The Great In-Between

Terry Mattingly has a wonderful piece on Amber Frey, best known as Scott Peterson’s mistress, in the Get Religion blog.  While he links the inconsistency that Frey typifies to red and blue political and cultural views, I suspect that he really means it has more to do with consistent and informed spirituality.  The beliefs of most people are of a fuzzy, feel good type.   The result is a set of beliefs that reflect individual desires and the pressures of the moment, more than a genuine worldview.  Says Mattingly:

One cannot overstress the following fact: The whole “red” and “blue” typology works at the level of the electoral college and, much more so, when applied to “progressive” and “traditional” cultures with counties (think college towns vs. rural) and zip codes (think latte artsy urban vs. Home Depot suburban). But it is impossible to divide American culture into two zones at the level of most people’s lives.

Study the polls and you end up with true reds, true blues and a wide sea of purple. Study opinion polls about abortion. Or look at a Gallup or Barna survey on religious commitment and/or beliefs. What you find is that somewhere between 8 and 15 percent of the nation can truly be called consistently red conservative on religious/cultural issues. Meanwhile, somewhere around 10 percent or more of the population is consistently secular or blue liberal on these issues. And what is in between? The answers you get seem to depend on how questions are worded and how people are feeling. The great middle ground is what I call Oprah America.

I bring this up because of the ghost that pops into view near the end of Janet Maslin’s New York Times piece entitled “Scott Peterson’s Other Woman Speaks (Again). What’s Left to Say?” The big question: Why is the new Amber Frey book called “Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson” at the top of the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list? Take it away Maslin:

“Why would anyone want to read Ms. Frey’s account? Most of it has already been plastered all over every possible tabloid, magazine and television outlet. There’s not much more for her to say, except that Pink Lady is her favorite kind of apple (Mr. Peterson once made her a caramel-coated version) and that her favorite Christmas ornament was an angel made out of a clothespin. Oh, and that “to me, Scott Peterson would always be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

This is a depressing subject for those of us who care about the future of Western Civilization. The answer, of course, is linked to how this emotional, tragic story makes people feel about a host of different hot-button issues that the media often have trouble addressing, covering everything from infidelity to murder, from good-for-nothing husbands to abortion. Calvin College communication scholar Quentin Schultze likes to call these kinds of stories “hypernews,” when they break out of one region and the whole nation gets obsessed.

Lo and behold, there is even a kind of lowest-common-denominator salvation thread in this story. Say what? Perhaps you missed the part when God served as Amber’s romance counselor:

“… Ms. Frey, a California massage therapist, describes a great deal of weeping, repenting and communicating with God. “You do need someone, Amber,” she says God told her. “And you’ll find someone.” She also writes that God was on her side during Mr. Peterson’s trial. And she recommends that Mr. Peterson, whom a jury recommended be sentenced to death, seek God’s forgiveness in a hurry. The book refers frequently to the Bible, especially when describing the enlightenment Ms. Frey experiences in its closing pages. “I was overcome by a sense of power and possibility,” she writes. “I didn’t know what lay ahead, but I knew I was on the right path, and I felt incredibly good about myself.”

Well, that’s what really matters. This is also the kind of mushy faith angle that makes red purists and blue purists alike grind their teeth.

Why is “Witness” at the top of the sales charts? Think purple. How are journalists supposed to cover these stories?  I think we simply have to let people tell their stories and share their beliefs and then print the results. Who are the experts in this field?

None of this is to belittle Ms. Frey.  She is a product of her time and her culture.  If she lived next door to any of us, we would not think twice about what she thought.  As Mattingly points out, the truly sobering thought is the realization that Frey is us.  So long as we feel like we’re on the right path, we feel incredibly good about ourselves.  But increasingly, we define the right path; an individualized definition with little or no relationship to the truth.

Support your local monastery

We don’t think about it much, to be truthful, but we really have far too few monastics in North America.  Of course, they are not really part of the general heritage in this country.  There are Roman Catholic monastics, but they are very different from what I have in mind.  I have heard that the Episcopalians have a few squirreled away, but I don’t know anything about them.  What I mean are Orthodox monastics.  Real honest to goodness monks and nuns.

In the Orthodox tradition, monastics are not members of orders, which are dedicated to various kinds of service.  Instead, their job, their entire purpose in life, is to pray.  They pray not only for themselves, but for the entire world, and in particular for the faithful in every city, town and village.  To those of us who are not monastics, they offer a place of refuge, of guidance and of stability in a secular world.

I often think about something I watched when I was at Simonopetra.  There, of course, pilgrims come from all over the world, but many of them come from elsewhere in Greece.  The first night I was there, I shared a table at the refectory with the other guests.  Among them was a Greek man and his son.  The son was 12 or 13, and was expressing his unhappiness at being there in the way only teenagers can.  He pouted, he wouldn’t eat, when someone passed him a piece of bread, he threw it — the whole routine.  His Dad couldn’t get him to behave.  He was just uber-cranky.

