Fr. Arsenie Muscalu: On the Crisis of Young People Leaving the Church

"I would say that in these times, the greatest temptations come from this lack of spiritual formation. Young people were not raised from a young age in an atmosphere of the Spirit"

Excerpt from a conference titled “What is Life in the Church,” Bucharest, Nov. 3, 2003.

I would have liked to also talk to you about certain deviations, errors that appear especially when young people draw near to the Church, but I am afraid the talk will draw on for too long and I may bore you and the questions will bring other things that preoccupy you to the surface. I just want to add a few words; they are somewhat unrelated to what I said just now, but they still do. Before coming here this evening, thinking about the state of the Church’s life, the way young people approach the Church today, the word “crisis” kept coming to my mind, that is, that we are living in a crisis. But I immediately thought of an answer given by the Serbian Metropolitan Nikolai Velimirovic, whom the Serbian Orthodox Church canonized, and who in writing told a priest who asked him what a world crisis means and what significance it has. He told him how to see this problem of a world crisis. Metropolitan Nikolai told him that etymologically speaking, the word “crisis” comes from the word “judgment” in Greek. And I will read you what Metropolitan Nikolai actually says. Maybe we have not all read Metropolitan Nikolai’s book, and I do not doubt that it will be very beneficial to you: “Until recent times, European nations used the word ‘judgment’ instead of ‘crisis’ each time a misfortune came upon them. Now, the old word has  been replaced by a new one, and one that is understandable with one that is not understandable.” So, there is nothing new in what is happening now. ”When there was a drought in the past, they would say, ‘God’s judgment.’ When there was a flood, ‘God’s judgment.’ When there was a war or plague, ‘God’s judgment.’ When there were hailstorms, earthquakes, locusts, mice, again and always, ‘God’s judgment.’ And this means crisis through drought, crisis through flood, crisis through war, plagues, and so on. And the current economic restrictions are called a ‘world crisis.’” It is seen by people, I would add, by the people who have simplicity, as Saint John Jacob [of Hozeva] calls it in one of his poems. “The economic restrictions, as they are called by the people, are God's judgment. But they are not called God’s judgment, but a crisis, so that it may be increased by misunderstanding, because when a word that is understood such as ‘judgment’ is used, the reason why the restriction came is understood, the Judge Who allowed it is understood, and finally the reason why it was allowed is understood. But when the word ‘crisis’ is used, a word that is not understood by everyone and anyone, no one knows how to explain it, neither why, nor from whom, nor for what reason. This is the sole distinction between an actual crisis and the crisis that is due to a drought, flood, war, plague, storm, or another misfortune. When I wonder about the cause of actual crises or the cause of God’s judgment, the cause is always the same. The cause of droughts, floods, famines, and the cause of other scourge of the human race is also the cause of the actual crisis: people’s apostasy. Because of the sin of apostasy, people provoked this crisis, and God allowed it in order to wake them up, to make them aware of their conscience, to make them more spiritual, and to bring them back to Himself. For modern sins, there is a modern crisis. And, truly, God used modern means to make modern people behave. He struck them through banks, finances, currency; He overturned the houses of moneychangers all over the world just like the tables of the money changers in the Temple in Jerusalem. He caused an unheard of panic between moneychangers and traders. He raises, lowers, changes, troubles, frightens, He does everything so that the arrogant minds of European and American intellectuals may awaken, that their conscience may awaken, and that they may become spiritual; so that those anchored in the harbor of material assurance may remember their soul, recognize their sins, and worship the Most High God, the Living God. How long will the crisis last? As long as people’s spirits remain unchanged; as long as the arrogant instigators of the crisis do not capitulate before Him Who is Most Powerful; as long as people and nations do not think to translate the misunderstood word ‘crisis’ into their own language and cry with deep sighs and repentance: ‘God’s judgment.’ You too, reverend father,” says Metropolitan Nikolai to the priest, “say ‘God’s judgment’ instead of ‘crisis’ and everything will be clear to you. 

Thank you, Fr. Arsenie, for the word you gave us, and we pray for God to make our souls bear fruit…Father, the first question in regard to what you were saying about young people is: how can we show young people true life, how can we ourselves understand and show others that true life is life in Christ, that the pleasures of this life are deceiving and passing. 

