What Guided People Before the Commandments of God?

What is the expression of moral law in different religious systems? How universal is it, and how does it differ from Christian morality? Why is it that sometimes those who have embraced Orthodoxy seem more immoral than unbelievers or followers of other faiths? All these questions are addressed in the writings of St. Nikolai of Serbia (Velimirović). His views are presented in an article by Archpriest Viktor Vasilevich, professor at the Minsk Theological Seminary.

Photo: wikimedia.org In his book “The Word on the Law,” St. Nikolai of Serbia presents a conversation between St. Seraphim of Sarov and the scholar Archimandrite Macarius,¹ rector of a seminary. From this dialogue between two remarkable 19th-century figures, St. Nikolai outlines three distinct eras in the history of mankind: childhood, youth, and maturity. Humanity’s childhood lasted until the Law, youth occurred under the Law, and when the time of maturity came, God sent His Only Begotten Son.²

Speaking about the first period, St. Nikolai quotes St. John Cassian: “What guided people before the commandments of God? On what basis did they create their laws without having the Law? How could Abel be righteous? How did he know to offer a sacrifice to God from the firstlings of his flock (Genesis 4:4)? How did Noah distinguish between clean and unclean animals? How did Shem and Japheth know it was shameful to uncover their father’s nakedness? How did Abraham know he should give Melchizedek a tithe of all? Who told him to refuse the spoils after defeating the Gentiles? Who taught him hospitality? What taught Job humility, patience, chastity, and love for mankind? How is it that none of the righteous of that time violated the Law?”³

To these questions, St. Nikolai answers: “Conscience—that is the answer to all these questions. The Law of God was imprinted in the souls of men even before the written Law. Those who carried the Law within themselves had no need of an external law.”⁴ He confirms this with the words of the Apostle Paul: For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness… (Romans 2:14–15). Thus, conscience was the guardian of the Law before the Law.

Reflecting on various religions, St. Nikolai of Serbia explains that man, made in the image of God, even after the coming of the Son of God, still has the ability to know God’s will through the conscience.⁵ Moreover, the Serbian saint emphasizes the universality of the moral law: “There is only one law—the moral law,” he writes in Nomology. “What people call natural or physical laws are not really laws, but symbols of the moral law.”⁶ He even sees evidence of this law in the animal world, where creatures demonstrate self-sacrifice contrary to their instincts: “Wild beasts often rise above the instinct of self-preservation and show remarkable examples of self-sacrifice. A lion doesn’t eat its prey alone but shares it with the lioness and cubs. A hungry eagle carries food to its eaglets. Both expose themselves to danger while protecting their young. These acts cannot be explained by the law of self-preservation. They are instinctive, semi-conscious, or even conscious acts of sacrifice for others. This is a giving up of one’s own good and life for the sake of others.”⁷ If animals are capable of such love and sacrifice, then even more so should man, who is made in the image of God, rise above his base instincts in obedience to God’s law.

According to St. Nikolai, each nation has developed its own unique original experience in relation to life.⁸ For example, the truth expressed by Lao Tzu, “Good can never be achieved through evil,”⁹ is called by the saint one of the most beautiful truths.¹⁰ Therefore, to claim that Eastern wisdom is irrelevant to Christianity is, in his view, a mistake.¹¹ He writes that even Eskimos have something to teach the peoples of the Ganges and Nile, and the descendants of Buddha, Ramses, Moses, and Hammurabi may offer insights unknown to those in the frozen regions of Northern Canada. In this, the saint sees great benefit for science, faith, ethics, sociology, and the arts. However, he warns that this is still “the wisdom of this world”,¹² which, in his words, can “fit inside a walnut shell.”¹³ Though it may be created by great minds, it remains human wisdom, and not revealed Truth.¹⁴

Because truth exists only in the Orthodox Church, true morality, he asserts, can also exist only in the Orthodox Church. In his Missionary Letters, the Serbian bishop writes: “Just as a river is connected to its source, and light to the sun, so true morality is connected to faith. Just as there is no other science about man, about the meaning of human life, and about morality outside of Orthodox teaching, so there can be no true morality apart from Orthodoxy.”¹⁵

