This is Michael Haldas, and welcome to Sacramental Living: Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life podcast. This is the podcast where we try to connect the dots to sacramentality and theology of our faith, with our daily, ordinary, everyday life, and in doing so draw people to Christ, which is the ultimate purpose of any ministry.

So the title of today’s podcast is called “Saving Ourselves and Others Through Patience.” Just to be clear, we don’t actually do any saving, either of ourselves or other people. God does the saving, and he’s the Author of our salvation. However, we are participants in the saving action of God, and it’s never just about us as individuals. It’s always a participatory work about ourselves and others at the same time. Usually it’s about the people right around us that we deal with every day: our family, our friends, our fellow parishioners, and the people we work with.

St. Paul instructs in Philippians 2:12 to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, in other words, in all of God and his saving work, through Jesus Christ and his saving grace. Again, let me emphasize: salvation always involves ourselves and other people at the same time. Me, you, and anybody else—we’re never saved alone. We’re responsible for each other, the body of Christ, and creation, and the world itself. We’re all connected to each other in the world, and our holiness and our corruption have seen and unseen effects.

One of the several important aspects of salvation that comes into play in our daily life is one of patience. We live in an impatient world right now. Believe it or not, our ability to be patient has tremendous effect on our spirituality, on our Christlikeness. But what is patience, though? As I do a lot on this podcast, I look up dictionary definition of terms, and then see how things are understood in the Bible and in our broader holy Tradition, and often they’re in conflict. However, this time, I was pleasantly surprised. Here’s what I found through Dr. Google, who is watching us, unfortunately, like the eyes of an unholy T.J. Eckleburg. Those of you who know American lit get the reference.

So this is what one of the dictionary definitions said: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering, without getting angry or upset. Pretty good. Nothing in conflict here that I can see, how we understand patience in our faith. Here are a few more. This next one comes from an entry from my search under people also asking, “What is patience?” The answer was: Patience is a person’s ability to wait something out or endure something tedious without getting riled up. Having patience means you remain calm, even when you’ve been waiting forever or dealing with something painstakingly slow, or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don’t get it. That’s good: staying calm, being loving towards someone else. All good stuff.

Here are a few more: bearing pains or trials calmly without complaint; manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain; not hasty or impetuous; steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity. I like all of these, too. The words used in English are ones we find in the Bible, which I’ll get to later. As I was putting this podcast together, I did searches focusing on places in the New Testament where the word “patience” showed up. At first, not its synonyms, just this word: “patience.”

I used the New King James Version, because that’s what’s used for our Orthodox Study Bible. By the way, that doesn’t mean that the Orthodox Study Bible is the official Bible of the Church; there is no one, and the Orthodox Study Bible New King James Version is not necessarily superior to other translations; all translations have value and all have flaws, some more than others. There is no “right one.” The reason I use this one as my primary Bible is because it also contains the ten deuterocanonical books you won’t find in other Bibles, and I like having all of these books—the 27 New Testament books, the 66 traditional Old Testament books, and then these other 10 books—all in one place.

But I have, like, 20 Bibles or so, give or take, and I also have access online, like anyone else, to myriad translations, and I consult many different Bibles and study their choices of different English words, the original Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic the Scriptures were written in, what the holy Fathers have said about the Scriptures that I’m studying, and I listen to and read what modern Orthodox biblical scholars have to say. I also do all of this in the context of my prayer rule so that I’m doing it prayerfully. The bottom line here is I put a lot of work and prayerful and thoughtful consideration to understand something before I teach it and share it. Does that mean I’m going to get everything exactly write? No. Even the greatest among us don’t get everything exactly right, and actually there’s a lot of modern biblical scholars out there who, from our Orthodox perspective, get things astonishingly wrong—but that’s a different matter, and it’s better for our own Orthodox biblical scholars to tackle this on their podcast, or whatever teaching medium they use.

So patience is on my mind because of how impatient society is. We seem to want everything now, now, now, now, now! All of these electronic devices and social media are creating dopamine rushes in us, where boredom, which is healthy, actually, for brain development and creativity, must never occur as we must be entertained 24/7/365. We become impatient with anything not immediate, trying to fill this vacuum of boredom often. The slow work of prayer, the sacramental life, the ascetics that we need to practice to grow in the Lord is not attractive to many of us compared to the world of immediacy granted through digital wonder. However, if not careful, this leads us to be impatient with ourselves and others, and it’s not good for our love of self and others the right way, which is then not good for our salvation, as I stated from the outset.

