I have been getting to know the monks at the Russian Orthodox monastery down the road from me. This little book was produced by their lead monk, Papa Luc. Extremely refreshing to me.
My favourite story is from pages 8-9, as follows…
“One of the many new ways to learn is how to read. I recall my own introduction to this, as a novice. Accustomed to the ways of the world, I was used to reading as fast as I could, and I assumed that reading a lot was beneficial. As a result of this outlook, I was reproached many times by my Elder. For example, in my very first days as a novice monk, I was handed the book of the letters of Abba Barsanuphius, a great ascetic writer from Gaza (6th century), and told to read it. A week later, the Elder asked me how my reading was going. I apologized that I was only on page fifteen – I had other obediences that were consuming my time. “What!?” he exclaimed. “Page fifteen!? You can’t be!” In my worldly way of thinking, I expected to be admonished for reading so little in a week. Instead he told me, “Start over! You should still be on the first paragraph!” Learning how to read again, in this new way, was a big challenge for me.”
There is also a beautiful story on pages 50-51 about a leaky bucket, and how fresh and clean it became as a monk made the futile effort to fetch water with it daily.
Here are some more of my underlinings:
Page 38, on “rumination.” “It needs to be emphasized that rumination, or “chewing on the words,” is not a practice that helps us possess the Holy Scriptures or appropriate them for ourselves … God is ruminating us.”
Page 38. “All reading of the Holy Scriptures is an exercise in extreme humility – both ours and God’s.”
Page 39. “Extreme humility is the way to illumination.”
Page 42. “Remember that we do not read to be recognized as a knowledgeable person. We read to obtain humility, compunction, and meekness.”
Page 44, under “Live Simply.” “WE need to structure our life in such a way that we can hear the word resonating within us like an echo throughout our day…. Small, quiet times during the day will not just happen. We need to make them.”
Page 45. “It seems – and this is a frequent temptation in our world – that the human has become the focus of our reading of the Scriptures.”
This little book also emphasizes the hermeneutical approach of seeking the “spiritual meaning” of a text, using types, allegories, etc. I was strongly warned against this in our Baptist seminary. However, while I do not go as far as this book encourages, I am finding that there are indeed some very helpful insights from the tradition of reading for the spiritual meaning. For example, I preached from the gospel of John and admitted that I really didn’t know what Jesus saw Nathaniel do under the olive tree. When I told Papa Luc about that, he commented that the spiritual meaning of being under an olive tree in the Bible is always the study of Torah: that is a strong hint about what Nathaniel was doing. That is at the very least helpful as a hint.
There is a bibliography at the end that I hope to use to study this more.
WhatPastorSamIsReading 