Posts
 |
| Source: legacyicons.com |
Knowing About God and Knowing God
The most important thing that happens between God and the human soul is to love and to be loved.
Kallistos Kataphygiotis
It is not particularly difficult to know a great deal about God. One need only devote the time, energy, and mental concentration to studying the works of sound theologians in order to learn, understand, and take in what they are able to tell us about God. As an example, St. Gregory the Theologian illuminates our understanding with the following insight:
"God is a sea of being, immeasurable and limitless."
St. Gregory's contemporary and friend, St. Basil the Great, offers this further insight:
"God is the fulness of all qualities and perfections in their highest and infinite form."
And it always enlightening to read/listen to the words of St. John Chrysostom:
"That God is present everywhere we know, but how, we do not understand, because we can understand only a sensuous presence, and it is not given to us to understand fully the nature of God."
However, to know about God is simply not the same as to know God - to truly experience God's presence directly with all of one's heart, mind, soul and strength (Mk. 12:30). The first - to know about God - is exterior knowledge; the second - to know God - is interior knowledge (genuine gnosis as the Fathers say). It is truly important, in the first place, to know about God, as from the writings of the great Fathers just quoted above. This is especially true, let us say, for pastors and educators, who must teach others what God has revealed to us - be it the inner life of the Trinity (true theology); or the divine and saving oikonomia (divine dispensation for the salvation of the world). This is absolutely essential, so that we have a clear understanding of Who God is, so as to keep ourselves free from error concerning God and thus not be deflected from the path of ultimate union with God.
Direct knowledge of God, though, should be our true desire, for in knowing God directly we will love God with our entire being in the depths of our heart. This love for God will be expressed in worship, praise, and thanksgiving; by desiring to fulfill God's will in all things; and in unceasing remembrance of God in every moment of our lives: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps. 34:1). Then our faith in God will not be cold, abstract, theoretical or lifeless. Rather, it will be a living faith: warm and genuine, showing forth the fruits of love which are well-pleasing to God. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us:
"God loves us more than a father or a mother or a friend, or anyone else can love, and even more than we can love ourselves, because He is more concerned for our salvation than even His own glory. A testimony of this is the fact that He sent into the world for suffering and death (in human flesh) His Only-begotten Son, solely in order reveal to us the path of salvation and eternal life."
In the words of St. Symeon the New Theologian:
"As a friend talking with his friend, man speaks with God, and drawing near in confidence he stands before the face of the One who dwells in unapproachable light" (I Tim. 6:16).
However, it does seem that often enough that when we speak or think about God, or even pray to God, that our faith is cold, or perhaps "lukewarm" (Rev. 3: ). Then, we do not experience God as a "fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts," as St. Seraphim of Sarov describes the experience of knowing God. It is then that we must struggle to resist the chilling presence of the "evil one" and his temptations. In repentance, we need to call upon the Lord to restore to us the warmth of His direct and loving presence. This is a worthy struggle, for the Lord taught: "He who endures until the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13).
The Fathers taught us a great deal about God, because they truly knew God, and thus they wrote and spoke with great warmth, beauty, certainty and directness. They wrote and spoke as they prayed and worshiped - with a burning faith based on direct experience, having been anointed by the Holy One so as to know the mysteries of God (I Jn. 2:20).
A worthy and meaningful lifelong project!
