Author: orthodoxaustralia

Dear Sister in Christ, Nina,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We (at least I) have still not recovered from the events of the last two weeks or so. Wednesday Vladika Nektary came to us with the Kursk Icon, a moving experience for us all; and then I accompanied the Icon to Etna, where it was well received and everyone sang in English. Little by little, it seems, this barren American land is being sanctified.

It’s obvious that Vlad. Anthony’s chief concern these days is the “priest shortage.” Is it possible that some people now will begin to think of why? It is not merely because “the salary is low”! — that affects only those who haven’t much interest in the priesthood anyway. The better candidates are repelled precisely because the “priesthood” is presented as such a boring thing — as “filling a hole” in the church organization wherein everyone, from hierarchy to laymen, takes the Church and the sources of spiritual life for granted. Get yourself inspired by the lives of Saints, try to be a zealot, express your veneration for the Wonderworker of San Francisco — and see how soon you will be squashed! Everything that rises above the “norm” of unconsciousness is labelled “prelest.” Who with any spiritual vitality is interested in such a “church career.”

The situation seems really desperate. Perhaps it is no accident that the “clergy crisis” seems to be striking S. F. most severely. Fr. Mitrophan well said in his sermon that “it is a shame to us Russians to be so lukewarm to our Wonderworker, Archbishop John, when the Greeks have printed his icon and glorified him!” (Such words haven’t been spoken publicly before!) Here we have such a source of inspiration and grace, and those who revere him are virtual outcasts. No wonder grace is being taken away from this diocese!

Forgive the bluntness. We ourselves are peaceful and are quite resolved to keep our fragile little foothold of spiritual life against the attacks and temptations which will doubtless get worse. “Wasting their time,” “pleasing themselves,” “prelest.” Glory be to God for everything!

The congregation of “ex-novices” in the Sepulchre was also not a very gratifying sight. What an abyss between the older generation which is trying so hard (literally killing themselves) just to “keep the ship running,” and the young ones who are not so interested in the Church that they will abandon the pleasure of pleasing themselves and leading fruitless lives. The approaching Sobor comes at a critical time, but who really sees what the crisis is? Perhaps near-anarchy is ahead, when Church life will be restricted to small cells of believers.

V. Derugin left a very bad impression — pompous, vain, empty, an intellectual shell with no spiritual content. But Vlad. Danilevich is just the opposite! May God preserve those who, through suffering, have learned the great secret that Orthodoxy is in the heart or not at all!

Don’t worry if Gulag deprives you of “peace” for a while. “Spiritual” life in modern conditions without a sober awareness of this other side of 20th-century life — is prelest! An awareness of this is a part of the suffering which is so necessary for real spiritual life. In any case, the overall impression of Gulag, once all the harrowing moments have been passed — is inspiring. The devil has done his worst with human nature — but now the truth is being told about it, and it turns out that Orthodoxy is not irrelevant to 20th-century life after all.

Concerning reading of the Gospel: the Optina-Sarov rule is: every day when the cell rule is performed (i.e., except eves of Sundays and great feasts, and Nativity and Pascha weeks), read one chapter of the Gospels and 2 chapters of the Epistles, beginning with Matthew and the Acts. If the last 8 chapters or so of the Apocalypse are read 1 a day instead of 2, the Gospels and Epistles will be finished the same day. We read them here aloud after Compline (as Starets Leonid did — usually the reading is individual, in the cell), although in the last 6 months or so we have cut the reading in half, which means we hardly get through the New Testament more than once a year.

Doubtless it would be good for you to write Matushka Lambros, if you can give her a word of consolation.

Concerning the Arena, p. 52, the “moral, hidden obedience, performed in the soul” seems to refer to our obedient orientation to God in general, which we should not think is satisfied if we are merely outwardly obedient to monastic or church authorities. It can happen that outward obedience is so over-emphasized that it becomes a mechanical substitute for the genuine voluntary inward giving up of one’s own will and understanding* The distinction can be felt in the heart: sooner or later an unsound, mechanical obedience will produce a feeling of oppression and tenseness, which are signs that something is wrong. Genuine inward obedience is accompanied by the joy of being relieved of trusting only oneself. This subject is extremely deep and is closely bound up with the whole subject of genuine vs. false Orthodoxy in the 20th century, most acutely in “Sergianism,” where obedience indeed becomes slavery to men and the human church organization. True obedience is accompanied by inward freedom, without which there is no Church life.

Yes, Vlad. Anderson has had difficult times with discouragement; pray for him. Pray for us all.

With love in Christ,
Seraphim, monk

I. M. Kontzevitch has written well on this subject in ch. 1 of the Optina book.

Dear Brother in Christ, Luke [Walmsley],
Rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ!

