“Fr. Maxime, why do you suppose St. Paul placed the fruit of faith at the bottom end of his hierarchy?” Michael asked.
“This is an important point. Paul did not place faith at the top part of his hierarchy but in the bottom triad, namely faith, gentleness, and self-control,” Fr. Maximos replied, extending three fingers of his right hand. “Why? Because, the apostle claims that a time will come when faith will be transcended. It will take place when we have direct contact with God. Faith will no longer be necessary, and only love, the ultimate stage of the spiritual hierarchy, will remain.”
“Faith then is just a step on our way to God? I never thought of it that way!” Michael said.
“Many people in the Church do not understand this fine point, and they emphasize ‘blind faith’ and the like as ends in themselves. No injunction that God ever gave to us demands ‘Believe that I am God.’ Nothing in the New Testament states or implies the importance of blind faith. Instead we are asked to love God our Lord. The person who simply believes in God is still far from the ultimate goal, which is to unite with God in love. This is the great difference that we need to understand.”
“How then is faith, as a fruit of the Spirit, linked to the other two spiritual fruits that you spoke about?” Michael asked again.
“It is like a chain. Only the person who has freed himself from the things and meanings of this world and who has penetrated into the grace of humility can truly have faith. You cannot have faith when you are an egotist.”
“Why not?”
“Simply because instead of believing in God, you believe in yourself,” Fr. Maximos replied. “Do you remember Apostle Paul’s words that avarice is idolatry? Why? Because the avaricious person has faith only in his wealth and possessions. Of course it is not just avarice that is a form of idolatry but all the passions that enslave us to the things of this world.
“This reminds me of a story in which an abbot asks a hermit how he should go about intensifying his faith. The hermit replies, ‘How can you intensify your faith, Father, when your cellar is full of cheeses, wines, and all sort of provisions?’ What he tried to convey to the abbot was that instead of investing his faith in God he had invested his faith in material possessions. It is as if the abbot had convinced himself ‘I am now secure because my cellar is full of foodstuffs.’ Or ‘I am secure because I have money in the bank, I have a good house,’ and the like.
“I remember an uncle who had returned from South Africa and was bragging to me about his three houses and the money he had in the bank. He calculated how much he should spend every month given his investments. He felt very happy and content as he looked forward to a comfortable early retirement. The poor man died from a heart attack soon after he told me about his wonderful fortune. His wealth was inherited by his brothers.
“In the Gospel, Christ called the person who invested in material things in order to feel secure insane. Such a person places all his faith in things that are chimerical and vain. A person who has such an attachment to material things cannot have faith in God.”
Fr. Maximos paused and then continued. “Another Athonite story comes to mind. A hermit placed a lock on his cell to prevent thieves from stealing what little he had. In those days there were thieves roaming around Mt. Athos. At night he was attacked by demons and beaten up. He then realized that it was not the lock that could protect him but his faith in God. To punish himself for his lack of faith he vowed to sleep for six months with the door unlocked and with the key in the lock.”
“But we are not hermits, Fr. Maxime, and it is unlikely that any of us here will be aware that we are being attacked by demons,” I said, prompting some laughter.
“Well, these stories are written to offer us examples of what perfect faith really means. Naturally, we cannot live like hermits. When we hear such stories, however, we gain courage in our struggle for perfection. I have repeated many times that we must struggle within the parameters of our own limitations and capabilities. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“I assume that by faith you mean trust and not belief, right?”
“Of course. When I say I believe in God, it does not mean that I believe that there is a God. Whether I believe it or not, God does exist. It simply means that I have total trust in God’s Providence. Once you have this trust in your heart, you fear nothing, absolutely nothing.
~Adapted from Kyriacos C. Markides, Inner River: A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality
