I am omniscient: An invitation to claim ignorance when we do not fully understand
One
day, some of the old men came to visit Abba Antony. Abba Joseph was among them.
Wanting to test them, Abba Antony proposed a text from Scripture and asked
them, beginning with the youngest, to explain it. Each one offered his opinion the
best that he could. But to each of them, the old man said, “You did not
understand it.” Lastly, he turned to Abba Joseph, saying, “How would you
explain this saying?” Abba Joseph replied, “I do not know.” Then Abba Antony
said, “Truly, Abba Joseph has found the way; for he said, ‘I do not know.’”
I recently noticed that we somehow feel
that we have to form some kind of an opinion about everything, including disciplines
that we might not have much knowledge about. A new type of hidden pressure is
at work in us today—the pressure of being omniscient. We somehow have come to believe
that we should have an answer for everything. Somehow, we think that we have to
answer every question with confidence and assurance, as if we are some form of
a human encyclopedia.
Reading the story above should put
all of us at ease and relieve us from this pressure. St.
Antony commended Abba
Joseph for answering with “I do not know.” Because Abba ![]() |
St. Anthony The Great |
It’s evident that we know God through
His revelation over time, for God didn’t reveal Himself to us all at once but
continues to reveal Himself. The Scriptures tell us that “I have seen the
consummation of all perfection, But Your commandment is exceedingly
broad” (Ps. 119:96). God is like the sun, revealing Himself to us every day,
and yet is unapproachable in His nature, so we will continue to receive His
revelation as He allows us. Our liturgical prayers clearly express our belief
that God is transcendent, and as a result, we don’t claim to know everything,
so we shouldn’t be quick to give random answers about God that in the end
distort His image and the image of the church. We are also faced with a vast
number of changes in different scientific disciplines, thus discoveries about
man himself and creation as a whole are changing, so forming an Orthodox
opinion on any subject matter needs more studying and careful consideration;
until then, “I don’t know” might come in very handy.
On the other hand, I also believe
that the members of any organization should not expect that any one individual
should have the answers to all questions. It is clear from the history and the
life of the church that the opinion of one individual is not the opinion of the
church at large, but rather it is always the opinion of the synod or the
council that affirms the faith and its practices.
Unanswered questions are just an opportunity
for further research and study. Unanswered
questions leave room for prayers.
Unanswered questions could mean that maybe God wants them to remain unanswered.
Let us all be slow to speak and consider all factors before jumping into
answers. Let us love knowledge and the spirit of discipleship, let us pray
before answering, and let us be willing to say, “I do not know.”
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