The Making of Miracle -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

    Both religion and science — modern physics in particular— operate in the realm of faith based on the evidence of things not seen. Ask a physicist how many particles of non-baryonic "dark matter" he has seen, weighed and measured. "None", he will have to answer. "Why, then, do you believe in it." The only answer he can give is, "on the evidence of things not seen." Higgs Boson is another construct accepted on the evidence of things not seen. Cosmic string theorists must give a similar answer with regard to cosmic strings (although they are not so certain that they do exist).

    Quantum mechanics is not a final theory, but a transitional phase of physics. It has led us to understand that, from the perspective of human reason, strangeness and mystery are prevailing conditions of all existence. As we transition in modern physics, how much greater will the mystery become and how much more will the "strangeness" confound our reason?

   Each field in the universe interacts with all other fields. Two particles emanating from the same quantum construct continue to communicate with each other and affect each other no matter how far apart they become. Both physics and the Orthodox Christian spiritual life are focussed on energy and light. Energy is about relationships. The soul as intelligent energy, God Who communicates his uncreated energy, and the saints who communicate the energy of divine grace: none of these concepts is any more beyond human reason than the realities of quantum physics. If there are interactive fields in the physical universe, then why not in the spiritual universe, in which the prayers of the saints affect those for whom they pray? Why should not the spiritual energy of the saint reach out to the one toward whom it is directed? Ask as well how particles communicate by means of virtual particles that "borrow" energy from the universe, or how a neutrino changes back and forth from electron to tau as it travels from sun to earth. Ask for a clear and definite, provable answer about the actual nature of gravity. Is it a force, a distortion of space-time? Is there such thing as a graviton, and does it leak out of our universe or seep away into a different dimension? Are cosmological constants always, or ever, constant? Can you prove to me beyond all shadow of doubt that there are three quarks in every baryon? That there is a quark and antiquark in every meson? Does gravity work the same in other galaxies as it does in ours? Are there more than four dimensions in our universe? Is there a spiritual energy that is somehow analogous to physical energy? if so, could spiritual energy like physical energy sometimes be manifested in a material form?

    Are the acts of divine grace and the miracles of the saints all actions of spiritual energy, and if so, is this really so much more difficult to apprehend than the mysteries and strangeness of the quantum world? And do we not apprehend both from the evidence of things not seen, which is the essence of faith?

    Father Philotheos Zervakos is venerated for many things, and credited with miracles being fulfilled through his prayers.

    To me, his great gifts were his wisdom and profound understanding of humanity. Father Philotheos had a gift for bringing peace and harmony into people's hearts, and into relationships between people. He not only reconciled enemies, but also reconciled people with life itself. He also filled hearts with peace and hope in the face of death. He operated in the realm of the energy of grace, and touched all who came to him with that energy, that grace which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This is hardly strange to those who have faith in God, and should not be so strange to those who have faith in the operations of quantum physics.

Lazar Puhalo

** In addition, two lectures by the Archbishop can be found here:

1. Faith and Compassion: http://archbishoplazar.podbean.com/mf/web/d2zh4k/ElevationoftheCross.mp3

2. Faith versus Relgion: http://archbishoplazar.podbean.com/mf/web/5imy4/FaithvsReligion.mp3