By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The quote I placed in the title of this article are words of Saint Paisios the Athonite from a letter he wrote, which is in fact handwritten.
I say this because some people transmit words Saint Paisios delivered to them orally, which may not be preserved in their authentic expression. If even one word is changed or missing or added it can take on an entirely different meaning.
Reading the book of Hieromonk Paisios, who was a novice under Saint Paisios, titled Perfume Emptied (Μύρον ἐκκενωθέν, published by the Monastery of Saint Hilarion in Promachoi Aridaía), I noticed that he has preserved many incidents from the many years of communication with him, on various matters, and I also read towards the end that he also published two letters Saint Paisios addressed to him.
The first letter of Saint Paisios is a response to his own letter, which he sent while he was a student and asked him, as he explains, "how can I divide my time between my science and spiritual study, which I love equally."
In the book I mentioned above, the original handwritten reply letter of Saint Paisios is provided in a photocopy after which it is typed out. I quote most of it below that interests us:
I say this because some people transmit words Saint Paisios delivered to them orally, which may not be preserved in their authentic expression. If even one word is changed or missing or added it can take on an entirely different meaning.
Reading the book of Hieromonk Paisios, who was a novice under Saint Paisios, titled Perfume Emptied (Μύρον ἐκκενωθέν, published by the Monastery of Saint Hilarion in Promachoi Aridaía), I noticed that he has preserved many incidents from the many years of communication with him, on various matters, and I also read towards the end that he also published two letters Saint Paisios addressed to him.
The first letter of Saint Paisios is a response to his own letter, which he sent while he was a student and asked him, as he explains, "how can I divide my time between my science and spiritual study, which I love equally."
In the book I mentioned above, the original handwritten reply letter of Saint Paisios is provided in a photocopy after which it is typed out. I quote most of it below that interests us:
Honorable Cross,
3/4/1972
Brother John, "rejoice in the Lord".
...In regards to the matter ("how can we combine prayer and reading, so that our hearts remain fervent...").
Now that you have science in first place, you should first pray for the good God to enlighten you, so that you may know your science well and for God to be glorified through it.
Here it is necessary that every student examine their faith, and accordingly adjust the amount of prayer and study.
If one believes that by praying a lot and reading less, God will help them with His divine enlightenment (to learn their lessons), so do it.
In order that I may not say too much, let each one examine their faith, where they are at, and accordingly to regulate their prayer with their study.
If their faith is small, let them read more, and ask for divine enlightenment in the beginning.
However, the button is humility, because the humble are given the Grace of God (by obligation).
And to know one's self and to see that their own faith is very weak, and for this reason they should read more, this also shows signs of humility and the Grace of God will overshadow them much.
However, keep in mind that you should not go to the university to live in a coenobium, but to finish as soon as possible, and to glorify the name of God through science. Furthermore, even the little spiritual things you do now, when you use the time in the study of science, this also has meaning and a relation with the spiritual life.
Now that you have lessons and you do not have enough time to study from the patristic books, five minutes would help you a lot, even from a section of the Gerontikon or five sentences from Saint Isaac the Syrian, who in five sentences contains entire libraries, and has all the spiritual vitamins, instead of books where you have to winnow through a pile of straw to find a grain of wheat. Do not waste your effort and do not get tired through such things (I mean most of the books that circulate in our time).
The recipient of the letter notes: "As the reader will see, this text is fragrant with the aroma of Fr. Paisios." I will add that it is fragrant with the gift of discernment and in general the gift of the Holy Spirit that Saint Paisios had.
Saint Paisios was not a man of extremities, he always spoke with discernment, humbly, he did not create tension and fanaticism, but he helped every man to eliminate with philotimo all the situations that show illness and to proceed to be free in God.
In this letter, among other things, Saint Paisios makes a special impression when he says that the student does not go to the university to enter a "coenobium", to become a monk, but to learn his science and to glorify God through science. What amazing discerning words these are! Imagine a medical student devoting himself more to "monasticism" and less to learning his science, and when he became a doctor to lack knowledge, with negative consequences for the health of his patients.
That is why one must examine one's faith in order to "regulate prayer with study". Thus, when their faith is weak, then "they must read more". He writes: "The little spiritual things you do now, when you use the time in the study of science, this also has meaning and a relation with the spiritual life." That is, one does not disconnect the spiritual life from the study of university books, but unifies them.
