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Freedom as fullness of life; Gregorian Perspective Fr. Bijesh Philip H. G. Paulos Mar Gregorios (1922-1996), a reputed
theologian of the Indian Orthodox Church, was always conscious about his
vocation to show a way forward for humanity at the dead ends. With his
immense wisdom and spiritual commitment, he could serve as a torchbearer of
human civilization. By detecting humans’ danger of overthrowing all kinds of
authority hoping for freedom, P. G. attempted a deeper analysis of the
meaning of human freedom. Freedom was one of the dearest themes of P.G. The
titles of his books like ‘The Joy of Freedom’, ‘The Freedom of Man,
‘Freedom and Authority’, ‘Love’s Freedom a Grand Mystery etc. refer to
his special concern for freedom and dignity of humans. It seems that a proper
understanding of his concept of freedom will disclose the beauty of the major
portion of his theology. ‘Freedom’ came to be accepted as a widely accepted
watchword of modern scientific civilization. From the time of Renaissance
onwards, people in the West struggled hard to free themselves from the
extreme authority of the church and also from the sovereign God as presented
by the western church. “The Christian church has been too much authoritative
and has too often failed to foster freedom”1. In the post-renaissance, secularist phase of human
civilization, the centrality of God was ruled out and an anthropocentric
world view was overemphasized. Science, technology, ideologies like humanism,
Marxism etc. came forward to ensure the welfare of human kind by recognizing
the dignity and freedom of humans. Though P.G. admits their contribution to
humankind, he was also fully conscious about their atheistic emphasis and the
bondage and evil spread by their denial of the transcendent reality. Much
hoped about freedom turned out to be bondage in various spheres of life. P.G.,
while supporting the attempts to remove the sovereign, freedom-hating God
whom western civilization created, suggests alternate world views especially
that of the eastern Orthodox Christian thought which fosters highly the
freedom and dignity of man, as an important guidance for moulding a new
world. P.G. develops his theology of freedom mainly based
on the teaching of the 4th century
eastern Christian father St. Gregory of Nyssa2. Nyssa saw the freedom of man as the central
element to which everything was to be related. Being created in the image of
God, man should have all the god things in God and among these the most
important is freedom. God is free. He is not bound by his creation, He is
transcendent because of the difference of his essence from that of the
creation. God is independent in other dimensions also. He chooses and aids
good without any external pressure. Since God is free, humans who are His
image, can also be free and independent. Gregory of Nyssa saw the tension between the ideal
and the real in humans. ‘Mankind dreams constantly of becoming something
other than what it now is. This nostalgia for home points to his true nature.
He is now in bondage to something which is not his real nature. Freedom means
attainment of that dynamic and true nature of man3. Certain important aspects of ‘freedom’ as described
by P.G. in his various writings can be summarised with the titles a)
sinberation b) liberation, c) Parhesia d) openness to other traditions e)
Praxis (doing good). a) Sinberation: This is a term coined from sin and liberation
to indicate P.G.’s idea about inner freedom or freedom from evil. Evil is
a hidden possibility in human freedom. Misuse of free will was the beginning
of evil. Sometimes humans, in spite of their heroic efforts against evil,
found it very difficult to overcome the power of evil. But God became man in
Jesus Christ and conquered the power of evil and became a source of
sinberation and hope. By turning to Christ, humans can experience also the
joy of freedom (Galatians Ch. 5). Wealth,’ sex, power etc have potentiality to enslave
us and destroy our freedom. This is why P.G. says that any mastery of the
universe unaccompanied by a mastery of one’s own self, cannot lead to true
freedom4. So it is
foolish to reduce the kingdom of God to an urban technological paradise. The
trap of the consumerist culture which is ever ready to satisfy uncontrollably
the human instincts of greed, permissiveness, hatred, competition etc. will
lead us to bondage. P.G. explains Nyssa’s concept of ‘apatheia’ as the
capacity to enjoy life in the spiritual and wordly dimensions but without
losing one’s equilibrium or becoming slaves to sensual pleasures. This theme
may be closer to the idea of detachment in Gita and Indian spirituality.
