Talk 24: Elders vs. Religious Intellectuals: Whom to Follow?
In the Orthodox Church today there is a growing trend towards using logic and reason to explain miracles, mysteries, Divine Providence and demonic phenomena. This has been occurring in the Western Church for centuries, and is known as rationalism. Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (†1994) explains that this rationalism comes from a lack or absence of faith, and has its roots in pride, ego and self-trust. Orthodox Christianity, however, cannot be comprehended solely through reason and logic. The Elder goes as far as to say that logic and reason in spiritual matters can lead to a loss of grace. In this talk Fr. Kosmas emphasises the need to reject the disease of rationalism – which unfortunately is being spread by some clergy and theologians – and embrace the spirit of Orthodoxy as passed on to us by the Elders, particularly those Elders who have lived during our times.
This talk addresses the following questions: is pride the cause of many mental illnesses? Why does God allow mental illness? Why are we blind to God’s intervention in our lives? Are there people whose spiritual life exists only in their minds? Why did one well-educated priest-monk become mentally ill? What does the Elder mean by “spiritual headache”?
Other topics covered in this talk include: how logic in the spiritual life can lead to denial of divine and demonic supernatural phenomena; how God stopped a man who wanted to visit a fortune-teller; a simple monk who performed a miracle by praying to “St. Ascension”; the dangers of overindulging in reading spiritual books; Holy Light – a great Christian miracle; God’s judgement as opposed to human judgement; and the need to beware of priests and theologians who suffer from rationalism.
Talk Duration: 190 minutes
3 CD set