Saints Are the Living Books of God
How do we learn about God. If you are anything like me, when you pick up some of these theological books and read a page or two, you are overwhelmed by what is being said; you put it back down and are tempted to think theology is above you. Well, what about those fishermen...the Apostles? They were simple people.
In a hymn last week, on Wednesday night Vespers commemorating the Apostles for Thursday, we hear about the best library for learning about God's mysteries:
You are truly the new tables written by God,
The living books, keepers of his mysteries,
Holding the word of salvation written with the finger of the Father.
So you traveled over all the ends of the earth,
And clearly showed to all men the Orthodox Faith,
That path that leads to Heaven.
Most of us would do well to just put down that complicated book of theology, and instead make a habit of reading the lives of the saints. They themselves are the "new tables" (that is, like the two "tablets" with the 10 Commandments), written by the finger of the Father. They are the "living books".
Of course, there is nothing wrong with reading theology, but all of those theological treatises came out of a life. That writer was not just writing theology; that writer was praying countless hours, fasting, and attending the cycle of services. Reading the lives of the saints, just one a day maybe, is incredibly beneficial, especially for those of us who are not continually surrounded by a life of Orthodoxy, like the monastic writers of many of these books. That is how we build the context around what it means to be Orthodox. And even if you want to read those theological books, reading the lives of the saints regularly will help you to understand those, and all of life, better.
In a hymn last week, on Wednesday night Vespers commemorating the Apostles for Thursday, we hear about the best library for learning about God's mysteries:
You are truly the new tables written by God,
The living books, keepers of his mysteries,
Holding the word of salvation written with the finger of the Father.
So you traveled over all the ends of the earth,
And clearly showed to all men the Orthodox Faith,
That path that leads to Heaven.
Most of us would do well to just put down that complicated book of theology, and instead make a habit of reading the lives of the saints. They themselves are the "new tables" (that is, like the two "tablets" with the 10 Commandments), written by the finger of the Father. They are the "living books".
Of course, there is nothing wrong with reading theology, but all of those theological treatises came out of a life. That writer was not just writing theology; that writer was praying countless hours, fasting, and attending the cycle of services. Reading the lives of the saints, just one a day maybe, is incredibly beneficial, especially for those of us who are not continually surrounded by a life of Orthodoxy, like the monastic writers of many of these books. That is how we build the context around what it means to be Orthodox. And even if you want to read those theological books, reading the lives of the saints regularly will help you to understand those, and all of life, better.
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