I must confess, I am not a naturally patient person at all. Perhaps I’m doing this podcast as a way to preach to myself. Whatever patience I have, for myself and other people, has been acquired over time, with growth and maturity. My sister recently complimented me, as have several others, on the patience I’ve extended out to some people in a situation that’s been a difficult struggle for a long while now. My one friend I think accurately described me as impatient, but patient where it counts, meaning with people and their problems. I pray that’s all true; I pray it’s accurate, for my sake and for others. I know that whatever patience I’ve acquired is through the grace of the Holy Spirit. That extends to people—I have to confess, it doesn’t extend to inanimate objects, which can easily be the subject of my explosive wrath at the wrong day, at the wrong time.

But patience is critical, because it’s clearly part of God’s nature, and thus we, who are created in his image and likeness, both have it as a part of us, and have a capacity to cultivate it and increase it as we grow into his likeness. 2 Peter 3:8 reads, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one days is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” He’s referencing Psalm 90:4 (or 89:4 in the Greek translation, depending on what type of Bible you’re using). That psalm reads: “For a thousand years in your sight (God’s sight) are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” This demonstrates God’s love and patience with all human beings, as he works in our lives so patiently, giving us chance after chance after chance after chance and so on—to repent, to turn to him in love for our salvation.

Now, the very next verse in 2 Peter—again, 2 Peter 3—reads, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Another English translation of that Scripture reads, “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient towards you, because he does not wish for any to perish, but all should come to repentance.” So “long-suffering” in this translation also becomes “patience,” and I’ll be getting into this a little more later in the podcast, meaning the different English words in the Bible that equate to “patience.” But the point here is that God’s divine patience is barely conceivable to us; it’s a patience that we rarely acquire. And I literally could spend hours, starting from Genesis, and go all the way through the entire Bible to the book of Revelation and show how God’s patience in his actions and his teachings to his chosen people, to his enemies alike without partiality, are all throughout the Bible.

Just to offer some more evidence that patience is central to God’s nature is this Scripture from Paul, Romans 16:5, that reads, “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.” Now the NET Bible, which is a Bible that has more than 60,000 translation notes from scholars, it reads like this: “Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus.” Yet another Bible that’s often used, the English Standard Version, phrases it like this: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus.” Just to show you there’s many different ways in English to interpret the Greek that Paul wrote in.

But, getting back to the results of my search I mentioned a moment ago, I found 24 instances in the New King James Version of the exact word, “patience”: 18 in the gospels and epistles and six in the book of Revelation. I then poked around, looking at all of the synonyms used for “patience” in the New Testament, which are, in addition to patience, you have: persistence, endurance, long-suffering, forbearance, steadfastness. Interestingly, two different Greek words are used in these various Scriptures from which we derive all of these English words. So we have all these many English words that pretty much come down to just two Greek words. Why is it important? Because knowing more about these words helps us better understand what the Scripture is teaching us about patience and what it means in our daily walk. So let’s first look at these two and discuss what they mean.

I asked a couple of my fluently speaking Greek friends to help me understand, so, thanks to Mary, Pete, and John S—last names omitted to protect the innocent. Now the first one, the one that’s used more than the other, as far as I could tell, is a word that’s pronounced hupomone or hypomone. My pronunciation is horrible; I’m sorry, I just don’t have a good ear. And the second one is makrothumia. Again, forgive my pronunciations. But more important than my ability to pronounce them is looking at what they mean. They both mean generally the same thing, but there are some nuanced differences worth noting.

Hypomone, however you pronounce it, means perserverance, endurance, steadfastness, patient waiting for… cheerful endurance, a constancy; whereas makrothymia means patience, forbearance, long-sufferings, or fortitude. Now here’s an example that this website that John S. sent me used to illustrate the second one, makrothymia. This one is using the English Standard Version of Ephesians 4:1-3, and that Scripture reads like this: “Therefore, prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you’ve been called, with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The Orthodox Study Bible, New King James Version, actually instead of “patience” uses the word “long-suffering” here in its translation; the NET Bible uses “patience,” and if you do search you will find different English words, but the meaning is the same thing.