The amazing thing is that twice in his letter he writes that God is glorified through science. The first time he writes: "You should first pray for the good God to enlighten you, so that you may know your science well and for God to be glorified through it." The second time he writes: "You should not go to the university to live in a coenobium, but to finish as soon as possible, and to glorify the name of God through science."
What wise and holy advice from a holy man! In fact, he emphasizes that "the button is humility, because the humble are given the Grace of God (by obligation)."
These words of a holy man are of great importance for our time, in which we must strive for balances between faith and science, each to move within its limits, since each has a different purpose. Faith aims to connect man with God, to activate his noetic energy, and science aims to help his body and his biological life in general.
It is understood that when we talk about science, we mean the science that is controlled by rules that it sets for itself, because sometimes what some scientists support transcends the "realm of science" and enters within the "bounds of the scientific imagination", as I recently read in a book that talks about genes, that determine almost everything in the human body, where they even believe that there are "happiness genes" or "God genes"! Thus, along with genetics, molecular biology, genetic engineering, genomics, etc., the science of Bioethics was developed with strict bioethical rules and not with individual reflections.
Of course, it also means that when we talk about theology, we mean the theology of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church and not the theology of the imagination, since according to Saint Sophrony "the imagination of the mind is useless to theology."
Ultimately, God is glorified through all of His works, as we say in the final prayer of the Great Sanctification on Theophany: "So that Your All-Holy Name may be glorified by the elements, by the angels, by men, by visible and invisible creatures, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit."
Science helps us in many matters, relieves us in this exile we live in, but at the same time we seek our communion with God, our true homeland, and in this faith helps us.
Therefore, the commandment of Saint Paisios is: "Glorify the name of God through science."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Saint Paisios was not a man of extremities, he always spoke with discernment, humbly, he did not create tension and fanaticism, but he helped every man to eliminate with philotimo all the situations that show illness and to proceed to be free in God.
In this letter, among other things, Saint Paisios makes a special impression when he says that the student does not go to the university to enter a "coenobium", to become a monk, but to learn his science and to glorify God through science. What amazing discerning words these are! Imagine a medical student devoting himself more to "monasticism" and less to learning his science, and when he became a doctor to lack knowledge, with negative consequences for the health of his patients.
That is why one must examine one's faith in order to "regulate prayer with study". Thus, when their faith is weak, then "they must read more". He writes: "The little spiritual things you do now, when you use the time in the study of science, this also has meaning and a relation with the spiritual life." That is, one does not disconnect the spiritual life from the study of university books, but unifies them.
The amazing thing is that twice in his letter he writes that God is glorified through science. The first time he writes: "You should first pray for the good God to enlighten you, so that you may know your science well and for God to be glorified through it." The second time he writes: "You should not go to the university to live in a coenobium, but to finish as soon as possible, and to glorify the name of God through science."
What wise and holy advice from a holy man! In fact, he emphasizes that "the button is humility, because the humble are given the Grace of God (by obligation)."
These words of a holy man are of great importance for our time, in which we must strive for balances between faith and science, each to move within its limits, since each has a different purpose. Faith aims to connect man with God, to activate his noetic energy, and science aims to help his body and his biological life in general.
It is understood that when we talk about science, we mean the science that is controlled by rules that it sets for itself, because sometimes what some scientists support transcends the "realm of science" and enters within the "bounds of the scientific imagination", as I recently read in a book that talks about genes, that determine almost everything in the human body, where they even believe that there are "happiness genes" or "God genes"! Thus, along with genetics, molecular biology, genetic engineering, genomics, etc., the science of Bioethics was developed with strict bioethical rules and not with individual reflections.
Of course, it also means that when we talk about theology, we mean the theology of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church and not the theology of the imagination, since according to Saint Sophrony "the imagination of the mind is useless to theology."
Ultimately, God is glorified through all of His works, as we say in the final prayer of the Great Sanctification on Theophany: "So that Your All-Holy Name may be glorified by the elements, by the angels, by men, by visible and invisible creatures, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit."
Science helps us in many matters, relieves us in this exile we live in, but at the same time we seek our communion with God, our true homeland, and in this faith helps us.
Therefore, the commandment of Saint Paisios is: "Glorify the name of God through science."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
