Schema-Archimandrite Justin (Rauer): “The measure for everything is Christ”
Father Justin (Rauer), in an interview with the German branch of the UOJ, spoke about Great Lent, true Christians, and how to achieve peace in church and global conflicts.
Many people in Germany and far beyond its borders know Schema-Archimandrite Basilius (Grolimund). He came from Switzerland, was tonsured a monk by St Justin (Popović), and spent 11 years on Mount Athos, where he was a spiritual child of St Paisios of Athos. With his blessing, Father Basilius went to Germany, where he founded the Monastery of St Spyridon. Many years later, the Monastery of Saint Justin of Ćelije was established in the small town of Unter-Ufhausen, near Eiterfeld. The abbot of this monastery and a spiritual child of Father Basil is our guest today – a theologian, translator, and Schema-Archimandrite of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Germany, Justin (Rauer).
– Father Justin, could you please tell us when you came to Orthodoxy?
– I was born in Munich into a Catholic family. Accordingly, I was baptised in Catholicism, became Orthodox at the age of 23, and at 26, I came to Father Basilius.
– Did many people join the Orthodox Church at that time, and how has this changed compared to today?
– Back then, of course, there were also Germans who became Orthodox, but most of them did so because of marriage. They married Orthodox spouses and became Orthodox themselves. But the fact that people are now seeking the Orthodox faith directly happens much more often today.
– We are interviewing you in the last days before the beginning of Great Lent. How would you explain to non-religious people why fasting is necessary and why it is so strict and long?
– The first question is: where does the forty-day fast come from? It originates, of course, from Moses, Elijah, and Christ Himself. Why is fasting necessary? Because Adam and Eve did not fast. Adam and Eve had only one commandment, and that was the commandment of fasting – not to eat from one tree, nothing more. And they did not keep this commandment, that is why they had to accept expulsion from Paradise, which we commemorate on Sunday. Fasting reminds us that we must keep God's commandments.
And to keep God's commandments, we need a corresponding will. Since the Church knows that human will is weak, it gives us the easiest task – just as God gave the easiest task – to fast. Anyone who wishes can observe the rules of fasting, as they are not particularly difficult, and the sick, elderly, and children are exempt. They can participate as much as they are able, but for a healthy adult, the rules pose no problem at all if they truly wish to follow them. The problem is the will.
The Church, like a good teacher, knows that if it wants to bring people closer to the greater commandments of God, it must encourage them to develop the necessary willpower. That is why the Church considers fasting the lowest step in strengthening the will. If, even at this level, a person does not wish to train their will, it is no surprise that they do not progress in their spiritual life. This is why the Church places such great importance on fasting.
Fasting also plays a role in cleansing the body. Why not cleanse it at least once a year? In the Northern Hemisphere, where Christianity first took root, early spring is the best time for this when food supplies are naturally scarce. Back then, there were no refrigerators, no canned goods, last year’s reserves were pretty much exhausted, the new harvest was not yet available; and this is certainly the time when this cleansing can best be done.
Another question is why the specific fasting rules were introduced. These must be understood historically, as the Church was originally located around the Mediterranean, where some foods were permitted during fasting that we might not consider lean today. For example, seafood is allowed on certain fasting days, yet today it is considered a delicacy.
The key point here is that we must be obedient to the Church. Adam and Eve were disobedient, whereas Christ was obedient. He said of Himself, "I have come to do the will of the Father." St Paul writes about Christ: "He was obedient, obedient unto death on the Cross." One can only be obedient when doing what someone else commands, not what one decides for oneself.
Some people say, for instance, "It’s enough if I just give up chocolate during Lent." That is also a good idea, but it is self-imposed, which means it is not obedience. I may have set a limit to my egoism, but I did so out of my own ego. That does not particularly help me; it does not strengthen my will. If I only do what I want anyway, I do not progress. I progress when I do what someone else tells me.
This is how I learn obedience, even at the lowest level, in fasting. Of course, we could have entirely different fasting rules, but these are the ones that have developed, and modern nutritional science confirms that ascetics, who studied fasting in great detail, discovered through experience which foods burden the stomach most. When your stomach is occupied with digestion, it requires oxygen, which it draws primarily from the brain. That is why people always feel tired after eating. The ascetics sought to answer the question: What should I eat so that I can return to prayer as quickly as possible with full focus and dedication? This is how our fasting rules emerged.
For example, on certain days of Great Lent, fish is permitted, specifically on Palm Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation, whereas dairy and eggs are not. Modern nutritional science confirms that fish requires far less energy to digest than dairy products.
Some may argue that fish must die, whereas milk and eggs do not require such a sacrifice. But that was not the original reasoning behind the fasting rules. The primary concern was: When will I be able to pray attentively? They found out this experientially, and today we have scientific confirmation of it. Therefore, these are not meaningless rules. We don't understand a lot of it, but we learn to understand when we do this exercise. But what does exercise mean in ancient Greek? It is asceticism, ascetics are the ones who exercise. We are all exercising in being obedient to God, starting with the simplest step – fasting.
