St. Theophan the Recluse: Mind Without Faith

St. Theophan the Recluse: Mind Without Faith

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24.07.2022, 15:29

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Sunday, July 24 (11), 2022

6th Sunday after Pentecost

Rom. 12:6-14; Mt. 9:1-8

The Lord forgives the sins of the paralyzed man [Mt. 9:2]. Everyone should rejoice ─ but the vicious mind of the scribes says: “This Man blasphemeth”. And moreover, when the great miracle of healing followed in confirmation of the encouraging truth that “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” [Mt. 9:6] ─ we read that the multitudes “marveled, and glorified God”, while nothing is said about the scribes, probably because even then they still contemplated some dishonest questions.

A mind without faith is crooked: it is always busy churning out perverted conjectures and blasphemies against the entire realm of faith. It wouldn’t believe miracles at all ─ and then demand an utterly convincing miracle; but when such a miracle indeed occurs, such a mind, instead of submitting to the Lord, would shamelessly look for an excuse, perverting and misinterpreting the miracle which the Lord has worked.

Just the same treatment it gives to any other evidence for God’s truth. Any empirical and logical proofs, no matter how abundant and powerful, it would counter with doubts. Follow its reasoning ─ and you will see nothing but perverted tricks, even though in its own parlance they are called wisdom, so that you would suspect that wisdom and perversion are the same…

St. Paul speaks about the realm of faith: “We have the mind of Christ” [1Cor. 2:16]. To whom, then, does the mind without faith belong? Probably, to Satan. That’s why it is distinguished by perversion.

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