He who is set aflame by the fire of Christ’s love melts and warms those around him. If we are cold as ice, as icicles, we will never be able to warm anyone, if we do not have the warmth of divine grace within our hearts. And we must preoccupy ourselves with acquiring it. Before more questions come, I would like to say that what I read to you from Metropolitan Nikolai Velimirovici about crises, and I did this with reference to the crisis of Church life, I read it with a thought in mind: in what way, in the spirit of what was said by Met. Nikolai, do we understand the crisis in the life of the Church as the judgment of God? In what way is God’s judgment manifested in this? Especially in regard to the life of young people in the Church, to their relationship with the Church. The fact that our Church life is the way it is, without vigor, without this burning of the spirit, many reproach young people, saying they are indolent, that they do not have a burning zeal for spiritual things; this state that all of you know, the increase of stumbling blocks because of falsity, even in the bosom of the Church–in what way does this state manifest God’s judgment? See how it is manifested, especially in regard to young people: we receive baptism in childhood. We do not do it consciously. We are baptized based on the faith of our godparents and parents who bring us to be baptized. Grace dwells in the heart of the newly baptized. It is strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of chrismation; it unites with Christ in the sacrament of Holy Communion. It is a frightening gift, terrifyingly great for parents and godparents–that of co-working with the grace that has been placed in the child’s heart and acting in a way that growing, the child can assimilate what he discovers within himself to the degree that he grows in a free and conscious manner. You know well how young people grow up today. In how many so-called Christian homes can a spiritual atmosphere be found? Very few. How many parents do this consciously? How many parents co-work with the grace in the child’s heart in such a way as to help the child as he grows and reaches adolescence to freely assimilate what is already within him. Very few. And therefore children reach adolescence without having any self-awareness, any awareness of the Christian life, of the new life that was placed in them–this happens many times. And then God works with them from outside somehow, through the awakening grace. The grace received in baptism stays in a person’s heart, it stays in the child’s heart, in the young person’s heart, but like a lit coal covered by ash that still crackles under the ash. Grace blows from outside to disperse this ash and to light, to relight, the grace within, the grace within the heart. So it is a judgment of God that parents have what they raised; that is, young people today, to put it this way, are the fruit of their parents’ apostasy. It is true that although they have this handicap, the fact that the great majority of them did not grow up from early childhood in a living connection with grace, God does not act unjustly with them–to whom much was given, much is asked; to whom little is given, less is asked of him. God loves and God will take care of them, however, they will have all their time, all their life maybe, to battle with the inadequacies of how they were raised. 

Father, there are many people today who say they are not religious, but say that they have their faith, that there is no need to go to Church, that they can pray at home. What can we say to them? 

We can tell them that if their faith can save them, then they should be happy with their faith. We believe that God’s faith saves us, not our faith. Each makes his own church, his own faith, and if he is happy with it, if he feels alive there, that he is being saved, then very good. But we strive to live in God’s faith. Our religion is revealed, it is not of human origin. People can have their belief, it is true, but this does not mean anything. Their faith cannot save them. You know well that the Holy Apostle James says, “show me your faith without works”–people say, “I have faith in my heart, I do not need to go to Church, to confess; I have faith in my heart”–”show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” So we must live our faith as it was revealed to us, not as we formulate it. We should not have our own faith, but the Church’s faith, God’s faith. The Church’s faith is God’s faith. 

Can we have a life in the Church without a spiritual guide, without a spiritual father? How can we find one, if we do not have one? 

We cannot have a life in the Church without a spiritual guide. You saw the first Christians, “they remained steadfast,” Scripture says, “in the teaching of the Apostles”–it is the first thing. How can we find him? I do not think there is someone who truly desires and does not find [what he is looking for]. God’s love for man is so great that man barely makes a step and God makes a thousand toward him. It is a promise; God said: “seek and you shall find,” this is said as a promise. “Seek and you shall find”–a promise from God. So he who desires [a spiritual father] must only seek sincerely and pray, and he will surely find one. 

Can you tell us what the most important temptations a young person who wants to come to Christ faces? 

I do not know if what I will say are the most important temptations. Saint Theophan the Recluse says that the desire to make a good impression and to gather knowledge, the thirst for knowledge and the thirst for sociability, for communication, is fitting to adolescence. Many of young people’s temptations come through these impulses that are based on nature. For a young person who approaches Christ, the desire to make a good impression and gather knowledge can be transformed into a natural desire, I would say. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Holy Apostle Paul speaks about the Jews, saying: “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Young people can confuse an enthusiasm that is natural to youth with spiritual zeal, and letting themselves be carried away by this enthusiasm, they can be led to many deceptions, many deviations. Father Roman Braga recounts that when he was young–it was soon after the Second World War, after the period of troubles, war–they felt that the university life needed a renewal in the Christian sense, and they wished to organize something in this sense. And they went to Father Sandu Tudor at Antim Monastery with plans for such an association. And Father Sandu was very harsh with them, very blunt, and he said: “Do you have anything other than enthusiasm? You have zeal, you have enthusiasm, but other than this do you have anything else?” Enthusiasm is proper to youth, but it is not enough. If young people do not also have obedience–obedience with discernment–and let themselves be carried away by their enthusiasm, they can slip into many errors. 

I would say that in these times, the greatest temptations come from this lack of spiritual formation. Young people were not raised from a young age in an atmosphere of the Spirit; in their family, there was no atmosphere imbued with a spiritual fragrance. Therefore, they can be very easily disoriented. And a manifestation of natural zeal, that is, enthusiasm, and an inclination of young people, is an inclination to dreaming and absolutizing things. Thus, a temptation that comes from this, I would say is from the Psalmist, which I always tried to illustrate with words, when he says: “some boast in chariots, some in horses,” and I would add, some in their spiritual fathers. And in this way churches and chapels appear, and what happened to the Corinthians takes place, whom the Apostle Paul told there are dissensions among them because some said “I am Apollo’s, I am Cephas’, I am Paul’s, and I am Christ’s.” And the Apostle rebukes them, saying “Is Christ divided? Or was Paul crucified for you?” And he explains to them that this is a fleshly way of thinking, a human way of thinking, that is, he shows them that [fallen human] nature defeats and deceives them with its ways, exactly through what it tells them. “Let no man glory in men. For all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your's; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's” (1 Cor 3:21-23). 

Another temptation for young people who draw near to Christ today is the worldly spirit, a devastating spirit that has penetrated everywhere and with which they again have to fight very, very much. And I urge each of you to ask about this in confession, and if you pray beforehand for God to give your spiritual father a word of salvation, they will tell you what you must do.