Akistata su šventumo fenomenu Antano Maceinos „Saulės giesmėje“
FACING THE PHENOMENON OF HOLINESS IN ANTANAS MACEINA’S “THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN”

Summary/Abstract: St. Francis of Assisi was a personage who, according to the eminent Lithuanian philosopher, Antanas Maceina, understood the purpose of a human life as a calling to glorify God with one’s entire being. The world view of the holy man from Assisi was, in the true sense of the word, holistic: in one sense, embracing the human being, God and nature and, in another, awakening all internal human powers to “sing” the wondrous and incessant hymn of life. Maceina wrote “Saulės giesmė” (“The Canticle of the Sun”) attempting to give the analysis of the philosophy of St. Francis’ life. Although Maceina used quite a lot of biographical data in his comprehensive monograph on Francis, he did not limit himself to factual material. He attempted to perceive the deep motives in the behavior of a holy man. The phenomenon of the saints holds an important place in Christianity. Catholic and Orthodox Christianity are unimaginable without the esteem of the saints, the importance of their life examples, the studies of their scriptures and the practice of their daily intercession. It is paradoxical that, despite of the attention the saints receive in the official as well as private life of the Church, it is not an easy task to define the notion of a saint. In the first place, it would appear that a saint could be described as a person of greater than usual goodness. However, a saint is not simply a very “good” or a very devoted person but also a very mysterious person. Antanas Maceina accurately notices that holiness manifests as virtues but it is not compiled of virtues. Holiness contains all virtues; however, it also contains something that provides it with a new quality of essence. In theology it is called a heroic virtue. In real life, a saint often appears not only as a mysterious but also an unpredictable persona. Rather frequently he/she undertakes actions which are unusual, novel and unexpected. Numerous saints were true innovators, raising new initiatives which later reaped excellent results. Thereby the mysterious quality in a saint’s heart that is invisible to others around has a special power - to awaken unanticipated forms of activities. Such new forms of actions arise from a subtle and courageous insight which God grants to a saint. As it is hard to comprehend saints, erroneous and strange interpretations of sanctity are often found today. The most erroneous submissions regarding the phenomenon of saints are following: • Extolment. Sometimes, when talking about saints, the accent is on what makes them incomprehensible and distant from the reality of a common person’s daily life. Saints are presented in a one-sided way, i.e. as people distinguished by uncommon gifts that had exceptional powers and lived unusual lives. • Derogation. This is an effort to present saints as people who differ by nearly nothing from the majority of faithful and practicing Christians. Presumably they were just like we are. They might not have even avoided moral mistakes. They

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