Monthly Archives: May 2022

For the Weak, I Have Become Weak

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Seraphim of Sarov lived as a hermit in a log cabin for 25+ years and is one of the most renowned Russian saints. He is generally considered the greatest of the 18th-century startsy (elders). Seraphim extended the monastic teachings of contemplation, theoria and self-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to receive the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst his devotees is “acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”

For the weak, I have become weak so that I might win over the weak; to all people I have become all things so that I might surely save some. All these things I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I might share in it. (1 Cor. 9:22-23)

St. Paul behaves as someone “under the law,” bound by Jewish observances, when he is with those who consider themselves obligated to keep the Old Testament observances and then behaves as someone “outside the law,” not bound by such observances, when he is with people who do not consider themselves obligated to keep such observances. The “weak” are a euphemism that parallels those “under the law,” the Christians in Corinth that think they are obligated to maintain the Old Testament practices.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem preached that Christ himself did likewise, becoming whatever was needed by those he was with:

Everywhere the Savior becomes all things to all men. To the hungry, bread; to the thirsty, water; to the dead, resurrection; to the sick, a physician; to sinners, redemption.

Sermon on the Paralytic, 10

St. Paul was accused of being a chameleon, an inconsistent crowd-pleaser who altered his behavior to please whoever he was with. He insists that his behavior was not inconsistent to please the crowd; rather, his behavior was completely consistent with the Gospel so that he could spend time with those who needed to hear the Good News. His behavior is consistent with bringing salvation to everyone, whether they keep the Old Testament laws or not.

St. Paul points out that his salvation–his “sharing in the Gospel”–depends on his making the Gospel available to others. The Good News of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection is available to everyone but St. Paul cannot share it if he keeps this Good News to himself. He must share it if it is to benefit him. His salvation depends on the salvation of others.

This communal attitude about salvation became common in the Christian East. St. Seraphim of Sarov, a Russian monk who lived at the same time as Mozart and George Washington, said that anyone who saves themselves saves a thousand people around them. To save oneself, in St. Seraphim’s view, is to achieve peace and fellowship with God in Christ. That peace and fellowship radiates out into the lives around a person just as waves ripple out from a pebble thrown into a pond.

No one is saved unless everyone is saved. I ask myself, how might I contribute to this process in a way that invites people in rather than makes them feel excluded?

Food Offered to Idols

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What is most frequently offered in religious rituals? Food! Religious food practices shape communities–what people do or do not offer to the gods and do or do not eat together identifies who we are as societies. What the Hebrews and the Egyptians ate before the Exodus helped distinguish the two communities. Read about food in ancient Egypt here.


So, concerning food that is offered to idols. We know that in the world an idol is nothing and there is no God but one…. But food will not put us in the presence of God. We are not inferior if we do not eat nor are we superior if we do eat. (1 Cor. 8:4, 8)

The parish in Corinth was torn apart by several disputes, one of which involved what was or was not legitimate to eat. It was meat that had been sacrificed to idols was the problem. The obvious question is, “Then why not just go buy meat from the kosher butcher?” No problem with idols then. Problem solved.

There was a large Jewish community in Corinth with plenty of kosher butchers. I could spend 20 minutes–or several hundred words–talking or writing about how the animosity between the Jewish and the Christian communities was ready to boil over at the least provocation. Christian patronage of kosher butchers was simply not possible. Tensions between the two communities were just too high.

The Christian neighbors that needed to experience God’s peace and harmony in Corinth were more than just two theological factions or two groups that wouldn’t eat together or speak to each other at coffee hour. The labels of “weak” and “strong” throughout the epistles are code words for ethnic identity and social status. The weak were the Jewish believers, the socially disadvantaged, those on the periphery of the culture, the people who could be expelled from town because the powers-that-be don’t want to be bothered with them—just as the Jews had been expelled from Rome several times already. (Many of the Jews in Corinth being, in fact, refugees who had settled there after the most recent expulsion from the great capital, only a few years before St. Paul came preaching there.)

The strong were the Gentile believers, the socially powerful and important, the people who would probably think that it might actually be a good idea to expel the “weak” from town if they got too troublesome or demanding.

St. Paul declared that he would give up meat forever—that he would fast as the Prophet Daniel had fasted in Babylon because there was no kosher meat available—to maintain the harmony of the Christian community. St. Paul said that anyone who joined him in that fast, joined him in maintaining that harmony would also be maintaining the harmony not only of the community but the harmony of their personal relationship with God. The fast established and maintained the love and reconciliation between members of the congregation. The fast—like the holy kiss—was an expression of love for both God and neighbor.

“We Have Knowledge!”

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Traditional Easter baskets are full of eggs, meat, cheese, and holiday Easter bread. People bring their baskets to church to be blessed and share the food with their families, friends, and neighbors. Community identity is forged by what people do or do not eat together.


Concerning food that has been offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs us up but love builds us up. If anyone thinks that he or she knows something, that one does not yet know as he or she ought to know. (1 Cor. 8:1-2)

Having spent all of chapter 7 talking about various aspects of marriage, St. Paul turns to the subject of food. He discusses various aspects of food for the next three chapters of this epistle. Food was important to the Christians of Corinth. Food is still important to Christians today.

The Corinthian parish had evidently written to St. Paul and asked him several questions about food. What to eat? Who to eat with? How to maintain their Christian identity in connection with food?

St. Paul begins by pointing out that although all the Corinthians claim to have knowledge, there is both “false knowledge” and “true knowledge.” The difference is that true knowledge goes together with love. False knowledge puffs up people, making them proud and arrogant. True knowledge, united with love, brings people into fellowship with each other. “We have knowledge!” was apparently the slogan or motto of the faction of the parish that was proud and arrogant. St. Paul warns these people that too often the people who claim to know more or know better are–in fact–the ones who know the least about the truth.

“Whatever knowledge we may have, it is still imperfect,” said St. John Chrysostom when he was preaching about this passage. “Where God is concerned, we cannot even say just how wrong our perception of him is.” He warns them, “More than anyone else, the arrogant injure themselves.”