Wisdom calls the foolish to herself

It is remarkable that Wisdom calls the foolish to herself: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hith­ er (Prov. 9:4).[1] Thus, the clever cannot enter into the house of Wis­ dom, or the holy Church. Any clev­ erness must be laid aside at the very entrance to this house. On the other hand, if all wisdom and knowledge are only located inside the house of Wisdom, then outside of this house, outside of the holy Church there is only foolishness, ignorance and blindness. How marvellous is God’s institution! Leave your intellect be­ hind upon entering the Church, and you will become truly intelligent; leave your independent activity and you will become truly active; deny all of yourself and you will become a true ruler over yourself. Oh, when will the world comprehend this wis­ dom! But this wisdom is hidden from the world. The world rebels a­ gainst the wisdom of God because it does not understand that it, and keeps those foolish “clever ones” in its blindness

[1]The Slavonic for Prov. 9:4 reads Whoso is foolish, let him turn in hith­ er.

Saint Theophan the Recluse