St. Amvrossy Letter 41: The meaning of the words of the Holy Prophet David:”Goodness and discipline and knowledge teach Thou me”.

Introductory note: As today was the last Sunday during the Paschal cycle I am now posting, in full, a Paschal greeting of St. Amvrossy. This letter was dated April,1891, therefore it was the last of such greeting in his life.

Brethren in the Lord and Mothers and Sisters!

I congratulate you with the radiant feast of the Resurrection of Christ and I greet you all with the joyous Christian greeting: Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen!

By reason of its great significance, the radiant feast of the Resurrection is called the feast of feasts and the holy day of Christian holy days. It is also called the Pascha of Christ, which means the passage from death to life and from earth to heaven. On this feast, the joyful Christians greet each other as brethren, forgiving all that hate them by the Resurrection.

As is my custom, for the benefit of your souls, I set forth for your consideration the words of the Psalm with which the Prophet David prays to God: “Goodness and discipline and knowledge teach Thou me” (Psa. 118:66). Being a prophet, David had the need to pray to be given the above traits; even more then does it befit every common Christian to take care to acquire these traits and to pray to God for help from on high.

“Teach me goodness.” Goodness and kindheartedness are the main elements of love; while love is the major virtue and commandment. As is said in the Gospel: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat. 22.37-40). Love is born from faith and the fear of God. It grows and becomes stronger than hope, becoming perfect through goodness and kindheartedness, which express the imitation of God—as it is said in the Gospel, “be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Again it is said in the Holy Gospels: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Mat. 9:13). Mercy and condescension towards one’s neighbor, and forgiving his shortcomings, are above any sacrifice which is not acquired without peace with one’s neighbor according to the word of the Gospel: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Mat. 5:23-4).

Love towards God is shown by love and kindheartedness towards one’s neighbor. Kindheartedness, mercy and condescension towards one’s neighbor and forgiveness of his shortcomings are obtained through humility and self-reproach. Therefore in all afflictions and unpleasant happenings we should put the blame on ourselves and not others—thinking that we did not act as we should have, and therefore this unpleasantness and grief occurred. If we will reason thus, then we will have much less of a tendency to become embittered and angry which “does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Frightening are the words of the Apostle John: “One who does not love his brother” (that is, any neighbor) “abides in death” (I John 3:14), “and walks in darkness and does not know whence he goeth” (I John 2:11). “And he who hates his brother is a murderer” (I John 3:15).

“Teach me discipline.” In Slavonic the word “discipline” signifies soul-profiting instruction so that we could follow the way of virtue in the fear of God in unity with God’s commandments and the regulations of the Church. Even in the Old Testament it is said “An uninstructed son is a grief for the father and sadness to the mother” (Prov. 10:1); that is, a son who was not taught the fear and the law of God. At present, many parents teach much to their children—and often what is not needed or harmful; but they neglect to teach the children the fear of God, the fulfillment of God’s commandments, and the keeping of the regulations of the only universal and Apostolic Church. For this reason, children are—for the most part—disobedient and disrespectful towards their parents, no good for themselves or their fatherland, and in addition are often even harmful.

“Teach me knowledge”–that is, true and correct reasoning! The Holy Scriptures say: “Seek understanding that you may live and be directed in sound knowledge” (Prov. 9:6), that is, strive to understand the Holy Scripture not any old way or however one may want, but correctly and truly, as it must be understood. The proof of this is that all peoples read the same Gospels but understand it differently. The Orthodox and Catholics do not understand it in the same way. The Armenians, Coptics, and Arians understand it differently, as do the Reformationists and Lutherans and their like. Such differences come from the fact that not all pay due attention to the words of the Lord: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:19-20). Only the Orthodox Church accepts the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments completely; the remainder accept only what they want, and that which justifies their ideas. Thereby they are numbered among the heretics, because the word “heretic” comes from the Greek word aireo -“I choose”. About such, the Apostle Paul writes: “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself” (Titus 3:10).

So, like the Prophet David, let us pray that the Lord, in ways He knows best, will teach us goodness and mercifulness, what is beneficial for the soul, and true understanding–without which our eternal salvation is in doubt and unsure if we do not come running in repentance with humility to the one Who suffered for us and who died on the Cross for us and Who resurrected on the third day, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is due all glory, honor and worship together with His Father Who is without beginning and His most-holy, good and life-giving Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.