Is it from the door of the sepulcher, or of your own hearts? From the tomb, or from your own eyes? You whose heart is shut, whose eyes are closed, are unable to discover the glory of the open grave. Pour then your oil, if you wish to see that glory, not on the body of the Lord, but on the eyes of your hearts. By the light of faith you will then see that which through the deficiency of faith now lies hidden in darkness.
Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 82, in Mark (The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)
I seem to find myself becoming more and more aware of the need for a sustained reflection on the relationship between epistemology and asceticism.
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May 11, 2011 at 8:16 pm
I am intrigued by this quote you’ve posted. Indeed, how powerful are questions. Questions nag. Almost like koans. These are good ones!
Regarding your own “need for a sustained reflection” one of your readers has this link on his blog (see below), which allows you to download (for free!) a book by Paul Evdokimov (“The Struggle With God”), including a Chapter called The Dangers of Ignorance and the Ascetic Art , from which I take this quote:
Experienced spiritual directors are rarer than ever; however, there is a vast ascetic literature that offers us a very precise knowledge of the human soul. If Freud and Jung professed their admiration for the psychological insight of Dostoievski, it was because he had been nourished by the works of the great spiritual writers.
From the time of Clement of Alexandria and Origen the spiritual bears the name of ascesis. This signifies application, training, exercise. The negative ascesis of suppression is allied to the positive ascesis of acquisition and growth of charisms. In a wide sense, an ascetic is a Christian who is mindful of the appeals of the Gospel, of the beatitudes, and who seeks humility and purity of heart in order to help his neighbor to do the same.
Here’s the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ex7v7j2zyuv8p0o/evdokimov_strugglewGod1966.pdf
Perhaps this relates to what your last sentence is getting at. (I’m intrigued by that too!)
My thanks to Nick for flagging the book.
May 12, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Many thanks for the link TheraP. I haven’t read much of Evdokimov and would like to. I’ve downloaded the text, now it’s just a case of getting to reading it!