Because of this, the holy bishop St. Nikolai of Serbia firmly opposed the Theosophical idea that truth is scattered among all religions, philosophies, and mysteries. Adherents of this idea claimed that Christianity contains only a part of the truth, just as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or the teachings of Plato and Aristotle do, along with Tibetan tantras¹⁶ and mantras.¹⁷ “If that were actually the case,” says St. Nikolai, “then the ship of humanity, without hope, without a captain or a compass, would drift aimlessly across the dark ocean of life.”¹⁸ Therefore, in order to attain true moral excellence, one must be within the true Church, and “one cannot equate the truth with half-truths and lies.”¹⁹

At the same time, according to St. Nikolai’s teaching, every human being, being made in the image of God, has the potential to know God’s will, “relying on his life experience, intellect, and conscience.”²⁰ He writes in Conversations: “When a materialist enters into nature to study and interpret it, only one candle burns before him: reason. When a Jew enters into nature to study and interpret it, two candles burn: reason and the Old Testament revelation.”²¹ But for the Christian, in the work of knowing God, five candles burn: “Reason, Old Testament revelation, New Testament revelation, the Church, and the power of the Holy Spirit.”²²

Pagans, he says, are like a person with a single small candle²³—conscience and reason. Therefore, even in pagan errors, a rational seed can sometimes be found.²⁴ In his book, The Only Lover of Mankind, St. Nikolai affirms: “There is no religion on earth that does not in some way acknowledge the influence of the heavenly realm on earthly affairs.”²⁵ And in his earlier work, Thoughts on Good and Evil, he writes, “All nations since the beginning of the world have clearly felt that man must be freed from sin, but that he cannot free himself from sin.”²⁶ This inner conviction led people to seek deliverance from sin through sacrifices, which, when misused, only deepened man’s enslavement to sin.

St. Nikolai also draws attention to the fact that people outside the God-revealed religion had confused and crude ideas about the Holy Trinity. For example, in ancient Egypt, the trinity was imagined as a family consisting of a father, mother, and son.²⁷ But in this “divine” family, united by carnal love, Osiris and Isis give birth to Horus, whom Osiris himself kills—thus this monstrous marriage ends in tragedy.²⁸ In India, they believed (and still believe) in the Trimurti—a triad of supreme gods, one of whom, Shiva, a devil-like destroyer, works against the creative acts of Vishnu and Brahma.²⁹

The ancient Greeks, as the saint notes, “guided by human wisdom,”³⁰ were sometimes able to sense the nearness of God and rise in spirit to the idea of a single God.³¹ The same kind of spiritual ascent produced towering figures such as Patanjali³² in India, the Sufi mystics of Persia, and Plotinus³³ among the Romans.³⁴ However, even when belief in one God began to flicker, there always arose an opposing force—a god of immorality and destruction, a villain and hater of mankind, whom people believed they must appease through sacrifices. In India, this was Shiva, the god of destruction, who was accepted as an equal member of the triad. In Egypt, Osiris and Isis quarrel due to the crime committed against Horus. In Greece, Zeus often appears powerless against a horde of immoral, misbehaving deities and barely manages to stay in power, scheming within the unruly “Olympian gypsy camp.” In Persia, Ormuzd fights a bitter war against his dark counterpart, Ahriman. In Syria, the monstrous god Moloch insatiably devours human sacrifices. Across the American continents and the islands of the Pacific, deities of a similar nature were worshipped with similarly bloodthirsty appetites. A common thread among pagan cultures was the deification of serpents. The fallen angel, who appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent, was allowed by God to impose himself as a deity upon the human race. He taught mankind magic and sorcery, and being humiliated himself, did all he could to humiliate both God and man.³⁵

And yet, the same “candle” of reason and conscience, whether shining clearly or dimly, also preserved the hope of a coming Savior, even among non-Christian religions. For example: Brahmanism³⁶ always taught that Shiva, the second person of the triad in ancient Hinduism, occasionally appears in human form to guide people on the true path.³⁷ Interestingly, the Greek historian Herodotus,³⁸ records that among the early Babylonian priests there existed a prophecy that an innocent Virgin would give the world a Savior.³⁹

