January: Day 30: Teaching 1: Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom

January: Day 30: Teaching 1:
Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: 

Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
 
(Against the Fascination With Spiritualism)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Long after the death of the Holy Hierarchs Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, whose memory is celebrated today, a dispute arose in Christian society about which of them was higher in dignity and closer to God. In order to allay this discord, which threatened the peace of the Church, the Saints appeared to John, Metropolitan of Euchaita, a learned and pious man, and declared to him: “We are equal before God. Inspire Christians to abandon discord and preserve unanimity. Set up a feast for us on one day; we will help all who remember us to salvation.” Having said this, they, illuminated by heavenly light, became invisible.

II. The case now related is one of numerous experiences that irrefutably confirm that the appearance of souls from the afterlife is not impossible, and has actually occurred.

a) The incorrect understanding of such cases has served for many as a pretext for an intense effort to enter into communication with the world of spirits. Some, having lost their loved ones, wait for them in their dreams, and even in reality, to ask them how they live beyond the grave. Others, burning with the desire to know their future, dream in the terrible silence of sorcery and fortune-telling to hear a voice about their fate. There are also those who, through mysterious revelations, supposedly received from the kingdom of spirits, think to improve the Christian faith, who boast of their skill in conversing with those who have died long ago and recently, and who boldly make it clear that calling a soul from another world is as easy for them as calling a servant from one room to another.

Unfortunately, fortune tellers and spirit-seers always find many adherents among the frivolous and superstitious. Therefore, even in our time, advice against the superstition against which the Prophet Isaiah warned his contemporaries is not superfluous: "When they say to you: consult with the mediums of the dead, and with the sorcerers, answer: should not the people turn to their true God? Can the dead be asked about the living?"

b) Although it is certain that the souls of the dead sometimes appeared in reality, and not in the imagination of the living; nevertheless, to arrange such meetings was never left to the will and art of man. A departed soul can be seen by one to whom this has been granted by God, but no one can summon it. Angels also appeared, but not by human will, and not even of their own accord, but because God sent them. Are they not all “ministering spirits sent forth,” as the Apostle notes, “to minister to them that will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14), and not appearing arbitrarily? We must think the same about the souls of departed people. To summon and see them does not depend on our power, and is not always achievable by the most ardent prayer.

John Chrysostom, exiled to the Cucusus, was staying there in a house belonging to a good family, one of whose young men later became a bishop. This bishop, named Adelphios, related what a wondrous vision he had: “When blessed John died, I felt inexpressible sorrow that this ecumenical teacher had died deprived of the throne. With tears I prayed to God to show me in what state he was and whether he was numbered among the holy patriarchs. At one time I saw a very handsome man: he took me by the hand and led me to a bright place, where he showed me many teachers of the Church. Not finding there whom I desired, I left there sad, and to the one standing at the door I told my sorrow that I had not seen my beloved John. This doorkeeper explained to me: 'You cannot see him; he stands where the throne of the Lord is.'" This story points to the possibility of seeing the souls of the righteous, and at the same time serves as evidence that the soul does not appear when they want to see it, due to the attraction of innocent, but fruitless curiosity. For the same John Chrysostom appeared, together with Gregory and Basil, to the Metropolitan of Euchaita, when it was necessary, according to God's arrangement, for the pacification of the faithful.

It must be said decisively that visionaries accept as reality either the dreams of their own imagination, or the delusion of an evil and dark force. There is no doubt that the inhabitants of heaven can appear on earth only by the will of God. “We know that God will not hear sinners” (John 9:31), when they assume the status of miracle workers, attempting to summon spirits. Only those who, through good deeds and long struggles, purified their spiritual vision in themselves were granted miraculous visions. But is our weak eye, as long as it is covered with a thick crust of sinfulness, capable of seeing the invisible, the incorporeal being? And whoever presumptuously strives for this, the Wise One stops him: “Do not investigate what is beyond your strength; what is hidden is of no use” (Sir. 3:21). Even if we were to see something unusual, we should not delude ourselves. Experienced ascetics reason: "When there are visions to a sinner, he should not believe them, even if he saw Christ. For Divine visions happen only to saints, and they are always preceded in their hearts by silence, peace and joy. Even they, convinced of the truth of the visions, admit themselves to be unworthy."

c) Why is it not granted to the living to arbitrarily call and see the souls of the dead? Because it is not necessary and would even be harmful. The soul of the rich man in the Gospel asked Abraham from hades to send Lazarus to the earth where he had left his five brothers in the flesh to warn them, “lest they also come to this place of torment.” But Abraham answered: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). If there was no need for the Jews to accept lessons from the dead, then it is even less necessary for us: for we have, in addition to the law of Moses and the prophetic books, the Gospel, the very word of Christ and the apostolic teaching. What should we ask the dead about, even if this were possible? Perhaps about our future? But each one has his own fate predicted: “Live virtuously, and it will be well with you.” Even now, in the absence of foreknowledge, men are greedy for news; but if the future could be known, who would concern himself with the present? Would not those enterprises only be pleasing to us, about which pleasant news would be received from another world, and the issue of which, according to the prediction of the spirit-callers, should be advantageous to us? Would not, on the contrary, he to whom the evoked shadow predicted disaster fall into dull terror and despair? Such inquisitiveness serves as a direct insult to the Providence of God, which alone governs our affairs and destinies, comforting mortals with happiness and admonishing them with misfortunes. An apostate from faith in Providence, indulging in superstition, can soon come to ruin. Saul, the king of Israel, at first himself persecuted spiritists and fortune tellers, but, having turned away from God, he became superstitious. Before the battle with the Philistines, when the angry Lord did not give him any answer, as He had given before, Saul, disguised, went to Endor to a sorceress and asked her to call up the shadow of Samuel. The shadow appeared; but what did it announce to Saul? “Because you have not obeyed God, God will deliver Israel together with you into the hands of the Philistines: tomorrow you and your sons will be with me” (1 Kings 28:19). The next day Saul and his three sons truly perished on the Gilboa mountains.

III. In order to protect us from unfortunate consequences, the law of God has long prohibited the calling upon of the dead and any kind of fortune-telling. Moses says to the chosen people: "There shall not be found among you anyone who is a sorcerer, or a wizard, or one who inquires of the dead: for whoever does these things is an abomination to God" (Deut. 18:11). Basil the Great determines: "Whoever gives himself over to sorcerers, or himself is a sorcerer, shall be subject to the rule of six years of repentance." The same is confirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Synod: "Those who give themselves over to sorcerers, or other similar sorcerers, shall be subject to the rule of six years of penance."  

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.