Evagrius of Pontus on prayer

Chapter 1

If anyone wishes to prepare sweet smelling incense, he will, according to the Law, mix together equal amounts of myrrh, aromatic shell, galbanum and pure frankincense. These correspond to the four virtues, for if they happen to be overflowing and in balance, the mind will not have been opened up to the enemy.
Translated from the Greek by John de la Tour Davies.

Exodus 30.34; Wisdom 8.7; 4 Maccabees 1.18; Rev. 5.8 and 8.3

Evagrius is refering to the composition of incense as laid out in the Book of Exodus. Galbanum is an umbellifer, the resin being obtained from its crushed stems and roots. It is used to enhance the effect of other perfumes.

The word translated 'aromatic shell' is onycha, which is actually the shell of a mollusc which, when burnt, gives off a sweet fragrance.




Incense is associated in the Bible with prayer, rising with the prayers of the saints, according to the Book of Revelation (see above).




The four virtues, of course, are those classically known as the cardinal virtues, derived by Saints Ambrose and Augustine from Plato's descriptions. They are

Prudence - able to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time
Justice - proper moderation between the self-interest and the rights and needs of others
Restraint or Temperance - practicing self-control, abstention, and moderation
Courage or Fortitude .

Evagrius may have been thinking of Plato's original writings. Interestingly, Evagrius notes the importance of 'balance', with each of the virtues having its place, being neither in excess or deficient, much as Aristotle defined the 'golden mean'; while 'overflowing' seems to indicate that the virtues are noteworthy in such a person, and that they are communicable to others.

What Evagrius seems to be stressing in this his first of 153 short chapters on prayer, is that when a virtuous person prays, his or her mind is opened up to God, and not to the devil, who is the 'enemy'. Then, like Christ, such a person is able to listen to what God shows them, without being confused that such guidance may have another source.

So, if we want to grow in our ability to pray, and to listen to God in prayer - to discern the voice of God in our minds, we need also to be growing in the virtues.

Theology of education

The link leads to my latest thoughts on different approaches to a theology of education, written for my doctorate in theology and ministry. The picture shows me trying to get some wisdom!

Serious holes and how we handle them

Workmen arrived today, out of the blue(!), to put in a water meter. They dug a huge hole just by our gate. While they were digging the hole, they managed to fracture the gas main to our house. So they rang the gas board, got someone to come, and before he arrived, the water workmen drove off, leaving a barrier round the hole half blocking the entrance to our house. The gas man mended the pipe, but the hole in the footpath was seriously big, and as it was open to the elements, with the gas main visible, I was concerned that it could get broken again, and we could even have a gas leak or an explosion! (yeah - I know - worst case scenarios don't often happen in real life!) Anyway, eventually, after several hours and numerous phone calls later, including comments to the water board about damage to county council highways (my husband works for the council), an emergency team arrived to temporarily fill the hole, until they can come and connect a water meter properly.

Reflecting on this, it occurred to me that 'holes' can appear in our lives too, leaving us damaged and exposed. The death of a loved one can tear holes in us, as can other major losses, which aren't always acknowledged by friends and colleagues. It seems to me that such 'holes' needs careful handling if we are to avoid an 'explosion' of emotion, of anger or anguish. But do we really want them just filled in? Isn't that just like putting a plaster on an unhealed wound, leaving it vulnerable to infection? Sometimes, that's all we can do. But perhaps, there needs to be a safety valve too. Exploding to God seems to me to be one very apt way of handling grief - the way of Job, perhaps. After all, God is big enough to take it! Having a trusted spiritual director, prayer partner, or close friend to 'vent' to can be hugely valuable. We ministers need such outlets too, for our grief.

I guess the worse thing I could have done today would have been to pretend there was no hole there.

Nativity plays and their theology

The latest essay for my DMin is just finished! I've done a cultural studies type analysis on nativity plays and their embodied theology. I learnt so much, but only scratched the surface of all the reading I could have done, even though that meant over 25 references in the bibliography. It left me realising 2 things:
1. To do this DMin, I am having to get up to doctoral standard in at least 6 theological disciplines, with a bare 3 months to do so for each. I'm looking forward to the end of this year when my 6 assignments are done, and I can focus more in one area.
2. It's very clear that there is a dearth of empirical research in many areas of church life, and practically none at all about nativity plays.
Would I have chosen to look at these if I hadn't attended two last Christmas? Mmm - probably not. (see below)

Still, it was all good fun, and very mentally stimulating, so much so that now I feel as if my mind has turned into goo. One of my colleagues suggested that I start an Abingdon mystery play cycle since I had to learn so much about them for the essay. What an exciting idea! Then reality kicked in - perhaps I should start gently by finding a mystery play cycle to attend before tackling such a mammoth enterprise!

Getting your message across.

The freedom of speech dance continues. Christians are officially free to proselytise in the UK (see blog posting below) and now, the latest from The Guardian website is that atheists have raised £140,00 to pay for an advert to go on bendy buses in London and other places, saying that "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". Interesting. It looks as if even atheists aren't certain of their position. It seems to me also that the people who designed the ad (atheists themselves?) are showing a tendency towards the kinds of things they criticise Christians for, in this case, telling people what to do! Mm. I wonder if a bendy bus communicates a distorted message?

Christmas stamps

I saw a letter in the Church Times from one of my students today. Helen Chamberlain was writing about trying to get religious stamps for her Christmas cards. She had the same problem that my husband Julian experienced - the Post Office said they didn't have any. On enquiring further, Helen discovered that her local PO did have them, but hidden away under the counter. She bought some, but was told by the counter assistant not to tell anyone else that she had the 'Jesus' stamps. She went out thinking that what she wanted to do was tell everyone she had Jesus, and not keep quiet about it. Quite right too! What Christian minister can keep quiet about his/her reason for being?!!

Coincidentally, the same copy of the Church Times (19th Dec. 2008) had another article that said that the Charity Commission accepts that evangelism is OK, stating that 'proselytising is of benefit to the public'. So Christians aren't meant to keep quiet about Jesus - it's official!

I wonder if we all wrote to the PO and complained, that they would take us seriously for a change? After all, the Church is a seriously big lobby if we exercise our moral muscle.

Church House carol service

It was the turn of the Buildings Department to plan and put on the annual Carol Service for Church House staff yesterday. The liturgical highlight was a nativity play - or was it a pantomime? It was a joy to see that the staff involved don't take themselves too seriously, and that worship can be fun, as well as meaningful.

I was very tickled by the wry comment at the end that there needed to be a retiring collection - for the organ. It had groaned and wheezed it's way through the service, despite being ably played - but it did sound as if it needed to be permanently retired!

On a serious note, and only tangentially relating to the service yesterday, how is the mission of the church furthered by things like ancient and decrepit organs? And are we so attached to our customs and practices that we can't see how strange they appear to the people we are trying to reach? What is such an instrument to a person who doesn't usually go to church but a distraction or a source of humour? Someone will be bound to want to defend organs, but as a cultural practice of the church, are they not, in fact, simply part of the structure of a distinct subculture, with very little connection to the wider culture within which we are trying to communicate the gospel?

A further thought, what is so scary for a congregation about a capella singing? At another service I attended recently, the unaccompanied singing of O come, O come Emmanuel was hauntingly beautiful.