Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, Who lays down His life for the sheep
The icon of the "disbeliever", as described by St. Nektarios of Pentapolis
The unbeliever is the most unfortunate person among men because he is denied the single most precious thing in this world, faith, which is the only true guide toward truth and good fortune. The unbeliever is so unfortunate because he has been denied hope, the only constant support on the long road of life. The unbeliever is very unfortunate because he is missing the true love of people which surround his troubled heart. The unbeliever is most unfortunate since he is being denied divine beauty and the divine likeness of the Creator. This is the beauty that the Divine Artist has engraved in our hearts and which our faith has revealed to us.
The eye of an unbeliever does not see anything else in
creation but the forces of nature. The brilliant icon of the Holy
Creator and its marvelous beauty for him remain hidden and unknown to
him. His vision is out of focus in the immensity of creation. He does
not see the beauty of creation anywhere. He does not find the beauty of
God’s wisdom. He does not marvel at the great power of God. He does
not discover the goodness of God; divine providence, justice and the
love of the Creator toward creation. His mind cannot go beyond the
physical world. Neither can he go beyond the realm of his senses. His
heart remains insensitive before the image of divine wisdom and power.
Being like this does not give birth to any feelings of worship. His lips
remain sealed. His mouth is motionless. His tongue is wearisome.
Wearisome is his turmoil. His turmoil is pain and his pain is despair.
All things until now that attracted his attention have lost their grace.
This is so because all the joys of life that he experienced are unable
to make him happy.
As long as the heart of man has been created so that God can
dwell in it, the ultimate joy of man revels and rejoices in this
goodness because this is found only in God. But from the heart of an
unbeliever, God has departed. The human heart has limitless yearnings
since it was created to contain and seek out the unlimited. As long as
the heart of the unbeliever is no longer filled with the infinite God,
everything around him groans with despair. He seeks and desires after
things but nothing satisfies him. And this is so because all the
pleasures of life are powerless to fulfill the emptiness of the human
heart.
When the true pleasures and activities of the world are
turned off, the heart is left with a feeling of bitterness. The vain
glories of the world are turned into grief. The unbeliever ignores that
the happiness of man is not found by indulging in worldly pleasures but
are found in the love of God, which is infinite and eternal good. It
is here where we find the misfortune of those who ignore God. He who
denies God is like that person who denies his happiness and its unending
blessedness. The unfortunate one struggles with the toilsome battles
of life without the presence of God.
And so, in despair and fear nestled in his heart, the
unbeliever walks to his already opened grave. The miraculous work that
unfolds before his eyes is played out on the world stage and is directed
by divine wisdom, grace and power. All these things pass by him
completely unnoticed. These things play a principal role in ones’ life
with the assistance of harmony and divine goodness. Although the sweet
water of the river of joy and happiness flows by his feet, he is unable
in his disbelief to quench the dryness of his tongue. It is a thirst
that burns him because the running water from the gurgling well is
unshaken because his voice cannot be heard coming out of his chest,
singing praises; glorifying and thanking God.
The joy that is unfurled in the universe has forsaken the
heart of the unbeliever because God has distanced Himself from it. The
emptiness has been filled with sorrow. It remains obstinate because of
the absence of a desire to seek the spiritual has overwhelmed his soul.
He is misled in this dark night without any light, a night where no
beam of light enlightens his darkened avenues. There is no one to
direct and guide his steps. In the race of life he is alone. He
navigates life without the hope of a better life. He walks among many
traps and there is no one to free him from them. He falls into these
traps and is burdened by the weight of them. There is no one to relieve
him of his sorrow.
The peace of the soul and the quietness of the heart have
been banished by disbelief. Grief has bound up the depths of his heart.
The joy which a believer finds in fulfilling the holy commandments and
the joy that comes from a moral life is for the unbeliever unknown. Joy
that comes from faith has never visited the heart of the unbeliever.
The conviction which flows from faith in divine providence and which
lighten the struggles of life is an unknown power to the unbeliever.
The feeling of thanksgiving and favor that comes from love
is a great mystery to the unbeliever. The disbeliever who places
material things first has limited true happiness for himself in a very
limited circle of fleeting enjoyment. This is so because he is always
attempting to satisfy himself with material things. The desire for
virtue is for him completely foreign. He has not tasted the sweetness
of this grace. The disbeliever has overlooked that which is the source
of true joy and he is rushing without realizing it, toward the source of
bitterness. Indulgence filled his worldly desires and in fulfilling
them has only brought him nothing but emptiness. This emptiness brought
faith but then slipped away and fell from his lips.
Oh, unfortunate slave of a difficult tyrant! How did they
steal the joy of life from you? How did they rip away from you this
profound treasure? You lost your faith. You denied your God. You denied
His revelation to you and then you threw away the bountiful gift of
divine grace. How unfortunate is the life of such a person! This life
is filled with a whole host of troubles for the unbeliever because the
delight of life has lost its flavor before his very eyes. Nature around
him appears sterile and infertile because it does not fill him with any
sense of joy and delight. He does not rejoice in any of the creations
of God. A veil of grief envelopes all of nature and it no longer
attracts a sense of fascination for him. His life has become an
impossible burden and with the passing of time appears to him to be an
unbearable hardship.
This is why despair appears before him like an executioner
and terrible torturer. It terrorizes the unfortunate man. His courage
has already abandoned him. His resistance is weakened and his moral
moorings have since been corrupted by lack of faith. He appears like a
man who is motivated completely by something else, that is disbelief.
He has surrendered his life to the fearful shackles of despair which are
devoid of mercy and sympathy. The thread of his life is forcefully and
cruelly cut off from the gifts of God and is hurled to the depths of
perdition, to the darkness of hell from where he can only be saved when
he is called by the voice of his Divine Creator. This is the Creator
that he has denied all his life and now he must give account for his
disbelief. Then he will be judged and will be sent to the eternal fire.
http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca/2012/06/icon-of-disbeliever-as-described-by-st.html
