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 This week on Harmony of Thunder Orthodox podcast: St. Dorotheos begins his remarkable sermon on "The Fear of the Punishment to Come" by alluding to a time when he was less than at his best – this is something you have to love about St. Dorotheos. Yes, he uses himself as a good example at times, but he's just as likely to use himself as an example of what not to do. You won't want to miss exploring this very practical sermon on a very difficult topic.
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Harmony of Thunder, Program 26:
St. Dorotheos of Gaza “On the Fear of the Punishment to Come And the Need for One Desiring to be Saved Never to be Negligent about His Own Salvation”
As we spend another spiritually beneficial Harmony of Thunder program investigating a sermon of St. Dorotheos of Gaza, taken from the book, Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, translated and with a good introduction by Eric P. Wheeler and published by Cistercian Publications in 1977, we find that almost the whole sermon is contained in the title: “On the Fear of the Punishment to Come And the Need for One Desiring to be Saved Never to be Negligent about His Own Salvation.” Can you imagine putting that on the sign in front of your church – it would use up all your sign letters and frighten the neighbors. As we've seen in the other sermons we've enjoyed by this great saint of the church, St. Dorotheos placed a real emphasis on constant watchfulness. We must continually, not just on Sundays or at those times of the day when we feel particularly religious, but at all times we must be mindful of our spiritual development. Of our use of time. Of the places our minds are taking us, of how we treat and judge others, and so on.
But uniquely enough, the preacher begins this sermon by alluding to a time when he was less than at his best – this is something I love about St. Dorotheos. Yes, he uses himself as a good example at times, but he's just as likely to use himself as an example of what not to do. Here's the opening to this wonderful sermon: “While I was in trouble with my feet and very weak, some of the brethren came to see me and asked me to tell them something about the cause of my sickness. I think they had a double purpose, first to comfort me by distracting me from my pain and second to set me off talking abut something profitable for the spiritual life. But my pain did not allow me to do so as I wished then, so now I must obey and speak of these things.”
What a great blessing it is that we, living today, dear listener, can avail ourselves of the spiritually profitable things of which the saint speaks!
Hi, welcome to Harmony of Thunder, where we explore and enjoy the rich tradition of Orthodox preaching. I’m your host, Fr. David Smith. Each week, Harmony of Thunder chooses a sermon from scripture, from the works of a saint, or from a contemporary source, and we spend our time together looking at the style, the illustrations, and the spiritual message of the preacher.
Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of Your Most Holy Mother and of all the saints, bless your Holy Orthodox Church with great preachers and people who want to hear them. Amen.
Well, St Dorotheos answers the monks who came to him (to ask him the cause of his illness) by saying that God sent him the pain. He says that, of course, there are other reasons why we suffer misfortune, but we also have to remember that God controls all things, and if God controls all things, then certainly He is at least aware of the sufferings you encounter: there are plenty of “different causes you can find if you want to look for them. But it is more accurate and helpful and better in every way to say that God knew that this was profitable to my soul, and so it happened, for nothing that God does is not good, but everything is for the best.”
This is a complicated question, isn't it? If God knows all things, and has the power to change the circumstances of any person anywhere, then why do the righteous suffer at all? St. Dorotheos's point is that suffering kills the passions, and so we must welcome suffering, and most importantly, not wish for our own death: “And we, poor devils, want to be saved while we doze off to sleep and for this reason we grow faint-hearted when trials come upon us. We ought rather to thank God and count ourselves fortunate that we may be really worthy to suffer a little affliction here so that we may find a little rest there. As Evagrius used to say, 'A man who is suffering and prays for a swifter exit from this world is like a man who begs a carpenter to come and break up the bed of a sick man'. For through this body the soul gets away from its own passions and is comforted; it is fed, it drinks, sleeps, meets and associates with friends. When at last it goes out of the body it is alone with its own passions, and, in short, it is tormented by them, forever nattering to them and being incensed by the disturbance they cause and being torn to pieces by them so that it is unable to remember God.”
This point takes up a major part of the saint's sermon, that we use suffering in this world to rid ourselves of the sinful habits we have, the passions, so that after we've died they do not follow us around for eternity, annoying us and keeping us away from God: “In fact, the soul loses nothing that it did in this world but remembers everything at its exit from this body more clearly and distinctly once freed from the earthliness of the body.”
Next in this wonderful sermon, the saint uses an illustration that he returns to again and again, in order to make the process of growing spiritually understandable to his listeners. I'll quote his illustration in full: “If someone has some land but neglects it and leaves it untilled, he finds it produces thorns and thistles in proportion to his neglect. When he does come to clean it, the more it is infested with these weeds the more his hands will bleed when he wants to pull up what he allowed to grow in the time of his neglect. It is impossible for a man not to reap what he sows. A man who wants to sow his field must first thoroughly uproot all the weeds. For if one does not pull out the roots properly but cuts off the tops only, they spring up again. If a man wants to be sure that he has pulled up all the roots, after ridding the field of briars and all kinds of weeds, he must plough it, and break it up and till it and finally sow it with good seed. For if, after giving it all this careful attention, he allows it to lie fallow, fresh weeds arrive, and finding the soil soft and well-tilled, they will push their roots down deep and grow even stronger and more numerous.”
And then he says the words that all good preachers use to move from an illustratioon to a spiritual truth, “so it is.” Just as it is true that the farmer must uproot the bad, then prepare the soil, then plant the good and tend it, it is also true that the spiritual life is a process of uprooting sin, planting virtue, and constant vigilance: “As Ihave told you on different occasions, a man must cut off not only his vices but their very causes, and so really put his life in good order through repentance and sorrow for sin, and then begin to sow good seed, i.e., good works. We said about the land, if good seed is not sown, the weeds soon come back and find good soft cultivated land and put down more roots into it. So it is with man: if after putting his soul in good order and doing penance for his former conduct, he is negligent about doing good works and cultivating virtue, what happened in the gospel happens to him. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes about through parched places seeking rest, and not finding any, he says, 'I will retun to the house from which I came out', and coming, he finds it empty - 'clearly empty of all virtues' – and swept and garnished. Then he goes and takes seven other devils, worse than himself and goes in and lives there, and the last state of that man become worse than the first.” (St. Luke 11:24-27).
It strikes me that the verse just before that passage from the gospel says, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” This whole part of the teaching of our Lord tells us that there are only two spiritual states – with God or against God. Many people like to think that there are other spiritual states, where we can be a little on God's side and a little on the devil's. That would be like planting weeds next to the crops in our metaphorical field,and tending to the weeds with the same care that we lend to the crops.
Before we leave this sermon, I want you, dear listener, to hear the concluding lines: “Therefore, if a man has truly made up his mind to be saved he ought never to feel completely secure until his last breath. Labor and deep concern and prayer to God about everything is necessary that he may protect us and bring us to safety by his goodness to the glory of his name.” That's a great line, it sounds like a quote of the day, “labor and keep concern and prayer to God about everything is necessary.”
Indeed, Lord Jesus, fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may labor, and seek you, and pray in all circumstances, we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, One God, Amen.
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