Saint Nahum of Ohrid – Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
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The feast of our Venerable Father Nahum, the miracle worker of Ohrid, is always a good occasion to remind ourselves of some truths of our faith, which, although they are not easy to listen to and fulfil, are still a part of the Tradition of the Holy Fathers of the Church.
According to the experience of all Saints, the only foundation of true spiritual life in the Church is true faith. There can only be one true faith. Participation in the true faith in the Church also means participation in the true grace. That is why true faith unites man with God. True faith is also a criterion for true spiritual life.
Also, the true Orthodox and ascetic, that is ascetic-hesychastic spiritual life in the Church is the only method by which one reaches knowledge of God, knowledge of the true faith. Knowing the truth, on a personal level, in a strictly orthodox spiritual sense, is not only an intellectual human achievement but, above all, it is God’s gift of enlightenment of the mind and deification of the person. A gift of God, which is obtained after a great struggle (endeavour) of purification of the heart from the passions, in the Church.
The Holy Fathers often emphasize that the spiritual life of Christians is not something accidental, nor something chaotic, neither something that can be done in an ad hoc manner, but in the spiritual life there is a recognisable and perfect order that cannot be ignored.
As can be noted in the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church, there exists a division of the spiritual development, i.e. spiritual maturity, into stages. We find this classification in many teachings of the Fathers, although, for some of the stages, different names can be found.
Saint Nicetas Stylites, for example, says that there are three stages in the progress towards perfection: the initial state of purification, the transient state of enlightenment, and the mystical state of perfection. In the theology of St. Maximus the Confessor, these three stages are presented as: practical philosophy, natural contemplation and mystical theology.
We find these stages of spiritual growth in the teachings of St. Isaac the Syrian named as: repentance, purity and perfection. As he says; “Repentance is: to discontinue the previous sinful way of life and, at the same time, not to be longing for the sinful way of life. Purity is: a heart filled with compassionate love for all creation… And, in the end, comes perfection, namely, humility, which means: renunciation of all visible things, but also of all thoughts, and abiding (in God) above all of those things, without giving anything else a second thought.”
It is important to remember that according to the Holy Fathers of the Church, in essence, the first stage is the purification of the heart from passions, the second is the enlightenment of the mind, and the third is the deification of the whole man.
Also, according to them, but also according to common sense, at each of these three stages a different quality of spiritual life occurs – that is, at each stage of spiritual development: a special quality of prayer manifests itself, an appropriate way of organizing your life, the ascetic faces different kinds of temptations, there is a distinctive relationship with the spiritual father as well as appropriate spiritual guidance, one of the three priestly orders corresponds to one of the stages of spiritual development, etc., etc.
Furthermore not only is prayer different at each of the stages of spiritual development, but it is precisely in the quality of prayer that we distinguish the stages of spiritual development.
At the first stage, which is called purification, the prayer is only mental and spoken, that is, the monk or ascetic can say it with his mouth and can follow it with his mind.
At the second stage, which is called enlightenment, the mind is already inside the heart and here it follows the prayer, which is uttered with the inner word.
The difference between the second and the third stage is that at the second stage the monk with the effort of his will (ascetic way) keeps the mind collected (focussed) in the heart and in the words of the prayer, which he utters there, and at the third stage the prayer is essentially done by the energy of God, that is, the grace of God. Grace constantly keeps the mind in the heart, and prayer flows in the ascetic man’s heart both when he sleeps and when he speaks or whatever he does or thinks. The unceasing prayer of the mind in the heart is only one of the fruits of deification, but because of the personal dimension of the relationship with God that it contains – it is the most important. The prayer of those who are at the stage of deification is miraculous.
There are some other specifics about prayer: for example, it should be known that first and foremost, at the first stage, the energy of the mind is purified. It is only at the second stage, when the mind enters the heart that the essence of the mind, which is in the heart as the spiritual centre of man, begins to be immediately purified. That is why the Holy Fathers called this stage enlightenment of the mind. At the third stage occurs, what the Holy Fathers call, the capture (grabbing) of the mind, and the seeing of the uncreated divine light.
Just as a separate prayer is appropriate for each stage, so too is an appropriate way of life. For example, in the Orthodox Church, three ways of organizing monastic life are known:
- Coenobitic or kinovia, which means the life of a large number of monks in a community;
- Skete, meaning the life of a community of three or four monks; and
- Desert (wilderness), which signifies the life of one monk (hermit) withdrawn from the world.
In the first stage – the purification of the human heart – suits the coenobitic way of life, the second stage suits the Sketian, and the third stage – the Hermitic way of life.
Certainly, each of the ways of organising the monastic life is supported by an appropriate monastic typikon (instruction book). Not all typikons are the same, for example, the typikon of a coenobitic monastery when compared with the typikon of a monastery in which a Sketian way of life is practiced is different.
The typikon of the coenobitic monastery is characterised by long common services in the monastery’s temple according to the order in the liturgical books, while the typikon in the Skete is based on the multi-hour Jesus prayer in the solitude of the monastic cell.