Inner purification and detachment by the help of the Spirit of Christ is an
essential aspect of freedom (II Cor. 3-28). b) Liberation: P.G. prefers to use the term liberation to describe
the freedom from social, political and economic enslavement. The notion of
freedom as liberation from oppression, injustice and exploitation is
predominent in Jewish idea of salvation, Marxism and most of the modern
contextual theologies and liberation struggles. But for P.G. this liberation
is only the first part or negative phase of human freedom. “Liberation only
places us on the threshold of freedom”’. He has given a short but beautiful
description of some of the major liberation movements in the 20th century like political decolonization of Asian
countries, black movement against white superiority, revolt of youth and
student rebellions, women’s liberation etc. Recommending a fuller
participation of women in the Indian church he writes: “women’s work has been
largely confined to teaching and serving. It seems essential that a fuller
role in administration and decision making has to be taken by women in the
Indian church in order that their gifts of charity and imagination may bring
some change to the power-crazy and unimaginative structures of authority in
Indian church and society today”6. Of course in the Indian context, the church has a
responsibility to participate in the struggles of adivasis, dalits, women,
prostitutes, slum dwellers etc. for a just society. P.G. exhorts us to question, examine and overthrow
the law and order if those who are in power justify and continue their
oppression by appealing to the law and order situation. Law and order should
not be absolutized. He goes to the extent of saying that our reluctance to
participate in revolutionary struggles for radical changes means choosing to
support the oppressive structures which keep many poor victims in inhuman
conditions. “The decision to enter a revolutionary struggle involves for the
Christian a momentous decision to walk the way of the cross to the very end,
expecting neither comfort nor applause in return for his sacrifice”7. His tremendously revolutionary words written about
25 years ago still inspire us to fight relentlessly against the dehumanizing
structure of poverty, descrimination, exploitation, displacement, etc. c) Parrhesia: This Greek word means bold access into the presence
of God (Eph. 3:12, Heb. 4:16, 10:19). A clear conscience and the presence of
the Spirit make it possible for us to turn boldly and spontaneously towards
God. The Joy of freedom P.G.’s book about Eastern Orthodox Worship,
explains this theme in detail. “Prayer is the joy of freedom, which
characterizes the children of God”8. On another occassion, he says “God’s grace in
Jesus Christ has given us free access into the presence of the Father through
the Spirit without being hampered by our sin”9. This boldness of access is an important aspect of
human freedom. The distortion of the values and world view caused by the
secular scientific civilization deprives humans of true worship resulting in boredom
and purposelessness. P.G.’s emphasis of joy of freedom in worship as an
important aspect of our inherant freedom should be understood in the context
of secular civilization’s attempt to close the eyes of man to the
transcendent dimension of reality and enclose him in a historical world. True
worship divinizes us and makes us mature Christians and true humans. d) Awareness of universal tradition In line with Nyssa’s thought, P.G. also viewed
humankind of all ages and all places as one single entity. This awareness and
openness to all traditions is also an expression of human freedom. As P.G.
