asks and hears the
advice of someone experienced, "do this, but do not do that"
or, "now is not the time for that" or sometimes "now is
the time," the devil cannot find how to harm or bring him down,
since he always seeks counsel and protects himself on all sides. So the
saying "in much counsel there is safety" is fulfilled for him.
33. The enemy likes those who rely on their own
understanding, for they help him and sets traps for themselves. I know
of no other way for a monk to fall than when he trusts his own heart.
Some say a man falls because of this or that, but I know of no other
fall except when a man follows his own lead. If you see a man fallen,
know that he followed his own lead. Nothing is more dangerous, nothing
more pernicious than this. END
from E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer, "Early
Fathers from the Philokalia," (London: Faber and Faber, 1981),
pp. 160 - 163
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