The sayings of the Desert Fathers are an absolute treasure trove of spiritual wisdom. I recently ran across the following story that has absolutely captivated me. I have an inkling of what it means, but I’d be very interested in anyone else’s perspective:
Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, ‘Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?’ then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.’
“If you will, you can become all flame.” This is one of the most incredible things anyone has ever said as far as I’m concerned. I’m just about ready to make it my new motto and base my entire life around it.
So, thoughts? What is the meaning of this?
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May 2, 2009 at 12:05 am
Matthew N. Petersen
I’ve wondered about that quote before. I think it’s working from these (and similar) verses.
May 2, 2009 at 12:08 am
Matthew N. Petersen
Man, it doesn’t know how to format a comment when it starts with a blockquote. That’s terrible. Maybe this would work better:
I’ve wondered about that quote before. I think it’s working from these (and similar) verses.
–Song of Songs 8:6-7a Block and Block trans.
–Hebrews 12:29
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.</blockquote
–I John 4:8,12
May 2, 2009 at 12:29 am
Matt Yonke
Matt,
Thanks for the thoughts, and don’t stress about the html snafus.
The consuming fire idea was one of my first thoughts about the story. I’m really just still in awed by the whole story. It seems to sum up so much but sum it up so mysteriously. I really love it.
May 2, 2009 at 7:24 am
Renee
When I read this, I immediately thought of St. Catherine of Siena. Consider these quotes:
“The devil fears hearts on fire with love of God.” – St. Catherine of Siena
“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire”. – St. Catherine of Siena
Fire has been used allegorically for LOVE both in religious writings and poetry throughout the ages. I think it is the fact that fire emits light and warmth, and at the same time, utterly consumes the thing being burned. We are to be utterly consumed with love for God, and in the process, pour out His light and warmth to the world, thereby loving all whom we encounter. It is all about love, baby.
The Theotokos is shown as the Burning Bush in some icons, because she, as the one human whose human nature was preserved from the effects of fallen nature, she was engulfed in the flame of Divine Love, yet not destroyed or “burned up”. This also parallels the fact that she gave birth to Our Lord, while avoiding all corruption.
We are to offer ourselves as a sacrifice, to be consumed by the fire of Divine Love. Just as a pile of wood cannot burn itself, we cannot make ourselves be consumed by the Love of God. But we can submit ourselves to Him and let Him ignite us in His love and then share His Light and Warmth with the world.
I am particularly drawn to this imagery because while the flame is dependent upon an outside source for becoming ignited, it certainly isn’t passive, and sweet. It is powerful, frightening even, beautiful and awesome. It is difficult to make fire overly sentimental, as can be done with the word “Love”.
Heed this call Matt. It is the call to metanoia!
“A change, a profound change, of mind and even character. In the Bible, in the New Testament, this change is called “metanoia,” often translated repentance. But it’s not a backward-looking glance of regret; it’s a forward-looking vision of hope.”
I came across this quote, but don’t remember who wrote it. But I like it.
Blessings!
May 2, 2009 at 9:15 am
Father Maximos
Christ is risen!
To me this story simply states the fact that Christian conversion never ends. Heaven is not a state in the sense of stasis. It really is a process in which we grow ever more in the likeness of God, “being changed from glory into glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Extraordinary things await us. What is sown perishable is raised imperishable (1 Cor. 15) and the seed of the body unfolds unheard of capacities for love and the expression of love as we grow into the likeness of the One who is Love.
But remember, there’s no transformation of our fleshly reality until that flesh has been conformed to (as in made a whole with) the spirit through discipline: commandments and asceticism. Often the Lord permits us, through the saints, glimpses of the goal toward which we strive. But the aim should be to keep us faithful to that striving.
As much as I can manage with unpacked boxes all around me!
May 2, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Matt Yonke
Renee and Father Maximos,
Thank you both for your thoughts. Very helpful in trying to get my head around the pursuit of becoming all flame!
May 3, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Juan Manuel
Hey Matt,
I actually wrote a pretty lengthy paper on this if you’re interested. My suspicion (along with most scholars of the subject) is that even early Christian ascetical visionaries maintain elements of apocalyptic Jewish spirituality. An obvious “source” to look at is II Enoch and III Enoch (though the dating on III Enoch is its own topic of debate). The ascent & transformation was a part of Qumran mysticism and was shared, as Frs. Alexander Golitzin and Andrei Orlov hold, by the Christian writers of the Hymn of the Pearl and (later) even Aphrahat the Persian Sage.
As far as the Egyptian fathers are concerned, whence you mention the Gerontika literature, an embedded apocalyptic spirituality with its origins in Judaism is a well-established and common scholarly opinion. It was not uncommon for monks to take the name Enoch, which only a present non-biblical tradition can explain.
May 3, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Juan Manuel
Still another day, while our father Pachomius was praying somewhere alone, he fell into an ecstasy: all the brothers were in the synaxis and our Lord was seated on a raised throne, speaking to them about the parables of the holy Gospel. In the vision he saw on that day, he could hear the words He was saying, as well as their interpretation, while He was pronouncing them with His mouth. From that day on, when our father Pachomius wished to address the word of God to the brothers, he would occupy the place where he had seen the Lord seated and speaking to the brothers. And if he repeated the words and their commentary which he had heard from the Lord’s mouth, great lights would come out in his words, shooting brilliant flashes; and all the brothers would be terribly frightened because of our father Pachomius’ words, which resembled flashing lights coming from his mouth.
Bohairic Life of St. Pachomius
(you should be able to find this in the Marmion Abbey library if they let you in)
May 3, 2009 at 10:04 pm
John
I’m not so sure that heaven and hell aren’t lit by the same “consuming fire”… hell is what love does to those that have definitively closed themselves to the possibility of reciprocation?
I think the next step burns us more than even the idea of being physially burned… like “sell everything you have and give the money to the poor.” Now that is on fire…………!
May 3, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Jared B
Matt,
I think all these in the comment box probibly hit on it, but perhaps it means martyrdome.
In anycase, I love that you shared this. It would be a great motto to carry. In fact I will keep it close to my heart. I like it.
In Christ,
Jared B
May 4, 2009 at 10:31 am
Juan Manuel
Matt,
Check this out. http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm
The Hymn of the Pearl is a beautiful summary of this theology as found in early Syriac Christianity. That was originally part of the Gospel of Thomas and that it is Gnostic in creed is no longer a popular opinion of scholars. Actually, it’s Christian & Jewish.