ABC: From a sermon by Metropilitan Chrysostomos (MRMDC FAMEE)

 March 12, 2017:

От проповед, произнесена
на празника на св. Григорий Палама
от митрополит Хризостом:

Митрополит Киприян на Оропос и Фили, който пребивава в манастира на Свв. Киприян и Юстина във Фили, Гърция, на който този манастир е μετόχιον, или метох, много обича да цитира нещо, което може да се нарече "мантра"-та — ако мога да използвам така възприетия термин по един изцяло християнски начин — на св. Григорий Палама: "Kύριε, φώτισόν μου τὸ σκότος!" или "Господи, просвети моя мрак!" Това била постоянната молба на светеца, и бих искал да я използвам, за да въведа няколко елементарни думички за двете нива на духовния живот, които св. Григорий, архиепископ Солунски от четиринадесети век и един от най-видните богослови на Православната Църква, така перфектно и прозорливо осветли за нас: едно светило хвърлящо светлина върху нашия мрак.

 Свети Григорий, роден в благородно византийско семейство, дало шест други светци монаси, беше богослов и гений, донесъл похвала за себе си от най-високопоставените представители на императорския двор. И все пак, той избра да служи на Бога като прост монах, като отшелник (аскет), и дори, за кратко време, като пещерен обитател. Той се бореше, като всички нас, да угоди на Бога, да се предаде на Църквата и да достигне до познаване на Бог чрез искрена вяра. Той стори вътрешен – така, че съзнанието му и човешката му воля да съответстват на Божия шепот и на Божията Воля вътре в сърцето му – земния си живот на външноо подчинение на – и любов към – семейството му, колегите му, монашеските му събратя, страната му и ближния му.

 Правейки това, той със сигурност се приближил до Бог, първоначално, както всички ние правим: през завесата на плътта, с антропоморфни представи за Него. Но той не сякаш не бил обременен – както повечето от нас сме – от съмненията за Бога, че Злият посява в нас като ни подбужда – ако не към неверие, най-малкото към изкушението да схващаме Бога, Който ни е е сътворил, в габаритите на създадени от самите нас мисли и заблуди – сътворените от Бога да сътворяват Твореца по собствения си образ. Той имал дълбоката добродетел да се бои от Бога, което води до любов към Бог. И тъй като любовта към Бог прогонва съмненията, Той открил Бога на Нетварната Светлина, Който се надвишава – както ни учи Отец – всички човешки образи и представи.

 Свети Григорий Палама, отново като всички нас, трябвало да се задоволи с онези, които се стремят да превърнат Църквата е едно удължаване на егото си, придавайки на институцията на църквата човешки страсти: арогантност, както сред вярващите, така и сред духовниците, ревност, негодувание, дребнавост, понасянето на недоволства, омраза към (на) другите в името Христово, триумфализъм и прокламации на лична "чистота" на изповеданието. (И наистина, каква чистота на Вярата има в нещо, което не води до любов към враговете ни, към грешниците, и дори към еретиците, за които трябва да жадуваме с цялата си душа да излекуваме от духовната им болест?) Също така сигурен съм, че той виждал и ония, които в заблудата си и болни от грях оскверняват Църквата със своите страсти и извращения, твърдейки, че са свети. И подобно на много мъченици и светци, той претърпя затвор, не само по време на залавянето му от неверници, а също така и в ръцете на Църквата и на византийските "латинизатори", които го презираха за неговата защита на Православието.

 При сблъсъка с всички тези неща на по-ниското ниво на духовен живот, които са отразени в институционалните несъвършенствата на Неопетнената Църква, той ни предаде един чудесен урок. Той не извика със силни викове на праведен гняв; не заяви предпочитанието си да умре, пред лицето на едно Православие, нападнато от противящите му се сили; нито укори онези, които, съвсем истинно, наистина бяха достойни за укор по действията си да го преследват. Вместо това, обръщайки уйора и отговорността за всичко, сполетяло го, върху самия себе си и осъждайки собствения си мрак (защото колкото по-близо стигаме до Бог, толкова повече считаме себе си за грешни – и в тази близост до източника на Любовта, прощаваме и прегръщаме онези, които ни правят лошо), той неумолимо извика: "Kύριε, φώτισόν μου τὸ σκότος!" "Господи, просвети моя мрак"!

