The Ecclesiastical Conscience of Elder Joseph the Hesychast

With particular emotion, I am following the wise suggestions of the distinguished speakers these days and I thank from the bottom of my heart the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, and especially my beloved brother in Christ, its abbot, Archimandrite Ephraim, both for the conference and for the honorary invitation to my humility to participate in it.

From the beginning, I want to express my difficulty and my sense of personal weakness in speaking about this giant of grace and spiritual progenitor and father of our monastic brotherhood, as well as hundreds of other monks of our day.

The topic I was given to discuss is: "The Ecclesiastical Conscience of Elder Joseph the Hesychast", which aims to show what the Elder's ecclesiastical conscience is, which was shaped through the place and manner of his practice, and how it is expressed both by his life and by his teaching.

Our most pious Elder Joseph the Hesychast, this modern flower of the Holy Spirit, flourished within the fragrant garden of our most holy Church of Christ, and was completed as the beautiful fruit of his own turning and appeal to God and the presence of divine Grace in him.

From the very beginning of his spiritual struggles, as the wise and prudent man that he was, he knew that it is not enough for someone to “exercise” MONASTERY to be crowned, but that a necessary condition for the crown of grace is “lawful exercise.” The words of the Apostle Paul, “and even if one exercises, one is not crowned unless one exercises lawfully” [1], are an inviolable condition of the struggle of anyone who seeks God, and all the saints of our Church laid this principle as the foundation of their success, “so that they may not run in vain” and “so that they may not beat the air.” [2]

The seal of legitimate sportsmanship is the Church. No one outside the Church or without the Church exercises legitimately, because what is sought in the struggle is not moral perfection but the God-man Savior Christ. Thus, every "legitimate" competitor forms an ecclesiastical mind and conscience, because Christ is the head of the Church and we are its members. Each member only lives and becomes healthy when it is connected to the body, as does the body with the head. Thus, every competitor reveals his healthy spiritual state according to his relationship with the Church, which is undoubtedly the body of Christ united with Him. From this union of the competitor with the Church, his ecclesiastical conscience and experience are also formed.
We can thus say from the outset that a healthy ecclesiastical conscience means the functioning of man as an image of God and of likeness to Him. Man is healthy, as created by the hands of God, healed from the wounds and consequences of the fall and like Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Church and through the Church.

In the case of our blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast, the main points that show his healthy ecclesiastical conscience, and the "lawfulness of his exercise" and the presence of divine Grace in him are the following:

a) When he felt the flame of God's love in his youthful heart (around 1923), then struggling in Athens, he took refuge in the well-trodden path of his dedication to God in the Church and through the Church, denying worldly things and going to Mount Athos, where, in accordance with the tradition and the rules of the holy fathers of the Church, he submitted himself to the obedience of an Elder, donned the monastic robe and dedicated himself to God through the mystery of monastic perfection, receiving the Great and Angelic form in the cave of Saint Athanasius the Athonite, having the mystery of his monastic absolution celebrated by the Spiritual Father-Euthymius who was practicing there, and he was enrolled in the monastic register of the Holy Great Lavra of Mount Athos and by extension in the power of its monks. Most Holy of Christ Great Church of Constantinople.

b) The Elder came to Mount Athos around 1923, where soon all the confusion and bewilderment of the Athonite monks began, mainly concerning the change of the calendar. This confusion found the Elder practicing in the deepest desert of Mount Athos, in the skete of Saint Basil, where most of the fathers with whom he had fellowship and received information about what was happening, had already distanced themselves from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in protest precisely because of the change of the calendar and had each joined other already created groups of secessionists or, at best, had simply interrupted the memorial service of the Ecumenical Patriarch, without however joining the so-called (and still secessionist) zealots. Elder Joseph, due to his Athonite and hermit mentality and severity, due to his environment, but above all due to the lack of preparation and information of the Church staff by those who were then administering it, joined the zealots during the first years of his monastic life, and he only associated with them daily. This is what almost all the hermits did initially. Very soon, however, and while he was still in the skete of Saint Basil, as we heard from the stories of our elders and his subordinates, but also as is evident from his texts, Elder Joseph began to sense the blind fanaticism of the zealots and the dangerous path they were walking. He considered his presence in the circles of the zealots only as a sign of protest and never admitted that the Church, having accepted the new calendar, lost divine Grace. Thus, while in the desert of Saint Basil he had joined the extreme hard-core faction of the Mattheans, after information from God he abandoned them and joined the more moderate faction of the Florins at the time, who, through the Bishop of Florin Chrysostomos, initially accepted the mysteries of the New Calendarists as valid and the official Church as the treasurer of Grace.

