CONTENTS
1. THE LIFE OF WEALTH, GLORY, AND PLEASURE, AND THE LIFE OF VIRTUE
2. ON THE FOUR PURSUITS AND JUSTICE 3. ON THE MIDDLE WAY OF VIRTUE 4. ON TYRANNY AND JUSTICE 5. ON PRIDE AND TYRANNY 6. ON PRIDE AND SLAVERY 7. ON REPENTANCE AND THE FOUR PURSUITS
8. ON COMPETITION, CONFLICT, AND THE FOUR PURSUITS
9. ON PARENTAL REACTIONS AND VIRTUE 10. ON THE ROD, THE STAFF, AND THE WHIP, IN SCRIPTURE
1. The life of wealth, glory, and pleasure, and the life of virtue
1. An Orthodox Christian must live the life of virtue.
2. An Orthodox Christian must reject the life of wealth, glory, and pleasure.
3. An Orthodox Christian must live the life of non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure.
4. The worldly person seeks the life of wealth, glory, and pleasure.
5. Only the life of virtue brings happiness both here and in the life to come.
2. On the four pursuits and justice
1. Our life on earth consists of four major pursuits. The pursuit of food, the pursuit of possessions (including knowledge), the pursuit of glory, and the pursuit of romance.
2. An Orthodox Christian must transcend attachment to these four pursuits.
3. An Orthodox Christian must practice justice in these four pursuits.
4. An Orthodox Christian must not wrong his neighbor in any of these pursuits.
5. Social justice requires that we do no injustice to ourselves or our neighbor in these four pursuits.
6. An Orthodox Christian must do no injustice. Neither to God, nor to himself, nor to his neighbor.
7. We must not wrong our neighbor in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance.
8. An Orthodox Christian must be just in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance.
9. An Orthodox Christian must seek only the essentials. Essential food, essential possessions (including knowledge), essential glory or non-glory, and essential romance or non-romance.
10. An Orthodox Christian must not wrong himself or his neighbor in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance.
3. On the middle way of virtue
1. An Orthodox Christian must practice the middle way of virtue.
2. An Orthodox Christian must avoid underpractice and overpractice.
3. An Orthodox Christian must keep the four cardinal virtues of the Old Testament: Prudence, Self-Restraint, Justice, and Godly Courage.
4. An Orthodox Christian must not practice overprudence or underprudence, overself-restraint or underself-restraint, overjustice or underjustice, overcourage or undercourage.
5. An Orthodox Christian must avoid these extremes which constitute deficiency and excess.
6. Virtue is contained in the middle way between underpractice and overpractice.
4. On tyranny and justice
1. In the world we encounter tyranny.
2. We encounter tyranny in our families, in our workplaces, and in our social groups.
3. Tyranny is the unjust rule of an overseer.
4. Rulers and subjects exist in many aspects of life, but tyranny is the perversion of natural justice.
5. An Orthodox Christian must never practice tyranny but always justice.
6. In every role of overseer an Orthodox Christian must be just.
7. When an overseer becomes unjust tyranny arises.
8. Divine Providence uses the tyranny of unjust overseers to call us to Himself.
9. Tyranny is everywhere and leads to the two types of sorrow, worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
10. Worldly sorrow leads to death. But godly sorrow leads to repentance. (See 2 Cor. 7:10).
11. Tyranny is hateful to all people.
12. Pride and tyranny make a person who has them hateful to others.
13. Human rights were established to eliminate tyranny.
5. On pride and tyranny
1. Pride in a person gives rise to tyranny over his neighbor.
2. The proud person exalts himself over his neighbor.
3. The proud person has pride of opinion, pride of will, and tyranny over his neighbor.
4. Pride produces harshness towards neighbor.
5. Tyranny over neighbor is a clear sign of pride.
6. Tyranny causes suffering to people and gives rise to wrath, sorrow, hatred, rancor, and enmity.
7. Pride and tyranny must be eliminated.
8. Pride and tyranny can only be eliminated by faith in God, self-denial, and humility.
6. On pride and slavery
1. A proud person treats his neighbor as a slave.
2. Slavery arose in the world because of pride.
3. Pride makes a person exalt himself over his neighbor.
4. Pride gives rise to tyranny over neighbor and the treatment of that neighbor as a slave.
5. The proud always force their neighbor to obey them as a slave.
6. The unjust stance of the proud leads them to compel their neighbor to obey as a slave.
7. Slavery in the world will be eliminated only if pride is eliminated.
7. On repentance and the four pursuits
1. Our life on earth consists of four main pursuits: Food, Possessions (including Knowledge), Glory, and Romance.
2. These four pursuits give rise to four excesses: Overeating, Overpossessing, Vanity, and Unchastity.
3. An Orthodox Christian must repent from overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and unchastity.
4. An Orthodox Christian must eat canonically, possess canonically, have canonical self-respect, and have canonical romance.
5. If we don’t repent of our excesses in these four pursuits we shall perish. (See Luke 13:3).
8. On competition, conflict, and the four pursuits
1. In the world there is competition over the four pursuits: food competition, possessions (including knowledge) competition, glory competition, and romance competition.
2. These four competitions give rise to conflict between people, especially when there is scarcity.
3. Our approach to these four pursuits determines whether we become virtuous or non-virtuous.
4. An Orthodox Christian must transcend attachment to these four pursuits.
5. An Orthodox Christian avoids conflict over the four pursuits by practicing self-denial and frugality.
6. Unnecessary competition and conflict will be eliminated if an Orthodox Christian practices renunciation and self-denial. (See Luke 14:33).
9. On parental reactions and virtue
1. Parents must react to the behavior of their children in the appropriate manner.
2. Orthodox Christian parents must cultivate virtue both in themselves and in their children.
3. An Orthodox Christian parent must follow the middle way of virtue.
4. An Orthodox Christian parent must not overreact or underreact towards his children.
5. To cultivate the virtues in their children parents must react canonically to the good and the bad their children do.
6. Underreaction to children and overreaction to children are equally senseless.
7. An Orthodox Christian parent is a good parent only if they react canonically to their children.
8. Neither underreaction nor overreaction benefits children. Both deviate from the middle way of virtue.
10. On the rod, the staff, and the whip, in scripture
1. (2 Sam. 7:14 or 2 Kin. 7:14 LXX): “I will be a father to him, and he shall be to Me a son. And if he commits injustice, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men”.
2. (Ps. 23:4 or 22:4 LXX): “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me”.
3. (Prov. 29:15): “Blows and rebukes give wisdom”.
4. (Ezek. 20:37): “I will make you pass under my staff and bring you in by number”.
5. (Prov. 26:3): “As a whip for a horse and a prod for a donkey, so is a rod for a lawless nation”.
6. (Ps. 31:10 LXX): “Many are the whippings of the sinner, but he who hopes in the Lord, mercy shall encircle him”.
