Wed, March 23, 2005 Lenten Fast
Venerable Martyr Nikon of Sicily & 199 Disciples
6th Hour: Isaiah 5:16-26 1st Vespers: Genesis 4:16-26 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 5:15-6:3
Genesis 4:16-26, especially vs. 16: "...Cain went out from the presence of the
Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden." Today's reading follows the history of Cain and his descendants,
those we may well call "the first secularists." In this lesson God reveals the nature of life devoid of all thought of Him, for
in Cain and his family we see the heart of secular man: the deformed spirit, existence organized solely around the material
and psychological dimensions of life, and the reign of the passions.
God curses Cain, casting him out "from the face of the earth" (Gen 4:12-14). Cain is estranged from a rooted life tilling the
soil (see Gen. 4:2). He learns what it means to be "hidden from [God's] presence" (vs. 14). His rootlessness is underlined
in Hebrew in which "Nod" literally means, "the land of wandering" (vs. 16). Wandering takes him "forth from the
presence of God" (vs. 16), so that the Lord is effectively removed from his thoughts. He lives solely for the "seculum," the
material world. In physical existence he fashions a secular community. St. Augustine describes Cain as a man who in
heart and will "belonged to the city of man," and, therefore, "it is recorded of Cain that he built a city," a humanistic
construct to replace one's rightful life in communion with God. Secularism is life devoid of relationship with God.
The Apostle Paul teaches us that when men exchange "the truth of God for the lie," and worship and serve "the creature
rather than the Creator," they become "futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts [are] darkened" (Rom. 1:25,21).
Still, in God's mercy, the darkening of men's hearts does not destroy all facility of the human spirit. The Lord leaves in
place His gifts for the just and the unjust (Mt. 5:45). Artistic capacity remains in the hearts of all men. Hence, the
descendants of Cain employed their spiritual faculties, inventing and fashioning the various elements of material culture,
the husbandry of livestock, the development of music and instruments, and the mastery of bronze and iron artistry (Gen.
4:20-22).
But compare these talented, secular craftsmen with the godly artisans who were filled "with the Spirit of God, in wisdom,
in understanding, in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works" (Ex. 31:3,4). Clearly, the
mysteries of faith and the beauties of worship are rightly expressed only by those whom God chooses, ordains, and inspires.
For this reason, vestment making, iconography, Church music, and other forms of Orthodox craftsmanship are conducted
within the boundaries of canonical definition, prayer, and fasting, so that God may be honored in all things.
Secularism leads men to greater indulgence of the passions. Cain's descendant, Lamech, provides two examples of this, in
his sexual passions and his anger. God ordained monogamy as the basis for human marriages (Gen 2:24). However
Lamech, in the secularist spirit, takes two wives (Gen. 4:19). No ills appear to follow from his bigamy, but Scripture
reveals numerous other cases where multiple wives or other indulgence of the sexual passions brought great grief. Lamech
also exhibits a powerful compliance toward the passion of anger - greater than his grandfather, Cain, who killed one man.
In Lamech the passion of anger becomes far more violent and sinister. He wildly boasts of wholesale revenge, announcing
every intention to indulge in blood feud and multiple murder (vss. 23,24). His ethics are founded on unrestrained passion
and self-indulgence. He epitomizes the spirit of the secularist ideologies that promote terror, genocide, mass-murder, war,
and violence in order to achieve their "ideals."
Blessed be the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.
