The Letter of the Law Can Be Quite Deadly

by Elder Paisios the Athonite

I once asked someone: "What type of warrior do you consider yourself to be? Christ's warrior or temptation's warrior? Are you aware that the evil of temptation also has its own warriors?"

A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.

I met a theologian who was extremely pious, but had the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated the listener so deeply that it shook them severely. He told me once: "During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady." But the way that he said it, he crushed her. "Look," I said to him, "you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones as well."

Let's not stone our fellow-man in a so-called "Christian manner." The person who — in the presence of others — checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person) is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.

The way of the Church is love; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.

I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, as is their predisposition for good; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow mindedness or strong headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever remain attached to the "letter of the Law," and the letter of the Law can be quite deadly.

A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he listens, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he responds like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.

A person that begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that well, which is why he goes to extremes.

Quite often, people begin with good intentions, but look where they may find themselves! Ihis was the case with the "icon-worshippers" and the "icon-combatters" in the past: both cases were extremes! The former had reached the point of scraping icons of Christ and placing the scrapings into the Holy Chalice in order to "improve" Holy Communion; the latter, on the other hand, burnt and totally discarded all icons. That is why the Church was obliged to place icons in higher places, out of reach, and, when the dispute was over, lowered them so that we can venerate them and thus confer the appropriate honor to the persons portrayed therein.