Over the next couple of days, though, an amazing transformation took place.  I saw the kid out working with the monks during the day, hauling rocks and helping them out.  At meals, he was sitting at a table with the fathers, and it was clear that a real bond had grown between them.  He and his Dad left when I did, on Christmas Eve, and on the ferry back to Ouranopolis, I saw the kid sleeping, his head in his Dad’s lap.

Sure, that was a kid, but everyone has an experience kind of like that when they visit a monastery.  English speaking monks sought me out, and gave me a lot of their time, talking about their life and the faith.  I left there refreshed spiritually, and more aware of who I was in Christ and my place in the world.  And you do not have to go to Mt. Athos to get that kind of experience.  In Greece there are over 1000 monastic communities, and more than that in Russia, and throughout Eastern Europe.

Here in this country,sadly, we have relatively few, but that makes it all the more important that we support those that we have.  Not too far away from where I live is Ascension Monastery.  All of the monks are North American, and most or all of them are converts to Orthodoxy.  I do not get there anywhere near as often as I would like, but it is a wonderful place, with extraordinary people.  But because monasteries in this country are a fairly new commodity, they need support. They need us to contribute.  They need us to support the businesses they run to support themselves.   With Ascension, I try to buy all of my books through their book store, even if it runs a little more than Amazon.   The few extra bucks helps them more than it would a secular store.

I don’t know if I could be a monk.  That is an academic question, since I am married, but sometimes I wonder.  It is a very hard life.  The struggles of a monastic are far worse than what we in the world face.  The ascent to God is not an easy one.

In any event, even if you are not Orthodox, you should look into visiting a monastery.  You can find a fairly complete directory here.  The visit will be like nothing else you have ever done, and could be life changing.

Montanism…at last!

I’ve tried to write about Montanism several times, and for one reason or another lost it every time.  But am I one to take a hint? Of course not, because this is interesting stuff, believe it or not.

Background:  Montanism doesn’t have anything to do with the wide open spaces of Montana, although it sounds like it.  Instead, it was one of the earliest Christian heresies.  It began in the middle part of the second century when Montanus (either a priest or an inexperienced convert, depending on your source) began making strange pronouncements, which he said were directly from the Holy Spirit.  Pretty soon, two of his disciples, Priscilla and Maximilla, also began the same kind of thing.  Essentially, they were speaking in tongues.   Eusebius, the first great historian of the Church, quotes an unidentified source who described what was happening:

7 There is said to be a certain village called Ardabau in that part of Mysia, which borders upon Phrygia. There first, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a recent convert, Montanus by name, through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the adversary opportunity against him. And he became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning….And he stirred up besides two women, and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked wildly and unreasonably and strangely, like the person already mentioned. And the spirit pronounced them blessed as they rejoiced and gloried in him, and puffed them up by the magnitude of his promises. But sometimes he rebuked them openly in a wise and faithful manner, that he might seem to be a reprover. But those of the Phrygians that were deceived were few in number.  And the arrogant spirit taught them to revile the entire universal Church under heaven, because the spirit of false prophecy received neither honor from it nor entrance into it.  

Montanus eventually seemed to get a pretty inflated idea of who he was.  Jaroslav Pelikan reports that Montanus himself said that “I am the Paraclete. (i.e., Holy Spirit)”   There has also been found an inscription in a home excavated in Numidia which reads: “Flavius, grandsire of the household.  In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Lord Muntanus.  What he promised he performed.”

Beyond that type of dubious foolishness, the Montanists tended to focus on making moral pronouncements.  They were upset at the idea of second marriages, and thought the Church too lax on matters such as fasting.  They also predicted that the New Jerusalem would come out of the sky, and that the Second Coming was going to happen any second now.  They probably would have remained a fairly minor bunch, except that in the early third century, Tertullian, known as the Father of Latin Christianity, converted to the sect.  He was probably drawn more by the rigid moral code than the predictions of future events  — in his writings you get the notion that he had a bee in his bonnet about second marriages.  But for whatever reason, he became a Montanist, assuring the movement of a place in history.  I don’t know if he is a saint in the west, but he is not in the East, thank-you-very-much, since he died in his heresy.  Eventually, the Montanist movement died a natural death, and was heard of no more.

Until fairly recently, that is.  Here is what is fascinating.  Montanus has been picked up as a patron saint, of sorts, by Charismatics and Pentecostals.  A small Google search found about a kazillion web pages declaring that Montanus was the first charismatic, but that he was persecuted by the Big Bad Church.  For example, a person named Matthew Allen, with Crown of Life Ministries in Tampa, put it rather baldly:

In essence, the Montanists were the first charismatics. Frederick Bruner rightly called Montanism “the fountainhead of all the enthusiastic or pneumatic movements in Christian history.” Its basic tenets have been recycled throughout church history by ecstatic sects, including today’s charismatic movement. Bruner noted the following central characteristics of Montanism that recur in today’s charismatic movement:
1. A fervent belief that the last period of revelation has commenced;
2. A distinctive emphasis on the Holy Spirit;
3. Generally orthodox tendencies apart from their doctrine of the Spirit;
4. An ardent expectation of the impending return of Christ; and
5. A strict morality.
Hence, Bruner declared Montanism to be “the prototype of almost everything Pentecostalism seeks to represent.”