Now I’m going to read you a definition from that website that my friend John sent me for the second word patience, makrothymia, and what it says. It says it means patience without reaction, by implication without reaction towards each other. It’s something that can be perfected and is something that has been seen as perfect from God, the lifestyle of the saints, which it says parenthetically “holy or approved ones of God.” If it is something that needs to be perfected, it must be tested in us and brought through us by the Holy Spirit. This same website distinguishes that particular word as patience and respect to persons and patience as related to love. It says the opposite of it is wrath or revenge.

Now, the other word, hypomone, means patience with respect to putting up with things or circumstances as it relates to hope; the opposite of it is cowardice or despondency. Now the website fully points out that neither word allows us to be apathetic while enduring affliction, which is a great commentary, because to my mind apathy and destruction—excuse me, apathy and distraction—which actually could lead to destruction—are the subtle demonic attacks of our time that lead us away from salvation. So part of the answer as to why patience is so important and why we see these various synonyms for it is just what I said. It’s actually linked to our salvation.

St. Seraphim of Sarov famously said the true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. We’re given the seal of the Holy Spirit at our chrismation, right after our baptism. We live life from that point forward in continual, joyful repentance, which we understand to be a continual renewal of our baptism. Remember, John the Baptist was baptizing people as he heard their confessions, so those two sacraments are linked. So as we grow in the Holy Spirit and we’re convinced of the truth of Jesus Christ and have a deeper union with him, theosis, becoming more and more Christ-like, and this is the word of our salvation. And patience is key to this.

So let’s look at more Scriptures where the word “patience” in English is used. Again, I’m emphasizing that I’m using the New King James Version, because the word “patience” in English is used a lot there, but whatever translation you’re using, whether the Scriptures say “patience” or any other synonyms that I’ve mentioned, it is instructing us on the salvific value of patience as it relates to long-suffering, endurance, persistence, steadfastness, forbearance, and any other synonym.

So here is a version of Scripture from the parable of the sower in Luke that uses patience in a particularly instructive way, to my mind. Luke 8:15 reads, “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Just to show you the various English translations, the NET Bible reads like this: “But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, often hearing the word, cling to it with an honest and good heart and bear fruit with steadfast endurance.” Another translation reads, “Bring forth fruit by perseverance.” Other translations will use “resolve” or other synonyms.

But let’s focus on the word, actually, “fruit” for a moment, which I’ve talked about before in other podcasts. But when you hear the word, you probably think of the fruit of the Spirit, the famous Scripture of Paul from Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” So long-suffering in this passage speaks to our ability to patiently endure trials as something that helps us grow in the Holy Spirit, helps us bear fruit, helps us work out our salvation. Patience is key to also having gentleness and self-control. So our ability to be patient in the way God wants us to be is important and gets back to the word in Greek that connotes cheerful endurance.

It’s because of this type of cheerful patience, the ability to endure without giving into sin, giving into the passions; it’s one of the ways we grow and become a blessing to ourselves and others. The very next verse in Galatians, verse 24—again, we’re in chapter five—reads like this: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Remember here “flesh” does not mean “body,” and I taught this before in this podcast series; I forget what particular podcast I did, but “flesh” here is a Greek word, sarx or sarkhi, versus the word “body,” which is the Greek word soma. And soma means like whole being, where sarx means more just mere human nature. When this word is used in the New Testament, in most—the overwhelming majority of—cases, it’s really meant to indicate a fallen, sinful deteriorated human nature, which all beings have inherited from Adam. Maybe better said, it’s not that our nature’s corrupt, but our will has been damaged, which leads to us actually trying to corrupt our nature!

So what Paul’s saying is that the flesh, our corrupted or damaged human will, is what gives rise to us to be open to committing sin from the passions. And the passions, as I taught actually on a couple podcasts ago, doesn’t mean intense desire for something, but it’s a sickness of the soul, where we turn our backs on God and fall into the habit of sin. Passions are really distorted or disordered desires. They’re not sins of themselves, but the actions we take or do not take because of them are what lead to sinful behavior. Passions such as pride, self-love, obsession with material items, greed, sloth, sexual lust or other types of lust, spiritual ignorance are just a few types of the passions.

