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Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos speaks to us
Beloved brothers, great are today's day and feast! Of course, all apostles have the same grace and blessing, being apostles and disciples of Christ, but Saints Peter and Paul are the foremost apostles, with very high experience, life, ministry, and mission throughout the world: preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
And, because yesterday, at Vespers, I spoke about the great Apostle Peter, therefore, today I must speak about the life of Apostle Paul. Of course, in a short sermon, one cannot present all the teaching, nor interpret the entire theology of the 'apostle to the Gentiles'. I will, however, emphasize only one aspect, very significant for his life.
He himself writes in his epistles that he persecuted the Church:“Beyond measure I persecuted the Church of Christ” (Galatians 1:13). What does this mean? Whoever persecutes the Church today is considered an atheist, ignorant, unbeliever. But what does it mean that Saul persecuted the Church of Christ? Was he, then, an unbeliever and an atheist? Of course not. Reading his life, we see that Saul (his first name) was a man who loved the God of the Old Testament, who had acquired the teaching of the Old Testament at the feet of Gamaliel. He was devout, he received all the traditions and the Law, he studied the Old Testament, in which he saw the Lord of glory ‒ because, in the Old Testament, when God revealed Himself, He did so in glory, in Light. This is how all the patriarchs saw Him, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and furthermore, the other great prophets, Moses and Elijah, and all the empirical prophets, who saw God in glory.
Therefore, reading the Old Testament, Saul ascertained that the One who reveals Himself is a God of Light and glory. That is why, when he saw that the disciples and apostles of Christ spoke about another God, about a Son of God who was crucified ‒ and, although He resurrected, yet, He had suffered and been crucified ‒, Saul could not reconcile himself with this. For him, things were theologically irreconcilable: he could not associate the God of the Old Testament (the One who appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai in Light, so much so that when Moses descended from the mountain, his face shone like the face of an angel) with the God preached by the apostles, with Jesus Christ (the One who had suffered and been crucified, about whom they preached that He is the Son of God). Saul could not associate these things; for him, they were rationally irreconcilable. Consequently, receiving a command from the scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, he went with many companions to Damascus to persecute the Christians. These were saying unacceptable things, speaking about a Christ who had been crucified, and in this way, they were undermining the God of the Old Testament, the One who revealed Himself in Light.
The Unincarnate Word and the Incarnate Word
And, as Saul was approaching Damascus, there, in that deep wilderness, he then saw Christ in Light. He himself narrates this three times.
The first time in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 26), when Paul defends himself before King Agrippa. When the latter asked him:“Who are you? How have you changed so much, you who were a Jew and believed in the Law of the Old Testament, that you have now come to speak of Christ?” Then, Apostle Paul, defending himself before the King, presents this astonishing event from his life:“At midday, on the way, I saw, King Agrippa, a light from heaven shining, more than the brightness of the sun, around me and those who were going with me. At noon, as I was going, I saw a light more powerful than the brightness of the sun, another light. And from that light, I heard a voice: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' And I said: 'Who are You, Lord, that You say I persecute You?'”. Remember that he believed in God, in the Lord of glory.„Who are you, Lord, to say that I persecute You? I love You. I read the Old Testament and the prophets and in these writings I see Your Light and glory. I fight for You!”. And then he heard a voice, he saw Christ in Light: „I am Jesus, Whom you persecute”.
What happened next in the life of Saul, later Paul? He understood that the Lord of Glory, Yahweh, the Angel of the Great Counsel from the Old Testament, the One Whom the prophets saw, is One and the Same with Jesus Christ, against Whom he fought, with the Christ Who had become incarnate, because the Son and Word of God had taken on human nature, human flesh. When Saul saw Christ in glory and identified the Lord of Glory, that is, he identified the Unincarnate Word of the Old Testament with the Incarnate Word of the New Testament, then he changed and became an apostle of Christ. And the fact that he could no longer see around him was not physical blindness – he did not go blind, since he recovered after a few days. But the Light was so powerful that his mind was overwhelmed.
We read about similar experiences even in people of our days. For example, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos writes that once he was bathed in Light, remaining in Light all night, and the next morning, when he went outside, it seemed to him that the sun had not yet risen. Then a monk happened to pass by him, whom he asked: „What time is it? Has the sun not risen yet?” „What happened to you, Father Paisios? It's 10 AM!”. Why had this happened to him? Because he had previously been in the uncreated Light of God and had not managed to readapt to created reality.
Thus we can also interpret the fact that the Apostle Paul was first a persecutor of Christ, and then became His apostle. Not because he would have been an atheist and unbeliever, but [on the contrary,] because of the theological knowledge he possessed, because he read the Old Testament superficially, as do the Jews of our days, and could not identify the Lord of Glory [unincarnate] with the Son and Word of God Who had become incarnate.