Yet ultimately, charismatics face the same dilemma as their spiritual forebearers.  It was obviously the belief of Montanus and his disciples that the world would end, and end very shortly.  Yet 1800 years later, Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla are all dead, and the world continues on.  Clearly, whatever spirit was speaking to them was not the Paraclete.  In the same fashion, modern charismatics prophesy and claim exclusive revelations, but like their ancestors, time passes and nothing happens.

At bottom, both Montanism and Charismatics share a passionate desire for personal revelation, and for a sense of spiritual and moral superiority.  Ironically, the Church herself has never been bereft of astounding spiritual events.  The long history of the Church teaches us, however, that such revelation is not easily obtained, and true purification takes labor and effort, not passion.  And labor and effort tend to be precisely what most people have no interest in investing.  Cool spiritual events that feel good are one thing.  True purification and illumination are quite another.

Very odd.  As a protestant minor clergy, I helped pastor a Church where I was the only adult present who did not speak in tongues.  Every Sunday brought new prophecies about a great movement of the Lord which was gathering steam.  Yet life went on, and nothing seemed to change.  Surely the Lord works, but He doesn’t play games.  And in the end, as well meaning as they likely were, the Montanists were simply playing games.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

You’ll excuse me if I’m a bit excited today.  It’s not anything to do with me really.  It is my name day, which means it is the feast for St. Seraphim of Sarov.  If it is your name day, it really doesn’t mean that you get a cake or presents.  In fact, the proper way to celebrate your name day is to do things for other people, as a way to celebrate the saint.

In any event, what I mean to write about is St. Seraphim, a simply amazing example of true Christianity.

Seraphim (born Prohor Moshnin) was born in 1759, in the town of Kursk.  At the age of seventeen, he entered the Monastery of Sarov.  After a novitiate of eight years, he received the monastic tonsure and the name Seraphim.  He was ordained as a deacon, and later as a priest.  Not long after he was ordained as a priest, he asked for and received permission to withdraw from the community at the monastery and live as a hermit in a small hut about four miles away.  There he spent his time in constant prayer and seclusion.  If visitors came, he was known to hide in a small opening hidden behind the stove in the hut.  For three years he spent every night praying on a rock near his cell.

So purified was Seraphim’s soul that visitors to the cell reported seeing bears and other wild beasts act like lambs in his presence.  Sadly, one day three robbers came upon him in the forest, and demanded money.  Seraphim had no money or other goods worth anything, and the robbers beat him severely.  He was miraculously healed by the intercessions of the Theotokos, although he thereafter was left permanently bent over from his injuries.  Despite this, Seraphim refused to prosecute the robbers, and was so filled with love and forgiveness that he spoke on their behalf when they appeared before the judge.

For several more years, the Saint lived in complete solitude and silence.  If he met somebody in the forest, he would without a word prostrate himself before him and remain on the ground until he had gone away.  Finally, in obedience to the command of his abbot, he moved back into the monastery.  There, he lived in seclusion in his cell, praying in a coffin which he had built for himself.  After five more years of complete silence and seclusion, however, Seraphim unexpectedly threw open the door of his cell, and began the next phase of his life, as spiritual father to thousands.  He greeted everyone cheerfully with “My Joy, Christ has risen!”.  He led literally thousands to salvation.  He was known to be clairvoyant, and would often tell visitors about their entire life and what was troubling them without the visitor saying anything.  He worked large numbers of miraculous healings.

Throughout his life, the saint received numerous visits from the Theotokos and from Christ himself.    He knew beforehand when he would repose, and joyfully prepared himself for the passing.  On January 2, 1833, true to his word, his lifeless body was found kneeling in a position of prayer before an icon of his beloved Theotokos.

He was well known for his teaching: “Acquire the spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved.”  He is also famous for a conversation recorded by his spiritual child, Motovilov.  While discussing how to acquire the Holy Spirit, the Saint himself began to shine so brightly that Motovilov could not look upon him.

You can read more about the Saint in this life by Bishop Alexander Mileant, along with links to his teachings.  He is greatly beloved throughout the Orthodox world, but particularly in Russia.  A very wonderful saint.

Troparion of St. Seraphim, Tone 4

Thou didst love Christ from thy youth, O blessed one,/ and longing to work for Him alone thou didst struggle in the wilderness with constant prayer and labor./ With penitent heart and great love for Christ thou wast favored by the Mother of God./ Wherefore we cry to thee:/ Save us by thy prayers, O Seraphim our righteous Father.

Kontakion of St. Seraphim, Tone 2

Having left the beauty of the world and what is corrupt in it, O saint,/ thou didst settle in Sarov Monastery./ And having lived there an angelic life,/ thou wast for many the way to salvation./ Wherefore Christ has glorified thee, O Father Seraphim,/ and has enriched thee with the gift of healing and miracles./ And so we cry to thee:/ Rejoice, O Seraphim, our righteous Father.