This will be brief, as our summer season is on and we are busier that ever — 19 pilgrims in one day! Still, we thank God, as so far all our pilgrims come for spiritual reasons and there are no “tourists.”

Even though you did not finish your last letter to us, the gist of it is clear. The want of spiritual guides, as indeed of Orthodox Christians who just care about others, is acute. Do you have the Arena of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov? If not I’ll try to get you a copy. Although it’s written for monks, it applies to everyone who wants to lead a serious Orthodox life in today’s conditions. We are no longer given the way of obedience to a Staretz, he says (even though he wrote when there were remarkable Startsi living); our present way of Orthodox life must be according to the Holy Scriptures and Holy Fathers and by counsel from living Orthodox Christians (i.e., those who give advice but not commands). You will have to be a wise bee, storing up whatever counsels you can get, and not ceasing to read Scriptures and Fathers, whose teaching is for all times, even if applied differently in different times. It would not be bad for you to keep a spiritual diary (if you don’t already), putting there your spiritual questionings and struggles, and also answers and light you get from Orthodox sources. The difficulty of your situation is for the good — those who have never been in hopeless situations have little to give others.

Perhaps you do not know “what next”? — after you get your degree? Get the degree first, and then trust in God to open the way. The political-economic situation in U.S., as evidently everywhere in the West, is rapidly deteriorating. Worse, the church situation becomes very bad (your situation is not unique!). In San Francisco suddenly some parishes are becoming empty, as the old priests die and there are no young ones to replace them; and it’s doubtful if more than a few see the cause: that Orthodoxy has too long been “taken for granted,” and it does not preserve itself “automatically”! But all of this only prepares us for catacomb times when our opportunities are perhaps greater than ever. We can’t see the future — but know this, that if you love God and His Orthodox Church and your fellow men — God can and will use you. Only Stay in contact with fellow Orthodox strugglers (they do exist).

Blessed Archbishop John is with us. We attended Liturgy in his Sepulchre on June 19/July 2, and Fr. Mitrophan gave a marvelous sermon, to wit that what a shame for us Russians to be lukewarm about a genuine wonderworker of our times, when the Greeks have printed his icon and venerate him as a saint!

Forgive the haste. Have you heard of Hieromonk Eulogius (a convert) and several parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy who want to come to our Synod (Milan, I think)? By the way, have you read Gulag or anything recent of Solzhenitsyn? — very important, a voice of truth. We’re sending you a copy of Gulag, by air. Pray for us, and write.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Dr. Kalomiros,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We haven’t heard from you since we sent our letter to you on Evolution. Did you receive it? Please let us know. We would very much like to hear your comments, either on the whole letter or on individual points. Since writing it, I have looked into one or two other points of the Patristic philosophy on this question, which I could write about later, if you wish. But I would very much like to know what you think of the points I have already discussed.

Is there anything new in the situation of the Old Calendarist Churches in Greece?

Asking your prayers.

With love in Christ,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,

We were glad to hear of your joyous Pascha and the spiritual profit from these holy days for the Etna Orthodox community. Do not worry about the increased responsibilities and new souls that come your way; God will not send you more burdens than you can bear, and what can we poor Christians do if we don’t help at least a little those who are thirsting for the truth? Let us labor a little for others, who often have nowhere else to turn to in this wasteland of modern life, and let us look forward to the repose of the next life, when the spiritual harvest will be in and secure from harm! And even in all our trials and sorrow — for which constantly be prepared! — what joy our loving God sends to us unworthy ones!

We are happy to hear about the new David and his simple acceptance of Holy Orthodoxy. May God bring him safely into His fold. We also had a very moving “missionary experience” this Bright Week. Michael returned and we had a joyous and peaceful Pascha, getting back ίο work sufficiently to send out the new issue of The Orthodox Word on Thursday. The same afternoon Michael and I went to Redding on business and to visit the Harveys, and in the Redding library I was approached by a young bearded “seeker” who offered me a bag of bananas which someone had given him in Safeway — “for your community, or whatever it is.” He went away and in five minutes returned to find out of what religion we were. After talking for a few minutes with him I could see he was sincere, and after finding out that he lived “nowhere” (all his worldly possessions were in his knapsack in the Greyhound depot, and he was on his way from Mexico to Washington on another leg of a 5-year fruitless “search for the meaning of life”), I invited him to come and stay with us for a while and find out about Orthodoxy. He instantly accepted, and he was with us until Sunday, attending all our services, reading and working, and sitting in a kind of wide-eyed stupefaction as we tried to open up Orthodoxy to him, about which he had never heard except through Dostoyevsky. He left in tears and was evidently overwhelmed in a way he doesn’t yet understand. What will happen in the future we don’t know, but we had a very good feeling about him — he is a very normal and good-hearted boy of 23 (not a slouchy hippy type at all) who has been miserable and mixed up because he has been deprived of knowing the meaning of life (he comes from a very weak Catholic family). His encounter with us was certainly providential, as it came at a critical time for him — just 10 minutes before he saw me he had put his head on a table in the library in despair at finding that everything he read about philosophy and religion was absolutely empty and there was no answer to the questions he was asking. He left without knowing fully what had happened to him, but at least he knew that “a ray of light has dawned.” He left on the Sunday of “Doubting Thomas” — the significance of which he got. May God grant that, as I told him, in exchange for a bag of bananas he may receive the Kingdom of Heaven!

