[Abebpabeniemo]

If Archbishop Basil was alive today, I am sure he could have offered a scholarly and truly Orthodox approach to this thread. I am simply a parish priest. Maybe I have more book learning that Elder Paissios or Elder Porphyrios, but certainly not more than St Nektarios or St Serafim of Sofia. All these saints had of course more than book learning. They had knowledge of a different kind. They also had acquired the spirit of simplicity, that is simplicity of heart, of soul and of mind, the mind here being not the intellect but the upper level of the soul whereby we encounter God. Most of us, myself included of course, operate as it were, on the level of the psyche, the lower part of the soul.

Although we may acquire great knowledge and erudition, we often lack the spirit of simplicity and accordingly accept as spiritual experience or understanding (through reading, for example) or by means of the senses, purely secular ideas for these experiences are purely external or psychological.

And so this book learning combined with our 'psyche' experience pales in the light of spiritual knowledge possessed by these contemporary saints. Yet by reading, for example the life or writings of a saint, we in some way come under their 'umbrella' and perhaps we do experience a meagre crumb of spiritual experience. So how do we learn anything spiritual? As St Makary Optina says - instead of following our personal opinion in lofty matters, we should simplify our thinking and follow the teaching and practices of the Church. Elder Paissios often talked about the loss of simplicity which earlier generations of Christians possessed and the fact that today we have become so sophisticated that we are unable to receive anything spiritual.

Fr Sophrony was probably able, through prayer to diverge from the practices around him, but I fail to find this spiritual authority in his writings nor am I comfortable with the spirit in which he writes (this is probably starting another thread!). Perhaps others do.

For me personally, to change the mysterium into a sacrament is to make that which is hidden into something that is 'exposed' and surely reduces the spiritual to the level of the psyche. If I remember correctly someone quoted St John's in Essex as an example of this practice. Upon reflection I now remember Fr Sophrony telling me that he wanted to build a new church full of light (architecturally) and to open or expose the Liturgy to the faithful. This was in contrast to the chapel in the monastery, used at the time for all the services, which followed a more hesychastical tradition - no windows, no light save for two or three lampadas, traditional iconostasis, curtain and doors etc. Later Father did achieve his dream and so the new church (in fact a very ancient Saxon foundation) was full of light with see-thro iconostasis, the mystical prayers read aloud with great emotion and drama. It was a different atmosphere than I had experienced in other churches, especially on the Holy Mountain.

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