AGAINST THE MODERN ENCRATICS
In
the early 350s A.D. a novel doctrine called “Encratism” crept into a group of
monks living in the Egyptian desert. There were several different versions of
Encratism in the early church, most of which were heretical because they taught
that the physical world and the things of daily life were evil to one extent or
another. Because of this, every version of encratism agreed that Christians are
defiled by the use of meat, wine and marriage.
The
encratic doctrine which afflicted the Egyptian monks went a step further to
teach that the natural excretions of the body defiled the Christian and merited
punishment from God. This meant that normal bodily functions and fluids were
sinful, even things like using the bathroom or blowing one’s nose. One can
imagine how much spiritual stress this would put on a Christian concerned with
his standing before God. Not only were the monks abstaining from sinful
motivations, thoughts, and actions, but they had to worry about meriting the
Lord’s wrath through normal bodily functions.
As with all false teaching, the encratic doctrine
was based on a perverted reading of Scripture. The seat of this doctrine was
Matthew 15:11 where Jesus says, “Not
what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this
defiles a man.” The encratics took Jesus’ words quite literally.
Saliva comes from the mouth. What comes from the mouth defiles man. Therefore
saliva defiles man. While this may seem silly to us, the encratites were
simply taking the words of Jesus literally.
Athanasius was Bishop of Alexandria, Eygpt, at this
time. (This is the same Athanasius who fought against the Arian heresy that Jesus was not divine,
but a creation of God, the same Athanasius to whom the Athanasian Creed is a
attributed). Athanasius responds to this teaching with a letter to Amoun, the
revered father of the community of monks. He attributes the encratic teaching
to the Devil, who, “In order to distract ascetics [monks] from their usual salutary
meditation, and appear to overcome them, stirs up the kind of distracting
thoughts that are of no benefit in life.” (Letter to Amoun. Pg. 1, found in The
Monastic Letters of Saint Athanasius the Great, translated by Leslie W.
Barnard). The Satanic point of the encratic teaching was to distract the monks
from mediation upon Gospel with thoughts of their own good works.
Athanasius’ argument against the encratics is that
Christ isn’t speaking literally but figuratively. He writes that Jesus is not
speaking about bodily functions, but that which comes out of the heart. A
few verses later Jesus teaches His disciples privately,
But those
things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a
man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which
defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. (Matthew
15:18-20)
What defiles man is what proceeds from his heart,
that is, sin. Athanasius writes, “For we only become defiled when we commit a
foul sin.”
Athanasius then argues that God created the body to
expel salvia and waste, as well as the sexual function of the body. Since they
are created by God they are good and God-pleasing when used according to His
institution and not for sin.
What can we learn from the encratics and St. Athanasius’
response to them? The Scriptures are not always mean to be taken literally.
Usually, when the Scriptures are not read according to their plain sense it is
for the sake of distracting the Christian from meditation upon the Gospel of
salvation by faith alone by grace alone through Christ alone.
Let me give you a modern example of taking the
words of Jesus literally for the sake of concentrating on personal works and
holiness. In Luke 18:22 Jesus tells a rich young man who loved his wealth, “Sell all that you have and distribute to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Did
Jesus really expect that rich man to sell everything and become a poor beggar
in order to gain heaven? No. This would destroy the doctrine of salvation by
faith alone.
Jesus’ point was that the rich young man loved his
wealth more than the gospel. That idolatry of the heart would disqualify him
from the heavenly treasure, for “the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from
the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10) There is nothing wrong with having wealth and
riches. The problem is trusting in and loving wealth and riches.
I once read the blog of a young Christian woman who
was cut to the heart by Jesus’ suggestion to the rich young man. Feeling that
Jesus’ words were to be taken literally, and that failure to do so meant she
was weak in the faith, she and her husband sold their expensive home to move into
something much smaller and less expensive. After all, Jesus gave the command to
sell all your possessions to gain the kingdom of God. She wanted to do
everything Jesus commanded in the gospels.
Doing the commands of Jesus was, for this young
woman, a way to become a better Christian, even if that command wasn’t given to
her. What she had done was make up a man-made work to please God and alleviate
her own conscience. She never posted on how the house-selling turned out.
However, in a stroke of irony, a week later she posted a picture of her new
(and very expensive) running shoes.
What is this but a modern encratism, shunning
materialist things and thinking that there is an extra holiness we can achieve
by taking Jesus’ figurative words as literal commands for every Christian? This
is not the Christian Faith. Christ taught the Gospel that saves sinners from
their spiritual defilement by faith in His merits and work. There is no work
which we can do before our conversion, during it, or afterwards that will make
us any more holy and righteous before God, for it is faith alone which
justifies. The good works we then do as Christians are found not in the
figurative words of Jesus but in the Ten Commandments, fearing God and loving
neighbor according to the will of the Lord.
There is no righteousness to be gained or lost in
using the toilet, spitting out saliva, being married, having wealth or owning a
nice home. These all are things with which God endows humanity. Therefore we
must remain vigilant about how we read the Scriptures, lest we find in the
Scriptures more than is demanded of us than simple faith in Christ and good
works done according to the commandments. Do not let Satan distract you, as he
did the Egyptian monks, with being holier than you can be through faith in
Christ. Rely upon Christ for your holiness, blessedness and purity before God,
for these are gifts received only by faith. May God grant us such faith Ad
Finem Illum, Amen!
