Peace in the Face of War

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Sister Ruth OSB from West Malling Abbey has been living in St Gabriel Hermitage for some years, pursuing her call to a solitary life. She returned to the Abbey in December 2015 to assist the community there in their various developments, particularly in the new guest accommodation. We miss her presence amongst us very much and also her sterling work in keeping the gardens around the hermitages in order. We were pleased to welcome her back for a retreat earlier this year, and hope she will continue to be able to have such times of solitude with us. Thank you as always for your gifts, prayers and support expressed in so many ways. Introduction to Articles 4 Colin CSWG The politically grave turn of events in the Middle East along with the terrible suffering of the people of Syria and Iraq, both Muslims and Christians, have weighed heavily on the minds and hearts of us all. The arrival of two articles on the theme of pursuing peace in the face of war became the seed for the decision to devote this entire issue of Come to the Father to the investigation of that subject. * * * We have heard of an Anglican monk who waited ten years before his abbot gave him permission to visit the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex. He had hoped to procure an audience with the esteemed Elder, Archimandrite Sophrony. It was some days, however, before the Elder learned of his existence. Told the monk was scheduled to depart later that afternoon, the Elder agreed to a meeting. When they were finally seated together in a small parlour, the young monk asked the first of his several questions: ‘How long is “long-suffering” (Psalm 13)? When will “this suffering” be over?’ The old man, whose countenance transmitted that he was no stranger to suffering, leaned forward, and holding the young monk in a steady gaze, said softly: ’Not until your last breath.’ In a paper by University of Durham theologian, Dr Krastu Banev, we find a rare glimpse into what lay behind Fr Sophrony’s personal spiritual suffering: namely, witnessing to a century of wars, of ‘the nightmare of men – all of whom are brothers – killing one another.’ The world is almost continually fraught with war. However, even in the unlikely event of a total cessation of war, Elder Sophrony says, people will still not find peace. Peace is not of this world. True peace is found in Christ, something we are called to strive for and share in.
Our Associate, Caroline Walton, provides compelling excerpts from her previously published work on the Siege of Leningrad. She focuses on manifestations of spiritual peace under extreme physical deprivation, in this case, mass starvation. Taking us into theatres and along streets to visit famished actors, craftsmen, artists and musicians, as well as the ordinary people, she documents how, in spite of their destitution, some shared the little they had. Those who survived and found spiritual peace, she tells us, were not the strongest that looked after themselves, but those that shared their tiny morsels and indefatigable talents with others. The popular Christian social philosopher, Nicholas Berdyaev, writing at the start of the Second World War, avers that peace is found through creative acts. For him, creativity is not necessarily artistic; it is even more importantly social. The emancipation, the lifting up of those enslaved by socio-political or spiritual entanglements are for him creative acts. These acts are accomplished in an eschatological frame of reference; that is, in union with the Divine. Now the idea of eschatology, or End Time, might require some unpacking. It presupposes a Divine purpose, an overarching plan for creation. That purpose is the sanctification of humankind: its deification, or transformation to God-manhood. Now the End penetrates all things at all times even though, being Providential, it is itself outside time and space. Indeed its accomplishment assumes that the world is already encompassed by Divine reality. The world as we know it will pass away, not physically but in its present conceptual order with all its distorted emphases. Yet none of this can be forced: humankind is free to choose. To the extent that we let go of this world, its passions and desires, and align ourselves with God’s purpose, we already enter to some degree into the eschatological fulfillment, which brings us freedom. But to the extent that we hold on to this world and its allures, that freedom becomes only relative, more an intimation than the fullness. Christians believe that Christ palpably brought ‘the End’ into ordinary human time. For Berdyaev, the End is experienced through those true creative acts that lead others to freedom. These actions to some degree also bring history to an end, for the historcal narrative is nothing other than a history of war, the cessation of freedom. The notion of the Apocalypse assumes a final resistance to Providence, and hence a ‘last battle.’ While Berdyaev does not discount such, he would emphasise it as a battle for the collective soul to choose the good and reject evil. Whatever, war and death paradoxically lead the collective conscious to a sense of the End. War, never to be advocated or condoned, yet inspires people to desire freedom; it also inspires creativity. Such creativity renews the world, re-creating it. On the largest possible scale then, war engages humankind with the End, for good or ill. 5
Page 1 and 2: Winds From the East Pursuing Peace
Page 3 and 4: Journal of the Community of the Ser
Page 5: who was married to Ruth, the Rector
Page 9 and 10: peace is easy. To the contrary, it
Page 11 and 12: heart reaches the limits of our phy
Page 13 and 14: has now become beyond their strengt
Page 15 and 16: establishment of this border allows
Page 17 and 18: Performers received slightly higher
Page 19 and 20: Never in my life, whether before th
Page 21 and 22: theatre halls. There was a strong s
Page 23 and 24: An eschatological understanding of
Page 25 and 26: and relish the cruel punishments to
Page 27 and 28: with a messianic consciousness, wit
Page 29 and 30: Eschatological Creativity The disti
Page 31 and 32: grim endlessness. 1 The End of the
Page 33 and 34: one concerned with women, religion
Page 35 and 36: the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Ro
Page 37 and 38: embassies need to know how these pr
Page 39 and 40: - regrettably, for security reasons
Page 41 and 42: need to ‘strengthen the moderate
Page 43 and 44: Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Page 45 and 46: Wilson, had warned against it. Prob
Page 47 and 48: Brother John of the Cross CSWG 6 Ap
Page 49 and 50: He came to monastic life having ful
Page 51 and 52: the ups and downs - ‘up to the sk
Page 53 and 54: and it lifted high the waves of the
Page 55 and 56: Are religious conflicts today then
Page 57 and 58:
And here, in order for the descript
Page 59 and 60:
Alex (above) steps out into the lig
show all

Peace in the Face of War

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?