By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Saint John Chrysostom is one of the great Fathers of the Church and to this day his words are quite relevant. The timelessness of his words is not only due to the great gifts he had, his rhetorical skill, his wit, his philosophical, sociological knowledge, etc., but mainly to his sanctified life. After all, in his writings he himself spoke about the distinction and the difference between the thinker-philosopher and the prophet. The thinker-philosopher speaks from his mind, while the prophet reports to the people the revelations given by the Holy Spirit. Many study the social teaching of the Holy Father, record his pedagogical views, are excited by his missionary activity, are surprised by his unparalleled courage against unjust relegation and exile, stand in awe of his rhetorical gift and his action as a preacher, etc. Certainly, all these aspects are found in the teaching and work of Saint John Chrysostom. There have been many ecclesiastical men in history who had these amazing qualities, however, what is of great importance is that the words of Saint John Chrysostom are an outgrowth of his deep spirituality.
One notices many scholars, even theologians, that they divide the Fathers into social and neptic, and in the first place among the social they place the sacred Chrysostom. Such a distinction, however, overturns the patristic teaching and the structure of the Church itself, since the social teaching of the Fathers is a dimension of their nepticism and their neptic life is a result of their communion with God and man, therefore they are eminently social. We will see this by studying the teaching of Saint John Chrysostom from this perspective.
The Definition of Nepticism and Socialization
The term "neptikotis" (νηπτικότης) comes from the verb "nefo" (νήφω) from which the word "nepsi" (νήψη) is also produced. In ancient Greece, the verb "nefo" means to be prudent, to be careful, to be sober, etc. which is why the word "nepsi" means to be sober, to be prudent. However, in the ecclesiastical tradition the word nepsi/neptikotis acquired a deeper meaning and importance and indicates the watchfulness of the nous, that the nous does not accept tempting disturbances and thoughts that create problems in the inner space, the heart. More generally, nepsi in our ascetic tradition means to take care that thoughts do not enter the inner space of the heart. The Fathers accepted the view of the ancient Greeks regarding the division of the soul into the intelligent, the incensive and the appetitive. In their teaching, we find the opinion that thoughts must remain intelligent, so that man can work in his daily life, but that they should not end up in the passive part of the soul (incensive and appetitive) in what can be called the heart. Thus, nepsi is the effort that a person makes so that the thoughts do not descend to the heart, i.e. to the passive part of the soul.
Of course, when a thought from the intelligent part progresses and captures the nous and then becomes a passion, so the passive part of the soul becomes sick, then an intensive struggle is needed for the healing of the individual. At this point, there is talk of the purification of the heart from passions, i.e. the treatment of pleasure and pain, the illumination of the nous, i.e. the activation of noetic energy, the liberation from forgetfulness and ignorance, so that unceasing noetic energy developes prayer, and sometimes man can reach theosis, when he is found worthy of the vision of the uncreated Light. And this work of healing man is called neptic life.
The word "koinonikotis" (κοινωνικότης) comes from the verb "koinono" (κοινωνῶ), which is rendered with the concepts of doing something in common with another, participating in an event with someone else, joining in. From the verb "koinono" comes the word "koinonia", which denotes participation, union, speaking, fellowship, etc. Social workers (koinonikoi) are those who live in society (koinonia) and, above all, those who deal with the problems that arise in societies (koinonies) and seek to solve them.
As can be seen, there is a great relationship between Nepticism and Socialization. In the one who does not pay attention to the heart, the passion of selfishness develops and from this passion comes love of glory, love of pleasure and love of money. Subsequently, many social problems develop, such as ideologies, pansexualism and the exploitation of fellow human beings. On the contrary, whoever pays attention to their thoughts, from a lover of himself he becomes a lover of God and a lover of man, with the result that he does not distinguish himself for the passions we mentioned but rather lives in obedience/humility, virginity/sobriety and landlessness/common property. It follows that the neptic life affects the social life and whoever seeks the acquisition of real communion with others must be a neptic. He who is open and clean in his inner space, his heart, on the one hand does not create social problems, on the other hand he can commune with his fellow man. We see this clearly in the Fathers we meet in Orthodox Monasteries, who, because they are pure in soul, can communicate with others, penetrate our inner space and heal us, and are generally beneficial factors in society.