All of this somehow reminds me forcibly that — just as our Saviour could say of Nathaniel that “here is a true Israelite, there is no guile in him” — so too there is such a thing as a “true American”: an honest, forthright, normal person for whom Holy Orthodoxy is quite “natural”; and the harvest of these “true Americans” is only beginning. Doubtless the “Orthodox Americans” will be few in number, but it is precisely the best part of America which is waiting (without knowing it) to hear the glad tidings of Orthodoxy.

Our encounter with a receptive outsider like Gary (please pray for him — he’s promised to write us when he’s settled) is quite inspiring, because it shows us clearly that treasure which we have that such outsiders can’t even dream of. It also helps to offset the troubles and sorrows we have “inside” our Orthodox family, since we are all so human. The “kind but distant” attitude of the Hoffmanns is painful; and again it seems so important — never to regard ourselves as “experts” who have “authoritative answers” and regard everyone else with some kind of suspicion. We certainly hope that Daniel does not get mixed up with this kind of attitude.

I must apologize again for not having any comments ready on the two parts of the “evolution” study you sent. Hopefully in a week or so I will have some comments, and also another book for you and the Dobzhansky article (which I finally found in the Paschal cleanup which, fortunately, Father Herman forces us to make). The more I think of it, the more I see how important it is for us to keep chipping away at every chapter until we get just the right tone in which to talk about the question. We agree that the word “evolution” should be only in a sub-title (although I wrote Vladimir that we simply don’t have the necessary information for this year’s “Books in Print” and it would be better to list it next year when, hopefully, it will be a reality). In general, we must work at it until the whole study will have such a “calm and objective” tone that the ordinary open-minded yet somewhat brainwashed person will at least consent to read it. Thus it will not be an “anti-evolution” study, but rather a Patristic study with calm Orthodox reflections on evolution.

For my own background I checked out two books in the Redding library: Raymond Dart’s In Search of the Missing Link, which looks to be too popular to be of much use; and Leakey’s Adams Ancestors, to which I find myself, after a few chapters, rather sympathetic, inasmuch as it seems to be rather careful and precise scientifically (of course, if one discounts the attempt to fit all the evidence into an “evolutionary” framework, which does indeed seem to be a philosophical intrusion). There are so many possible pitfalls in this study (and other imaginary ones which we must also avoid!) that it is good to proceed slowly and carefully in getting the whole text together. I have a pretty good idea of how I want to revise and rearrange the letter to Kalomiros, but I hope to get a reply from him before starting this. Your comments too will be welcome. Some of his statements should definitely be quoted in the final version, but probably anonymously; and probably in the preface it should be mentioned that there was an exchange of correspondence with him on the subject. What do you think?

The general outline of the study seems clear now, and I think you’ve made at least a first draft of everything except the general “proofs of evolution” — i.e., that “irrefutable evidence” which can be interpreted in so many different ways (the “evidence” from embryology, homology of living structures, similarity of blood types, etc.). It would be good to have a paragraph or so discussing each of these points which seem so convincing to evolutionists. Also, I’ve come across several references to the “fluorine dating system,” but no thorough discussion of it — Leakey mentions it as being in its infancy in the 1940’s. It has to do apparently with the rate of absorption of fluorine, which seems to be vastly variant depending on moisture, etc. It would be good for us to give a kind of “philosophy” of the dating systems — i.e., showing that we do not reject them outright, but that their significance is relative and limited, somewhat helpful in the genuine study of paleontology (which we should also emphasize is a legitimate science), but not any absolute answer to anything. In general, we should communicate a very “friendly feeling” toward genuine science.

Spring barely arrived with Pascha here, and even on “New” Sunday (St. Thomas) there were barely green leaves on the oaks. Our garden is finally growing a little, such as it is, after a battle with mice, who ate up everything the instant it came up. Have you ever heard of a garden full of mouse traps?