Then he left the Skete of Saint Basil and descended lower, to the caves of Little Saint Anne, where he received new subordinates and formed his new entourage with our respected elders. In 1950, the Florinian faction, despite the disagreement of the eventual signatory Chrysostomos of Florina, issued a circular, saying that the official Church of Greece, with its adherence to the new calendar, automatically became heretical and lost Grace. After this, the Elder completely abandoned the zealots and ordained his subordinates Ephraim and Charalambos as Hieromonks under the then studying on Mount Athos, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Miletopolis, Hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This change of course of the blessed Elder came after a persistent and persistent prayer with tears about the correctness or otherwise of the zealots. Thus, as we know from our Elders, Elder Joseph had many revelations and information from divine Grace, in order to leave the already apparent schism, and remain within the Church of Christ.

While praying about what was to be done, in a time of Grace, he heard the voice of God who imperatively and very clearly declared to him that "the Church is in Constantinople" and, in fact, as our Elder emphasized many times, during the reign of Patriarch Athenagoras, whose actions are still considered questionable by some as to their correctness.

Another time, while praying, he saw in his cell the unclean demonic spirit of error, mocking him authoritatively and telling him that I am with those with whom you are. Another time again in the Spirit he saw the zealots in darkness and gloom struggling in vain with all their confusion and error. He also saw those unfortunate brothers sitting on a rock being cut off by a strong earthquake from the peninsula of Holy Athos and sinking into the dark and terrible sea.

And even this same leader of the fanatical Athonite movement, Hieromonk at the time and later “Archbishop”, Matthew saw him in a vision rolling, running downhill and his end being disastrous in the dark sea. Elder Joseph knew Matthew personally and had his own perception and knowledge about the man and his error.

However, this change in the Elder did not occur only because of the revelations and the information from God, but also because of his correct ecclesiastical conscience and sound mind. A simple reading of his letters convinces us that, while he was illiterate in the world, he nevertheless did not incline to either the errors of the right or the destructive traps of the left, but walking the well-trodden path of the saints, he had correct judgments of meanings, since a characteristic of his spiritual quality was the complete pursuit of the divine will and the acquisition, through extreme submission, of the gift of discerning spirits "from whence they are."

c) The correct ecclesiastical conscience of Elder Joseph is clearly seen in the fact that, despite the wars he suffered from his environment at the time, he remained a faithful follower of the patristic path of the Kollyvadi fathers who had struggled shortly before him, as well as of the great hesychast Saint Gregory Palamas.

Our blessed Elder, through his practical experience and through the gift of mental prayer from the Most Holy Theotokos, as happened to many saints before him, e.g. Maximus of Kafsokalyvite, Saint Gregory Palamas and his contemporary Saint Silouan the Athonite, cultivated hesychasm, unceasing prayer and the sacred work of penitential silence, not only in himself but also in his disciples, both in his subordinates on Mount Athos and in the many who sent him letters or who visited him, especially in his last years, seeking a word of benefit.

He did not consider all this valuable work of incessant prayer and sacred contemplation as the fruit and result of human effort and struggle MONASTERY, but above all as the fruit and energy of the Holy Spirit. The blessed one believed, like all the Fathers of the Church, that the deification of man is not achieved through technical means and human inventions, but through divine Grace, which finds man cooperating with it through lawful asceticism and purifying himself from passions and sin. Asceticism and all that it comprises, silence, prayer, study, mourning, obedience, austerity, vigil, fasting, etc., he considered as necessary means, but only as simple tools, and he considered their absolutization as an error and a slip, which is why he places them in their proper place and believes that God is "the one who works all things in all." Certainly, neither does it fall on the other side, so as to render useless these wings of the practical form of the struggle, with which the struggler can “fly away and rest.” An Orthodox who has both right thoughts and actions, through his works and his life, teaches and proves that God and man cooperate for salvation and that neither God without the human will nor man without the presence and action of God completes the work of man’s salvation.

All these elements of personal struggle are not sufficient if they are not sealed and do not bear fruit through the holy mysteries of our Church. Asceticism and prayer are not autonomous achievements of individual piety, but a path to salvation in Christ Jesus. The blessed Elder saw and experienced the essentials of the divine mysteries of our Church, which also proves his correct ecclesiastical mind.

