“One must get on with the work! Not with theology”
One may hear arguments of the sort that there is no need to study theology, that it has no bearing whatever on our salvation and so on. There is a whole arsenal of arguments aimed at persuading a man to take no interest in theology. As a rule the substance of the reasoning comes down, on the one hand, to the claim that theology will serve the growth of self-conceit, high-mindedness, spiritual delusion and the like. On the other hand — that one must possess a level of spiritual preparation prior to taking up theology.
Naturally, one can find no small number of quotations from the holy fathers which seem to support such a point of view. Probably the best known of them, included in every course of dogmatic theology, are the words of St Gregory the Theologian: “Not everyone may philosophise about God — no, not everyone… Not all may philosophise about God, because those capable of it are men who have tested themselves, who have passed their lives in contemplation… For the impure it is perhaps not even safe to touch the pure[1]”. Similar thoughts among the other holy fathers are plentiful.
Yet alongside such utterances the fathers unambiguously censured the opinion that held theological knowledge to be unnecessary. In his well-known work “The Fount of Knowledge” the venerable John of Damascus writes of the so-called gnosimachi[2], who deny the necessity of grasping the foundations of our faith, and he regards this opinion as a heresy.
The venerable Isaac the Syrian likewise speaks with disapproval of those who consider the study of theology something unnecessary: “I marvel at... men who, when they see a man labouring in the reading of the Holy Scriptures and diligently searching out their meaning… say to him some very coarse word, tasteless and senseless, of this kind: ‘However much you read and labour, your labour is useless.' But most of all I marvel at those who say something of this kind: ‘One must get on with the work! If we fulfil what we know, we have no need to pore over the Scriptures whole days long and to occupy ourselves with other such things.' They do not understand what they are saying, and they do not know that precisely this — that is, that a man's mind should be filled with the thought of the divine dispensation and with a constant remembrance of it, thanks to the wonderful thought sown in the mind by the reading of Scripture and by the search for its hidden meaning — that this very thing is the real work and the fulfilment of all the commandments of our Lord”, writes the holy father.
When the second is impossible without the first
The venerable Maximus the Confessor, reasoning about theology, says that there are two kinds of it: the theoretical and the properly practical, but that the second is in no way possible without the first. What is more, to approach the second without the first is dangerous, since, having no conception of the past experience left us by our predecessors and received by us at first precisely as theory, one may easily go astray[3]. Origen compared the way of the theologian with the work of a tracker who searches out in the thickets the traces of those who went before and follows them to his goal. Let us imagine to what danger a man exposes himself who neglects this method and seeks the way by himself. It would be extremely presumptuous to suppose that one may “skip” the lower theoretical steps — that is, the study of the theological sciences proper — and enter at once into the region of contemplation. Besides this, those who regard dogmatic texts and definitions as unnecessary in the spiritual life fail to take account of the fact that these very “outward forms” of dogmatic truth are the heritage of the holy fathers and of the councils of the Church, and that a contemptuous attitude towards them is a form of pride.
Let us return to the quotation from St Gregory the Theologian already cited and try to understand: is it about there being no need to study theology? That theology is not for everyone? That theology is a set of subtleties unnecessary to the majority of believers? Such an understanding of the words of the hierarch not only runs counter to the context of all his writings but directly contradicts the ordering of the Church. For to affirm such a thing is equivalent to the thought that our Lord Jesus Christ did not come for all, did not preach to all and did not command His disciples to proclaim the truth to all nations. The apostle Paul commands us to give heed to doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16).
The words of St Gregory are not about not studying theology, but about there being a condition for the right approach to the study of theology! In substance this is a warning, but one which presupposes action, not the refusal of it.
Asceticism as the condition of theology
One of the Christian authors offers a remarkable comparison: “Approach the study of theology as though you were approaching the Eucharist”! Developing this thought, let us ask: and how do we approach the Eucharist? What are the conditions for approaching the Chalice? And in the end: do we approach Communion at all?
The apostle Paul says: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup” (1 Cor. 11:17–34, King James Version). We all examine ourselves before the Eucharist, but if each one asks himself: “Am I worthy to approach the Chalice?” — the answer is obvious: “No.” But do we communicate? The answer is — yes!
The majority of the clergy stand for the practice of frequent Communion; one may even speak of the phenomenon of a “eucharistic revival”, and nevertheless each of us understands: we are not worthy, and yet we humbly dare to receive this Holy Thing, since without the Eucharist there can be no talk of genuine churchliness.
So it is with theology also: we can say with certainty that we are not free from vanity, from the passions, from empty thinking and vain wisdom, that our mind soars not on high but in the lower places, and nevertheless we must study theology.
Thus the study of theology, like participation in the Mysteries, presupposes work upon oneself, or what it is customary to call asceticism.