There is a lot of talk about nepsis (watchfulness) in the Holy Scriptures, the words of Christ and the letters of the Apostles. The admonitions of the Apostles about "watchfulness" are well known ["be watchful in all things" (2 Tim. 4:5), "be watchful in your prayers" (1 Pet. 4:7), "be watchful, be vigilant" (1 Pet. 5:8)], as well as "gregorein" or "γρηγορεῖν" (vigilance) ["therefore be vigilant" (Matt. 24:42), "be vigilant and pray" (Matt. 4:41), "be vigilant, stand fast in the faith" (1 Cor. 16:13), "continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2) "be vigilant" (Rev. 3:2)], and "prosechein" or "προσέχειν" (carefulness) ["take care of yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down" (Luke 21:34), "take care of yourselves and all the flock" (Acts 20:28)].
In general, the whole "spirit" of the Holy Scriptures, the words of Christ, the Prophets and the Apostles are words of wisdom that exhorts man to pay attention to his inner space, to discern thoughts, to discern spirits "whether they are of God" (1 Jn. 4:1), to distance from one's self the thoughts that come from the devil and the passions and to cultivate love for God and man with the intelligent, the incensive and the appetitive, according to the words: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37); "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30); "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27), to feel that the present life is an exile and that we must wait for and long for the heavenly kingdom, that we must not be satisfied by the present city, but seek the future city, etc. From this perspective, the Holy Fathers also saw sociabilization, the life of Christians in society.
In the Holy Scriptures and the patristic tradition we do not find any sociological system, no sociological teaching has been developed for the transformation of society, but the change in society takes place through the transformation and deification of man. The biggest social problem is the untransformed and impassioned man. This creates the biggest social problems. On the contrary, the saints with their transformed lives also changed the social institutions, without revolutions, with their own resurrection from the works of sin.
The "Prophet of Philanthropy"
When one carefully studies the writings of Saint John Chrysostom, he will find that the Saint was not a sociologist and, therefore, his writings cannot be characterized as social, but he was an eminently philanthropic Father of the Church, as we observe in all the Holy Fathers. After all, there is a difference between social contribution and philanthropy. The social offering can be made through sociological theories and altruistic purposes and is generally offered to the impersonal society, but philanthropy is an outpouring of love for man and sees man through Orthodox anthropology.
This means that a philanthropist is the one who has rejected self-love and has acquired philothea (love for God) and philanthropy (love for man). A lover of self does not love God and man, while he who is not a lover of self becomes a philotheist and a philanthropist. And, as we know, the transformation of selfishness into philothea and philanthropy is what we characterize as healing, which is done through the sacramental and neptic life of the Church.
The late Father George Florovsky in his special study refers to the philanthropy of Saint John Chrysostom, which he considers to be a result of his faith in God. It is characteristic that the title of his specific text is: "Saint John Chrysostom, the Prophet of Philanthropy". He sees the philanthropic work of Saint John Chrysostom through the experience of prophecy, and not through sociological theories and ideologies.
Father George Florovsky claims that Saint John Chrysostom lived in a period when the Church was flooded by Christians who were Christians in name only and, as can be seen in his discourses, "he had the impression that he was preaching to the dead." Even the world in which he lived "was like ours, a world of tensions, a world of unsolved problems in all fields." In such a world he fought to help man, so he "preached and practiced philanthropy, establishing hospitals and orphanages, helping the poor and the needy." Basically, however, his work was based on faith and he himself "was a prophet of an integrated Christianity," "he preached the gospel of salvation, the gospel of new life. He was not a preacher of an autonomous ethic. He preached Christ, the crucified and risen One, the Lamb and the High Priest. The correct way of life was for him the only sufficient proof of the correct faith." When dealing with the issue of wealth he was "very evangelical." In fact, Chrysostom "did not consider the monastic life simply as a higher path intended for the elect, but rather as a normal evangelical example of life given for all."
Through this perspective, we must see his social-philanthropic work. "Chrysostom did not believe in abstract schemes; he had a fiery faith in the creative power of Christian love. It was for that reason that he became the teacher and prophet for all ages in the Church. In his youth he spent some few years in the desert, but would not stay there. For him monastic solitude was just a training period. He returned to the world to proclaim the power of the Gospel. He was a missionary by vocation; he had an apostolic and evangelistic zeal. He wanted to share his inspiration with his brethren. He wanted to work for the establishment of God’s Kingdom."
Analyzing all this infrastructure of the philanthropic work of Saint John Chrysostom, which he did as a prophet and apostle, Florovsky concludes:
"But his main advice is a call to integral Christianity, in which faith and philanthropy, belief and practice, are organically linked in an unconditional surrender of man to God’s overwhelming love, in an unconditional trust in His mercy, in an unconditional commitment to His service, through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