We will be glad to see you (and David) whenever you can come. Pray for us.

With love in Christ,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Sister in Christ, Nina,

Here I promised you an “epistle” in Bright Week, and I’m sending you instead half an epistle the next week. Please forgive my negligence and pray for me and us all so that we won’t be entirely fruitless servants of Christ our risen Saviour.

Glory be to God, the last days of Passion Week and Pascha itself were good for us and joyous. Soon, of course, Misha’s “problems” began to make themselves felt, and even I am beginning to despair for him. May God have mercy on us all.

Thursday of Bright Week I was approached in the Redding Library by a young bearded “seeker” who felt moved to give me a sack of bananas which someone had given him in Safeway. (I later learned he had almost no money when he did this.) He left, but then returned in five minutes, wondering if he could find out what religion I practiced. After talking with him for a while, I saw he was sincere, and finding that he had no home but was just passing through California as part of his vain search for something to believe in, I invited him to come and stay with us for a while and find out about Orthodoxy, which he had heard of only through Dostoyevsky. For 3 days he attended our services, read and worked, and listened in some kind of open-mouthed amazement as we tried to open up Orthodoxy to him. Having come in despair, he left in hope and with tears, still not knowing what had hit him, on St. Thomas Sunday — the significance of which was apparent even to him. Somehow I have a very good feeling about him, and he seems to me to be part of that “normal America” which is thirsting for Orthodoxy without knowing. (He’s all mixed up, but from his life story I can see that he’s a very “normal” person and probably won’t be a “crazy convert.” Pray for him — Gary. We gave him the addresses of Fr. Neketas and the Russian churches in Seattle and Vancouver (he’ll be working for a while north of Seattle). Seeing an “outsider” like this who is absolutely stunned on encountering Orthodoxy, one clings all the more tightly to the precious treasure which we unworthy ones have, and which is not for us alone.

“New” Sunday has come and now we begin the spiritual year renewed and fresh, ready for apostolic labors as God gives us strength.

You wish a rule? Then let it begin simply and according to your strength: In the morning: 6 300-knot prayer ropes silently (half of what you have been doing), followed by one kathisma of the Psalter (start with the first Kathisma and go to the next one every day; if you find this fruitful, later a way can be found to join your reading to the Church’s rhythm of reading the Psalter). This assumes you have a copy of the Boston Psalter; if not, continue the 12 prayer ropes until you get one.

In the evening: Little Compline, with the Akathist to the Mother of God in place of the canon. Then 100 Jesus Prayers with bows (slow, Optina style — that is, one prayer for each bow, with the sign of the Cross each time). Then, if you have strength, the Akathist to St. Seraphim (or on the bus in the morning). No prostrations until Pentecost.

On Saturday night-Sunday morning, and on vigils and days of great feasts, no Rule required (if you go to church), but you can do whatever you feel like.

This rule shouldn’t be too demanding; but don’t worry if it seems too small. See what it feels like first. If there are questions or problems, say so. Remember that you are not a great ascetic, and hardly even a feebler struggler. Do a little bit regularly, according to your strength, and God will show what more you are ready for.

And what will you do all day in the wilderness, you ask? — if God is so merciful as to grant you this dream? Well, you’d better not imagine that you will be praying all day, or you’ll fall flat on your face. You’ll weave baskets — “baskets” like ours, “missionary baskets,” which in our case will probably have something to do with Orthodox texts in English. God will show. Also, you will have to live self-sufficiently, which means some kind of practical hard work. God will also show this. And prayer according to your strength and thirst. In our days it’s all an “impossible dream,” and therefore practical and hopeful. Is that logic clear?

Forgive me. Pray for us all.

With love in Christ,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Sister in Christ, Nina,

Rejoice in the Lord! Will try to answer your questions one at a time.

Concerning particular questions like job, people problems — individually they aren’t important and they really can’t be solved one at a time. Instead, try to keep the whole picture in mind. Where is your heart? If it is in the desert, as it seems, then deep down make the resolve that you’re going to go to the desert, if it is pleasing to God and He will open the way, and let everything else fall into place around that resolve. When it comes to helping people, especially our poor converts, don’t turn down what God sends, but don’t go seeking for ways to get involved, either. If your desire for the desert is real and God-pleasing, you will be of much more help to people there than in their midst — not because you are anything or will become a wonderworking hermitess (if you thought that you’d better stop right now!), but because there is something very natural about the desert for Orthodox Christians, and God sees the heart of even the feeblest sinner in the desert and sends His help.