Patience breeds calmness. Patience breeds inner stillness, which gives rise to the right focus and keeps us from a knee-jerk reaction to our trials and tribulations where we are mastered by our emotions and make wrong choices that lead to sin. How many times have we exploded in anger towards a loved one because of their repeated wrong behavior? Did it help? My guess is no. Maybe righteous anger, emanating from discernment, that a person may need in a particular circumstance and administer from a well-thought out, patient approach is helpful, but explosive anger never is. St. James reminds us in James 1:2-4, where he writes, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that this testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete.” Again, this shows how patience is so important to our salvation and growth. Galatians 6:9 reads, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” So one of the keys to not losing heart is the ability to be patient; it’s critically important.

My grandmother, when I was younger, tried to teach me the importance of patience when she saw how hyper and impatient I was. She would actually take me by both arms and stand me in front of her and make me count to 20 to slow me down, because I was a hyper whirlwind in both my spirit and my actions. I would start off slow. I would go: “One… two… three… four…” and then I’d get impatient and go: “Five, six, seven!” and I’d go on like that. And then she’d make me start over and repeat it until I got through 20. It was actually maddening, but as I got older—I’m not saying the lesson helped me so much, but the memory of her trying to do this helped me understand the importance of patience.

Patience is also reflective of the love we have in our hearts for God and others. If we’re impatient, easily frustrated with things and people, then we need to take a hard look at ourselves, because this is usually a sign of too much self-focus or self-love, perhaps a desire to control others, even if we deem it for their own good. When Paul characterizes love as “that more excellent way” in the famous 1 Corinthians 13 chapter, and greater than even— you know, love is greater even than faith and hope, he starts by characterizing love as patient, in that it suffers long and is kind, and that love is not about the self. In 1 Corinthians 13:4, it reads in the New King James Version, “Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up.” The English Standard Version, which, according to some biblical scholars, is one of the more accurate translations in the English, reads, “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant.” The Orthodox Study Bible note to this Scripture reminds us that this is one of the ways that we know we’re acting in love, by suffering long with another and being patient with them.

St. Clement of Rome wrote, “Love unites us to God. Love hides a multitude of sins. Love puts up with everything and is always patient. There’s nothing vulgar about love, nothing arrogant. Without love, nothing can please God.” So we need to be patient with others in their struggle, and we need to have this patience within ourselves, too. We have to be— in an ironic way, we have to be patient with our own impatience.

Here’s a great reminder of this from St. Peter of Damascus.

It is good, then, not to fall, or, if we fall, to rise again? And should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord’s love. For if he so chooses, he can deal mercifully with our weakness. Only we should not cut ourselves off from him or feel oppressed when constrained by his commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal. Rather let us learn that a thousand years in the sight of the Lord are but one single day, and a single day as a thousand years (Psalm 90:4). Let us be neither hasty nor tardy, and let us always be ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up; if you fall again, rise up again.

What a wonderful quote about being patient with ourselves. Christ tells us in Luke 21:19 to be prayerful and patient in life’s trials and tribulations. We need to be prayerful and patient, because Christ tells us in this verse, by patience we will possess our souls. That actually… One of the New King James Versions reads, Christ says, “By your patience, possess your souls.” He says this, actually, after instructing his disciples that they’re going to face many trials and hardships and betrayals. Now the English Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version reads a little differently, but it’s instructive. It reads: Christ saying, “By your endurance, you will gain your lives.”

I talked about this on my previous podcast, but the Greek word here that’s translated as either “life” or “soul,” depending on… it’s the same word, psuke. So what Christ is saying is it’s about our life in its totality, not just body or soul: our entire being. We do our part to save ourselves when we endure patiently trials and tribulations and do not fall away from God. St. Gregory the Great reminds us, “We gain possession of our lives by patience, since when we learn to govern ourselves, we begin to gain possession of the very thing we are.” It’s a great quote. Solomon says in Proverbs 16:32, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Now the Greek version of this Scripture, which actually shows up in the same chapter, 16, but in verse 31, reads a little different; it reads, Solomon is saying, “A patient man is better than a strong man, and he who controls his temper is better than he who captures a city.” Our salvation through patience, in other words, has nothing to do with great worldly deeds or might, but rather the control we have over ourselves to be loving, faithful, and hopeful through patient endurance no matter what.