says: “The full freedom of man demands that we unite our traditions and hold
the whole thing, with all its success and failures, as our common heritage”10. From his own experience, he considers it as a
practically possible ideal: “Erecisely because I hold the whole human experience
as my heritage, I cannot be exclusive in my adherence to eastern
Christianity. I have learned much by being open to both western Christianity
and Hinduism, as well as to Judaism, Islam, Budhism, secular humanism and
Marxism. All these belong to my tradition””. In short, commitment to one
particular tradition and openness to all traditions is possible and is an
important reflection of human freedom. e) Doing Good: Liberation and sinberation are negative phases of
freedom whereas fulfilling the capacity to choose the good and do it is the
positive aspect of freedom. As God is doing good without any external
constraint, man, who is the image of God, can also work for the welfare of
the rest of the creation without external pressure or authority. Without such
positive actions, one cannot fulfill authentic humanity by participating in
the freedom struggles of the victims of oppression. The Greek words
autokrates, autexousious, eleutheros etc. used by Nyssa to denote the freedom
of man imply actions of one’s own power without any external constraint. It
is when humans grow in love, wisdom and self-control and serve sacrificially,
they become truly free. This norm of assessing human freedom and independence
is extremely valuable in the context of crazy competition for more selfish
comforts and luxury. “The ultimate freedom of man in history would be
when all have become free and mature, needing no authority, all committed
totally to the welfare of mankind, all using their disciplined power, love
and wisdom for the whole of mankind. There is no stopping place short of
that”12. Constant struggle against
evil Unceasing vigilance is the price we have to give for
preserving our freedom in good shape. At any moment, communities or
individuals can incline to evil. P.G. rightly puts it thus: “Evil is at the centre of the Christian person
himself, and if he forgets this, he can very quickly become an instrument of
evil, in the very process of the fight against evil;. If evil is not overcome
within ourselves by the discipline of prayer and fasting, then we run the
risk of being sucked into the side of evil by the massive power of evil. This
is why a Christian ethics which is a pure socio-political ethic can soon
become demonic”13. On another occasion, he asks us to fight against
evil continuously: “We are essentially wrong if we assume that we can walk
into the heaven of freedom without a struggle..........the whole Gospel is
the message of a continuing battle with the forces of evil”14. Fighting against evil will sharpen our free will.
It is our confrontation with the evil that provide the occasion for the true
exercise and development of freedom. Experimental community and
freedom P.G. shares with us a vision of experimental
communities where genuine internal and external freedom can be developed
through discipline in a more systematic way than in the traditional
institutions like family, schools, church etc. Such a community can be Christian
or interracial or an interreligious one. Such a disciplined community is
comprised of members having short term or long term commitment. They will
have to question the norms of society by practicing values freely and wisely
chosen by it. They will practice the shepherdly pattern of the authority
instead of arbitrary authority. The good shepherd will not only feed and care
for his flock but would also protect the weak sheep against the fat and
mighty within the flock (Ezhekiel 34, Ps 23:1, Jn. 10) P.G. thinks that the
way forward to the healing of humanity lies primarily through the recovery of
this type of authority in communities and eventually in the whole world.
Ideally there could be celibate communities and married communities within
one complex. They will form a free and dignified society of human beings
where mutual respect and love can enable each to sublimate his or her
instinctual drives. Sexual drive can be sublimated through creative form of
hard toil, personal sacrifice for the poor and the oppressed, profound
worship and prayer accompanied by fasting and above all love. Experimental
community should address the real issues and problems of humanity and it
should not be simply inward looking. Its energy should be directed to the
outside world in love and compassion. The engagement in the affairs of the
world and the disengagement of worship in the joy of freedom will go hand in
hand. Conclusion P.G.’s integral holistic vision of freedom can well
serve as a critique of the pitfalls of many of the contextual theologies and
other revolutionary ideologies. At the same time, in this vision, there is no
compromise in unceasing fighting for liberation of the victims of
dehumaminsing structures. It seems to be closer to the Gandhian view of
freedom in its fullness. P.G. could express this freedom to a great extent by
his constant struggle against communalism, nuclear disarmament, the negative
impact of globalization, environmental crisis etc. He was so free to serve
the welfare of the human kind that he did not count to be known as an Indian
Christian theologian a thing to be cherished. 1. Varghese (P.G.), Freedom
and Authority, Madras, p.x 2. For a detailed description of freedom
according to St. Gregory of Nyssa see Paulos Gregorio’s Cosmic Man, 129-154. 3. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and
Authority, 61. 4. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and
Authority, 129. 5. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and
Authority, 113. 6. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and
Authority, 122. 7. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and
Authority, 127. 8. Gregorios, The Joy of Freedom, 64. 9. Gregorios, The Joy of Freedom, 66. 10. Varghese, Freedom And Authority, 141. 11. Varghese Freedom
And Authority, 142. 12. Varghese Freedom
And Authority, 151. 13. Varghese Freedom
And Authority, 100. 14. Varghese Freedom
And Authority, 127. |