Reading the lives of the saints
October 27th, 2006 ~ Orthodox perspective(I’ve started reading “The Diary of a Russian Priest,” a collection of short excerpts from the diary of Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, who emigrated out of Russia during the Revolution and died in 1934. I find his writings to be the best of both worlds. He has the wide perspective of Church Fathers who seem to have one foot in eternity; he has the relevance of someone who lived through some of the most dire times of the 20th century and knows the faith issues that plague modern man. I’ve just started so I’ll probably have many more of these gems to pass along, but I thought this one was a good start.)
“Why is it so important to read the Lives of the Saints? — In the infinite spectrum of the paths leading to God, which are revealed in the lives of the various saints, we can discover our own; we can obtain guidance to help us emerge from the jungle in which we have become entangled through our human sinfulness, and we gain access to the path which leads towards the light.”
– Fr. Elchaninov “Diary of a Russian Priest”
I would have saved myself a lot of time if I had read that before I started reading “Daily Lives” two years ago. The short hagiographies they offer — one a day — are an easy way to start learning about the men, women and children the Church commemorates throughout the year. I think when I started it was out of a sense of obligation, or perhaps just another box I could check on my mental inventory. (”Reading about St. Simeon the Stylite today. What a good Orthodox girl I am!”) Or, if I was going to give myself more credit, I might have thought that I would have daily meetings with “friends of God.”
Now that I’ve been doing it for two years, though, the checked box fails to impress me anymore (thank goodness!), and I know that the hagiography I read today or tomorrow might be any one of a number of things. It could be inspiring, certainly, but it could also be grueling. It could be difficult to put into a context I can understand. It could leave me with more questions than answers. But I miss it when I have to skip for some reason. It helps, as Fr. Elchaninov says, with my own struggles.
The lives of the saints seem like they tell a story of all the gospel, the Orthodox thought, the ascetic labors put into practice.
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October 27th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Thank you for posting this, Grace. I too sometimes fall into the “checkbox” reason for reading the Prologue. Thank you for reminding me.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:53 am
It seems to me almost impossible to NOT falling into the “checkbox” reason for reading the Prologue or other compilations, at least for those of us who converted past age 10. Perhaps if one grows up in an Orthodox household where a regular exposure to saints lives gets us past that, I don’t know, but I do wonder.
That being said, it doesn’t mean we have to STAY with that reason, but that we have to “go through” that particular temptation on our way to learning the true value of reading the Lives of the Saints - whether compilations or books based on one life.
Thanks for your post, and for the reminder.
Wish me a good trip, I am heading for Tennessee for 2 weeks :)
October 28th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Have a lovely time in Tennessee. I’m a little jealous. I’ve never been but I’m betting it’s beautiful right now.
Prologues: Yep, I do it too. On the one I just started, I’ve been doing shorter morning reflection-type readings, and so I started the prologue and the “real” book at the same time. That way I don’t have that nagging feeling that I’m missing context, but I get to jump right in.
There are worse reasons to do things than just out of “checkbox” obligation. I just need to remind myself all the time not to mentally hand out brownie points to myself for things I’m not doing from the best motives.
October 29th, 2006 at 6:08 am
You mean I don’t get brownie points? Aww shucks… :)
Seriuously though, that does seem to be something that we need to always look out for. If a checkbox “obligation” is what it takes to get us started, well then, that’s great - it got us started - and hopefully we can avoid staying there. I suspect that there will always be the temptation to hand out “brownie points”… sigh….
Have a good two weeks!
November 1st, 2006 at 10:19 am
I am reading “The Diary of a Russian Priest” right now too. Very good stuff.
November 1st, 2006 at 10:55 am
Isn’t it just a great book? I had to work hard not to gush about it (and maybe I did anyway.)
The other hard part is not reprinting a lot more of it here. A blogger could do a lot worse than just pass along Elchaninov’s insights on a regular basis.
And the hardest part is keeping myself to a Spartan diet of a couple pages a day. Because once it’s done, there ain’t no more. (But there are 6 Harry Potter novels and another one on the way. Where’s the justice?)
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Totally agree - I’ve been reading just two pages a day just to savor it.
And July ‘07 can’t come fast enough. I told my wife I might end up being one of those freaks in line at the bookstore at midnight on release night to stay up all night reading book 7. :)