God says: "He who is unfaithful in little is also unfaithful in much." Whoever thinks fasting is unimportant is deceiving themselves. That is why I would advise everyone to embrace fasting as the Church teaches, because the Church knows precisely what spiritual blessings can be gained from it.
– Today, in Europe and across the world, there is a tendency for people to celebrate Christian holidays without Christ. For example, "Christmas" becomes "X-mas". The same happens with Pascha. How do you view this trend?
– Christ says: "Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?" I cannot call myself a Christian if I do not follow what Christ teaches. Otherwise, I am merely “a cultural Christian”, not a believer. If I recognise it as such then that's fine, everyone is given freedom and no one takes this freedom away from them, except totalitarian states. But God grants us freedom. He gave freedom to Adam and Eve, and He did not take it away from them, even though He already knew what they would do. Nevertheless, He did not prevent it. God gives freedom, and within that freedom, a person can do as they wish – within certain limits, of course. A person cannot, for instance, fly on their own but within certain limits he has the freedom to do what he wants, and God does not take that freedom away. Likewise, no other person should take away someone's freedom to be merely a cultural Christian. At the same time, a cultural Christian should understand that he is not a believer and not part of the Church.
This is, of course, a broad topic for discussion. A key question is whether a person is a materialist. If only matter exists, then God cannot exist. In that case, someone might still appreciate church buildings because they see them as “special places of power”, admire their architecture, or appreciate them for other reasons. There may be many reasons why a person visits a church without attending a service. Some cultural Christians go to Christmas or Easter services purely for the aesthetic experience. All these possibilities exist, and God does not forbid them. However, He desires that we be honest with ourselves – seeing ourselves as we truly are, not as we are not. That is why He speaks so strongly to the Pharisees and scribes, beginning with the words: "You are hypocrites!" But we must not be hypocrites.
If we truly believe in Christ, we must do His will. If we do not follow His will, then we do not believe in Him and, therefore, we cannot call ourselves Christians. Christianity is no exception in this regard. There are also cultural Muslims, cultural Hindus, and cultural Buddhists – people who do not actually follow their religion, even though they were raised in its environment and have been shaped by it.
– If we are already talking about Christianity without Christ, I would like to touch on the conflict between conservatism and liberalism, particularly concerning gender ideology, LGBT. What can you say about this?
– God created man in His own image and likeness. The image of God is a static element in a person, whereas likeness is a dynamic element. Adam and Eve possessed the static element but were called to perfect the dynamic one, because although they were made in the image of God, they were not yet like Him. Likeness must grow, and it will continue to grow even after our death, in the direction we have chosen. In other words, each person comes into this world with a specific calling, and while they are free not to fulfil it, failing to do so means they do not realise their full potential. They remain forever short of what they could become.
It is written: "God created man, male and female He created them." Here we have duality – no more and no less. If a person wishes to become like God, they must follow the path God has prescribed, namely, as male and female. The further one moves away from God, the greater the spiritual harm they suffer. And when a person is spiritually damaged, they also experience psychological and emotional harm. In certain cases, this can even manifest physically, through illness. Healing comes through Christ, who restores our possibility to continue from where Adam and Eve left off – that is, to grow in the likeness of God. The more damage a person has received, the deeper their identity crisis is, because they no longer recognise their true identity. And that identity is this: a human being is the image of God and must strive to become like Him. This results in individuals, depending on the extent of their inner damage, losing the ability to identify with themselves and seeking to replace this lost sense of identity with other things.
We then face a problem with different genders or different hobbies taking the place of Christ or particular ideological movements filling the void. But true self-discovery is only possible when we make room for God within ourselves. That is the only way to grow in likeness to God. The issue is not about pointing fingers and saying, "You are wrong." But if we take the Christian message seriously, we must warn people when they stray from the image of God and show them the way back. It is certainly not helpful to simply tell someone, "You are fine," when in reality, their inner image of God is damaged.
This is not to say that only the people you mentioned are afflicted – no, we are all afflicted in some way. And everyone has their own special mixture of afflictions. But afflictions also include not finding one's calling as a male or female.
– Such afflictions can also be observed in Church affairs today. There is an ongoing debate over canon law and legitimacy, particularly concerning Patriarch Bartholomew’s decisions on the “healing” of the Church schism in Ukraine, as well as the influence of certain states on these processes.
– First, I would like to say that, as a monk, I do not wish to involve myself in politics – that is not my role. As a monk, my concern is to keep my gaze fixed on Christ. In my view, the reason for the current chaos in the Church is that Christ is not at the centre – He is not the One by whom everything is measured. Instead, selfish goals are pursued first and foremost, which are then justified by canons that existed at one time or another. These canons were issued by the Church at a specific time and under specific circumstances, and not every canon necessarily has universal authority for all times. Of course, some do, but not all.
That is why Christ must always remain the measure of all things. When Church politics cause Christ to disappear from view, the doors of the Church are left wide open to disorder. The Greek word for the devil is "Diabolos". "Dia" means "through", and "bolos" comes from "balo", meaning "to throw". Thus, all confusion comes from the devil, and if I open the door to him, as Adam and Eve did – forgetting God and putting their own will first – I, too, will bring confusion into the Church.
