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The entire mystery of the economy of our salvation consists in the self-emptying and abasement of the Son of
God St. Cyril of Alexandria
Trust in the providence of God is much more than a general theory of how things are arranged in our lives
and in the world. We tend to discuss the notion in the abstract, wondering whether this action or event is to
be properly attributed to God. There is a much deeper matter, however, one that goes to the heart of the
Christian life and the nature of salvation itself. Providence is not a theory about how things are it is the
very nature of salvation.
A proper place to begin in thinking about this is with Christ Himself. Jesus says, I have come down from
heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (Joh 6:38) This is a clear declaration of
His self-emptying and abasement, a kenotic action that is consummated on the Cross.
In a similar manner, trust in Divine providence is a form of self-emptying on the part of the believer. Such
trust has a very traditional expression: the giving of thanks. To give thanks always, everywhere and for all
things is the fullest form of self-emptying. The Elder Sophrony once said that if one were to practice
thanksgiving always and everywhere, he would fulfill the saying to St. Silouan, Keep your mind in hell and
despair not. Fr. Alexander Schmemann said, Anyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation.
The common objection to trust in Gods providence is similar to the objections for thanksgiving. We fear
that such trust and thanks will result in non-action, an acquiescence to the reign of evil. If the Christian life
is rightly understood (and lived), this result is not an issue. This fear, understandably common, is intensified
within the mindset and narrative of modernity.
The modern narrative tends to claim that human problems were largely left unattended and uncorrected until
the advent of modern social science and political efforts. It fails to recognize that the very period of time that
is marked by modern, has also contained many of the most egregious human rights violations known to
history. Racial slavery, as practiced in America, for example, was maintained and justified almost
exclusively on the grounds of very modern reasons.
The fear of inaction is a charge that can easily be brought against the Cross itself. The weakness of Christ
Crucified appears (on the surface) to be the acquiescence of God to evil. This is certainly what the powers of
evil thought:
We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for
our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory. (1Co 2:7-8)
To trust in providence is not the same as inaction. Rather, it is a description of the form and character of
action. The death of Christ on the Cross is in no wise involuntary it is not passive. A life lived in union
with the providence of God is in no way passive it is the action of the Cross within the world.
The Cross should not be relegated to an event that accomplishes our salvation as an isolated or unique
transaction. The Crucified Christ reveals the very nature and character of God and the nature and character
of the life of salvation. The Christian life is the process of increasing transformation into the image and
likeness of Christ. That image and likeness is specifically that of the Crucified (Phil. 2:5-11).
We are told to keep the commandments. Those commandments include care for the poor, the homeless,
those in prison, etc. Indeed, the Cross teaches us to radically identify with them, rather than simply to offer a
helping hand. There is, within the modern paradigm, a profound substitution of state action for personal
action. Voting to help the poor with other peoples money seems somehow amiss in terms of the gospel.
I was sick and you advocated for a single-payer health-care system. I was hungry and you gave me
foodstamps. I was in prison and you advocated for more just sentencing and additional social workers. I was
naked and you argued with people for judging my appearance.
These are more characteristic of popular justice in the modern setting. Our concern for justice rarely
seems to engage anyone face-to-face, or to leave us with substantially less money. We fail to understand the
true nature of violence, and refuse to acknowledge its necessary role in making the world a better place.
Modernity is married to violence and pleads that it is all in a good cause.
The justice of the Cross is a way of life one which makes no sense apart from the resurrection. I once
heard it said that a Christian should live their life in such a way that, if Christ had not been raised from the
dead, it would be absurd. That absurdity is nothing less than the foolishness of the Cross. In arguments with
modernity, the way of the Cross will always lose, will always seem to fall short of solving problems and
fixing things. Every human plan is better.
However, if the preaching of the Cross carries with it no foolishness, then something less than the Cross is
being preached. Those who have reduced the Cross to a pagan sacrifice, appeasing an angry god, have made
of it a wise investment and a safe bet. Such faith is beside the point.
Within our daily lives, if we confront the day with thanksgiving, the Cross will quickly reveal itself. The
first moment that the giving of thanks becomes difficult, we have reached the wood of the Cross itself. We
stand in the very gates of Hades. If in that moment of difficulty we persist in giving thanks, then Hades
trembles and the dead are raised. This is our personal kenosis, our self-emptying in the presence of the good
God. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
This same heart will indeed feed the poor and clothe the naked. It may very well give away everything that it
owns. It will not make the world a better place, for it is the place where a better world has already become
incarnate.
21. Paula says: sbdn andrew, Thank you for your response. Trying to sort out your words, are you saying:
It is worthless to think of ones self as one of Christs without sincere trust in Him the baseline is The
Cross, not us, nor the synthesis we imagine And the Cross, Father Stephen speaks of as a premise (a
fact? a thing eternal) that as God created us in human form, yet in His image, the answer to this
seeming contradiction (of flesh and spirit) is and has always been in The Cross
and finally, our time here is, like you say, to depart and not remain it is ongoing, beyond the
thought of whether we are a publican or pharisee, the chiefest of sinners or not.
(you have no idea how long it has taken me to sort this out! But I appreciate it! Please fill in the blanks
if you will. Im not clear on the premise thing.) Also, where can I find Fr. John Behrs commentary you
mentioned?
