The Two Ways - On the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim

"There are two ways, one of life and one of death, there is a great difference between the two ways (Didache)." The earliest teaching of the Apostles begins with the clear distinction between the two ways of living - the way of life and the way of death. Either a person is headed towards God, away from Him or against Him. The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim explains how vastly different the two ways are by detailing the consequences of each.

O Lord and Master of my life do not give me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust of power and idle talk.

But give me rather the spirit of whole-mindedness, humility, patience, and love.

Yes, O Lord and King grant me to see my own sins and not judge my brothers and sisters; for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The first four conditions which lead to death are sloth, despondency, lust of power and vain talk. Each has consequences which form an ever increasing fall into a deeper and deeper crevasse that leads further and further away from God. Each condition gives birth to the next. Together they form a spiritual check list for ailments of the soul which lead to death. There are four principle conditions which lead to life, they are whole-mindedness, humility, patience and love. Wholeness opens the way which leads to God, Who is the source of life. The fruit of following the way of life is the unconditional loving of one another.

THE WAY OF DEATH

Sloth - the root of all sin
The word sloth or laziness is not being used in the sense of - I would rather be golfing than going to Church but, it refers to spiritual apathy and inactivity. In other words, there is a neglect of caring for one's spiritual life. One can in fact, even attend church, receive communion and say the Lord's Prayer, while being apathetic spiritually if these actions are only superficial. "It is that strange laziness and passivity of our entire being which always pushes us ‘down' rather than ‘up' - which constantly convinces us that no change is possible and therefore desirable. It is in fact a deeply seated cynicism which to every spiritual challenge responds, ‘What for?' and makes our life one tremendous spiritual waste (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." Spiritual sloth manifests itself as indifference towards the bible, coming to Church, prayer, the sacraments, holy confession and other people. It becomes a force which is expressed as cynicism toward the Church, its' leadership and parishioners. It essentially validates a conviction that everyone is a hypocrite and therefore, the Church is a not necessary. ‘Why should I care about making personal changes, I can do whatever I want.' Such a state is characterized by a spirit of negativism that is easily identified when we listen to how others speak. There is no hope, no faith, no God, only a dismal assessment of the world, people and especially the Church.

Spiritual indifference leads to despondency - suicide of the soul
The consequence of a wasted spiritual life is a despondent soul. "Despondence is the impossibility for man to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism . . . it is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it he is absolutely unable to see the light and to desire it (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." Despondency manifests itself in behaviors such as showing an unhealthy concern for the affairs of others and meddling. In psychological terms, a despondent soul has barrier issues because the painful consequence of neglecting the soul is artificially soothed by obsessing in the perceived problems of others. The most dangerous despondent soul is the one which thinks it is doing this on behalf of God and for all the right reasons. Any time a judgment is made about an individual, it is critical to evaluate why such an assessment is being made. In this state, a return to God is very difficult because of the darkening of the soul - it no longer can see God nor desire Him.

Despondency leads to a Lust of Power - spiritual murder
Once despondency has been created in the soul, the next consequence is to murder my brother or sister with condescending thoughts because ‘I am above everyone else.' "The lust of power is thus a fundamental depravity in my relationship with other beings, a search for their subordination to me. . . It may result as well in indifference, contempt, lack of interest, and respect (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." The further down one falls into a crevasse away from God, the soul becomes more and more vainglorious. "If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I become my own lord and master - the absolute center of my own world, and I begin to evaluate everything in terms of my own needs, my ideas, my desires, and my judgments (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." Typically, such a state is characterized by destructive behaviors directed towards hurting others. In marriages, spouses are at enmity with one another. Parents abuse children. Careers are marked by conflicts. Parishioners have contempt for one another, for priests and bishops. Clergy mandate rules that no one can follow and no one else does ministry in the Church.

Idle Talk - the power of sin
Idle talk does not refer to meaningless, unedifying talk, in the prayer of St. Ephraim, it has a definite purpose, and it is a power which seeks the destruction of others. At the bottom of the crevasse which leads to death is to use speech as a weapon. Instead of the tongue being employed to praise God and build up one another, it utters malicious comments, slander and spends hours in gossip. If one decides to continue in this way, spiritual death is its' end. With God however, all things are possible. This final state can only be corrected by a deep sense of repentance, compunction, confession and by God's grace.

THE WAY OF LIFE

Whole-mindedness is found in Christ
Wholeness is a gift from God that results when one turns to Him in prayer, seeking self-knowledge THROUGH THE ACT OF CONFESSION. "Christ restores wholeness in us and He does so by restoring in us the true scale of values by leading us back to God (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." This radical change is seen when defensiveness, which was employed as a means of closing one's eyes to personal sins, is replaced with openness to correction, and a heart ready to be changed by God's grace. The first step is willingly becoming obedient to God and acknowledging Him as the Lord and Master of my life. Standing before Christ, bringing out that which was hidden from us, by God's grace we confess to Christ through a priest. God knows our sins; it is us, who by bringing sin out before ourselves that begins the process of change. The priest stands next to us, and becomes our advocate and advisor so that we may be strengthened not to return to the way of death again.

Humility - the first fruit of wholeness
Humility is a divine virtue, as such, it is something which comes from God not us. Virtues are gift received from God as a result of our union with Him. Virtue is expressed in personal traits; however, it has a divine source that is allowed to be seen in us following repentance. Christ said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. "Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and you shall find rest to your souls. "For My yoke is good and My burden is light." [Mt. 11:28-30] "It (humility) is above everything else the victory of truth in us, the elimination of all lies in which we usually live (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." Christ restores wholeness which leads to humility because now Christ is acting in and through our actions. Personal awareness of the wounds caused by sin allows for Christ to come and make his abode in our hearts. This is why many after completing a confession feel freedom from a great burden and lightness in their soul. The soul is freed from restlessness that was caused by living in a state of estrangement from God and our true selves. Christ Who is Light, reveals sin so that it can be healed. The world is no longer a dark place; God's love and goodness become our life and the disparity caused by sin goes away.

Patience - God is patient because he sees the depth of all that exists
The next divine virtue which is the fruit of humility is patience. "The closer we come to God, the more patient we grow and the more we reflect that infinite respect for all beings which is the proper quality of God (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent)." This virtue only sees the good in others and with a discerning eye, understands others in light of having personally experienced God's patience and His loving us unconditionally despite wrong decisions and sins. Respect for others is the highest form of love one can give. Grace is increased in us by expanding our ability to affirm the value of others. This is expressed as being present when someone is talking to us. It is seen when our own "agenda" of tasks that I would like to accomplish in a day are quickly abandoned when the needs of others demand our attention. In this state, our life becomes a source of life to others. We become a positive force that others seek to be near and engaged. Learning, spiritual growth, renewal, illumination, discernment are all fruit of increasing God's patience and grace in our lives.

Love - the greatest of all virtues
God is love. The last line of the prayer reads: "Yes, O Lord and King grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brothers and sisters; for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen." The goal of the spiritual life, of fasting and prayer is to love one another with the love with which we have been loved. As we grow in our relationship with God, we grow in our relationships with others. Lenten disciplines that lead to isolation and alienation from others are misdirected efforts. Love that is life-giving to others is primarily manifested in one's ability not to judge others. This is possible when we have an awareness of our own sinfulness and errors.

The last thing we do before singing Christ is risen is to forgive one another. It is the first and last action of Great and holy Lent because it is indeed the test of whether or not we are truly His disciples and following the WAY OF LIFE.

Rev. Andrew J. Barakos