ASKESIS - SPIRITUAL TRAINING 

This brings us to the concept of askesis - training, exercise. But spiritual training, spiritual exercise. Askesis, or spiritual training is a common theme in the Philokalia. This idea of training oneself in order to withstand and endure future difficult circumstances is certainly present in the Bible. In the first letter to Timothy, we are encouraged to train ourselves in godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). And this because life is a contest. Not in the worldly way... who is more beautiful, who is smarter, who is more ‘successful’, who is faster, who is stronger. But life - is a contest - in that it is a struggle, it is a battle. In the letter to the Ephesians (6:11) we are encouraged to put on the armour of God and in the second letter to the Corinthians (6:4-10) we are instructed to take up the weapons of righteousness.

Which brings us to the image of a soldier. A soldier, much like an athlete, also needs to train, learn self-denial, learn to live off the land, become stronger, fitter, learn to endure hardship, lack of food, lack of sleep, lack of comfort. Such training is necessary, to defend yourself and your family from any attack of the enemy. Likewise, because life is a spiritual battle, we too need to be trained for it. And there is a big difference between trying and training. “Oh, I tried to be a good parent”, “I tried to be a good husband or wife”, “I tried to make the relationship work”... Brothers and sisters, trying is not enough... we need to train. We need to develop character strengths, we need to learn principles, we need to be ready to be a spouse, a parent, a decent person in society, we need formation.


Askesis has to do with self-denial and self-control. It has a lot to do with saying ‘no’ to things we want. Saying ‘no’ to our excesses. Saying ‘no’ to the luxuries and the comforts and the pamperings. People go jogging to burn off their fat. But, how do we burn off the other type of fat? How do we burn off our bad habits, our addictions, our obsessions? The Philokalia trains us in such things as fasting, keeping vigil, prayer, charity, obedience. I will say no to meat and dairy for forty days before Easter not because “my religion says so”, but because I understand that that will teach me selfcontrol on other things. I might normally pray for five minutes a day or when I need something from God... five seconds. But I will come to church during Sarakosti to practice praying for half an hour, one hour, three hours. My thoughts will be telling me “one hour of church... boring”... “let’s stay home and watch TV for five hours instead.” But no! I will challenge my self, push myself like an athlete to become stronger and more focused and more interested in improving myself

No pain, no gain... says the old adage. St Gregory of Sinai is quoted in the Philokalia as saying that “No work, whether bodily or spiritual, which lacks pain or effort, ever produces fruit.” Which brings us to the three famous paradigms of the ‘no pain, no gain’ idea of askesis in our Tradition: the vine, the gold and the bread. Jesus speaks about pruning the vine. If you feel sorry for the plant and you don’t cut its branches, you are actually not doing it any good. Jesus Christ said: “My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch... that bears no fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” When digging for gold, how do miners separate the gold from the rock and the mud and the dirt? By burning everything in the furnace.

Nothing survives, except the gold. And so, an old proverb from the Bible tells us: “Gold is tested in the furnace and human character is tested in the furnace of humiliation.” And finally the bread paradigm. You don’t just throw wheat in the oven and expect a loaf of bread to appear. There is a long process. You need to separate the seeds from the chaff. Then you need to ground and crush and pummel and pulverise the seeds. They need to become fine flour. And then the flour is mixed with water and again pounded and pummelled and kneaded. And still it is not over, then comes the oven, the heat, the fire... and then finally the beautiful bread is baked and ready. St Ignatios of Antioch uses this imagery when he encourages Christians “to allow oneself to be ground between the grindstones of humility in order to become a sweet and delicious bread for the Lord.”

When all of us were baptized as babies, we were rubbed with olive oil. Ancient athletes used to rub oil into their muscles to warm up for their contest. In the battle between good and evil, we Christians, by virtue of our baptism joined the side of good. By virtue of our continued communion with Christ, we learn and train... to do battle against evil. Every time we decide to do good, the forces of the enemy declare war on us. And we - need - to be ready for them.

The forces of the enemy are known in the Philokalia as the passions (ta pathe - pathos) and that is what we shall talk about next Sunday in part seven of this series of sermons on the Philokalia.