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Christ Is in Our Midst, my dear readers!
We live in an age of the greatest triumph of human reason, and, at the same time, its deepest existential catastrophe. Today we turn our attention to the propetic words of the Apostle Paul: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22). In the Greek original, the word translated as “became fools” signifies not merely an intellectual mistake, but a total collapse of being—a state of mind that has outlived itself by losing contact with the very Source of Life.
St. John Chrysostom explains the mechanism of this tragedy: Madness begins where man abandons the straight path of Revelation and attempts to measure God by his own limited reason. It is an existential voyage into a moonless night across a storm-tossed ocean on the fragile raft of one’s ego. Instead of standing in sacred awe before Eternity—which the very book of nature proclaims—man becomes a craftsman, fashioning a convenient “pocket god” who obediently approves of his passions. St. Augustine of Hippo exposes the root of this disaster: pride. It is a metaphysical turning away from Divine Wisdom. And where the Light is extinguished, the ringing emptiness of non-being takes its place.
Ancient idolatry has changed its form, but not its essence. Today idols have moved from stone temples into the human mind. St. Theophan the Recluse brilliantly describes the culmination of this disease: the intellectual justification of a sinful way of life and its proclamation as a new “civilizational norm.” This is what those do who proudly rely upon “knowledge alone,” cutting themselves off from Divine Providence. They repeat the sin of Adam and Eve, deciding for themselves what is good and what is evil. If God’s commandment interferes with their comfort or political advantage, they reshape God according to their own desires, creating “progressive” theories: “The world has changed; we have become wiser.” But this is not progress—it is the capitulation of the spirit.
Yet the most painful wound is when this blindness strikes those who are called to be shepherds. St. Cyril of Alexandria warned against ministers who rely not on Scripture but on their own understanding. When a shepherd replaces the Living Tradition with political ambitions or accommodation to the spirit of the age, he becomes spiritually blind. He turns the pulpit into a platform for legitimizing sin or sowing division. Instead of preaching Christ Crucified, he preaches “the human, all too human.” His vestments remain sacred, but his heart becomes pagan.
St. Isidore of Pelusium reminds us that behind the outward “intellectual brilliance” of such false sages lies an existential emptiness. They are marked by inward cowardice concealed beneath outward arrogance. In the words of St. Isaac the Syrian, the measure of their self-confidence is also the measure of their hidden fear—fear of poverty, illness, and the opinion of the crowd. They have no experience of living trust in God. Another extreme, warned against by Vladimir Lossky, is that of the “Bible specialists” who, behind the dead letter of the text, fail to perceive the Breath of the Living God, reducing faith to a dry abstraction.
To preserve the purity of our hearts, the Church commands us to hold fast to the patristic Tradition. If the words of a pastor diverge from the experience of the Fathers, then no matter how modern they may seem, we must reject them. Our measure is Christ. Blessed Theophylact of Ohrid reminds us of a fundamental law of spiritual knowledge: Truth is known through faith. Reason is a great gift from God, but it must be the servant of faith, and not its judge.
Remember, before the mind is darkened, the heart is wounded. Purity of thought is the fruit of purity of life. If we live according to the commandments, cleansing ourselves through repentance, then, according to the words of the Savior, our eyes shall see God, and no false wisdom will be able to deceive us. Let us flee proud self-reliance, for “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Let us ask the Lord for simplicity of faith, strength of spirit, and true humility—the only path by which man may ascend to the genuine heights of the knowledge of God.