The second thing to keep clearly in mind is this: the world is your enemy, and that included the “church world, ” that is, the worldliness of church people. We don’t know any clergy in S. F. who, if they heard of your “desert desire,” wouldn’t begin immediately thinking and talking about “prelest,” “crazy converts,” and the like. In principle they are “correct,” of course, and it’s quite fine to talk like that in “normal” times when there are hundred of convents and sketes to go to in order to escape the pitfalls of trusting oneself (but the tapes we’ll send you are of “crazy” ones who ran away even from all that!). BUT IN OUR POOR DAYS THIS ATTITUDE HAS NO REAL FUNCTION EXCEPT TO EXTINGUISH SPIRITUAL ZEAL. And the church world is not only pretty much against the desert — any kind of spiritual life is in danger from this “correctness.” We are immensely relieved, for example, to hear from Alexey that the baptisms will be in S.F. after all — for to call special attention to his “secret” is just asking for danger. Do you know that some of our good priests think that a layman has no “right” to burn incense in his own home?

So: keep your “secret,” live in peace with everyone, help those who ask for it (and beware of “helping” when you’re not asked!), and BEG GOD AND VLADIKA JOHN TO SHOW YOU THE WAY OUT OF THE WORLD AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! About the last point, it isn’t essential yet to have a concrete “plan” in mind; it’s enough right now to nourish the desert seed in the heart, with which we’ll try to help. We’re sending shortly the first tapes of “Neonilla,” which you can start transcribing as soon as you get your machine. The next one, “Maria,” is still more inspiring. Send us the Xerox of her life (and all the other Xeroxes you have) as soon as possible — but not the books. We’ve been reading these lives at noon trapeza, and they are very inspiring.

From Boston we are getting just the daily troparia and kontakia. We haven’t received the Little Compline. We mentioned to Fr. Panteleimon several years ago that we would like to print a Horologion, but were not too certain right now. In case you didn’t realize it, printing (at least under our conditions) is not an easy thing even ordinarily, and besides that numerous additional difficulties constantly arise to tempt us. Of late the Linotype has given the most difficulty, and the last part of the last issue was completed with myself supplying complicated manual movements for each line of type to make up for a piece that broke in the back of the machine. You will therefore understand why your nonchalant request to “type up” your ad was met rather coolly in the printing dept. Consider yourself hit over the head, and remember: what comes easy does not help get one to or keep one in the desert. Your request has been tabled until we can get the new issue out, which we would very much like to do by Pascha, despite the long services. If it is very difficult to mimeograph it or otherwise do it “easy” yourself, then implore us to help you and we’ll try. We are struggling from first to last, and you should start thinking in those terms too. Recently our tank of gas for the Linotype was stuck with the truck in a ditch for a week; fortunately the old tank barely finished the issue, or we were prepared to take ropes and drag the tank up 1/2 mile through the snow.

Another question: the reading of the Sunday night Passion Gospels during Lent is a custom of many centuries in Western Russia. And don’t start thinking about “Latin influence” — the custom was good enough for Vladika John (which is perhaps why it is still continued in SF) and is also very moving.

In Berkeley: we need a Xerox of a book by St. Gregory of Tours; I think it’s called Historia Sanctorum, Histoire des Saints, with text in Latin and French on opposite pages (we’d like both), giving lives of Western Saints. If you know French, perhaps you could also check and see if St., Gregory has information on other Saints of the West in his other works, such as History of the Franks (which is in English), which is not in these Lives.

Also, if you have a little time (!) in Berkeley, you might look at art books of Medieval and pre- Medieval illustrations of Western Saints — Sts. Martin of Tours, Benedict, Paulinus of Nola, Ambrose, English Saints, etc. You probably won’t find many icons, but it would help just to have any illustration of how the Saints were pictured before 13th century or so.

Fr. Herman’s wrist is improving. Br. Laurence is in good spirits.

About your rule: what’s wrong with the one you’ve been using? Is it too difficult? If not, start it again and may God bless your labors.

Please get us a box of charcoal (enclosed label). Enclosed check for charcoal (which costs $10) and Xeroxing.

Spring is upon us, though no oak leaves have come out yet. Everything is bright, and one feels expansive and wonders why these whole mountains aren’t peopled with ascetics in caves. But God sends us just what we need, and it’s not for us to question the “state of humanity” too much, just to save our souls. Pray for us.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ,

We have started the new Orthodox Word, so typing on my letter to Kalomiros is just beginning. We just spent four evenings, after evening trapeza, listening to the whole Kalomiros letter and then my reply. I can safely say that the whole Brotherhood was deeply shocked by the doctrine of Kalomiros, and also astonished at the low level both of its science and its theology. My reply was approved.

