Reading does not equal expert...especially in the spiritual life

In our democratic society, everyone can claim to be an expert simply because they read something once on the subject.  I have no objection people to reading and becoming informed but to claim expert status in debate because of something they once read is laughable.  A humorous instance of this same phenomenon occurred fairly recently when Barack Obama said he knew more about Judaism than any other President because he has read about it.  If you  missed this story, you can read about it here.

Now, I'm a fairly well read person.  What am I an expert on?  Well, I teach Greek and Latin so I can say those areas with confidence.  I'm also an expert in Late Antiquity as that was the area of my post-graduate work, concentrating on the Latin West, though recently my emphases have shifted to the Greek East and the Eastern Roman Empire up to its fall.  But, I am no expert on the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.  I wouldn't claim to be.  I can hold a rational discussion on the subject.  I have also read a lot about economics, even took a few classes in my college years and I probably know more about it than most journalists who write about the "debt crisis" in Europe and here, but I will not claim expert status.

Where am I going with this?  When I was received and chrismated into the Orthodox Church, I went through the catechism classes with my priest.  During that time I read a lot.  I'm a natural reader anyway so it wasn't a big deal.  I'm pretty sure that I also read more than most other catechumens do, but that's just the kind of person I am.  My priest was always recommending books to the people in the class.  Even when I attended a few of the catechism classes years later just to get a "refresher" my priest was still always recommending books to read and directing me, as bookstore manager, to make sure that we had these books available for purchase.  Rarely, if ever, did I ever hear my priest encourage catechumens to come and pray at Vespers or Orthros.  They came for Liturgy, which is important, but as my priest has told me in private conversation, people would know their faith so much better and practice it so much better if they would also come to Vespers and Orthros. Why he rarely brought this up I do not know.  Maybe he was afraid that it would appear as if he was "forcing them to go."  Again, I don't know.

When I'm invited to gatherings of parishioners, most of whom are about my age and are converts, we inevitably talk about the Orthodox Faith.  I suppose that's the zealousness which still lurks in us when we were catechumens and remains even after we were chrismated. That discussion usually centers around what books have been recently read or what podcasts have been listened to.  My thoughts are, "OK, you have this knowledge. Now what are you going to do with it?"  I can only imagine what would be the response if I actually posed that question?  "What are you going to do with this knowledge that you have acquired from this book?"

Such a question leads me back to something I have asked before on this blog: Is it more important to understand the Liturgy or to live the Liturgy?  I think most people would agree with me that it is the latter--to live the liturgy.  But, of course, detractors would say "How can you live the liturgy when you understand" which is new rendition of the old medieval contention:  Do I believe to understand (credo ut intellegam) which represents the Augustinian view or do I understand to believe (intellego ut creadam) which represents the Abelard view? 

I know people who can dissect the entire Liturgy and get into the Scriptural basis for each of the prayers or the historicity of them, but then they confess that they can never truly pray or they have difficulty doing so.  Many of these same people have been coming to Liturgy for a great while and still need the pew books to help them through the sequence.  They've got the Liturgy in their head, but it seems to be making a slow journey to the heart.

Don't get me wrong: I have no objections to people reading about the Orthodox faith.  But you can only truly know the Orthodox faith by experiencing it and living it and that starts by praying it.  I think we do a great disservice, especially for our catechumens, by systematizing the theology of the Orthodox church into book form and hoping that the prayer aspect will naturally take care of itself.  They may be great readers of Orthodoxy, but you hardly see them at Liturgy let alone the offices of Vespers or Orthros. I honestly have no idea how other priests do catechesis so my observations may be an anomaly.  What is the goal of catechesis then?  Is it to produce Orthodox experts or Orthodox faithful?  Should we know the whys and whens of the pronouncement, "Let us commend ourselves and each other and all our life unto Christ our God" or should we actually do that?  I know that Orthodoxy is supposed to be a both/and phenomenon, but I think in this case an either/or approach may be better.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Knowledge

Christ is Born! Glorify Him! I sincerely hope all of you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year and let us all give thanks and praise to the one who was incarnate for our sakes to break us from the bondage of the evil one!