St Gregory the Theologian teaches: “Do you wish in time to become a theologian… — keep the commandments and do not step outside what is commanded, for deeds, like steps, lead to contemplation[4]”. Good deeds do not of themselves save, but they help in the acquisition of grace; so too the knowledge of theology (of dogmatic texts, of the formulations of the faith) does not of itself save, but is a set of steps on the way of the transfiguration of our person in the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, that is, when all our powers are directed only to the mastery of formulations, we may become like the courtier's wife who instead of the Joseph she desired took possession only of his garments[5].
Without the keeping of the commandments, without asceticism, a right understanding of Holy Scripture is impossible, and therefore of theology also, which must be founded upon Revelation. Of this the prayer before the reading of the Gospel at the Liturgy speaks: “Implant in us also the fear of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living.”
In the words of V. Lossky: “In contrast to gnosis, where knowledge is itself the goal of the gnostic, Christian theology is in the last resort always only a means, only a certain sum of knowledge that must serve that goal which surpasses all knowledge. This final goal is union with God, or deification... We thus come to a conclusion which may seem paradoxical: Christian theory has a significance in the highest degree practical, and the more mystical this theory is, the more directly it presses towards its highest goal — towards union with God — the more ‘practical' it is[6]”.
Theology on guard over the boundaries of the Church
Theology, then, has recourse to reasoning, that is, to intellectual activity, as science does and as philosophy does, but it cannot confine itself to that reasoning and must lead to contemplation, to the ineffable, to pure prayer, where thought comes to a halt: “through faith the mind comes to the good, where, ceasing from activity, it finds its own perfection[7]”.
One may object: the Eucharist is necessary for all! But theology is not! Look how many saints there have been and how many excellent Christians there are who know no theology at all! That is so. Yet it must be understood as a matter of principle that the true Eucharist can exist only in the true Church, and where the true Church is, where the boundaries of the genuine Church lie, is indicated precisely by theology. It is theology that defines the “boundaries of the Christian worldview space” (the expression is V. Shokhin's), beyond which there already begins the world of non-Orthodox and non-Christian opinions. Yes, there have been, there are and there will be righteous men who know nothing of theology and who became saints without it, but they would not have become saints had they been outside the Church, while theology as such preserves, defines and helps us to see and to trace the boundaries of that very Church. More than that: theology often acts as the instrument by which the boundaries of the Church are defended. The very concept of the true Church includes within itself the confession of the Orthodox God-revealed teaching in all its fullness and in all its fine points. That is, the true Church can only be a Church that keeps the right teaching, and the right teaching can abide only in the true Church.
Remembering that on the paths of purely logical, rational knowledge theological questions can never be resolved, we Orthodox Christians must nevertheless approach “with the fear of God and with faith” that which is called a mystery — the mystery of Theology[8].[1] Gregory the Theologian, St. Oration 27, against the Eunomians and the first or preliminary oration on theology
[2] John of Damascus, the venerable. “The Gnosimachi: they reject the necessity for Christianity of all knowledge. They say that those who seek any kind of knowledge in the divine Scriptures do a vain thing, for God requires of a Christian nothing else but good deeds. It is better, therefore, to live rather more simply and not to be curious about any dogma pertaining to knowledge” // On the Hundred Heresies in Brief, ch. 88.
[3] For a fuller exposition of the venerable Maximus's thought see: Diodorus (Larionov), monk. What is theology? // Electronic resource: http://www.bogoslov.ru/text/2356123.html
[4] Gregory the Theologian, St. Oration 20, on the appointment of bishops and on the dogma of the Holy Trinity // Gregory the Theologian, St. Collected Works. Vol. 1. P. 305
[5] Compare with the reasoning of the venerable Maximus the Confessor: “And great art is required so that, having penetrated first beneath the coverings of the sayings that surround the Word, one may then behold with a naked mind Him [Himself], existing in the purity of His own Being, when the Word clearly manifests the Father in Himself, so far as this is accessible to the perception of men. And therefore it is necessary that he who piously seeks God be not overcome by any saying, lest he receive that which is around the Word instead of the Word [Himself]; that is, lest he love with an unreliable love the [literal] sayings of Scripture instead of the Word [of God Himself], and lest, avoiding this Word with his mind, he suppose that It is in the power of Its [own] coverings, after the manner of that Egyptian woman who instead of Joseph took possession of his garments (Gen. 39:12). Or: [lest he become like] the men of old who, spellbound by the comeliness of the visible alone, did not notice that they were serving the creature instead of the Creator (Rom. 1:25)” // Chapters on Theology and on the Economy of the Incarnation of the Son of God // Second Century. Chapter 73.
[6] Lossky V. N. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
[7] Maximus the Confessor, the venerable. Works. Moscow, 1993. Vol. 1. P. 164
[8] “A ‘mystery' in the truly theological sense of the word is precisely that which is revealed to our human understanding, though this revelation will never be exhaustive, since it concerns the depths of the ‘divine darkness'”, writes Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) // Kallistos (Ware), Metropolitan. Theological Education in Scripture and the Fathers
