God And Leisure

Σκολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεος.  Ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν τοις ἔξω Θεοῦ σχολάζομεν πράγμασιν, οὐ δυνάμεθα χωρῆσαι γνῶσιν Θεοῦ. Τίς γὰρ μεριμνῶν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἐμβαθύνων τοῖς περισπασμοῖς τῆς σαρκὸς, δύναται τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγοις προσέχειν, καὶ τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῶν τηλικούτων θεωρημάτων ἀρκεῖν; Οὐκ ὀρᾷς ὅτι ὁ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας ἐμπεσὼν λόγος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκανθῶν συμπνίγεται; Ἄκανθαι δέ εἰσιν ἡδοναὶ σαρκὰς, καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ δοξα, καὶ βιωτικαὶ μέριμναι. Πάντα δὲ τούτων ἔξω δεήσει γενέσθαι τὸν ἐπιδεόμενον τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σχολάσαντα ἀπὸ τῶν παθῶν, οὕτως ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πῶς γὰρ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς ψυχὺν στενοχωρουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν προκαταλαβόντων αὐτὴν διαλογισμῶν ἡ περὶ Θεοῦ ἔννοια; Οἶδε δὲ καὶ Φαραὼ, ὅτι ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ σχολάζοντος ἐκζητεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὀνειδίζει τὸν Ἰσραήλ· Σκολάζετε, σχολασταί ἐστε, καὶ λέγετε· Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν προσευξόμεθα. Αὔτη μὲν οὖν ἡ σχολὴ ἀγαθὴ τῷ σχολάζοντι καὶ ὠφέλιμος, ἠσυχίαν ἐμποιοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῶν σωτηρίων διδαγμάτων ἀνάληψιν· πονηρὰ δὲ σχολὴ ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἶς Εἰς οὐδὲν ἄλλο εὐκαίρουν ἢ λέγειν τι καὶ ἀκούειν καινότερον· ἤν καὶ νῦν τινες μιμοῦνται, τῇ τοῦ βίου σχολῇ πρὸς τὴν ἀεί τινος καινοτέρου δόγμα. τος εὕρεσιν ἀποχρώμενοι. Ἡ τοιαύτη σχολὴ φίλη ἐστὶν ἀκαθάρτοις καὶ πονηροῖς πνεύμασιν. Ὅταν ἐξέλθῃ, φησὶ, τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, λέγει, Πορεύσομαι εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅθεν ἐξῆλθον. Καὶ ἐλθὸν εὑρίσκει τὸν οἶκον ἐκεῖνον σχολάζοντα καὶ σεσαρωμένον. Μὴ γένοιτο οὖν ἡμᾶς σχολὴν ποιῆσαι τῷ ἀντικειμένῳ πρὸς τὴν εἴσοδον, ἀλλὰ ἀσχολήσωμεν ἡμῶν τὸν ἔσω οἶκον, προενοικίσαντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸν Χριστόν. Μετὰ οῦν τὸ χαρίσασθαι τὴν εἰρήνην τοῖς τέως ταρασομένοις ὐπὸ τῶν περισπώντων ὑμᾶς ἐχθρῶν, ἵνα ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας θεωρήσητε λόγους. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος, Πᾶς ὅστις οὐκ ἀποτάσσεται, φησὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΕ'

Be free and see that I am God. 1 That is, that we should free ourselves from things alien to God, for else we shall not be able to obtain knowledge of God. Who in his care for things of the world and immersed in corporeal affairs is able to attend to the words of God, and to ponder carefully and diligently the ageless Divine words? Do you not see that the word has fallen among thorns that strangle it? And the thorns are excessive care for corporeal pleasures and wealth and fame and glory. Apart from all things foreign one should be, desiring knowledge of God, and when one is free from such passions thus is gained the knowledge of God. How indeed does the soul come into confinement by such preoccupations of the mind impeding the entrance of the knowledge of God? Even Pharaoh knew that leisure is required to seek God, and this was the cause of him railing against Israel: 'You are at leisure, you are lazy, and you say 'We must make a vow to the Lord.' 2 And this is the good and beneficial leisure, that quiet which brings one to the gain of salutary teachings. However, the leisure of the Athenians is bad, those who did nothing with their leisure unless to speak and to hear something new, which even now not a few imitate, those who in their leisure hours must always be fashioning some new teaching. Such leisure is a friend of an unclean and depraved spirit. For 'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he says, 'I shall return to the place whence I came,' and coming he discovers his house empty and swept clean.' 3 May it not be that by use of leisure we are attacked at the entrance; but rather let our house be occupied with the foreknowledge of Christ through the Spirit. After then there will be peace to those who have been troubled by enemies and so in quiet they will contemplate the words of truth. So the Lord says,  'Everyone who does not renounce everything which he has, he cannot be my disciple.' 4 Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 45 1 Ps 45.11 2 Ex 5.17 3 Mt 12.43-44  4 Lk 14.33