July 18, 1999
To Those Who Think to be
Justified by Deeds
Today we
study some of the many writings of St. Mark the Ascetic, one of the most famous Egyptian
Desert Fathers. Little is known of the circumstances of his life, but we do know that
Palladius knew him personally, that he lived to be over a hundred years old, and that he
died at the beginning of the fifth century. St. Mark studied the Scriptures from his youth
so much that he eventually learned both the Old and New Testaments by heart. He reached a
very high degree of spiritual perfection in his life, teaching and writing extensively.
Unfortunately, only a few of his writings have survived to this day.
Today we will look at excerpts from "To Those Who Think to be
Justified by Deeds," in which St. Mark explains the relationship between faith and
deeds and deeds alone are not enough for salvation.
BEGIN: Wishing to show that, although every commandment is
obligatory, none the less it is by His blood that sonship is granted to men, the Lord
says: "When you have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10). Thus
the kingdom of heaven is not a reward for deeds, but a gift of the Lord prepared for
faithful servants.
-- "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures"
(I Corinthians 15:3), and He grants freedom to those who serve Him well. For He says:
"Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I
will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the Lord" (Matthew
25:23).
-- He is not yet a faithful servant who bases himself on bare
knowledge alone; a faithful servant is he who professes his faith by obedience to Christ,
Who gave the commandments.
-- He who reveres the Lord does what is commanded, and if he
commits some sin or disobeys Him, endures whatever he has to suffer for this as being his
desert.
-- If you love knowledge, love also work, for bare knowledge puffs
a man up.
-- Knowledge without corresponding practice is still insecure, even
if it is true. All is made firm by practice.
-- He who wants to do something and cannot is, in the eyes of God
who sees our hearts, as though he has done it. This should be understood as being so in
relation to good and evil alike.
-- Some think they believe rightly, while not practising the
commandments; others, while practising them, expect the kingdom as a just reward. Both sin
against truth.
-- We who have been granted the bath of eternal life do good works
not for the sake of reward, but to preserve the purity which was given us.
-- Every good deed we perform by our own natural powers, although
it removes us further from the (evil deed) opposed to it, cannot make us holy without
grace.
-- The abstinent withdraws from gluttony, the uncovetous from
covetousness, the silent from wordiness, the pure from attachment to sensory pleasures,
the chaste from fornication, he who is content with what he has from love of money, the
meek from agitation (anger), the humble from vanity, the obedient from objection, he who
is honest with himself from hypocrisy; equally, he who prays withdraws from despair, the
willing pauper from acquisitiveness, he who professes his faith from denying it, the
martyr from idolatry – so you see that each virtue, performed even unto death, is
nothing but withdrawal from sin; and withdrawal from sin is a natural action, not an
action which could be rewarded by the kingdom.
-- When the mind forgets the purpose of piety, then visible works
of virtue become useless.
-- He who does good and seeks a reward works not for God but for
his own desire.
-- Some say that we can do nothing good until we actively receive
the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is not true.
-- To him who has been baptised into Christ grace has been
mysteriously given already. But it acts in proportion to his fulfilment of commandments.
Although this grace never ceases to help us in secret, it lies in our power to do or not
to do good according to our own will.
-- In the first place, it fittingly arouses conscience, through
which even evil-doers have been accepted by God when they repented.
-- Again, it may be concealed in the advice of a brother. Sometimes
it follows thought during reading and teaches its truth to the mind by means of a natural
deduction (from that thought). Thus, if we do not bury this talent bestowed upon us on
these and similar occasions, we shall in truth enter into the joy of the Lord.
-- If you will keep in mind that, according to the Scriptures, the
Lord’s "judgments are in all the earth" (Psalms 104:7), then every event
will teach you knowledge of God.
-- If, according to the scriptures, the cause of all that is
involuntary lies in what is voluntary, no one is a man’s greater enemy than himself.
-- If you wish to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth,
always urge yourself to rise above sensory things and to cling with hope to God alone.
Thus compelling yourself to turn inwards, you will meet principalities and powers, which
wage war against you by suggestions in thoughts. If you overcome them by prayer and remain
in good hope, you will receive Divine grace, which will free you from the wrath to come.
END
from "Early Fathers From the Philokalia," trans.
by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1981), pp. 86 - 90.
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