Recognition

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judgement, Psalm 1, St. Hilary

St. Hilary now applies the comparison of Psalm 1:6 and 1 Corinthians 14:37-38 to the righteous:

Thus he shews that those are known of God who know the things of God: they are to come to be known when they know, that is, when they attain to the honour of being known through the merit of their known godliness, in order that the knowledge may be seen to be a growth on the part of him who is known, and not a growth on the part of one who knows not.

In others words (remembering our analysis of the word know from yesterday), the righteous spend their life becoming intimately familiar with God and His ways (they know God). As such, they can recognize God as He acts throughout His creation and His will for His creation. As such, (again, using the criteria of judgement chosen by the righteous) God will recognize them as righteous. Judgement, therefore will not to be necessary and they will attain the honor and glory set aside for them by God.

Knowledge

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Image and Likeness, judgement, Psalm 1, St. Hilary

St. Hilary now speaks of the distinction between the righteous, the sinner and the ungodly:

The source of this distinction lies in the following words: ‘For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.’ Sinners do not come near the counsel of the righteous for this reason, that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Now He knows, not by an advance from ignorance to knowledge, but because He condescends to know. For there is no play of human emotions in God that He should know or not know anything. The blessed Apostle Paul declared how we were known of God when he said: ‘If any man among you is a prophet or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are of the Lord: but if any man does not know, he is not known’ (1Cor 14:37-38).

The translation of St. Hilary that I have been using is from The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers edited by Philip Schaff in the 19th century. Thus, its use of English is a bit dated and its translation can also be a bit inaccurate. Such is the case with this last quotation by St. Hilary of 1 Corinthians 14:37-38. It is therefore good to look at the Greek original.

Specifically, I am interested in the three uses of the word know:

• In the first instance, the phrase let him take knowledge translates ἐπιγινωσκέτω which more accurately means let him recognize.
• In the second case, the phrase does not know translates ἀγνοεῖ which is more accurately translated as be ignorant.
• The same is true of the third case which uses the translation he is not known for ἀγνοεῖται which is more accurately translated as let him be ignorant.

All of these differ from the LXX Greek translation of the First Psalm which uses γινώσκει which is translated (the Lord) knows.

To be fair, the Greek word for knowledge (γνῶσις) is the root of all of these words. So, St. Hilary’s comparison is not as far fetched as it might at first appear. Thus, in translating all of this to English, Schaff et al. probably were interested in having a direct parallel between Psalm 1:6 and 1 Corinthians 14:37-38 rather than the indirect one used by St. Hilary because, whereas it works in Greek, it does not work at all in English.

For our purposes, however, using the more accurate understanding of the original Greek in 1 Corinthians is far more useful. To illustrate this, let us take a look at the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, specifically verses 44-46:

Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The goats are ignorant of the image and likeness of God within their fellow human beings (the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, the prisoner and the stranger) and therefore did not recognize Christ within them. Therefore, using the criteria of judgement that they have chosen — they refused to become knowledgable of God and therefore did not recognize Him — God will refuse to recognize them and they will go away to eternal punishment.

This, then, demonstrates St. Hilary’s comparison of Psalm 1:6 with 1 Corinthians 14:37-38. Sinners live in ignorance of God (do not know Him) because they love darkness instead of the light. Therefore, they do not recognize (know) the righteous and their counsel. In the end, God will not recognize them (know them) among the righteous and they will be judged.

Judgement

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judgement, Psalm 1, St. Hilary

St. Hilary continues his analysis of John 3:18-19:

These, then, are they whom the judgment awaits which unbelievers have already had passed upon them and believers do not need: because they have loved darkness more than light; not that they did not love the light too, but because their love of darkness is the more active. For when two loves are matched in rivalry, one always wins the preference; and their judgment arises from the fact that, though they loved Christ, they yet loved darkness more. These then will be judged; they are neither exempted from judgment like the godly, nor have they already been judged like the ungodly; but judgment awaits them for the love which they have deliberately preferred.

This, then, is a warning (and a hope): if we continue to be one of the ambiguous and love the darkness enough to regularly let it draw us away from Christ, we will be judged. There is hope, however. Christ came precisely to give us the tools and the strength to avoid the Judgement Seat.

If we dedicate our lives to Light and Truth, if we take advantage of the tools offered by Christ’s Church — worship, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and (especially) His Body and Blood — we begin down a path that leads us to be among the righteous. If we emulate the blessed and happy man of the First Psalm, we live in hope that our love of Light and Truth will guide us to a criteria of judgement we choose for others — forgiveness.

