Saint Clement of Ohrid – Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
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“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10, 7-10).
Christ’s words “I am the door” have two meanings. One meaning; the ontological, essential or existential, is that we should first be united with God, that is, we should be baptized and clothed in Christ, participate in the death and resurrection of Christ, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, partake of the Body and the Blood of Christ, to become the Body of Christ, to become a new being.
And the second meaning of the word “door” is that in the spiritual life there is a spiritual law and a spiritual order, and that we should all be aware of the stage of spiritual development at which we find ourselves and harmonise the way of our life and struggle (endeavour) in accordance with the stage we are at. Only in this way can we enter through the door, properly grow spiritually and bear witness to Christ, regardless of which of the stages we are at.
One without the other makes passing through the Door not possible. Saint Clement of Ohrid, together with all the Holy Fathers of the Church, therefore is holy, our teacher and enlightener, our good shepherd, because he passed through the door, Christ, in both meanings of the term.
The schismatics and heretics are thieves and robbers; they are strangers to the flock, and they come solely to steal and kill faithful souls. And wolves are the demons, who also come only to kill and destroy human souls.
A hireling is one who has the appearance of a shepherd, but has not entered through the door of his heart, which is to say that he does not have God’s gift of inner, royal and eschatological priesthood; and such a person, usually, is not prepared to lay down his life for his sheep. As the holy Apostle Paul says: “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh… (see: Rom. 9, 1-5).
It is understandable that the same also applies to those who came after Christ, as well as to those who do not come through Him: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” (John 10, 1-2).
But what does it mean that someone will go in and go out and find pasture?
Starting always from the personal principle of the Macedonian – Holy Mountain’s (Mount Athos) Hesychastic school (as opposed to the Antiochian historical and Alexandrian allegorical schools), as the basic principle in the interpretation of the Gospel, the words “will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture”, signify precisely the spiritual development and perfection of man, and above all, the preservation and realization of our persona, our personal freedom and love.
“Will go in” signifies becoming a practicing member of the Church and placing the mind in the process of healing – under the spiritual guidance of a spiritual father, i.e. the first stage of spiritual development – purification of the heart from passions. And “will go out” signifies the gift of ascetic prayer of the mind in the heart and the enlightenment of the mind, after which there is no longer obedience to a spiritual father, i.e. the second stage of spiritual development – enlightenment of the mind, with the gift of the prayer of the mind in the heart. And he “will find a pasture” is the deification of the person through the constant prayerful cleansing of the essence of his mind, up to the moment of receiving the gift of unceasing prayer of the mind in the heart and seeing the uncreated Divine light, i.e. the third stage of spiritual development.
It should also be emphasised that our personal relationship with God is eternal and that it is unique and unrepeatable, even for Him Himself. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. That personal relationship was given to us as a gift in the Pre-Eternal Council and is sealed in us as the image and likeness of God, so that, if not because of the purity of the heart, then at least because of the good intention, we intuitively recognize the voice of our Shepherd and follow him: And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers (John 10; 4-5).
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10, 14-16). This last paragraph, I will not interpret; let it remain a Mystery.
At this point I feel the need to explain the secret of the first light, as part of the second meaning of the word “door”, i.e. to explain why one who has received only the first light – the light that comes from the cleansing of the energy of the mind, cannot ignite the light in the heart of another; and why he should continue the struggle.
Because the first light, as such, a gift of God, is given to us to see our own sins and passions, to see ourselves and not others. That light is sufficient for us and is given to us to the extent that we need it at the beginning of our orthodox spiritual life – at the first stage of spiritual development, at the stage of cleansing the heart from passions. So, that light is given to us, and it is strong only when it is directed towards us, and it loses its strength when we redirect it towards another.
The first light is a gift of God, which we often divert and abuse, that is, instead of directing it to illuminate the path in front of us, we direct it to the path of others, and because of that we stumble, we fall. In fact, we cannot abuse the light itself, we only abuse the intellectual knowledge that remains behind it. We abuse it in two directions: to judge and condemn, and to teach others. It is a consequence of our pride. This behaviour is the beginning and end of our spiritual development.
How will we touch or ignite the light in our neighbour’s heart when we ourselves don’t have it in our own heart? The first light has no such power. This light does not reach the other, because it has not reached our heart and does not spring from it. We cannot see anything clearly in others – to perceive them from the inside, except to judge and condemn them according to our passions.
The mystery of the human persona is very deep and is hidden in God, and we cannot perceive it with the first light, even if we want to use it in that direction with the best intentions. Only that light that comes from the purification of the essence of the mind (which is in the heart) – at the stage of enlightenment of the mind, can reach the heart of the neighbour and know him, ignite the light in his heart, strengthen him and to help him walk the path of Truth.
This is the path of Saint Clement of Ohrid, if anyone chooses to follow.
Thanks be to God and thanks be to the Most-Holy Theotokos and the Ever-Virgin Mary, Who on Her part received Macedonia as a place for a mission, and thanks to the Holy Apostle Paul, who preached here and to all the saints – throughout the centuries, furthermore through the holy brothers Methodius and Cyril and their disciples, the holy brothers Clement and Nahum, thanks to the strong ties with the monastic communities from the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos) – which we must nurture, and thanks to all the new martyrs, on the territory of our Fatherland there is an organised and continuous Orthodox spiritual life from the beginning of Christianity until today.
But what is most important for us and for our unique spiritual and even national identity, for which we especially thank the holy emperor Justinian, is the fact that this spiritual life has been managed by a domestic church centre for many centuries. First it was the Local Church of Justiniana Prima (535), and then the Ohrid Archdiocese – until its abolition. Neither our ecclesiastical nor our secular history should overlook this fact.
After an unjustified interruption of two centuries, this work is continued by the renewed Ohrid Archdiocese in the name (face) of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
The uninterrupted Orthodox spiritual life, for its part, also reflected itself on the overall outlook and character of the faithful Macedonian-man throughout the centuries. The influence of Orthodox spirituality in all areas of secular and church culture, throughout history, is manifested as a constant expression of the God-transfigured personal creative genius born from this space. The matter of cultural and spiritual heritage of our Local Church is best portrayed mainly through Its iconography, Its poetic and liturgical and didactic literature, Its architecture, Its sacred Church singing, i.e. through all preserved esthetical forms, which, as deeply-rooted and constantly fruitful, are strongly manifested even today, in our contemporary way of expression and existence – not only within the Church, but also outside of it.
And finally, in the Church “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3, 28). Therefore, the Church cannot be only Serbian or Macedonian, or only Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, etc.; The Church is only Christ’s.
Also, this is very important: Now I plead with you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in one spirit and in one thought. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, that there was contention among you. Now I say this; that one of you says, “I am of Paul,” another, “I am of Apollos,” a third, “I am of Cephas,” yet another, “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor. 1, 10–13). Thus, the Church belongs to Christ and cannot be Saint Paul’s or Saint Peter’s, or Saint Sava’s or Saint Clement’s church, etc.
When the Church uses such names, it uses them for pastoral reasons – which is very important, and poetic-rhetorical – which is less important, and not for any ethnophiletical reasons; but, that is leniency for beginners, and we all need to grow in Christ, faster.
We should not mix ethnophiletism and the Church. Ethnophiletism is condemned by the Church as heresy. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic – we confess this in the Symbol of Faith, this is how we believe and this is how we live. The names of the administratively divided Local Churches should express their jurisdictions and the unity of the Church. I have explained this same thing many times and I see that there is still a need for it.
Holy Father Clement, together with all the saints, pray to God for us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
(08.08.2022 15:49)