Six hundred years before Christ, Buddha⁴⁰ also foretold the coming of a Savior. As he lay dying, he revealed⁴¹ to his disciples the name of the one to come: “Metiya,” meaning “He whose name is Mercy.”⁴²

By the light of this same spiritual lamp, people of various religions also had a premonition of life after death. In his book, I Believe, St. Nikolai writes: “Ancient poets and philosophers spoke of the sorrow of the soul in Hades, in half-darkness, in half-life. The Egyptians anointed dead bodies with balsams and resins to preserve them for another life. The idea of life after death and a Judgment of Truth, which earthly life did not always deliver, seemed to the unclouded human conscience not only natural but necessary.”⁴³

This expectation of the Last Judgment taught people to value good deeds above eloquent words. St. Nikolai recounts an episode from ancient Athens: An old man once walked through a public assembly, looking for a place to sit. The Athenians mocked him and refused to yield their seats. But when he approached the Spartans, who were also present, they all rose at once and offered him their places. To the praise of the Athenians, the Spartans replied: “The Athenians know what good is—but they do not do it.”⁴⁴ St. Nikolai identifies the belief that the soul is not dust, nor made of dust, but is a distinct, immortal being housed within the body, as the central idea of all Indian wisdom.⁴⁵

Conscience and reason, he teaches, helped people recognize that the elements of nature and the fate of nations were linked to human behavior and morality.⁴⁶ The Serbian Chrysostom supports this with examples from classical Greek poetry. According to Homer,⁴⁷ Plutarch, Aeschylus, and Sophocles, the Greeks attributed to their gods absolute authority over nature and over the events of both individual and collective life.⁴⁸

For instance, when there was famine, failed crops, dead livestock, or even miscarriages, these were not blamed on nature or its laws, but considered the consequence of human sin.⁴⁹

In Sophocles’⁵⁰ Oedipus Rex, a priest laments to the king:

“Our city—you see it for yourself—is shaken
By a terrible storm and cannot
Lift its head from the bloody waves.
Young crops wither in the earth,
Livestock perish; and children die
In the wombs of their mothers...
A deadly plague has struck and torments the city.”

In response, King Oedipus reminds him of the unresolved crime against his father and the unknown murderer, saying that all these disasters have occurred because “The city is burdened with bloodguilt.”⁵¹

In Antigone, Sophocles speaks of the unyielding laws of God, whose essence is not physical, but moral, and to which one must submit more fully than to human laws.

When the tyrant King Creon forbids the mourning and burial of Antigone’s brother, she defies the edict and buries him, as required by sacred custom. When Creon has her arrested and brought for questioning, Antigone boldly replies:

“I did not believe that your decree had such power
That you, a mortal, could override the unwritten,
Unshakable laws of the gods.
For they are not of yesterday or today,
But eternal; and no one knows when they appeared.
Fearing the wrath of man,
I would not answer to the gods for such disobedience.”⁵²

The courageous young woman was not afraid even of death. Later, having repented, Creon exclaims:

“I have learned this much:
One must live
Always honoring
The law that was established from eternity.”⁵³

Another pagan sage, Aeschylus,⁵⁴ in his play Agamemnon, through the mouths of his characters, teaches that if warriors desire to achieve victory and return safely home, they must not stain themselves with plunder and looting.⁵⁵

In general, when reflecting on morality among non-Christian peoples, St. Nikolai of Ohrid arrives at the conclusion that every culture is inherently religious. As evidence, he cites the myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and taught it to mankind. This symbolizes the necessity of divine fire and religious inspiration in any form of societal existence.⁵⁶ At the same time, he emphasizes that art and culture of any era have no value in and of themselves—their value depends on the deity they serve.⁵⁷

His views on Islam are also of interest. He refers to the faith of Muhammad as one of the relatively higher religions. And although it does not accept the doctrine of God as the Holy Trinity,⁵⁸ moral law is nonetheless affirmed throughout the Qur’an.