Last Sunday was the Sunday of Genealogy in the Eastern Rite, where we read Christ's genealogy according to Matthew. The reading serves as proof that the babe that was born in a manger or cave in the city of Bethlehem was not an angel, nor ambassador, nor God in mere appearance of a man, but God AS man. God has human ancestors and a human mother though no human father. Sinners are in this list of genealogy yet God did humble Himself and was born of a virgin and from a line of great murders, adulterers, thieves, traitors and harlots. God comes to dwell among us sinners and has come from a line of sinners. So much for God being a blue blooded, country club member, Republican! (Sorry for the politics!)

And last night, at the Royal Hours of Nativity and the Matins Vigil, we heard the Gospels again about Christ coming into this world as a real human baby. We hear of shepherds and and magi from Persia and angels giving glory to the newborn king. We hear of Mary who gives praise in her Magnificat to God that she would bear a son, though a virgin and then cherishing the gifts of the magi and shepherds. But what do we hear about Joseph? Not a word.

If roles were assigned in a church Christmas Program, I think that the only role worse than that of a shepherd (from the perspective of speaking parts; In a "Charlie Brown Christmas, Shermy resents that every year he has to play a shepherd!) would be Joseph. There is not one single recorded word of St. Joseph in the Scriptures. Make no mistake, he DOES a lot. He is responsible for ensuring that Mary suffers no disgrace and marries her despite being pregnant outside of marriage and for ensuring that Christ is protected from the murdering jealousy of King Herod and raises the Christ as his own though he knows the child is clearly not his. But he is silent. Yet, he does all these things because, as the epistle lesson from the Galatians at the Third Royal Hour proclaims, of his faith. St. Joseph is the epitome of faith.

Despite his overwhelming silence, in the Royal Hours, there are several idiomela hymns where the hymnographers have given Joseph some speeches. Of course, these are elaborations and such is intrinsic to Byzantine hymnography. He laments the shame that he will incur from Mary's pre-marital pregnancy. Still, it his actions and his faith that allow us a glimpse into the whole person of St. Joseph. He takes Mary as his wife and when she gives birth, we read that familiar line that "Joseph did not know Mary until she had given birth to her son." (Matt. 1:24-5).

(Now this verse is often caught in the cross hairs of the debate of Mary as semper virgo. We will not go into that here, though I would point out, very clearly, that those who do not regard Mary as an ever virgin have the onus to prove otherwise. The teaching of Mary as semper virgo has nearly 2000 years of teaching and preaching ascribed to it whereas those who deny it have only been around for 200 years or so and are tainted by a suprarationalism which, in effect, denies that anyone can exist without sexual drives.)

The verb in Greek to know is gignoskein. In the Greek language just as in King James Version English, the word "know" can also be used as a synonym or euphemism to describe sexual intercourse. But why must this verse always be read only in this context? What if we read, in this passage, a journey of Joseph that progresses from faith to knowledge? When Mary gave birth to the Incarnate Word of God, the Emmanuel "God with us", he then realized who she was because of who her Son was. Though ashamed and confused and heartbroken to hear of Mary's pregnant state, he still, by faith, overcame those and protected her and her Son. The knowledge that the Son of God was born from her and confirmed the faithful acts which he had performed. Knowledge is born of the faith.

There is an old Augustinian catchphrase, "Credo ut intellegam" which means "I believe so that I may understand." In the later Middle Ages, some theologians disputed that and reversed it saying "Intellego ut credam" which means "I understand so that I may believe." This was their version of the chicken and the egg! Which comes first--a faith that breeds understanding or a knowledge that allows us to see everything through faith? If St. Joseph is to be used as a type or exemplar, I say that Augustine was right. We believe in order to understand. St. Joseph did all those acts, believed and was lead by his faith and, as a result, truly knew who his wife was from the birth of her Son, our Saviour.

In the forty days of our preparation for the feast of the Nativity, our fast has been supported by our faith in God that He has sent us His Son, the Word, incarnate for our sakes. Last night our faith was confirmed in the Knowledge that only such could be the case. And St. Joseph then knew his wife, intimately, but not sexually as the Theotokos, the "God bearer."

Merry Christmas, everyone!