22. sbdn andrew says: Paula, I think you have done well to sort through my varied abstractions. Like
(Todd) Isaac said above, it is a real struggle to put into words something that really is unspoken and
often incomprehensible. But we should at least try at any rateit is how we sort out our struggles
artistically? The particulars often come to each person as Christ leads. I am often reminded that it is not
My faith, but Christs faith where I find sincere trust. I definately do not have it. Perhaps you have
wondered how those who cry Lord, Lord! could be told by their supposed Sovereign, I dont know
you. That is a terrible outcome which I greatly fear, but sung when I have invested in any framework
that has as its content an illusory vanishing point.
If a fact is continually revised, updated, added to and subtracted from, compromised, modernized and
essentially under a constant flux of what we want it to be, then I would venture that it is a mere theory
undergoing oppositional interventions to stay current and flowing. If the starting point from which
that supposed fact is not changeless, then it is worthless as something to base ones salvation on. And
to identify ones self by that fact without being able to have (or asking for) complete trust in its
changelessticity then how can I say Lord, Lordits me!? And maybe this is why we might try
instead, Jesus Christ, have mercyremember me?
A modified and updated baseline is not the healing economy of the Cross. Maybe a good question to
ask is: Who said the first statement as fact from which all subsequent statements are made? I think it
was Fr. Steven who said he had trouble with those bumper stickers that claim Orthodoxy as 2000 years
ancient while the Church is in fact before timewe are talking Christ as Son of God timeless and
forever. For me, that is a fact as an unchanging Sameness that without I am nothing and my distinction
utterly worthless. (Fr. Steven forgive me if I misunderstood or if this was not you) For Fr. John Behr, see
any of his lectures on Youtube, start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaZmvyzOj04 Also, any
and all his books: The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death Becoming Human: Meditations on Christian
Anthropology in Word and Image
23. Paula says: subdn andrew, I so appreciate your input. Thank you.
As Im reading and rereading your response, I am hearing Fr. P.H. Reardon on a podcast asking, do you
pray, Lord Jesus Christ, I put my trust in you?! So yes, it must be in Christs faith I put my trust. I
often think about the Lord, Lord verse. Now this might sound crazy, but I can not imagine Him
answering me I dont know you, when I know He knows I realize my nothingness and look to Him as
my only hope. Why would He forsake me? Didnt He say He wouldnt? If I had even an inkling that He
might just forsake me, well, then I would say, whats the use? Im sunk! So my hope is only in His
mercy! Look, I dont know much. And most of the time I miss the point, especially when talking in
abstracts (as you mention). So I go by the fact the He is the same yesterday, today and foreverthat is
the changlessness I cling to. We change in our inconsistencies, He doesnt. In regard to our healing
through The Cross, you suggest a good question would be Who said the first statement as fact from
which all subsequent statements are made? Is it not the same One Moses spoke about when he said In
the beginning, Godsaid Let there be the One who has no beginning?! His economy, or plan for the
ages, featuring His Son Jesus Christ as the Savior of the worldthis is what everything else hangs on!
Im rambling on here, and probably a little (a lot!) off basebut I thank you for taking the time to
respond and also for the links and info on Fr. Behr. God bless, subdeacon.
24. Michael Bauman says: Paula, these subjects are difficult to approach without seeming to ramble
because of the interconnectedness all things. I am half convinced that our personal salvation is at once
much simpler and far more complex than we usually consider. When Jesus says, Fear not, I have
overcome the world. It is appended to be relied on. More than a promise actually. It is reality. That is
the simple part. The complex part, for me, lies in realizing how much I fear, how often and to what
devastating effect. God is merciful.
25. Paula says: Michael, Thanksfirst for your concise statements. It does help to know a reason for the
rambling. The rabbit trail, or better yet, the maze we so often create when speaking actually is all
connected. Understanding this relieves some of my frustration when sometimes I just dont get it.
Second, that our salvation is at once simple and complexat the same time, and both more than we
realize. That must be why I say to myself quite often I knowwww Im missing something here!
As for your fear, I think I understand. Its like, Christ tells us to come to Him as little children. I say to
myself, now how does a 62 year old woman with a semi-truck load of baggage do that?! (sounds like
Nicodemus, can a man be born when he is old?! Jesus, and only Jesus, can say Yes to a question like
that!) I dont know Michaellike you said, God is merciful. Such a journey! Amen, brother.
26. Michael Bauman says: Is the wood of the Cross also the wood in the Ladder of Divine Ascent?
27. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Michael, I would assume so.
28. Michael Bauman says: The reason I ask is because the more I am able to give thanks, the more I find I
have to give thanks for and the more I see things I dont yet give thanks forusually justified in my
mind and most not easy.
29. Thomas says: The first moment that the giving of thanks becomes difficult, we have reached the wood
of the Cross itself. We stand in the very gates of Hades. If in that moment of difficulty we persist in
giving thanks, then Hades trembles and the dead are raised. This is our personal kenosis, our self-
emptying in the presence of the good God. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. I thought I
should repost this in case someone else too feels today that it is all too relevant. Reaching the wood of
the Cross when thanksgiving becomes difficult! Beautiful truth at the end of a long day. Thank you,
Father Stephen.