 Като го чул, Бог излял Нетварната Светлината на Своето Същество върху св. Григорий, който бил предал сърцето си на Бог, а ума си на духовно съзерцание. Сърцето на светеца станало изгарящ пламък, светъл факел на таинствено прозрение, и хранилище на мъдрост. Това преобразявало него, следващите го, както и света около него. Бог, изцяло неизразимият Бог, Бидейки Сам Себе Си, разкрил Себе Си в сърцето и пречистените ум и емоции на св. Григорий, така че той станал едно с Божествените Енергии на Бог. Той се обединил с Благодатта Христова, превръща се в един "малък Иисус Христос" вътре в Иисус Христос, и по един непознаваем начин достигнал до познание на Бог, Който е и не е, Чието "биване" надминава категориите ни за съществуване и несъществуване, Който е самото Биване, и Който Се разкрива на онези, в които Той обитава с оглушителния гръм от духовна тишина, на която светът не обръща никакво внимание.

 Ако в този по-висок духовен живот, св. Григорий Палама имаше девиз, който присъства навсякъде в неговите писания и учения, то със сигурност ще бъде утвърждаването, което предварително направил в съвет към една монахиня: утвърждаването, че "Ζωὴ δέ ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἡ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν ἕνωσις, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἡ πρὸς ψυχήν ἕνωσις; тоест, "Животът на душата е единение (съюз) с Бога, точно както животът на тялото е съюз с душата." Когато обединяваме нашите тела с душите си, а сетне душите си с Бог, това единение с Любовта в Бога ни завещава Нов Живот и едно вътрешно виждане за духовните неща, което променя – следва да го кажа, изцяло преобразява – разбирането ни за Бог и за Църквата.

 Ние вече не вярваме в Бог, борейки се със спънките на арогантния човешки интелект, тегленето на страстите, или с тежкото, депресиращо теглото на съмнението; по-скоро, ние живеем вътре в Бога, общуваме (причастяваме се) с Божествените Му Енергии, обединени по Благодат с Христа, като ставаме истински наследници и синове и дъщери Божии. Като вземаме своето съществуване отвътре на Неговото Биване (Същество), ние преминаваме от това да вярваме в Бога, към това да намираме реалността на нашето съществуване в Него, като Го прегръщаме чрез Иисуса Христа, с Когото Отец е Едно, като наш Отец по осиновение и (като) източник на това, за което истински сме предназначени: да сме перфектни служители и деца на непознаваемия ни Отец, Когото сме виждали в Неговия Син, Архетипът на собствената ни истинска природа.

 Църквата, в по-възвисения живот на Христос, не е просто едно събрание. Това не е просто едно място, където ние участваме в богослужение и се пристъпяме към Бог. Това не е просто място за другарство. Това не е просто място, където несъвършените ни човешки личности се присъединят с други, за да се стремят към познаване на Бога. Тя не е онази институция, която е така затрупани с човешките слабости и страсти, че дори и Злият успява да си намери едно ъгъл в нея, от където да хвърля своите стрелички и стрели. Това – за просветените – се превръща в "Божия дом," свещено пространство, в "духовна дупка" водеща от една реалност в друга, и в мястото, където в страхопочитание се срещаме с Бога. Именно поради тази причина ние правим Църквата великолепна и богата, понеже напасваме най-финото и най-чистото от това, с което разполагаме на земята с (да съответства на) неизразимата, неописуема красота, която просиява, в това свещено пространство, от Бога. Онова което човешките ни усилия за красота не успяват да осигурят, Бог ни дарува по своята Любов и Благодат.

 В по-възвисения живот на Църквата, ние биваме издигнати, преобразавани, обвързани един с друг, и защитени и усъвършенствани от Таинствата, които се извършват там. В Църквата, ние намираме ядрото на човешкия живот: източникът на всичко, което търсим и от което се нуждаем. Ние го запечатваме и го премахваме, ако напълно го разбираме, от всичко, което е "ежедневно" и обикновено. Ние се опияняваме от Новото му Вино, което не замърсява ума, а пречиства сетивата, очиства емоциите, и ни носи умосърдечна радост и тържествуващи настроения, които избухват в сълзи, течащи по душата като нектар по вече узрели и сладки плодове. В края на краищата, когато осъзнаем пълнотата на живота, съдържащ се вътре в Църквата, тя вече не е прозорец към един друг свят; тя е врата от преддверието на нашия лъжеживот към истинския живот. Институцията на Църквата избледнява с присияването на същността й с преобразяващи лъчи светлина.

 Свети Григорий Палама, следователно, обединява земния ни живот с вечния живот. Ако се вслушваме в него, то се радваме там, където сме: монаси, които танцуват от радост от това, което вкусват, и от това това, с което някой ден, в другия живот – който вече е нахлул в този живот – ще пируват, а миряните се присъединяват в този танц. Свети Григорий обединява живот и задгробен живот ведно с Христа; той ни отвежда от борба към триумф, и ни дава да сурнем – още в този живот – онова, що ни очаква в при завръщането към истинския наш дом и Иснтинния ни Отец.

