By Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi,Mt.Athos(+2009)
Divine super-perfection knows about everything before it even happens,
up to its very infinite end. To us everything seems unknown,
unpredictable and incomprehensible because of the various changes which
man’s fall has caused, along with his careless and guilty conduct. Even
though everything submits to the divine providence and stewardship, it
varies in different situations, times, places, people and because of the
multiple satanic cruelties. No factor is able to prevent or annul God’s
comprehensive providence for His creation. By our own wrong doing we
are only able to alter the performance of various elements.
The divine wish or divine will, appears
in four ways if we refer to it progressively. First, is the divine
delight, the so called “in accordance with his pleasure and will”( kat
eydokian thelima): that which God takes delight in most. Second is His
providence, the so called “Will by the dispensation of His providence”(
kat oikonomian thelima) : He succumbs to this will as a Father, because
of our weakness. Third is His concession, the so called “Will by
concession” (kata parahorisi thelima): Whereby He intervenes and
disciplines man. And fourth is the most regrettable of all: the divine
abandonment (egkatalipsis). When man continues living with consistent
cruelty and insensitivity, he provokes his abandonment from God.
It is through His God-like wish, which
God’s all- saving providence reigns, even though our fall has perverted
the ‘very good’ terms and conditions of nature’s equilibrium. “Whoever
is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast
love of the Lord” (Psalm 107, 43)
Because God knew about everything
beforehand, He could have prevented the whole adventure which befell on
man, but this would have constituted an obliteration of his personal
freedom. Just because He respected his freedom, he left it up to man to
chose and show his preference. Therefore, man is responsible for his
most turbulent and laborious life, either because of the confusion of
his intellect or because of his impassioned perversion and his rejection
of his rational discretion.
Satan’s most wicked stimulation and
effect is not absent from this most lamentable state to which man has
been rendered, after he had of course severed himself from God. Satan
has authority to act in this valley of tears which is our abode, because
we have given him this right when we had defected from paradise and
followed him. As “a god of this world” (B Corinthians 4, 4) according to
Paul, this abysmal dragon never stops plotting against and deceiving
man with unspeakable pretexts. Especially nowadays when the bad example
has become the law and is instantly transmitted by the available means,
man needs to be extra vigilant and resort to more prayer.
Therefore, the divine providence is the
all-saving and cohesive authority and governance of God towards His
material and spiritual creatures, present and future, now and in
eternity.
The implementation of the divine
justice, as part of the divine providence, intervenes when irrationality
governs human life. Thus the divine justice, as an absolute, prevents
irrationality for the general benefit of human destination. Everything
that exists has originally been created to accomplish a purpose. This
divine design cannot be altered since God “created everything with
wisdom”.
If, however, human naivety and the
devil’s wickedness violate this original purpose, God’s philanthropic
providence is altered, if man repents, according to the degree of his
repentance and the amount of restitution for his transgression. In this
case, the divine providence takes the place of divine delight.
Because God wishes “all men to be saved
and recognize the truth” (Titus 2, 4) predetermines everything according
to His pleasure and will. This is none other than the road to complete
and unmistaken success. He may also grant us “far more abundantly than
all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3, 20). When man is being deceived
or abandons his obligation, God, instead of changing His decision for
the mercy He has shown him and rejects him as an offender, He intervenes
in a disciplinary way in order to guide man to correct himself. This
constitutes, according to our Fathers, the so called “disciplinary or
conventional attacks”. Without God altering His fatherly attribute, He
tolerates the offender on the one hand, but presses him to amend his
ways. This is when the saying “the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a
father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3, 12) is applied. God’s
philanthropic providence heals the ailment of rebellion with the
appropriate temptations instead of rejecting the offender. Most of God’s
deep judgments, by which He governs nature, belong to this kind of
conventions. “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom
you teach out of your law” (Psalm 94, 12). And again: “Before I was
afflicted I went astray” (Psalm 119, 67) and “the Lord has disciplined
me severely, but he has not given me over to death” (Psalm 118, 18).
The main reasons for the disorder which
exists in human life are human volatility and “the intention of man’s
heart which is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8, 21). Since, therefore,
we are not convinced to remain consistent with our obligations and
continue to violate the designs of divine providence, we compel God to
impose the conventional attacks, which are painful in order to restore
the equilibrium. This constitutes the cross which we must all carry.
Translated from the Greek:
Source-Pemptousia.com
