Introduction

The holiness God calls us to is both possible (being, therefore, practical) and impossible (being, therefore, problematic). Christian holiness is problematic because it is absolutely impossible to achieve on our own, unaided that is by God and our brothers and sisters. "… Apart from me" Jesus said, "you can do nothing." (John 15:5) With God’s help though, even the mountain of our pride (the chief obstacle of holiness) can be uprooted and cast aside.

The struggle that we all experience to move this particular mountain is because pride itself hinders us from trusting in God alone to fight for us and our laziness in applying ourselves to the struggle to put God absolutely first in our lives. In Orthodoxy, therefore, our will must be tamed, our lust for autonomy against God’s rule broken. Ascesis, or self renunciation is a discipline that God the Potter can use to resoften the clay so that the resistant aspects of our lives can be remoulded into the divinely shaped humanity which is Christ.

Sometimes God puts before us practical examples of otherwise impossible living … just to show that it can be done; true holiness can be achieved and is the call to all the baptised. Of course, such outstanding examples of sanctity are not to be slavishly followed in the detail. Each person is different and has widely raging temperaments and graces. Nonetheless we venerate the truly outstanding friends of God to inspire us in our own particular journeys and in their fellowship and prayers we truly can make progress. Such are the saints, practical examples of holiness two which each one of us may both aspire and achieve by the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit.  Who knows what God can achieve in our lives if we truly put him first and seek to do his will, if we receive Him as Love and serve him as a lover? What mountaineer looks behind him and says: "Gosh did I really do that?!" We have even less reason to boast and much more reason to have confidence, for our is in Him the All-Holy who works holiness in all his members, in us, in you and me. 

Let us, however, be most practical at this point.  In the matter of ascesis what does God require of us? 

It may be helpful  to consider the passions and false dispositions that war against us and their corresponding remedies. 

For pride we need the ascesis of the cross as an inward and outward discipline.  We must lose our lives in humility order to find them in love. 

For greed we need the ascesis of generosity which can only come from attachment to God alone and not the things of this world that will all ultimately perish and pass in life or certainly upon our death. 

For envy we need the ascesis or sacrifice of thanksgiving; that we render thanks to God not only for our own gifts but also the good things enjoyed by others. 

For unrighteous anger we need to cultivate passionate resistance towards the sins that beset us, converting that restlessness into active opposition to all that is ungodly in our lives. 

For lust we need to convert our sexual energy into sacrificial human warmth, not satisfying in any way ourselves but rather bringing wholesomeness and joy to our relationships. 

For gluttony we need to guard our appetites by restraint in fasting in order that our other desires for self satisfaction may be held in check and transformed into prayer and service.  

For sloth we need the ascesis of attentive watchfulness in prayer, of work and self sacrifice for the Kingdom.

None of this practical holiness is possible without our acquisition of and active cooperation with the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, truth and love.  Holiness matures through a freely consecrated life offered to God without reserve in which our wills and God's will our synergistically conjoined.  As we pursue these goals we shall discover that God is ever leading us into a deeper walk with Him and a discipleship and vocation that will allow our God given charisms (gifts) to achieve their full and intended potential. 

The Christian life then is founded on an apparent paradox ... our utter inability to achieve anything without God and the utter impossibility of that without our full and active consent and self offering.  We see this wonderful Spirit infused synergy pre-eminently in the person and life of the Theotokos .. the All-Holy and Ever Virgin Mary.  She is the archetypal Christian and it is in the graces that she showed forth in her life that we can see what might both achieve and become once we mean business with God.  Without such holiness, such purity of heart, no one shall see God.