The reactivation of the memory of God through the healing of the “nous”
The heart, in the Orthodox tradition, does not only have a natural operation as a mere pump that circulates blood. In Orthodox patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (+1809) calls the heart a natural and supernatural center, wherein resides “noetic” memory. Tapping into this noetic memory is manifested as the “incessant prayer” of the Holy Spirit inside the heart.
Humankind’s mishandling of the memory of God led to the fall, and the reactivation of that memory through the healing of the “nous” (the eye of the soul), is necessary for the restoration of that memory. We must be made holy (whole) for communion with God to be restored. Being made whole restores our self-awareness, and this self-awareness is the energy of the mind inside the heart. The holy fathers refer to the heart as our “noetic faculty”.
There is an important distinction that must be noted concerning the difference between the Western and Eastern understands of how we come to know God. The scholastic approach that places emphasis on the use of logic and reason in the acquisition of the knowledge of God, as seen in the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, is unknown in the East.
The Ancient Church taught that knowledge of God comes only through the noetic science of the heart. From the standpoint of Orthodox theology, the mind and logic are not the same thing, since logic functions within the brain, while the mind functions within the heart. Thus, the noetic faculty of the heart is the energy of the mind inside the heart. This important distinction results in the Eastern Church seeing herself not as a religious institution, but rather a hospital of the soul, wherein one comes for therapeutic procedures that restore the health of the soul, and allow for the ultimate goal of union with God (theosis). For those who wish further understanding of these ancient Christian teaching, the writings of my favorite modern theologian, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, are a worthy read.
It is within the life of the Church that we enter into ascetic struggle, “working out”, just as an athlete, through fasting and prayer, and the reception of the Holy Mysteries (Holy Communion), in order to be made well. We are restored to health within the walls of this hospital of the soul, the Church, and trained to this athletic/ascetic dimension of living.
Our mishandling of the memory of God that led to the fall, is now corrected and reactivated through the healing of the “nous” (the eye of the soul), and that memory is restored. This memory is not the reclamation of something of an historical nature, but rather the opening up of a knowledge that has always been there. This healing is not of a juridical nature whereby an angry God has decided to overlook the evil and fallen nature of our souls by the bloodletting of His Son, but by the cleansing of the nous that has been darkened, restoring us to health and wholeness. The memory of God is thus restored, and we are again in full communion with the Most High, freed from the permanency of death by the trampling down of the power of death through Christ’s Holy Resurrection.
The purpose of the Church’s presence in the world is for the cure of humankind, and the restoration of the hearts of men and women. The Church thus functions as a therapy centered hospital, and the priests function as therapists. This Divine-human Organism is the living Body of Christ, the Church, and is life itself. The healing of the nous that comes within the life of the Church returns us to our true nature. In this state of wholeness our faculties are able to use logic and reason as it was meant to be used. Our reason and logic becomes the rightful vehicle by which we can explore the universe, and behold all that God has created, and science, nature, and even the cosmos, can be seen in the light of the heart as the center of our self-awareness.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Afternoon tea in the monastery’s library.
Saturday October 11, 2014 / September 28, 2014
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Venerable Chariton the Confessor, abbot of Palestine (350).
Venerables Cyril, schemamonk and Maria, schemanun (1337) (parents of St. Sergius of Radonezh).
Martyress Anna (1925).
New Martyr Hilarion, Virgin-martyr Michaela (1937).
Virgin-martyr Tatiana (1942).
Synaxis of the Saints of the Kievan Caves Monastery, venerated in the near caves of Venerable Anthony: Anthony the Founder (1073) – Prochorus the Gardener and Wonderworker (1107) – John the Faster (12th c.) – Juliana the Virgin, Princess of Ol’shansk (c.1550) – Monkmartyrs Basil and Theodore (1098) – Polycarp, Archimandrite of the Kievan Caves (1182) – Varlaam, Abbot of the Kievan Caves (1065) – Damian the Presbyter and Healer (1071) – Nicodemus the Prosphora-baker (12th c.) – Lawrence the Hermit, Bishop of Turov (12th C) – Athanasius the Hermit (c.1176) – Gerasim the Black-Robed (12th c.) – Luke, Steward of the Kievan Caves (13th c.) – Agapit the Unmercenary Physician (c.1095) – Theophilus the Clear-sighted and John the God-pleasing (12th c.) – Nectarios (12th c.) – Gregory the Iconographer (12th c.) – Hieromartyr Kuksha, Enlightener of the Vyati (12th c.) – Alexis the Hermit (13th c.) – Sava the God-pleasing (13th c.) – Sergius the Obedient (13th c.) – Mercurius, Bishop of Smolensk (1239) – Pimen the Muchailing (1110) – Nestor the Chronicler (c.1114) – Monkmartyr Evstratius (1097) – Elladius the Hermit (12th-13th c.) – Jeremiah the Clairvoyant (11th c.) – Monkmartyr Moses the Hungarian (c.1031-1043) – John the Much-ailing (1160) – Mark the Grave-Digger (12th c.) – Nikola Svyatosha, Prince of Chernigov (1143) – Martyr Gregory the Wonderworker (1093) – Onysimus the Hermit (12th-13th c.) – Matthew the Clairvoyant (11th c.) – Isaiah the Wonderworker (1115) – Abraham the Lover of Labor (12th-13th c.) – Niphont, Bishop of Novgorod (1156) – Sylvester the Wonderworker (12th c.) – Pimen the Faster (12th c.) – Onuphrius the Silent (12th c.) – Anatolius the Hermit (12th c.) – Alipy the Iconographer (1114) – Sisois the Hermit (12th-13th c.) – Theophilus the Hermit (12th-13th c.) – Arethas the Hermit (c.1195) – Spiridon the Prosphora-baker (12th c.) – Onysiphorus the Confessor (1148) – Simon, Bishop of Suzdal (12th c.) – Nikon, Abbot of Kievan Caves (1088) – Theophan the Faster (12th c.) – Macarius (12th c.) – Monkmartyr Anastasius the Deacon (12th c.) – 12 Master Architects (11th c.) – Abraham the Hermit (12th-13th c.) – Isaac the Hermit (c.1190) – Martyr John the Infant (11th-12th c.) – Elias of Murom (c.1188) – Nikon the Lean (12th c.) – Ephraim, Bishop of Pereyaslavl’ (c.1098) – Tito the Hieromonk (1190).
Venerable Chariton, monk, of Syanzhema Lake (Vologda) (1509).
Venerable Herodion, abbot, of Iloezersk (1541).
Prophet Baruch (6th c. B.C.).
Martyrs Alexander, Alphius, Zosimas, Mark, Nicon, Neon, Heliodorus, and 24 others in Pisidia and Phrygia (4th c.).
Martyrdom of St. Wenceslaus, prince of the Czechs (935).
St. Juliana, Princess of Olshansk.
Martyr Eustace of Rome (Greek).
St. Faustus, bishop of Riez (495).
St. Leoba, abbess of Bischofsheim, English missionary to Germany (779).
St. Alkison, bishop of Nicopolis (Preveza) in Epirus (561).
St. Auxentius the Alaman, Wonderworker of Cyprus (12th c.).
St. Neophytus the Recluse of Cyprus (1214) (Cypriote).
St. Machan, disciple of St. Cadoc.
The Scripture Readings for the Day
1 Corinthians 15:39-45
39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh[a] of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.”[b] The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Luke 5:17-26
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.[a] 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”