Life is often
presented to young men and women as offering a multitude of paths that may be
taken – husband, wife, monk, nun, electrician, engineer, farmer, soldier,
priest, etc. But ultimately all of these
choices will fall into one of two vocations, the magician or the priest. The dividing line is how one chooses to
approach the created world in which the All-Holy Trinity has placed him.
The
magicians are those who wish to control nature for selfish purposes. They may alternatively be called scientists. Robert Kmita explains:
‘ . . . it must be plainly said that all of
the mechanical ‘arts’ that led to the creation of engines and machines belong
to the realm of what the Middle Ages and the Renaissance called ‘natural
magic.’ Seeking to conceal their interests—which sometimes even extended to
divination or demonic magic, and exceeded the lawful boundaries accepted by
Christian theologians and secular leaders—some thinkers created new languages
intended to disguise the magical and alchemical sources of their ‘science.’
Their identities may be a surprise: René Descartes (1596–1650), interested in
achieving immortality; Robert Boyle (1627–1691), interested in communicating
with the angelic world; Isaac Newton (1642–1727), interested in transmuting
base metals into gold. And the list could go on.
‘At
the root of such ‘occultist’ pursuits is always a thirst for power and
immediacy, described by Tolkien as seeking “speed, reduction of labor, and
reduction also to a minimum (or vanishing point) of the gap between the idea or
desire and the result or effect.” It is precisely this thirst for power, in the form
of an unrestrained desire to dominate nature, which permeates all the sciences
of the modern world, something that Tolkien viewed with great concern.’
Dwight
Longenecker continues this theme, writing,
‘Tolkien’s distinction
elucidates the dilemmas we face as technology snowballs and threatens to blow
up in our face. Put simply, the magic of Mordor is the machinery of murder. It
is the pursuit of power for its own sake, and as such it constantly perceives
the natural world merely as a raw material to be exploited, distorted, and
destroyed. In Peter Jackson’s film version of Tolkien’s masterpiece, we see
this machinery of murderous magic in full display as the twisted wizard Saruman
destroys Fangorn—chewing up the forest to fuel his machines of war.’
Mr
Longenecker then begins to reveal the opposite of the magician, whom J. R. R.
Tolkien calls an artist,
‘He then
goes on to explain the difference: “Their [the elves’] ‘magic’ is Art,
delivered from many of its human limitations: more effortless, more quick, more
complete (product, and vision in unflawed correspondence). And its object is
Art not Power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of
Creation.”’
And whom C.
S. Lewis calls a miracle-worker,
‘In his book
on miracles, C.S. Lewis made a similar distinction—not between elven magic and
machines, but between magic and miracles. Magic is always a prideful attempt to
distort or dominate nature for the magician’s own uses. Lewis’ thought is
illustrated in the Narnia volume, The
Magician’s Nephew. Digory’s uncle Andrew is the “minor magician”
who uses magic to manipulate the children and to cause havoc which, Aslan
warns, may lead to total annihilation. Miracles, Lewis asserts, never distort
or destroy nature. Instead, they lead to a restoration, healing, or completion
of the natural order. So, a healing miracle corrects what went wrong or what
had become diseased. Our Lord’s nature miracles bring abundance and peace: A
storm is calmed or bread and fish are multiplied. The miracles are “Elvish
magic” because they are artful and creative, not manipulative and exploitative.’
But the
better word is ‘priest,’ as Fr. Alexander Schmemann writes,
‘The first,
the basic definition of man is that he is the priest. He stands in the center of the world and
unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and
offering it to God—and by filling the world with this eucharist [i.e.,
thanksgiving—W.G.], he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the
world, into life in God, into communion with Him. The world was created as the “matter,” the
material of one all-embracing eucharist, and man was created as the priest of
this cosmic sacrament’ (For the Life of the World, SVS Press, Crestwood,
NY, 1973, p. 15).
This act of
uniting the matter of creation with the Grace of God can happen in any number
of ways, through prayer and ascetic exercises (as with monastics) or through an
art like writing icons, which changes ordinary matter – wood, paint, etc. –
into objects that transmit the Grace of God through images of Himself and His
saints and angels to those who look upon and venerate those represented
thereon.
But the highest
fulfilment of this priestly act of transformational eucharist is the offering
of the bread and wine, symbolic of all of man’s labors, to God upon the holy
altar during the Divine Liturgy, Who in His kindness changes them through the
action of the Holy Ghost into the Body and Blood of Christ. This is the supreme miracle, the most sublime
art and un-magic – this Holy Food – which is then distributed back to the
people who supplied the elements that they may be woven together with God (to
borrow St John Chrysostom’s words). And
having received this greatest of gifts, they then go out into the world once
again, leaving the church, leaving heaven, spreading the Grace of God abroad to
all the creatures they meet.
We are left
again with this stark choice: Either one
offers everything to God as priest, or he sacrifices all the world to himself,
as magician, to serve his own fallen, infernal desires.
Yet these
two types do not have significance for individuals only. They are also applicable to nations. And the two nations who most closely resemble
each of these types are the United States (magician) and Russia (priest). This conclusion may be supported by
considering the most representative objects and people of each country.
. . .
The rest is
here:
https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/mankind-has-only-two-vocations-magician-or-priest
Or here:
https://katehon.com/en/article/mankind-has-only-two-vocations-magician-or-priest
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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