alienation from evil. ‘Loose the bands of wickedness.’ Forgive your neighbour the mischief he has done you. Forgive him his trespasses against you. Do not ‘fast for strife and debate.’ You do not devour flesh, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine, but you indulge in outrages. You wait for evening before you take food, but you spend the day in the law courts. Woe to those who are ‘drunken, but not with wine.’ Anger is the intoxication of the soul, and makes it out of its wits like wine."
-- St. Basil, in his homilies on the Holy Spirit
The Orthodox faith is not the acceptance of a set of beliefs, or adherence to a set of rules.
Let me say that again. The Orthodox faith is NOT the acceptance of a set of beliefs, or adherence to a set of rules.
Why do I bring this up? Because in the circle of friends and acquaintances I have, I see too much equating of Orthodoxy with rulekeeping. What I call "doing the stuff."
The explanation of what I mean by this is simple. Keep your prayer rule. Do the fasts. Go to the services. Kiss the right stuff in the right order. Wear the appropriate clothing. Use the correct words.
As I've said before, there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with this. "The stuff" is part of our Tradition for a reason. But I was speaking to a friend recently who was given very strict instructions for keeping the Lenten fast. My friend said "I did it, but I have never felt farther away from God."
That makes sense to anyone who truly lives an Orthodox life. "Doing the stuff" isn't magic. "Doing the stuff" doesn't make you holy. "Doing the stuff" is not what brings you closer to God. As St. Basil says above, fasting is done to train the body and soul. But it must be done out of love. It must never be done out of obligation or compulsion. Why? Because obligation and compulsion are foreign to love. They, in fact, destroy love. If you don't believe this, try telling your wife or husband they are required to do something because you say so. Report back your findings in the comment section. We may require stricter obligation from our children to protect them while they are young, but eventually we cut those apron strings too. Love is reciprocal, not impositional.
Father Paul once told me "Reader John, if I tell you that you must do something, then you will only do so much as is required to please me and no more. But if I show you the value in doing something, you will choose to do it as diligently as you can." I have found this to be true. The topic wasn't fasting, but his point still stands. Orthodoxy is not about compulsion to "do the stuff." Orthodoxy is about entering into union with God. "The stuff" is great, to the extent it draws you into union with God. And it will, if you will let it. But "the stuff" never takes the place of the virtues such as love, forgiveness, meekness, kindness, charity, humility. Rather, "the stuff" teaches us to practice those virtues by denying ourselves. And the only way it works is if you enter into it freely and not out of compulsion or perceived obligation. We do "the stuff" because we love Christ and His Church. If those within the Church attempt to bind us to "the stuff," then "the stuff" becomes an idol. Instead of deepening our union with Christ, it binds us instead to the rule and the person imposing it. Which, as my friend noted, makes us feel farther from God, not closer, because we are putting "the stuff" in between ourselves and God.
This is not a statement against fasting. We fast in my family, and we try to do so diligently, and we fail, and then we try some more. When we fail, we confess (I have been told by more than one priest "that is not a sin" when I confess I haven't kept the fast well, for what it's worth). And then we get up and put one foot in front of the other and continue striving.
Why? Certainly not because God needs us to fast. Certainly not because some priest told us we have to. No, we fast because fasting is good for us. We pray for the same reason. We attend services for the same reason. We crave the Sacraments for the same reason. We do these things because we love Christ and His Church. If we do them for any other reason, then we fall into the trap of self-justification, which ultimately is pride. So sure -- do the stuff. Do all of it, and do it as diligently as you can. But please, dear Christians, do not get wrapped around the axle worrying about how well you do them. If your priest doesn't understand this, then pray for him. But do not let him rob you of the joy of fasting, or praying, or doing any of the other stuff. The stuff is good. Pride is the enemy.
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