The Holy Fathers also demand that the rule according to the receiving of priestly orders corresponds to these three stages of spiritual growth be observed. He who is at the stage of purification and passes it properly under the guidance of a spiritual father, can receive the order of deacon. He who reaches the stage of enlightenment of the mind may be ordained a presbyter, and he who reaches the stages of deification may be a Bishop.
For example, Saint Maximus connects the three stages of the spiritual life with the three orders of the priesthood: “The work of the Deacon is performed by one who trains his mind for sacred (priestly) endeavours and expels passionate thoughts, and the work of the Presbyter (Priest)-one who enlightens his mind in the knowledge of created beings and thus destroys false knowledge; while the work of the Bishop belongs to the one who perfects his mind with the holy peace of the knowledge of the worshipped Most Holy Trinity ”[1]. Whereas, in his writings “On the Church Hierarchy”, Saint Dionysius the Areopagite says: “Bishops fully possess the power of enlightenment … Their task is not only to enlighten but also to perfect (people). The priests are enlightened and are enlightening (people), while the deacons purify and know how to differentiate. “[2]
There are also different temptations at each of the stages. Spiritual leadership, as well as the attitude and approach of obedience to the spiritual father, one of the most important chapters in the Orthodox spiritual life, is different in each of these stages. Etc., etc …
Let us emphasize once again that it is very important to know the harmony of the spiritual life, for, being armed with this knowledge to discard any improvisation of it. In this order and in this harmony, everyone in the Church should recognise their place and the stage of their spiritual growth and must harmonize the way of their life and struggle according to that.
From all that has been exposed so far, we can now connect and compare the quality of the spiritual struggle at each of the stages of spiritual development with the attributes of which Saint Nahum is the bearer. In the Holy Tradition of the Church, Saint Nahum is: equal to the apostles, confessor of the faith, teacher, educator, venerable, miracle worker, healer, hermit, head of monasticism, and even unto being a martyr.
It is obvious that the description of the quality of spiritual life and asceticism of the third stage of spiritual development – deification, corresponds to the quality of spiritual life and asceticism of Saint Nahum of Ohrid, as we know it from his hagiography, Holy Church Tradition and our experience of his gracious presence and influence in the Church today.
I think herein lies the answer to the question; Why is it that Saint Nahum can be found, though only once, painted on the icons in hierarchical robes, and, why is this not a mistake? This iconography, seemingly accidental, is a reminder to us all of his inner spiritual eschatological state of deification, as well as of the priestly rank appropriate to that stage.
And in conclusion: only he who during his lifetime achieved eternity, can through the ages, to the present day and to the end of the ages, perform the same, equal to the apostles, and miraculous work in the glory of God. Our Liturgical gathering today, in his memory, is but one more of the numerous pieces of evidences, of this.
And something of a personal anecdote. In the winter of 1984, at the Patriarchate of Belgrade, I was confessing to the now blessed late Metropolitan Amphilochius. In answer to my question: “Why do we not have monasticism in Macedonia?” – he smiled and said: “Well, here you are”; he wanted to remind me of the personal responsibility that each of us has in the Church, for everything. And then he answered me seriously: “Pray to Saint Nahum and God will grant.” And thus …
Our Venerable Father Nahum, the miracle-worker of Ohrid, is the founder of monasticism among our people, and his spiritual influence through his edifying and apostolic activity, through his students, extends much wider among the Slavic peoples. Even today, he represents an inexhaustible source of inspiration, not only ethically, but also mystagogicaly. Therefore, his great role as our spiritual father, and as an apostle and confessor of the faith in preserving and ensuring the continuity of the essence of the true Christian tradition is indisputable; which means through the tradition of the harmony of the ascetic-hesychastic struggle in the Church and in the preaching of the true faith, throughout the centuries until today.
I am one of the living witnesses that the renewed monastic communities in the monasteries of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archdiocese are the fruit of his beyond-time and beyond-spatial influence. I know that this spiritual feeling and knowledge is shared also by all the other monks as Saint Nahum’s successors and collaborators in the work of God, in the mystery of the dispensation of the salvation of man and the world.
The mystery of Orthodoxy, or the mystery of truly glorifying God through theology (theory) and the mystery of truly glorifying God through our deeds (practice), is contained in the mystery of the persona; and in the mystery of Christ’s Persona and in the mystery of every Christ-like (deified) person in the Church. And therefore let us conclude: only those people, like Saint Nahum, who are ready to renounce themselves and sacrifice themselves for God and for their neighbours, can build in the history those things which will remain eternal, that is, to embody the eternal into the history, and to transfigure the historical existence into a new, immortal form of being and existence in the way of the Holy-Trinity.
Venerable Father Nahum, pray to God for us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
(07/02/2022 15:15)
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[1] Saint Maxim the Confessor, “400 chapters, lovers”, Prizren, 2 hundred 21, 1992, p. 77.
[2] Metropolitan Jerotej Vlahos, “Orthodox Psychotherapy”, Obraz Svetachki, Belgrade, 1998, p. 68.
