Saint Damaskinos the Studite
For the Dormition of the most highly blessed Lady our Panagia and Ever-Virgin Mary on August 15
The Three States of Men
There are three states of all men, blessed Christians, as our books tell us.
The first is that there are some people who, without teaching, without the word of God, without anything else, simply because they conceive of the good in their minds, they practice it.
Such was that God-loving Abraham, as our Scriptures testify; without having heard teaching—and where would he have heard it, since his father, Terah, and his entire generation were idolaters? And what am I saying about his generation? The whole world was like that!
But he, because he had a holy soul and was ready to do good, as soon as he saw the sky full of stars, believed in God from this alone and hated his father's idols. He thought in his mind: "If the stars, the moon, and the sun are so bright and beautiful, while they are merely creations, how much brighter must He be who created them?"
Then he thought as a most wise man: "My father and my entire generation worship idols and say that these are gods. How is it possible for those which are wood and stone, dull and insentient, to be gods? Could these idols have made the sky and the stars? And how could wood and stone make such creations? Therefore, there must be a God who made these beautiful creations, whom we humans, no matter how bright we are, cannot see; and in this God we humans must believe, and I believe in Him."
So thought that Patriarch, Abraham, and he put it into practice; because his heart, as soon as it conceived the good, immediately and completely loved to achieve it, and so he succeeded. Therefore, God increased his generation, multiplied his seed, and blessed his descendants. That is why from Abram (which means father of a child), God named him Abraham, meaning father of many nations.
Who was it that taught him the good? Who showed him how to be so merciful and hospitable? No one!
But by himself, through his own thought, he recognized the good. Should we say that there were others like him before and he imitated them? No one existed before Abraham!
Who was hospitable like him or even slightly less? We have heard of no other such hospitable man. But Abraham himself, by himself, recognized the good.
We have heard, of course, that Seth, the son of Adam, was also such a good man, but he at least had been taught by his father, Adam, and his mother, Eve. Abraham himself, however, never heard the word of God or teaching; he only conceived the good by himself.
This, then, is the first state of men.
The second is that every man cannot conceive of the good by himself, but needs a teacher to teach him what is good; and when he hears it, he accepts it with all his willingness and does it immediately.
Such are almost all the Saints of our Church, and first of all the Apostles, who were unlearned and simple men and did not know the truth as they would later learn it; because initially they had no guide or teacher in the good, such as Christ whom they found later. That is to say, as long as they were in the reach of their good and admirable disposition, that is what they did; however, they had not yet heard of the perfection of good works, and how could they do them?
But when our Lord Jesus Christ came, He taught them, guided them, and showed them the truth; then, as good-knowing and well-disposed men they were, they immediately grasped the good and achieved it. And not only they, but also those who became saints by following in their footsteps.
Even they did not know the perfect good from the beginning, for some were children of Greeks (idolaters), some of Hebrews, and others from various wandering nations; therefore, they did not know what the will of the true God is. But as soon as they heard it from the Apostles and their successors, immediately some became martyrs, others ascetics, others confessors, others righteous, others teachers and high priests, and each reached the measure that he could and that pleased God.
Do you understand, blessed Christians, what kind of thing the second state of men is?
Listen also to the third.
The third state of men is when a person neither feels the good by himself, nor wants to hear it or do it from another.
There are many such people in the present age, and first is Judas, who was also one of the Apostles; but because he was a bad-knowing and ill-disposed man, the wretch did not benefit at all: neither did he conceive the good by himself, nor when he heard it from the mouth of Christ did he do it.
May none of the Christians fall into this third class!
And if we do not reach the first class, let us at least be in the second; for Christ also wants us to be such, and the Kingdom of Heaven accepts such people, and the festivities and feasts of the Saints need such people. And how so? Because if someone is of the first class, there is no need for teaching, since Christ is within his heart and teaches him the truth.
If, on the other hand, someone is of the third class, such a person also has no need for teaching, because no matter what anyone tells him, it goes to waste, as if writing on ice or on water; because the devil dwells within his heart and does not let him grasp the good and do it. However, whoever is in the good, second class, that person has need of teaching; that person loves to hear the good.
Whoever teaches such people has a reward from God, as the Prophet says: "Blessed are those who speak to ears that hear [perceive]." Such people are good-soil, as the divine and holy Gospel defines: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." In such people, teaching bears fruit; for such people the teachings and discourses are made, for such people the word of God is preached, for such people the feasts and festivities are held.
Therefore, if, blessed Christians, among those who have gathered today to celebrate the feast of the Panagia, there is someone among us of the first class, let Him have mercy on us if we do not reach His measures; but if he is of the third class, let him not laugh and let him not mock our words and our holy feasts, for "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"; because He examines not only the works of man, but also his thoughts. Therefore, let him correct himself, or let him stay away from our holy feasts.
As for us, the obedient servants of Christ, let us celebrate, let us rejoice, and let us perform our honored festivities, so that we may also receive a reward from the Saints whom we celebrate.
To be continued
Adapted to the vernacular from the book "Treasury of Damaskinos" published by Rigopoulos. Introduction and biography of the author by Evangelos Chr. Delidis (Archimandrite Eirineos Chr. Delidis).