It is clear, however, that my reply is not the “last word.” To be of general benefit it will have to have additions of those points I didn’t discuss either because Kalomiros doesn’t question them (such as Patristic testimony of the Divine inspiration of Genesis) or because there just wasn’t room (Patristic testimony of the age of the world, etc.). Some points might be cut down too, and Kalomiros’ reply will also give us farther indications of what is most needed.

But more important: your scientific and philosophical chapters are absolutely indispensable. An approach solely from the Holy Fathers will be really convincing to a few people (it remains to be seen if it will be convincing to Kalomiros, who says he wants to give nothing but the teaching of the Holy Fathers!), and it also runs the risk of making us a little ostrich-like, taking refuge in our Fathers and not living in the “real world,” where “science” reigns.

So the objective scientific approach is very necessary — not enough to get bogged down in “scientific proofs” — but just enough to show that the scientific proofs cancel each other out, as it were, leaving the question of evolution in its real sphere of philosophy and theology. What you’ve done on “early Man” is good. You’ll notice that my letter, in contrast to the “objective” tone we’ve urged you to have, comes down rather heavy against evolution with no pretense of “not knowing” what’s what. We’ll have to weigh the whole book and judge just when we should be “objective” and when we should push our point across; I have a feeling that the first chapters should be “objective,” allowing the reader to convince himself more or less, and the last part should indeed be a forceful statement of the Patristic position. This should become clearer as we come to the end.

Your “Christian evolution” section is also essential to show how Christians hitherto have “reconciled” themselves to evolution. The weakness of evolution as science and philosophy will only serve to emphasize the importance of the Patristic view, which is so definite and really powerful.

We’ve received your “Christian evolution” chapters and I’ve started writing some suggestions, but probably won’t [be] finished until I’ve sent the Kalomiros letter. Your chapters are good (and don’t feel timid about suggesting changes in anything I send) and the basic idea is shining through clearer and clearer. The polishing now will be in the direction of giving the maximum “punch” to every section and tying it all together. You’ll see in my letter to Kalomiros how much some of my points depend on basic scientific-philosophical preparation of the reader in earlier chapters. For instance, it will have almost no effect at all to say that the world can’t be “millions of years” old because the Fathers say it is 7500 year old — the “modern” reader is already used to “adjusting” his view on the Fathers when they talk about “science.” But if this is preceded by a good exposition of “radio-carbon” etc., and the whole philosophy of how we view the age of the earth — then the seed of the Patristic teaching, cast into this soil, should bear fruit.

By the way, I begin to see that I myself have been harboring some “modern ideas” on the Six Days of Creation. It’s true that this is not the most important question involved with evolution, but it’s not really a matter of indifference either, but there is a profound Patristic teaching in this, as I indicate in my letter to Kalomiros. But it would be good to have further Patristic testimony on this — so please say if you know of any. We will continue to collect Patristic material for the final version of the book.

Spring seems to be here in earnest, as it almost invariably is just at the time of the Forty Martyrs — in fact, every year since we’ve been here, the first lizards always come out within a few days of this feast; this year they were three days early (the first day our temperature got close to 65 degrees).

The new Orthodox Word will have a shocking Life, which is supposed to inspire!
Pray for us.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this has found you successfully laboring after three weeks of the fast. After the labor of fasting, what joy in the week of Pascha! (The services are also very short — how wise the Church is with our fallen nature!)

I have almost finished my “reply” to Dr. Kalomiros, and I think God has helped me to put all the Patristic material (or almost all) I have been collecting into a coherent presentation, and much more effectively than if I had gone ahead with the “sober and objective” presentation I had planned on. One of the Egyptian Elders once said to St. John Cassian (roughly!): “I’m glad you expressed this question so stupidly, because now I can clearly set forth the true doctrine.” Kalomiros has expressed “stupid evolutionism” so well (which other Greeks are afraid to do openly), that the reply to him almost writes itself. Although I know the Fathers only poorly, still their doctrine touching on “evolution” is so clear once one puts it all together, that I am simply amazed at the power “evolution” has over even educated Orthodox minds. Such is the power of this world and its fashionable ideas. I will send you a copy of my letter and Kalomiros’ letter also when I finish typing it — it is almost twice as long as Kalomiros’ letter to us and will probably be 40 printed pages!

Of course, now that I’ve done this I don’t quite know what relation this letter has to our projected book — which is absolutely necessary to get out! It may be that the book might be most effective precisely in this letter form, only somewhat revised and divided up into chapters, and with all your scientific and philosophical material entered at the appropriate places. (You will notice that I mention this material at various points of the letter without going into it, as the letter is almost entirely patristic.) Anyway, see what you think once you read the letter, and we will also see what Kalomiros replies — the letter is intended to really shake him up!

