Ethics and Asceticism
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
Orthodox ethics differs from philosophical ethics, as well as from Western Christian ethics, just as Orthodoxy itself differs from philosophy and from other Christian confessions. It differs from philosophy because philosophical ethics is a consequence of various philosophical ideas, and it differs from the Christian ethics of the various confessions because, depending on each confession, a particular ethic follows. For example, Western Christian ethics speaks of the duties of the Christian toward God, toward one’s neighbor, toward the State, society, the Fatherland, and so on.
In Orthodoxy, however, when we speak of ethics, we mean the rebirth of the human person; and of course, when a person is spiritually reborn, he then behaves rightly toward God, other people, and society. This means that Orthodox ethics is identified with asceticism. And asceticism is the effort of a person to keep the commandments of Christ in his personal life.
When, in the writings of the Holy Fathers, we encounter the term “ethics,” by this word is meant asceticism; and by the word “asceticism” is meant the purification of man from the passions through the whole ecclesial life — that is, the keeping of the commandments of Christ and participation in the grace of Christ through the Mysteries, especially the Divine Eucharist. That ethics is linked with asceticism, that is, with the rebirth of man, is evident in the “170 Chapters” of Saint Anthony the Great, the “Book of Ethics” of Saint Symeon the New Theologian, and the “150 Chapters: Natural, Theological, Ethical, and Practical” of Saint Gregory Palamas. Therefore, Orthodox ethics is identified with asceticism and its fruits.
If we wish to make this more specific, we can say that asceticism — and by extension ethics — is the passage of man through the three stages of the spiritual life, which are the purification of the heart, the illumination of the nous, and theosis. Evagrius Ponticus defines Christianity as “the dogma of our Savior Jesus Christ, consisting of the practical, the natural, and the theological.” Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, Saint Gregory the Theologian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Saint Gregory Palamas, and many other later saints — as we find in the Philokalia of the Sacred Neptic Fathers compiled by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite together with Saint Makarios Notaras, Bishop of Corinth — speak of these three stages of the spiritual perfection of man: purification, illumination, and theosis. In reality, this concerns the grace of God, which, when it purifies man, is called purifying; when it illumines him, is called illuminating; and when it deifies him, is called deifying.
Because through this ascetic life man is healed and reborn, ascetic practice — and thus ethics — is connected with the healing of man. Precisely for this reason, ethics in the Orthodox Tradition aims at the healing of man, whose end is his theosis. Thus, Orthodox ethics is therapeutic, and ascetical ethics and therapeutic ethics are one and the same.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