For example, in Surah 29, the Great Flood is not portrayed as a random accident or as a natural phenomenon, but as a consequence of mankind’s sins against the moral law: “And indeed, We sent Noah to his people, and he dwelt among them a thousand years less fifty. Then the flood overtook them in their wrongdoing. But We saved him and those with him in the ship, and We made it a sign for the worlds.”⁵⁹

In Surah 7, we read about divine judgment in war: “And how many a city have We destroyed! And when Our punishment came upon them, they cried out: ‘Indeed, we were wrongdoers.’”⁶⁰ This same idea continues in Surah 10: “We destroyed generations before you when they wronged, and their messengers had come to them with clear proofs, but they did not believe. Thus We recompense the guilty people.”⁶¹

Surah 11 teaches that earthquakes do not happen by chance or the whims of nature, but in accordance with God’s holy moral law, as a punishment and a sign to mankind.⁶²

Even rain, according to Surah 39, is not the product of clouds or natural causes, but is given by the will of the living and only God. “If you were to ask them, ‘Who sends down rain from the sky and gives life thereby to the earth after its death?’ They would surely say, ‘God.’ Say: Praise be to God... Do they not know that God expands provision for whom He wills and restricts it? Indeed, in that are signs for a people who believe.”⁶³

Regarding children, Surah 42 says: “Who gives children—flesh or Spirit? Surely the Spirit, by means of flesh, for flesh alone, without Spirit, is dust and decay. God is the Sovereign of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He gives to whom He wills daughters, and to whom He wills, sons. Or He joins them together in marriage, and whom He wills He makes barren.”⁶⁴

The foundation of Hinduism is the doctrine of karma,⁶⁵ which has moral implications. According to St. Nikolai, karma is the sum total of a person’s deeds—good and evil—which determines the course of their future life, including the happiness or misfortunes they will encounter. Thus, a servant or beggar who has lived an honorable life may be reborn as a rich man, a prince, or a teacher, while a cruel and oppressive rich man may be reborn as a monkey, a parrot, an elephant, a tiger, or a serpent. Each person is reborn in the body that most closely corresponds to their moral level from a previous life. This teaching is found throughout the Vedas and is central to all of Buddhism.⁶⁶

According to the Serbian Chrysostom, one of the fundamental distinctions between Christianity and all other religions is that before Christ, the world did not know sacrificial love. For many centuries, service was considered a terrible burden, and suffering was thought to be even worse.⁶⁷ St. Nikolai reminds us that Plato died from illness⁶⁸—he never sacrificed himself for anyone.⁶⁹ Pagan peoples, although they used the word “love,” meant it only in terms of carnal, marital, familial, or tribal affection. Even the words of Socrates and Plato about love were nothing more than poetic dreams.⁷⁰

Islam, he points out, does not countenance the teaching of God as the Holy Trinity, which is clearly expressed by the inscription on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem: “O you who believe, know that Allah has no son.”⁷¹ Thus, nowhere in the Qur’an is there a mention of God’s love.⁷² As a result, the Qur’an promises reward to those who persecute unbelievers. In contrast, in the Christian faith, the Lord promises reward to those who are persecuted:⁷³ Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10). Muhammad only spoke of a God distant from mankind—sometimes just, sometimes merciful. All that remains of Muhammad today is a lock of his beard, which is still venerated in Medina⁷⁴ as a relic.⁷⁵

Buddha, meanwhile, developed a doctrine that denied the value of love altogether, seeing it as unnecessary and even harmful. He strove to uproot even the smallest sprouts of affection for anything or anyone, whether on earth or in heaven. According to Buddha, as long as a person is tied by love—whether to humans, gods, or creation—his soul must be reborn again and again in different bodies. But when a person dries up the very root of love within the heart, then he will no longer be reborn, but will enter nirvana—that is, nonexistence, nothingness. This, according to Gautama Buddha, is the only true happiness. Buddha died in old age, reportedly after accidentally swallowing a bone, and he, too, never sacrificed himself for anyone. All that remains of him is a single tooth, which is still preserved on the island of Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka).⁷⁶

To be continued…