Of course, many people will be upset that the evolution question is “raised” again and not kept quiet — but we agree with Kalomiros that it should be raised and the true Patristic teaching set forth. There is something very unsound about wishing to keep “quiet” about a question which remains so confused in most Orthodox minds.

It may be that this “evolution book” may be the most controversial issue to erupt on the English-speaking Orthodox scene in many years, (but maybe not, I’m not a prophet). Therefore, and also because for maximum effectiveness it should come as a surprise and shock in the midst of our Orthodox complacency, please don’t mention my letter or the book to anyone. We haven’t mentioned them to anyone at all. Let it be our “secret” until we know better just how to attack.

And now other questions: Father Herman has written a letter today, which is going out in the same mail with this letter, to Vladika Anthony conveying your request to have the Baptism on Monday or Tuesday of Passion Week because of the fuel shortage. I don’t see why that couldn’t be done, as those days are not at all as busy for the priests as the last days of the week, and the Liturgy (Presanctified) is also celebrated on those days. But we’ll see what Vladika says. As I recall he is quite insistent that baptisms be performed in the morning, however, so that one receives Communion right after being baptized.

About Leslie [Salas] and the Jesus Prayer, we’ll try to collect our thoughts and give some suggestions before too long.

About Fr. Theodoritos’ attack on Fr. Panteleimon — since Fr. Ephraim has asked you for a copy, I suppose the decent thing is to make one for him. This whole quarrel among the Greek Old Calendarists is very unfortunate; besides involving personalities, which only clouds the issues, the real issues involved and very subtle and delicate ones which require much tact and patience and love, not theological and canonical tirades. It seems to us that much can be said for both sides, and both sides have made mistakes.

Pray for us. Today I hope to finish the last and most important section of the letter to Kalomiros, concerning the nature of man — on which Kalomiros has expressed something perilously close to Augustinianism, based on a very wrong interpretation of the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov!

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

P.S. It will probably be a week before I have the letter typed.

Dear Dr. Kalomiros,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have received your letter concerning “evolution,” for which we thank you very much. I have read it, trying, as you said, to remove all Western conceptions from my mind. I hope, if God gives me the strength, to study your points carefully and write you a very long and detailed reply before too long, but for the present I wish to say only a few things.

I myself have been searching the Holy Fathers for some time seeking to find out their teaching on the questions which are raised by “evolution.” I have been compiling a great many passages from their writings, including most of the passages which you quote in your letter. I have tried very hard not to project into these passages any “preconceived” opinions of my own, but I must acknowledge that my conclusions regarding the teaching of the Holy Fathers are quite different from yours. I believe that I can show you that some of your interpretations of the Holy Fathers are incomplete — that is, that you have presented only a part of their teaching and have overlooked other parts that are quite essential to the question. I would also like to present to you patristic texts on questions which you do not raise in your letter, but which I believe are also quite essential for understanding the questions raised by evolution.

I note also in your letter that your use of the term “evolution” is somewhat imprecise, and I would like to discuss this question also in some detail.

I agree with you that this subject is vital and extremely important. We have found very few people who are willing or able to think clearly in this subject, with the result that there is much confusion in the minds of Orthodox faithful concerning it. We are therefore very grateful to you for writing your views so clearly and outspokenly.

Like you, we also do not want to have merely “our own opinion” on this subject, but only wish to accept the teaching of the Holy Fathers. So far we have not found any “evolutionist” or “antievolutionist” who sets forth the real Orthodox teaching on this subject, and that is why we ourselves have been making research on it. The Protestant Fundamentalist objections to evolution are mostly superficial and rationalistic (as you yourself have noted), being based on an interpretation of the book of Genesis that comes from “common sense,” and not from the Holy Fathers.

We are not theologians (and I will tell you frankly that we distrust people who call themselves “theologians,” for almost all of them seem to us to be just academic rationalists) but we dearly love the Holy Fathers and wish to live by their teaching, and we sense that you do also. May it be that by this love, with the help of God and by the prayers of these Holy Fathers, we may now begin a “dialogue” with you that will bring us all to the true Patristic teaching and be of help also to others.

Everything that I write will be read and criticized by my co-laborer Father Herman, to whom I am in obedience, and we will try also to obtain the opinions of some of our Russian theologians whom we respect.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk .

Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We received yesterday the long-awaited epistle of Dr. Kalomiros on “evolution” — 40 pages long! I must confess that it is shocking beyond our expectations — giving the “evolutionary” teaching quite unadorned and unqualified, complete with the “evolved beast Adam” and “he who denies evolution denies the Sacred Scriptures.” In a way, however, we are rather glad of this — because now for the first time we have found a reputable Orthodox “evolutionist” who is willing to be quite frank about matters which others, I believe, are afraid to speak up about for fear of offending “weak consciences” which are under “Western influences.”