Following the patristic line faithfully, he taught and practiced the necessity of frequent communion for the existence of life in Christ. But even here he was not dogmatic and extreme, like other ascetics who held that anyone who did not receive communion daily or who attended the Divine Liturgy and did not receive communion was considered outside the Church, nor again the practice, which was sometimes observed on this Holy Mountain until a few years ago, of receiving communion rarely and after a strict three-day fast, or every forty or every fifteen days, or at least most often every Saturday. Our Blessed Elder rejected both these extremes and followed the golden and royal path of discernment of Basil the Great, without fanatically dogmatizing in favor of it, but he himself found this to be more discerning and he imposed this on his disciples without, of course, absolute adherence. For this reason, he partook of the immaculate mysteries four times a week, namely Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Here I want to emphasize in particular that this tactic of his was also one of the reasons why many of his fellow ascetics considered him to be mistaken, because he taught mental prayer while himself applying a hesychast program of asceticism, and because he followed frequent divine communion. In particular, unfortunately at that time, for many fathers of Mount Athos, communion on Sunday was considered a blasphemous innovation and disorder, because of the preceding Saturday, where fasting is prohibited, and therefore in the conscience of the simple fathers, no one could receive communion, since he was not allowed to fast at least the previous day. Thus, the most theological day of Sunday, the Resurrection of our Christ, the Lord's day par excellence, was forbidden for them to receive divine communion, and instead they honored the Jewish Sabbath by receiving communion on it, because of the preceding Friday fast.

The modern history of Mount Athos recognizes this significant contribution, along with other fathers of course, of the blessed Elder in the return of all monasteries and almost all Mount Athos monks to the correct theological and ecclesiastical position of the day of Sunday and the partaking thereof, mainly of the immaculate mysteries of the Holy Eucharist.

The Elder knew and experienced that the Church is not something abstract and indefinite, but has limits and rules and hierarchy, as the Holy Spirit through the mouth of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers through the sacred canons established. Thus, writing to his subordinate, he emphasizes obedience to the Bishop as a seal and guarantee of security, but he himself also asks for the bishop’s blessings for his salvation. Writing to monks and nuns of other monasteries, he always gives the proper position and respect to the abbots, emphasizing the necessity of their obedience to them as being in the type of Christ, following the words of the Apostle Paul: “Brothers, be obedient to your abbots and submit…”3 [3].

The result of his correct ecclesiastical conscience was also his love for all people and for God's creatures. When he was finally perfected in Christ, his whole heart was aflame with the love of God and the love of his brother. How sweet, comforting, and compassionate he appears through his letters, but also from what we have heard from his own and eyewitness witnesses! This entire course of asceticism until the end does not isolate him complacently, cruelly, and selfishly, but like all true saints, the genuine children of the Church, he too, healed and sanctified, heard the voice of the Lord: "And when you have returned, support your brothers"4 [4] and "Become merciful, just as your Father is merciful"5 [5]. While he was a hermit, a recluse and aloof, and in very poor physical health, his thirst for the benefit of his brothers overcame obstacles and he did everything to benefit them by word and deed, by his own prayer, by his own acceptance of their own temptations and falls, by his own fabled letters and extreme paternal sympathy and love. His many years of hermitic conduct and isolation ultimately led him to union with all his brothers, living and deceased, through divine love. Thus he himself divided his strength and his time praying for the living and the dead, and he taught his disciples the same, in addition to performing the divine service daily as their own response to the requests for prayer and help of their brothers.

His love for other people as images of God, without letting the human flaws of each one be seen, made him the refuge of these “least brothers” of Christ. How many such “poor in spirit” were constantly around him, but also others weak in spirit and intellect found him as a most sweet father and helper! In fact, as our Elder tells us, when they were all together, especially at the table at noon, the situation was sometimes so tiring for them due to the presence of these simple and weak brothers, that once, when his subordinates dared to filially protest the contemplation and presence of these "infants", the blessed Elder burst into tears, on the one hand because his loving heart could not despise one of these "least" brothers of his beloved Jesus, but also on the other hand because of the immaturity of his true disciples at that time and their uninitiatedness in the mysteries of perfection in Christ, where the mysteries of perfect love in Christ are revealed and preserved. Following in the footsteps of all those who had been perfected in Christ before him, in his heart, burned by love, love and sympathy for the rest of creation functioned in a balanced and beautiful way.

He was compassionate and loving towards creation, having even treated an eagle with medicine, but he also cared for the mice in his cave, distributing to them their appropriate food, and he saw all of creation theologizing and praising the greatness of God.

All the aforementioned signs, and many others that time does not allow us to list, reveal our Most Holy Elder Joseph the Hesychast as perfected in Christ Jesus, and as having kept the image unscathed and having attained to the likeness of Christ, as a genuine child, a holy fruit and a legitimate sprout and boast of our most holy Orthodox Church of Christ.

So, here we have, in the person of our late father and elder Joseph the Hesychast, the healthy, perfect man in Christ, the result of the therapeutic treatment of our Orthodox Church, the verification of the promises and words of our Christ, our correct and healthy ecclesiastical conscience and life, as the saints of our Church experienced it and handed it down to us. Amen.

Footnotes

1. 2 Tim. 2:5.
2. 1 Cor. 9:26.
3. Hebrews 3:17.
4. Luke 22:32.
5. Luke 6:36.

(Proceedings of the Inter-Orthodox Scientific Conferences of Athens and Limassol, Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Mount Athos - Philokalistic Experience. Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos 2007. pp. 253-261)