Paul gives this instruction or similar advice to his protege, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6. After talking about people whose main priority is to become rich and acquiring things all out of lustful desires, and what this desire stokes in us, Paul writes in verse 11; he says to Timothy, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.” So Paul equates what is worth boasting about is actually patience and endurance, not worldly acquisition of power and things. In 2 Thessalonians 1:4, he writes, “So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience”—other English translations say “perseverance” or “steadfastness”—“and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations”—some say “afflictions”—“that you endure.”

So patience is a way we demonstrate our love of God through faith and hope during rough times. Patience is a way we demonstrate our love for others, because it helps us to be empathetic, sympathetic, and compassionate towards them as fellow sufferers. Lastly, patience is a way we demonstrate love to ourselves as we give ourselves time and space to grow without debilitating self-judgment.

So let me conclude this podcast with a few well-known Orthodox prayers that involve patience and highlight patience as something that’s important. Here’s a verse from a longer prayer. It’s called… I got this from Prayers in a Time of Need. This one in particular has only got three or four verses; I’m reading the third one. So here’s how this prayer goes:

O God, our help in time of need, who are just and merciful, and who incline to the supplications of his people, look down upon me and have mercy on me and deliver me from the trouble that now besets me. Deal with us not according to our iniquities but according to your manifold mercies, for we are the work of your hands, and you know our weaknesses. I pray to you to grant me your divine help and grace, and endow me with patience and strength to endure my hardships in complete submission to your will. Only you know our misery and sufferings, and to you, our only hope and refuge, I flee for relief and comfort, trusting in your infinite love and compassion, that in due time, when you know best, you will deliver me from this trouble and turn my distress into comfort. We then shall rejoice in your mercy and exalt and praise your holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and forever, to the ages of ages. Amen.

And of course there’s the lenten prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, which many—most of us are very familiar with. Part of it reads like this:

Lord and Master of my life, deliver me from the spirit of laziness, meddling, ambition, and gossip; give me, your servant, the spirit of prudence, humility, patience, and love. Lord and King, grant that I may see my sins and fault, and not judge my brother, for you are blessed forever and ever. Amen.

And with that, I’ll close here. I hope you enjoyed this podcast—I hope you patiently listened to it. So, as usual, I conclude with my usual announcements. Just a reminder that if you enjoyed this particular Sacramental Living podcast, please like it, rate it, share it; do that with all other Sacramental Living podcasts that you enjoy. Do it with all Ancient Faith podcasts that you like. Do it with their books; do it with their blogs. Spread the wealth; share them and rate them wherever you can. The more you share and rate and comment, the more attention it brings to not only my podcast but to other podcasters’ podcasts, and the same with their books and their blogs.

If you’re interested more about the work that I do, you can go to my website, sacramentalliving.net. There you’ll find out about these podcasts, and you’ll find out about the various books I’ve written, the book Sacramental Living: Christianity as a Way of Life, which is the title of this podcast as well. I also wrote a book, Echoes of Truth: Christianity in The Lord of the Rings, because of my great love for Tolkien and my great love of how his books helped me understand sacramentality. I also contributed to a Tolkien-based anthology called Amid Weeping.

I also do a quote of the day ministry that I don’t think I mentioned on this podcast—I mentioned it on a lot of podcasts—where I email out five quotes, every weekday during the week, and they’re all part of a theme. I never know what I’m going to do; it hits me through prayer in the morning and I send them out. I also post them on my Sacramental Living Facebook page. If you want them emailed to you, you just have to email me at sacramentalliving—that’s one word: sacramentalliving@verizon.net.

I also teach a live adult religious education class through the Orthodox Christian Network. It’s through YouTube; just go out to YouTube and do a search on Orthodox Christian Network; you’ll find OCTV. I teach this class every Sunday, starting at 11:30 am. It’s usually a 15-20, 25-minute monologue, and then the rest of the class, which can last up to an hour, is Q&A with people in the room, but you could also watch the recorded video later. The first and third Thursdays of the month, I also teach a Zoom class at the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral. If you’re interested in joining, the passcode is 20100687480, and the code to get in is 208156. One of the gatekeepers will let you in.

My last announcement is just a reminder of the Christ & Tolkien Vision of Paradise Conference that will be happening in Chicago, May 19-21, 2022. If you’re interested in going, go out to the Christ & Tolkien website and register. God bless you all. I look forward to being with you during my next podcast, and until then, be well.