I have written him a short letter saying I wish to make a long and detailed reply to him and to start a “dialogue” with him on this subject. I believe that if we can answer him point by point, and raise the points he doesn’t mention, we can make the forthcoming publication a very powerful one.

I must confess to being rather disappointed in the tone of his letter, which is somewhat in the “elevated” tone of Fr. Ephraim, with repeated comments about “Western rationalists,” etc. However, he ends very nicely and begs us to tell him where he is wrong — so we must do this. Frankly, I would like to “convert” him completely. But God only knows what is possible, and how much his mind is still open. The most encouraging thing is that he, like us, regards the matter as extremely important, as opposed to those who think it’s unimportant and that everyone can believe as he wishes. With Dr. Kalomiros at last the real battle begins.

You can read the letter on your next visit (I’m beginning now on my reply to it, but in general this is my feeling about it (Father Herman hasn’t read it yet):

1. Patristically it is very weak. Very few Fathers are quoted, and the only really “evolutionary” quote is a passage from St. Gregory of Nyssa — a passage which I noted a few weeks ago, by the way, and thought at the time: “I’d better use this and explain it, because one who already believes in evolution will be sure to think it ‘proves evolution.’” It does not, of course — it is merely a general statement of the orderly progression of God’s creation from the lowest to the highest, with the most perfect creature, man, coming last. Nothing is said about man or any creature “evolving,” and in another part of the same book (“On the Creation of Man”) St. Gregory says explicitly that Adam was ««generated, but was created directly by Christ.

2. There is a long “theological” discourse on man’s nature, which is very partial and one-sided, but will require a solid answer with quotes from Holy Fathers — for evolution above all involves a false anthropology, doctrine of man.

3. It is quite obvious that Kalomiros has gone to the Fathers already knowing that evolution is a “fact.” He obviously has not given deep thought to examining the presuppositions of the “fact” of evolution, so we will have to challenge him to start thinking and not bring to the Holy Fathers his preconceptions based on modern Western “wisdom.”

4. He is very imprecise on the very meaning of the word “evolution” — he thinks the development from embryo to mature man is “evolution,” and that the existence of different races of men is due to “evolution.” Very naive.

5. The man is not a theologian, but reads the Fathers by hit and miss.

We are almost forced to a painful conclusion: the Greeks have lost the patristic tradition, and all their shouting about “Latin influence,” etc., is only an expression of their own uncertainty. They try to “reconstruct” the patristic tradition, but they have no living Fathers to guide them. Perhaps Father Theodoritos of Mt. Athos is more in the patristic tradition, but the impression becomes ever stronger that modern “Orthodox Greece” is theologically corrupt and disjointed, whereas the so- maligned Russian tradition kept the theological tradition intact.

—

We rejoice to hear the news of Felicity. May God ever protect her.

About the baptism: it is out of the question to get a priest to go anywhere on a weekend of Lent. Our priest was here last Tuesday (with Vladika Anthony), but cannot come again unto (hopefully) Pascha week. You would do best to go ahead with the plans for the baptism, and then leave it in God’s hands whether you can go to S.F. for Pascha also. If you cannot make it to S.F. for Pascha, you are welcome (all of you) to spend it with us here — we will be having services off and on from 2 a.m. Saturday morning to 2 a.m. Sunday morning. However, please don’t mention this possibility to anyone in S.F., as we have trouble enough already from people (who don’t know the Orthodox skete tradition) who call us “priesdess,” and if we invite people to share our “priestlessness,” it must be twice as bad! It would obviously be best for you to be able to receive Holy Communion at Pascha, but we will be here in case you can’t. (We ourselves follow the tradition of Russian desert-dwellers, which is not to leave the desert at Pascha, but either to have a priest come, or else go to the world shortly before or after the feast, when there are few people in church.)

Don’t be discouraged if the response to Nikodemos seems to diminish. That is “natural” once it ceases to be a novelty. Of course it’s difficult to know what the readers are thinking — but just go on giving what you think they need. We thought the issue was good, and the Kourdakov quotes indeed added a “punch.” I think we “explain” Sergei K. sufficiently in the new Orthodox Word (sent out yesterday); tell us what you think of it.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

p.s. From Kalomiros’ letter it is obvious that as a part of the “scientific” part of our “evolution book” (as it now seems to become) there should be a discussion of what evolution is and what it isn’t. In the patristic quotes I gave you there are good points from St. Basil on this — but it would be best to keep them in the final, theological section, and have a separate discussion of the same subject in the scientific section.