Well, today’s article has been inspired by my watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I love the Olympics, it is thrilling just to watch these athletes compete in the various events and I look up to them as role models because I myself take interest in athletics. It has also been an interesting two weeks, A LOT of things have happened.
A few hours before the opening ceremony our Orthodox Christian brother Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia was killed after a practice run at the luge track where he reached a speed of almost 90 miles per hour and flew off the track hitting a steel post. The opening ceremonies of the XXI Winter Olympic Games were dedicated to his memory. The Georgian team wore black armbands and left a space for him in their march. The flags also flew at half staff with a minute of silence for him.
Also I don’t think I have seen as many crashes in the Olympics as I have in these games, practically all the events I have watched in these Olympics from Alpine Skiing to Speed Skating all have had big crashes.
And I have enjoyed watching my favorite Olympic athlete Apolo Anton Ohno speed skate in his third Olympics.
Anyway aside from the details of the games I wanted to write about the analogy of the athlete.
This analogy of the Christian being an athlete was used a few times in the Bible and I would like to expand on that.
First of all, athletes train, they don’t just sit around and expect to become Olympians. They train long and hard. So we too as Christians need to train ourselves through praying to God, reading the Bible, spiritual books, going to church, serving, showing love to others, controlling ourselves, and practicing the rest of the virtues.
When athletes train their bodies burn because of the acids secreted in their muscles. If you have ever tried to run a long time without stopping you know what I mean. But the athletes don’t give in to these feelings they keep going, they have a strong will and their will is stronger than the discomfort they feel in their bodies. We too have to have a strong will, especially in times like these when we are fasting. When we see, smell, or think of a hamburger, or chicken, or eggs, or whatever other type of food that is not permitted for fasting, we have to control ourselves and make our will stronger than our desires. And also not only in fasting but when an opportunity comes for us to sin, we don’t. We should be able to say no to these types of things when they come up in front of us to tempt us.
Training also increases endurance. This takes time, nobody can exercise one day and expect to become superman tomorrow. This process takes time, and sometimes a long time at that. Same with us, we can’t all of a sudden want to pray all the hours of the Book of Hours, memorize several psalms, finish the Bible quickly, and most importantly (and dangerously) want to instruct others in Christ. All this has to be done gradually. If we want to pray the Book of Hours, we should start praying one psalm in the beginning. If we want to memorize several psalms, how about we start with one verse. If we want to finish the Bible, how about we start by reading a couple of chapters at a time instead of an entire book. And if we want to instruct others in Christ, we should have spent a long time in the faith and in practicing virtues, so we can teach being both doers and hearers of the word (James 1:22). This is why patience is a virtue because we wait on God to work in us until we clearly see the end result, when we become likened to His Son Jesus Christ.
Training however, especially in the level of the Olympics, requires coaches. Coaches, firstly, are athletes themselves, and specifically to the sport they are coaching. So they know very well how the sport works, and most importantly they see things that you don’t. For example, figure skaters might be happy with their performance, but their coach might see that they land in an unsafe way so he advises them to do it another way. Even though it might be a little change in landing form for the figure skaters, it might be much more physically challenging on them. But if the skaters take the advice, they are safe now, and are perfected in their technique. Because of these qualities, coaches are able to guide their athletes to the highest of levels. For us our spiritual coaches are our Fathers of Confession. They see things we don’t, and they advise us on how to change (repentance), even though it might seem hard on us, it will perfect us in the end. This also requires humility to achieve, which the athletes have, because sometimes our Fathers of Confession might tell us things we don’t like or even want to hear, but if we are humble, we will see that what they are saying is true and we will obey.
Athletes also have a strict diet, so they can maintain their weight and maintain their performance ability. We should have a strict diet both with physical eating and with spiritual food. Physically eating too much is a sin in itself (or having a strong uncontrollable desire for food), gluttony. Even if one is thin, and doesn’t gain weight after eating too much, this is still gluttony. Fasting helps us exercise control over gluttony, and if one breaks a fast (unless they have a reason pertaining to health or another reason absolved by the Father of Confession), this is gluttony, even if it’s one small piece of food, because one’s desire for food was stronger than the desire to fast and spend time with God. With spiritual food we have to take in as much as helps and this differs between believers, not all believers are on the same spiritual level of progression. Maybe when we read the Bible we read an entire book at a time, but do so once in a long time. But one who reads three chapters a day from the Bible everyday for a year will finish the Bible in one year. It’s like the story of the Hare and the Turtle. The hare got into a race with the turtle, which is a very slow animal, and to show off the hare used to run much farther ahead of the turtle then rest for a while, but the turtle had patience and never stopped moving until the hare lost focus after his many runs and rests and the turtle won. So we should have a spiritual diet where we are constantly growing and becoming stronger.
The final point, and the one that I think to be most important, is that the athletes know themselves. They know who they are, their sport, their abilities, their weaknesses, their strategies, routines, and their goals. We too have to know ourselves, if we don’t we can’t continue in the faith. We must know our abilities so we can know how to serve God and the Church. We must know our weaknesses so we don’t do something that tempts us or causes us to fall into sin. We must know God, the Bible, our Church and goals, otherwise we will be easily shaken. We must know how to grow, going back to the patience and temperance. As St. Paul says, “Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Therefore we should learn from the analogy of the athletes and start during this Holy Fast to spend more time with God, and we should do everything as our Church prescribes, because the Church is our Mother and She brings us to Christ. So let us be athletes: “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
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