As the Saint Constantine College registrar, academic advising is an important part of my job. Each semester, students meet with me to review their Degree Completion Plan: a document that outlines every semester, every class, and every requirement needed to graduate. For the first-year freshman, staring down four years and 124 credits can be, understandably, a little overwhelming. This experience isn’t so different from the young student staring down a huge tree they want to climb, the middle schooler staring down the comprehensive math final, the high schooler staring down the 1,000+ pages of War and Peace that must be read, and the adult staring down the work of raising children or building a career. Our lives are filled with big tasks that require hard work.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, a 4^th century theologian and Archbishop of Constantinople, wrote a series of theological orations called, On God and Christ. In the second oration, titled “On the Doctrine of God”, St. Gregory explores the ways in which man can know God. “To know God is hard, to describe Him impossible.” he says. However, man is not meant to despair and turn away, even so. St. Gregory argues that the “corporeal gloom” that stands between man and God is not because He resents our knowledge of Him, but because, “what is gained by effort is usually kept; what is lightly gained is quickly spurned because it can be gained anew.”

This quotation is placed prominently at the top of every College student’s Degree Completion Plan. While St. Gregory was talking about knowledge of God, and therefore human sanctification, it’s a principle that Christians should take to heart in all our work. The big tree, the math test, the massive Russian novel, the four-year degree, the work of a marriage, the gift of child-rearing, the struggle towards sanctification; God has given us a lifetime of opportunities to learn that the good, true, and beautiful are only gained by effort. We may be easily stuck in our “corporeal gloom,” but through diligent, attentive hard work we train our souls to be able to know God. 

Education must cultivate in students an openness to effort, helping them assess the risk, struggle towards knowledge, and ultimately reap the benefit of hard work. This responsibility to children is certainly shared by teachers, parents, pastors, and the community at large. At Saint Constantine, the daily work of teachers and students is encouraging one another to value the effort required to gain true virtue, wisdom, and joy, such that one day we might see the face of God.