Category Archives: quotes

Is this unbecoming — or a radiance?

quotes, virtues, ,

ON HUMILITY

“If there is a moral quality almost completely disregarded and even denied today, it is indeed humility. The culture in which we live constantly instills in us the sense of pride, of self-glorification, and of self-righteousness. It is built on the assumption that man can achieve anything by himself and it even pictures God as the One who all the time ‘gives credit’ for man’s achievements and good deeds.

“Humility—be it individual or corporate, ethnic or national—is viewed as a sign of weakness, as something unbecoming of real man. Even our churches—are they not imbued with that same spirit of the Pharisee? Do we not want our every contribution, every ‘good deed,’ all that we do ‘for the Church’ to be acknowledged, praised, publicized?

“But what is humility? The answer to this question may seem a paradoxical one for it is rooted in a strange affirmation: God Himself is humble! Yet to anyone who knows God, who contemplates Him in His creation and in His saving acts, it is evident that humility is truly a divine quality, the very content and the radiance of that glory which, as we sing during the Divine Liturgy, fills heaven and earth.”

—Father Alexander Schmemann, from the book Great Lent

Wonderworker of Britain

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Saint Cuthbert is another bright saint of the church who is remembered this week; he is called Wonderworker of Britain, and is the most beloved English saint in that country’s history. I missed my best chance to become familiar with St. Cuthbert when I visited Durham Cathedral in England where his relics are. I hadn’t become a catechumen in the Orthodox Church yet and didn’t yet grasp the holiness of such things. There is a lot of information online about the saint, and stories from his life in the 7th century; so many miracles are associated with him.

Here is a simple and early event, from his first monastery at Melrose:

The first obedience of Cuthbert at Melrose was to receive guests. So one morning Cuthbert, not knowing who it was, received and ministered to an angel who was sent him by God. Cuthbert cordially met him, washed his feet, gave him food and drink, but at that moment the guest suddenly disappeared. When Cuthbert looked at the table, he saw that the guest had left white and fragrant loaves on it that were sweeter than honey. Cuthbert’s life was very hard, at times he had to endure the brethren’s slander, frequent attacks of demons and many other hardships, but he always remained peaceful and trusting God. And angels more than once saved him in a visible way, in some cases bringing him food directly from heaven.

Durham Cathedral

Because we have just entered the Great Fast, that story, though it is more about eating than fasting, reminds me of the saying of another worthy saint even farther in antiquity, St. Athanasius the Great:

“To fast is to banquet with angels.”

Sunday of the Last Judgment

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Andrei Rublev – The Last Judgment (detail), Assumption Cathedral, Vladimir, Russia, 1408

The Gospel for today: Matthew 25:31-46 

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;

I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Whole types of thought are impossible.

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The following excerpt is from an interview with poet Dana Gioia that was, but is no longer, on the Fact and Arts website of the BBC, I think more than ten years ago. Gioia has been Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and Poet Laureate of California. I’m sorry I can no longer link to the whole interview, but I think this small part is worthwhile.

F&A: You’ve said, “I don’t think Americans are dumber than they were 25 years ago, but our culture is.” Tell me how our culture is dumber.

Dana Gioia: Our culture is vastly dumber. I’ll give you an example. If you’ve got a copy of The New Yorker from 30 years ago, it would have about six times as many words as it does now. The same thing for The Atlantic. With most of our newspapers, if somebody wrote a review of a book, it was thousands of words long. People would actually think through things in print in a serious way. Even if you didn’t like The New Yorker, you had to take it seriously.

Nowadays we have the USA Today version of culture. People have been trained by TV and the Internet to want an image and a headline. The notion of careful sequential thought contextualized historically, ideologically is a vanishing skill. When we collectively lose our ability to have sustained linear attention, whole types of thought are impossible. I see this in my students who are bright kids but have read very little.