IN GENERAL, followers of the "charismatic revival" have the
feeling of being (as they constantly repeat) "Spirit-filled." "I
felt free, clean and a new person and completely filled with the Holy
Spirit" (Ranaghan, p. 98). "Because of what was begun in the baptism
of the Spirit, I have now begun to see more a vision of what life in the Spirit
is like. It is truly a life of miraclesof being filled over and over with the
life-giving love of the Spirit of God" (Ranaghan, p. 65). They invariably
characterize their "spiritual" state in similar words; a Catholic
priest writes, "Whatever other particular effects may have occurred, peace
and joy seem to have been received by all, almost without exception, of those
who have been touched by the Spirit" (Ranaghan, p. 185). One inter-denominational
"charismatic" group states that the aim of its members is "to
show and spread Jesus Christ's Love, Joy and Peace wherever they are" (Inter-Church
Renewal). In this "spiritual" state (in which,
characteristically, both repentance and salvation are seldom mentioned), some
rise to great heights. In one Catholic, the gift of the "Spirit"
"has risen within me to long periods (several hours) of near ecstasy in
which Iıd swear I was experiencing a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven"
(Ranaghan, p. 103).
Spectacular stories are told of deliverance from drug addiction and the
like. The Greek priest Fr. Eusebius Stephanou summarizes this
"spirituality" by quoting a Roman Catholic priest who states that the
"charismatic" movement involves "a new sense of the presence of
God, a new awareness of Christ, a greater desire to pray, an ability to praise
God, a new desire to read the Scriptures, the Scriptures coming alive as the
Word of God, a new eagerness to have others know about Christ, a new compassion
for others and a sensitiveness to their needs, a new sense of peace and
joy..." And Fr. Eusebius presents the ultimate argument of the whole
movement: "The tree is known by its fruits... Do these fruits demonstrate
the presence of the devil or of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ? No Orthodox
in his right mind who has seen the fruits of the Spirit with his own eyes can
give a mistaken answer to this question" (Logos, Jan., 1972, p.13).
There is no reason to doubt any of this testimony. True, there is also much
testimony - we have given a few examples - that contradicts this and states
definitely that the "spirit" of the "charismatic revival"
is something dark and ominous; but still it cannot be doubted that many
followers of the "charismatic revival" actually feel that it is
something "Christian" and "spiritual." As long as these
people remain outside the Orthodox Church, we might well leave their opinions
without comment. But when an Orthodox priest tells us that sectarian phenomena
are produced by the Holy Spirit, and he even exhorts us: "Don't be left
out. Open your heart to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and be part of the
growing charismatic renewal" (loc. cit.) - then we have the
right and the duty to examine their opinions quite closely, judging them not by
the standard of the vague humanist "Christianity" which prevails in
the West and is prepared to call anything "Christian" that merely
"feels" so, but by the quite different standard of Orthodox
Christianity. And by this standard there is not one item in the above list of
"spiritual fruits" but that can be, and has been in the sectarian and
heretical movements of the past, produced by the devil appearing as an
"angel of light," precisely with the aim of leading people away from
the Church of Christ into some other kind of "Christianity. " If
the "spirit" of the "charismatic revival" is not the Holy
Spirit, then these "spiritual fruits" likewise are not from God.
According to Bishop Ignatius, the deception known as "fancy" is
satisfied with the invention of counterfeit feelings and states of grace, from
which there is born a false, wrong conception of the whole spiritual
undertaking... It constantly invents pseudo-spiritual states, an intimate
companionship with Jesus, an inward conversation with him, mystical revelations,
voices, enjoyments... From this activity the blood receives a sinful, deceiving
movement, which presents itself as a grace-given delight... It clothes itself
in the mask of humility, piety, wisdom." Unlike the more spectacular form
of spiritual deception, fancy, while "bringing the mind into the
most frightful error, does not however lead it to delirium," so that the
state may continue for many years or a whole lifetime and not be easily
detected. One who falls into this warm, comfortable, fevered state of deception
virtually commits spiritual suicide, blinding himself to his own true spiritual
state. Writes Bishop Ignatius: "Fancying of himself... that he is filled
with grace, he will never receive grace... He who ascribes to himself gifts of
grace fences off from himself by this 'fancy' the entrance into himself of
Divine grace, and opens wide the door to the infection of sin and to
demons." "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked" (Apoc. 3:17)
Those infected with the "charismatic" deception are not only
themselves "spirit-filled"; they also see around them the beginning
of a "new age" of the "out-pouring of the Holy Spirit,"
believing, as does Fr. Eusebius Stephanou, that "the world is on the
threshold of a great spiritual awakening" (Logos, Feb., 1972, p.
18); and the words of the Prophet Joel are constantly on their lips: "I
will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28). The Orthodox
Christian knows that this prophecy refers in general to the last age that began
with the coming of our Lord, and more specifically to Pentecost (Acts 2), and
to every Orthodox Saint who truly possesses in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit
- such as St. John of Kronstadt and St. Nectarios of Pentapolis, who have
worked thousands of miracles even in this corrupt 20th century. But to today's
"charismatics," miraculous gifts are for everyone; almost everyone
who wants to can and does speak in tongues, and there are manuals telling you
how to do it.
But what do the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church teach us? According to
Bishop Ignatius, the gifts of the Holy Spirit "exist only in Orthodox
Christians who have attained Christian perfection, purified and prepared
beforehand by repentance." They "are given to Saints of God solely at
God's good will and God's action, and not by the will of men and not by one's
own power. They are given unexpectedly, extremely rarely, in cases of extreme
need, by God's wondrous providence, and not just at random' (St. Isaac the
Syrian). "It should be noted that at the present time spiritual gifts are
granted in great moderation, corresponding to the enfeeblement that has
enveloped Christianity in general. These gifts serve entirely the needs of
salvation. On the contrary, 'fancy' lavishes its gifts in boundless abundance
and with the greatest speed."
In a word, the "spirit" that suddenly lavishes its
"gifts" upon this adulterous generation which, corrupted and deceived
by centuries of false belief and pseudo-piety, seeks only a "sign" -
is not the Holy Spirit of God. These people have never known the Holy Spirit
and never worshipped Him. True spirituality is so far beyond them that, to the
sober observer, they only mock it by their psychic and emotional - and
sometimes demonic - phenomena and blasphemous utterances. Of true spiritual
feelings, writes Bishop Ignatius, "the fleshly man cannot form any
conception: because a conception of feeling is always based on those feelings
already known to the heart, while spiritual feelings are entirely foreign to
the heart that knows only fleshly and emotional feelings. Such a heart does not
so much as know of the existence of spiritual feelings."
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