Those who place Christ first are, of course, worthy of admiration, especially when they suffer for it. All the martyrs have done this, and today, Ukraine is also producing martyrs. Metropolitan Onuphry is a brilliant example of how to act when you have Christ before your eyes. In fact, Onuphry is a wake-up call for all other hierarchs of the Orthodox Church to follow his example and try to understand everything from Christ.
In my view, if that were the case, none of these difficulties would exist at all. Problems arise because, first the hierarchs and Church people do not set the fulfillment of God's will as their primary goal. And this is where the devil comes in because he has room to maneuver, and so the story of Adam and Eve repeats itself again and again. This brings us back to the meaning of fasting. If we were to "fast" from our own will and seek God's will in all things just as we affirm in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done...", everything would be different. But true healing is possible only through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ. There is no other remedy. Political programs can improve a situation to some extent, but they cannot heal it. This applies to all things human: psychology can help in many ways, but it cannot heal. Only God can heal, and nothing human has that power. As long as we remain stuck in human nature and our human ideas, we will not succeed. The Lord’s Prayer tells us, 'Thy will be done…,' but as has been said we're not truly interested in that.
I am not in a position to judge people – that is for God alone – but we can certainly comment on events. Christ gives us the criterion for this when He says, 'By their fruits, you shall know them….' Surely, Patriarch Bartholomew himself knows that his actions have not borne good fruit. His problem is how to get out of this situation without losing face. In my opinion, the only way is for him to return to Christ.
– As we record this interview, negotiations are underway regarding Ukraine and other crisis regions. People are weary of all wars and long for peace. How can we achieve it?
– In fact, what we call peace is not true peace but merely the absence of war, because there will always be those who remain deeply, deeply dissatisfied. Humanity does not achieve true peace. If you look at the Liturgy, what is the first petition after the priest blesses the altar with the Gospel ("Blessed is the Kingdom...")? "In peace let us pray to the Lord." What is the second petition? "For the highest peace ..." And the third? "For the peace of the world..." Why do you think the Liturgy begins this way? Because people do not have peace. True peace exists only in the Kingdom of God.
But the Kingdom of God, since Christ came, not only in heaven but also on this earth, has only been realised in the hearts of those who obey Christ. Others, too, the kingdom, but if it is not Christ’s Kingdom, it is always something human and will not survive. It cannot survive. The Church definitely knows that, that is why these petitions begin that way.
"Again and again, in peace let us pray to the Lord...", "Peace be to all...", "A mercy of peace, a sacrifice of praise..." Peace is one of the most frequent words in the Liturgy because the Liturgy itself is the Kingdom of God on earth. As long as we celebrate this Liturgy, we can find peace in it but it is the peace of Christ, not human peace. And once again, this does not mean that we should sit idly by and do nothing. No, we must work. But Christ says, "Without Me, you can do nothing." The apostles were full of zeal, yet only when the Holy Spirit was with them, they were truly successful.
The gaze of most Orthodox Christians is not directed to Christ. Yes, we are believers, and perhaps we read our morning and evening prayers. But the question is: how much does our faith truly transform us? For most people, the answer is: very little. Why? Because although they believe in Christ, they do not place Him at the centre of their lives. And as long as they fail to realise this, nothing will change. One can go to confession and repent as often as one likes. You can do certain things, like 50 great bows as penance. But it will not change you unless you change the focus of your thinking.
When the priest reads the Anaphora (which is usually unheard because he prays it quietly), he says: "May Thy good Spirit come upon us and upon these gifts set forth..." Why upon us first, and only then upon the gifts? Because the transformation of the gifts into the Body and Blood of Christ must be accompanied by our own transformation into true Christians – a double transformation. We are meant to be transfigured into children of God! And what if we do not participate in this process? This is where Orthodox thinking must begin – always from Christ. What does Christ want from us? What He wants from us is very simple, it is, as has already been said, what He wanted in the beginning – that through His image, we might become capable of attaining His likeness.
The path to likeness was obstructed when sin entered humanity. But it is made possible once more through Christ, who has conquered sin, death, and the devil. We can re-enter this process of likeness if we cleave to Him. The word "cleave" appears in the prayer before Communion. We have translated it as "draw near" because "cleave" sounds somewhat profane. "It is good for me to cleave unto God, to put my trust in the Lord for my salvation," the last prayer before Communion says. That is exactly what it is. But if we do not do this process, we also have the freedom to do it. God has given us that freedom. We can choose, just as Adam and Eve chose.
And more often than not, we act as Adam and Eve did: we do not want to follow that path. That is why we are not transformed, and since we are not transformed, we do not bring transformation to the world around us. But that does not mean we should do nothing. We must know our limits. We overcome our limitations only in God, as the Psalmist says: "With my God, I leap over a wall." Otherwise, we simply stand before the wall and stare at it in confusion.
– This article will likely be translated into six languages, so many people will will be able to hear or read your words. What do you want to say to these people? What is in your heart?
– I would like to repeat what the Apostle Paul already said: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Amen.
– Amen.
