Literature, Culture and the Western Soul

The following article appeared in The Orthodox Word Vol. 19 #1-2, 1983, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA.

To come to Orthodoxy from the world of today is to come from emptiness to riches, from shallowness to depth, from shams to a reality so all-encompassing that it can, at times, leave one quite uncertain as to the possibility of existing both in the Church and in the “real” world.

Our distress at the seeming impossibility of reconciling the external aspects of modern life with the depth of Orthodox thought, which seems by contrast so utterly otherworldly, springs in large measure from the fact that we inevitably bring some modern emptiness, shallowness, deadness, falsity with us. Our shallowness begins to creep into our spiritual life, no matter how well-intentioned we may be, and we soon reach a point where we can no longer ignore the fact that something is wrong.

To preach that everything Western is taboo is misguided, and to live as if it were true is impossible. We are Westerners: our souls were formed by the Western mentality and psychology, and the often painful effort of understanding ourselves can succeed only by our coming to a knowledge of the forces that have shaped us.

Instead of running away from our culture, or trying to deny its power in us, we must face it squarely and understand its essence and origin. This is the first step in forming an Orthodox world view, and this is the first task facing us today. If we are able to do this, we will be able to discern what in our culture is worth utilizing, and what is harmful. Perhaps more importantly, we will gain a knowledge of ourselves, an increased depth of soul, that will permit us to understand how we may become fruitful Christians.

We have not inherited Western culture at all. That is precisely our trouble. We have simply grown up on the degenerate and decaying vestiges of that culture. We live, not in the West, but on the fading memory of the West. Our present “culture” is an absence of culture, a vacuum that has left our souls shrunken and our spirits stifled. Before trying to plunge his spirit into the depths of Orthodoxy, today’s man must first feed his soul, for its malnutrition will not permit any profound growth of spirit. Modern Western man is like a plant with the shallowest possible roots, and he naturally cannot support any great growth. His spirit is no longer capable of soaring, because a lofty spirit must rise out of a deep soul which has the maturity, the sensitivity, to feel noble things and become ennobled by them.

The Fathers have always taught that the higher, spiritual part of man’s nature is founded in the first level of the soul, that which is sensitive to and best developed by the study of virtuous, noble, and beautiful things. Our faculties and responses, distorted by the Fall, must be restored to normalcy, and after that we can begin to progress in spiritual things. The “higher perception” which St. John Climacus calls an “attribute” of the soul is “buffeted” by sin, and we must retrain ourselves. The redirection and elevation of his soul is an essential task for every Orthodox Christian.- Literature, Culture and the Western Soul by the Sisters of St. Xenia Skete

You can read the entire article here. BTW, the article is on a wonderful Orthodox School site where you will find many gems on the education of children.  St. Micheal’s Orthodox School in Santa Rosa, Ca. expresses the true sense of what kind of Orthodox education we should give our children. I attended an Orthodox School conference last summer at Hellenic College and I was most impressed with what St. Micheal’s was doing because of their strong emphasis on the heart.

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