There was further discussion about the gift of chrestotis before we had a short break. When we reassembled, I suggested that we move on to the next spiritual gift. “Coming from the bottom up, Fr. Maxime,” I said, “you have spoken so far of self-control, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and kindness or chrestotis. We’re left with patience, peace, joy, and love.”
“Fine. Let’s continue with patience.” Fr. Maximos nodded, grinning. “God is infinitely patient. He does not do things in a hurried and rushed way.”
“For example?” Teresa asked.
“Okay. Here is a simple example. God could have created the world in a split second. Yet it took Him six days, cosmic days, that is. He requires that we also be patient. It takes nine months for us to grow as human beings in our mothers’ wombs. And then we need time to become fully functioning adults. There is need for a great deal of patience while a person becomes more mature.”
“So everything exists within an evolutionary process of patient change,” I pointed out.
“More or less. Of course, change can also happen suddenly, but that’s another story.”
“If we could come out of our mothers’ wombs as fully functioning creatures, we wouldn’t be able to become fully human,” I said. “We need time to grow, to learn a language and become socialized beings. So we can say that patience and endurance are great virtues because they are in harmony with the way that God and the universe work.”
“Well spoken. We mentioned earlier that the fruits of the Spirit are the signs that characterize a healthy person. The human individual as a fallen creature is sick, split up, and distorted as a result of his passions and sins. Then enters God, like a good physician, and restores him to health. The signs of his restoration are the fruits of the Spirit as listed by St. Paul.”
“It’s surprising to me how patience is a more advanced gift than faith,” Emily remarked.
“Yes, it is. More precisely, faith gives birth to patience.”
“How?”
“Because the person who has faith in God cannot get panicky. God never worries about missing the train, missing an opportunity. We, as human beings, are always obsessed about running after opportunities in case we miss something that we desire or miss an event that’s unfolding.”
“Just watch the stock market to get an idea of what Fr. Maximos is saying,” I suggested.
“God moves within a state of absolute security. He does not have any phobias, does not panic, is not under pressure-if we can use such anthropomorphic metaphors to describe God, that is.”
“So the person who has the Holy Spirit within her acts and moves like God,” Eleni commented.
“The person who has the Holy Spirit experiences security in his or her heart. Such a person fears nothing, because in reality there is nothing to fear.”
“Stress and anguish provide the bread and butter for psychotherapists,” Emily pointed out.
“What I said does not apply to the types of psychiatric phenomena related to anguish. I am referring to ordinary people who are otherwise psychologically healthy but suffer stress and anguish from the circumstances in their lives.”
“So the patient and forbearing person is the one who, in spite of circumstances, lives without anguish,” I pointed out.
“Right. Such persons are freed from any fear. The world may be falling all around them, but they fear nothing because their being is anchored in God and that is how they measure their lives. They are not afraid of failure. Success and failure are part of life. When such persons fail, they accept their failure. When they succeed again, they accept their success.”
“They face both success and failure with detachment,” I added.
“Yes, of course with detachment. Their lives are not grounded on anything ephemeral.”
“What if they are atheists?” I asked.
“There are no atheists, as we normally understand this term.”
“What?” I said.
“The Gospel calls the persons who do not believe in God ‘foolish.’ At the same time, there are people who believe in the existence of God and yet are in reality atheists.”
“It sounds like an oxymoron. How can one believe in God and be an atheist at the same time?” Michael interjected.
“Fr. Maximos smiled and went on.” A real atheist is a person who has no real relationship with the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is not active in his or her heart. Such a person may appear externally as deeply pious, going to church every Sunday, doing all the things that one is expected to do as a Christian, but his or her heart is completely shut off from the energies of the Holy Spirit.”
“No trace of the presence of the fruits of the Spirit,” I added. “This is the real atheist. God is absent from his or her life.”
~Adapted from Kyriacos C. Markides, Inner River: A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality
