On Phariseeism in the Old Ritual

Ivan Nagovitsyn

Translated poorly by Matthew Raphael Johnson, Ph.D.

This article, taken from the Brotherhood journal of the Moscow Patriarchate of +Alexander, is a very important one in that it attacks the idea that the Old Believers are little more than religious antiquarians, stressing the letter over the spirit of the law and typikon. This is false, and the struggles of the Christian concern the grace of the Spirit. All else is reduced to this, and the typikon has only this as its end. It is useless in itself unless one prays within the Spirit. Contrary to some commentators, the Old Ritual has never held the idea that the ritual is efficacious in itself, like a charm. This is false. The typikon exists for man, not the other way around. The patriarchate has said elsewhere is that the purpose of the typikon is largely that of a bulwark against the tide of modernism and Satanism that is dominant it the world, and dominant, unfortunately, in the modernist churches–MRJ

Christ is the personality that knows are needs and feels our pain. Our Lord promises to forgive our sins and bring our petitions to the Father. Christ, after rising from the dead, showed us that we can lead a happy life, free from sin. The reward that is promised by our lord is not the result of our efforts as Christians, but given for faith and struggle.

Our holy theology, our “system” is based on the faith in Christ and the services. These also comprise the traditions of our people, expressed in ritual, as well as in constant study of the true faith and its significance. It is also found in the prayers and holidays of our faith, as well as in charity. But if the faith fail, then the above objects, our struggles not only become meaningless, but end up harmful for the soul.

The dead systems of theology and religion was central to the Jewish Pharisees, those who hated Christ and His message so violently that they demanded his death. They hated our Lord only because He challenged their mindless conservatism, and saw into their hearts that the faith in the Law was not present–they worshiped the externals only. Christ knew that the external ceremonies can never change a man’s heart.

Christ compared the Pharisees to a pot that is clean on the outside, but corrupt within. Christ knew that a man can have all the exterior attachments to the church and still have no faith. Christ confronted the calcified system of the Pharisees by this case leaving by its dirty inside. Unless a man be born again of water and Spirit, a man cannot see or understand God and His Teachings (John 3:3). Any theology or set of rituals can assist us externally, but only Christ can change our hearts.

A solid theology can give the model and outline of behavior and community life, but cannot, in itself, give to us the ability to change, to live according to these standards. The falsity in theology is when one holds that these externals can change us and provide us salvation: they cannot. The living Christ cannot be replaced by complex rules and the obsession with the “typikon.” Christ did not come down from heaven to give us a typikon, but to give us new life. Theology and ritual matter only when they bring us to God (Gal 2:20; Titus, 3:5). St. Gregory Palamas writes that it makes no sense to fast strictly, only to eat immoderately in non-fast seasons. [here is a long quote from St. Gregory, which will be skipped in this translation–trans] Gregory, in condemning the frauds of the fasting seasons, condemns the model of Byzantium itself as a Christian society. Only on certain days do the people live close to the Gospel: for them, the obligation of the “typikon” is everything, the faith in Christ and His mission, nothing. How bizarre it is, so says St. Gregory, that the times of the fast are seen only as breaks in a life of play and revelry. Such nonsense. Without the personal, living faith in Christ as Savior, the fasts are merely that–a break from a life of sin.

Without Christ and His grace, the typikon would mean nothing: it exists only because of Christ dwelling in us. Otherwise it is merely dead. Even the apostles, left to themselves, cut and ran at every turn. But with grace, not even the threat of death frightened them.

What is the nature of this assistance that Christ gives us? This aid from God is nothing less than the spirit of sanctity and holiness, that which motivated the saints. Once we have this spirit, we can see paradise all around us. And from here does the Lord bring us to Himself. But it is faith, and faith alone, that can bring us this aid and assistance. God is present in paradise all around us, but it takes a living faith to see it.

The spirit of sanctity, that of the saints, is what gives everything life and form. It gives wisdom and encouragement to believers, even unto an ecstatic state, but none of this is based on our merits. The presence of the Holy spirit is this paradise, and is the very construction of the kingdom of God, available to us right now.

“To each is given the Spirit for their benefit. . . .to one wisdom, to another, knowledge. . .(I Cor 12: 7-9). This passage is well known. But without the Spirit and His gifts, there is no knowledge of God, no forgiveness of sins and no salvation. It is the Light which gives us salvation, not the typikon. This Spirit also corrects and changes our views of the world and our moods, with the primary aim (while on earth) to have man see that the goods of this world are merely transitory. Man is no longer attracted to temporary goods. The Christian possessed by the Spirit feels not at home in the world, but merely as a guest, placing his heart on nothing but the life to come and the paradise opened to him here and now. But those who do not have this Spirit become worshipers of the world and the slaves to his flesh and base desires, no matter how lofty he thinks them to be.

This Spirit has us reject the world, and to search things divine (I Cor 2:12-13). The Apostles are our guides here. These men were uneducated and of no worldly standing, and yet when Pentecost came, they obtained the wisdom and eloquence such that they converted thousands and did not fear death. The Spirit is our teacher: it instructs to speak and tells us what to say. It teaches him to, in the midst of his daily life and the interference of the world, maintain his inner concentration and focus on the divine. For all with the Spirit, no matter how busy they are, they will always find time to pray and to struggle for the salvation of his soul. But one who is attached to the world cannot pray properly even if he is an expert on the typikon.

Without this Spirit, the believer can never find peace or happiness that lasts (Rom, 14:17). Those without the Spirit cannot assist themselves, and their alleged happiness is a sham, even pitiful. Parties and worldly engagements temporarily sooth the bored what he calls “rest” is most often sleepiness of apathy.

The Spirit of God brings true humility. Even the most introspective person, without the Spirit, always remains a mystery to himself. There is no self knowledge when one is motivated by worldly pleasures and drives. One cannot be introspective without the spirit because the person, enslaved to the world, is diseased, there is no true self even present. When such a person does well at something, the first reaction is arrogance and self absorption. Many self-complacent righteous ones do not ask for the aid of the spirit, and hence, end empty, their work ultimately useless. The Spirit of God always comes to the aid of the believer who prays to Him in his struggles, no matter how small or minor. The Spirit is like the sun when, penetrating into the dark, reveals the entire minutiae of the room. It is by this Light that the man can no longer be satisfied with worldly life and its “virtues.” The man of the Spirit has his soul lit before him in all its wretchedness, bringing the man to faith in Christ to cleanse him.

This Spirit also gives true prayer. It is the Spirit that prays, not we (Rom 8:26). Without the Spirit, prayer is dead and does not please God, partially becuase it is always scattered and never focused. When man prays in the Spirit, the man himself no longer prays, but the Spirit, who makes his petitions for him. In this state all is possible.

Dear brothers, let us always be mindful that our Old Ritualist church exists not merely to mothball ancient religious customs, but in order, most of all, to manifest the reign of God on earth and bring all the people s of the world who search for Christ to his Church.

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