The Judgement Seat

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Image and Likeness, judgement, Lord's Prayer, Psalm 1, St. Hilary

St. Hilary continues his meditation upon the punishment of the ungodly:

And the Prophet, seeing that the change of their solid substance into dust will deprive them of all share in the boon of fruit to be bestowed upon the happy man in season by the tree, has accordingly added: Therefore the ungodly shall not rise again in the Judgment. The fact that they shall not rise again does not convey sentence of annihilation upon these men, for indeed they will exist as dust; it is the resurrection to Judgment that is denied them. Non-existence will not enable them to miss the pain of punishment; for while that which will be non-existent would escape punishment, they, on the other hand, will exist to be punished, for they will be dust. Now to become dust, whether by being dried to dust or ground to dust, involves not loss of the state of existence, but a change of state. But the fact that they will not rise again to Judgment makes it clear that they have lost, not the power to rise, but the privilege of rising to Judgment. Now what we are to understand by the privilege of rising again and being judged is declared by the Lord in the Gospels where He says: He that believeth on Me is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light (John 3:18, 19).

This paragraph is another example of why I love reading the Fathers. This paragraph is fascinating (and not a little challenging).

Orthodox Christianity insists that there will be a general resurrection — regardless of who you are, what faith you espoused or what you did in this life you will rise from the dead at the second coming of Christ to come before the Judgment Seat. We see this in Matthew 25 with the parable of the sheep and the goats.

So what St. Hilary describes here seems to fly in the face of this Orthodox teaching, and yet, it, too, is based upon Christian dogma and Scripture (see yesterday’s post). The key to understanding the apparent contradiction is found in St. Hilary’s quotation of John 3:18-19:

He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Note how judgement is referred to in the past tense. Those who believe are not condemned. Those who do not believe have already been condemned.

In other words, this is another example of God working with our free will. When we face the Judgement Seat, we will be judged, not by the standards that have been dictated from on high, but rather by our own criteria. If we forgive, so shall we be forgiven.

Thus, when the ungodly face the Judgement Seat (having denied God as the source of life) then they have condemned themselves to becoming dust — to living with the ultimate consequence of denying God in their lives.

Note that in the Divine Liturgy, the faithful are exhorted to dare call the heavenly God Father with confidence and without fear of condemnation as they proclaim:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Pay attention to that third line. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are asking for the Second Coming of Christ. Also note how we ask God to use our own criteria at the Judgement Seat — forgive us as we forgive others.

In other words, (if we are living a life like the blessed man of Psalm 1) we should not fear the Judgement Seat, but rather welcome it.

Bible Study Notes: Judgement Sunday

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fasting, Icons, Image and Likeness, judgement, monasteries

Let me open this post the same way I opened this week’s Bible Study: it is a pet peeve of mine that this Sunday is called Meatfare. Nowhere in the hymns of the Church nor in the readings is there anything about fasting from meat. That is not what this Sunday is about. Rather, this Sunday is more properly called Judgement Sunday.

The hymns are filled with images of the Judgement Seat with its river of fire and the opening of all the books:

When You come down to the earth, O God, in Your glory, all things will cower tremulous, and a river of fire will draw before Your Judgment Seat; the books shall be opened up, and public knowledge will things hidden be. Rescue me, then, I pray, from unquenchable fire, and count me worthy to stand at Your right hand, O You, the most righteous Judge. — Kontakion of Judgement Sunday

These images come from the seventh chapter of Daniel, verses nine and ten:

I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

While reading the Epistle (1 Cor. 8:18; 9:1-2), one might be tempted to claim that it is about fasting; however note what St. Paul says about fasting from food:

We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. (1 Cor. 8:8)

The focus of this pericope, rather, is serving our weaker brethren. We need to know each other well enough and find value enough in each other to bear one another’s burdens. Part of why we fast is so that those who are weak are not tempted into further weakness.

This seeing value in others is also a very large part of the Gospel Reading (Matthew 25:31-46) on which we spent most of our time discussing. The key verse is Matthew 25:40:

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Every human being is the icon of Christ. Therefore, the criteria for being a goat or a sheep is going to be how we see and treat our fellow human beings.

Some of our other observations:

• Orthodox monasteries are a wonderful image of Judgement and of our participation in it. The outside of the chapels are almost always covered in images from the Judgment — the images found in Daniel. Inside the chapel, the walls are covered in icons of the saints. This passively asks the question, Are you in or are you out of the Kingdom of Heaven? The choice is ours.
• Note the progression of how Christ describes treating our fellow human beings: feeding & giving drink; welcoming the stranger; clothing; visiting; going to. Our relationships begin with an external encounter of good will (food & drink). Then the Other comes to us (welcoming). Then we get to know them by allowing them into our lives (clothing). At this point the relationship begins to shift because we visit them (visiting). Finally, we go to where they are. This is where our relationships ought to be. It isn’t enough to give money so that others are fed and clothed. We must be willing to get out of our comfort zones and love one another enough to go where others are. Remember, this is the criteria by which we will be judged.
• Finally, it was asked what the word “punishment” in Greek meant. The word is κόλασιν, the root of which means maimed, or more literally, cut off. In other words, if we refuse to see the image of God and the icon of Christ in others, we cut ourselves off from our fellow human beings. We maim ourselves. In turn, this will become the standard by which we are judged. Because we have cut ourselves off from the image and icon, we will have cut ourselves off from God.