God is the true Light
What conclusions do we draw from the vision of the Apostle Paul?
The first, beloved brothers, is that God is Light. Whoever was deemed worthy to see God, saw Him as Light. „In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. This is and was the true Light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world”, says the Evangelist John. And Saint Gregory the Theologian states that „The Triune God is Light, Light, Light. Three Lights, but, in essence, one only”. Three, yet one. This means that God is Trinity.
I repeat: Those who were deemed worthy to see God, saw Him as Light. Whoever reads the Holy Scripture finds that God is depicted more as Light than as love or anything else. But this Light is not created. When we speak of created light, we understand something that has a beginning, knows corruption, and, at some point, ends. This Light is uncreated, has neither beginning nor end, nor does it know corruption.
In this context, a clear distinction is made between created and uncreated, because the Apostle Paul says that in the middle of the day, at noon, at lunchtime, he saw „a light more powerful than the brightness of the sun”. What does that mean? He saw the brightness of the sun, but also another light. It was not night, but day, and he saw another light, which was more powerful than that of the sun, thus understanding the difference between created and uncreated light.
Another conclusion is that there is unity between the Old and New Testaments. The only difference between the Old and New Testaments is that in the Old Testament we have the manifestation and revelation of the Unincarnate Word, because all the manifestations of God in the Old Testament are manifestations of the Son and Unincarnate Word of God, while in the New Testament we have manifestations of the Incarnate Word. We sing in church: „First unincarnate, and then incarnate for us”.In this lies the great difference, but also the unity between the Old and New Testaments: He who revealed Himself unincarnate to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Same revealed Himself to the Holy Apostles and Fathers throughout the ages, incarnate, with a body. And there is another important difference: in the Old Testament there is death, whereas in Christ Jesus, death was abolished.
What I am saying now is very significant. Here one can see the difference between Orthodox theology and all other heterodox theologies. Why? Because heterodox people have a different theology, with no connection to what I said earlier, that He Who appeared to the prophets in the Old Testament, the Unincarnate Word, has now become incarnate, and, as such, there is unity [of experience] between prophets, apostles, and saints throughout the ages.
„I move my hand and it is the hand of Christ”
The third conclusion that follows from this: the Church is the Body of Christ. The Church existed in the Old Testament too, but it was not the Body of Christ. The Son and Word of God, through His Incarnation, as Saint John Chrysostom says, took the body of the Church. He took the body of the Church which, in the Old Testament, was spiritual, as Saint Clement of Rome says: „being spiritual, it appeared in the body of Christ”. Therefore, when the Apostle Paul saw Christ, with a body, in Light, he then understood that the Church is the Body of Christ, and He is the Head of the Church. That is why he states this in all his words and epistles. And, among all the holy apostles, only the Apostle Paul says that the Church is the Body of Christ, that Christ is its Head, and we are members of His Body. Why? Because he had this high revelation.
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul goes on to say that, since through Baptism we are members of the Body of Christ, „shall I make the members of Christ the members of a prostitute? God forbid!”. Since through Baptism we have become members of the Body of Christ, now I must not take my members, which are Christ's, and give them to sin. An amazing interpretation of this teaching of the Apostle Paul is made, in many of his writings, by Saint Symeon the New Theologian, who saw Christ in glory, so much so that he would say: „I partake of Light, I partake also of glory, and my whole body becomes a bearer of Light. And all my members become bearers of Light. I move my hand and it is the hand of Christ. I move my foot and it is the foot of Christ”.
Behold the empirical theology of the Apostle Paul! And its conclusion is what I said earlier, the fact that there is unity and identity of experience between the Prophets, Apostles, and Holy Fathers. There is unity and identity of experience between the Old and New Testaments. He Whom Moses saw on Sinai is One and the Same with Him Whom the Apostle Paul saw.
But, although there is an identity of experience between the Prophets, Apostles, and Holy Fathers, nevertheless, at the level of terminology there are differences, because the Fathers, throughout the ages, were compelled to use a different terminology in order to respond to the philosophical currents promoted by the heretics of their era. But this is the only difference! That is why the Ecumenical Councils were always based on the experience of the Prophets, Apostles, and Fathers, and formulated decisions to respond to the heretics who used Aristotelian philosophy.
Behold the greatness and teaching of the Apostle Paul! In a few words, I have striven to present to you the basic aspects of the theology to which all the apostles gave voice and, especially, the Apostle Paul. And I conclude by saying that we must become disciples of Christ and fellow-disciples with the Prophets, Apostles, and Holy Fathers. Let us remain steadfast in this faith and confess it, so that we may be true Orthodox Christians. Amen.
From the sermon at the Divine Liturgy of the Feast
of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29, 2023)
Translation by Diaconești Monastery