From a sermon preached
on the Second Sunday of Lent
by Metropilitan Chrysostomos:

A Sermon on the Feast Day of
St. Gregory Palamas
Great Lent 2017

by the Most Reverend Chrysostomos

Former Metropolitan of Etna

In the Name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spir­it.
At the re­quest of His Emi­nence, Bish­op Aux­en­tios, I would like to say a few words about St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas, whose mem­o­ry we cel­e­brate to­day and to whom our monastery is ded­i­cat­ed, and about the Or­di­na­tion that will oc­cur to­day.
I would like to be­gin my re­marks by con­grat­u­lat­ing His Emi­nence, our Rul­ing Bish­op (prop­er­ly and his­tor­i­cal­ly our “Metropoli­tan”); all the mem­bers of the broth­er­hood, and es­pe­cial­ly Archi­man­drite Gre­go­ry, who is cel­e­brat­ing his Name­day to­day; as well as Father Pho­tios Coop­er, the Rec­tor of the small parish in Port­land, Ore­gon, that serves as the Cathe­dral Church for the Dio­cese of Et­na and Port­land, who is cel­e­brat­ing the an­niver­sary of his Or­di­na­tion on this day. Χρόνια Πολλά! Many Years!
I would al­so like to con­grat­u­late Sub­dea­con James Kal­basky, whom His Emi­nence will or­dain to the first lev­el of the Apos­tolic Pri­est­hood, the Di­a­conate, lat­er this morn­ing in the Li­tur­gy. Sub­dea­con James is one of the finest stu­dents that we ev­er had in the for­mer the­o­log­i­cal pro­gram of the Cen­ter for Tra­di­tion­al­ist Ortho­dox Stud­ies, and he brings great joy to us by his ad­vance­ment in ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal ser­vice. By an­tic­i­pa­tion, I wish you—soon to be, by the Grace of God, Dea­con Father—James, and your wor­thy wife—soon to be Di­akonis­sa—Mar­i­anne ev­ery bless­ing. Ἄξιος!
I al­so wel­come all of our vis­i­tors, as His Emi­nence will do for­mal­ly at the Or­di­na­tion ban­quet lat­er this af­ter­noon, to our monas­tic com­mu­ni­ty, my spir­i­tu­al home in re­tire­ment, thank­ing you for your pres­ence on this aus­pi­cious oc­ca­sion for the monastery and for Sub­dea­con James. With un­bri­dled joy, I es­pe­cial­ly wel­come His Emi­nence, the Most Rev­erend Ser­gios, re­tired Bish­op of Port­land, Archi­man­drite Father Pa­trick, who will short­ly be en­throned as Ab­bot of our sis­ter in­sti­tu­tion, the Monastery of St. Gre­go­ry of Si­nai, in Kelseyville, Cal­i­for­nia, where Bish­op Ser­gios lives in re­tire­ment, and Hierodea­con Father Mos­es, a broth­er of the monastery. Last­ly, al­low me the lib­er­ty, which I know that he will grant me, of ex­tend­ing to all of you the bless­ing of the First Hier­ar­ch of the Amer­i­can Eparchy of our Church, Metropoli­tan Demetrios.

Metropoli­tan Cypri­an of Oro­pos and Phyle, who re­sides at the Monastery of Sts. Cypri­an and Justi­na in Phyle, Greece, of which this monastery is a μετόχιον, or de­pen­den­cy, is very fond of quot­ing what one might call the “mantra,” if I may use that adopt­ed term in a whol­ly Chris­tian way, of St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas: “Kύριε, φώτισόν μου τὸ σκότος!” or “Lord, en­light­en my dark­ness!” This was the Saint’s con­stant im­plo­ration, and I would like to use it to in­tro­duce a few el­e­men­tary words about two lev­els of spir­i­tu­al life that St. Gre­go­ry, the four­teenth-cen­tu­ry Arch­bish­op of Thes­sa­loni­ki and one of the most em­i­nent the­olo­gians of the Ortho­dox Church, so per­fect­ly and per­spi­ca­cious­ly il­lu­mi­nat­ed for us: a lu­mi­nary shed­ding light on our dark­ness.

St. Gre­go­ry, born in­to a no­ble Byzan­tine fam­i­ly that pro­duced six oth­er monas­tic Saints, was a the­olo­gian and ge­nius who brought praise on him­self from the high­est rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the im­pe­ri­al court. Yet, he chose to serve God as a sim­ple monk, as an as­cetic, and even, for a short time, as a cave-dweller. He strug­gled, like all of us, to please God, to sub­mit him­self to the Church, and to come to know God through sin­cere be­lief. He in­ter­nal­ized, so as to con­form his mind and hu­man will to the whis­pers of God and to God’s Will with­in his heart, his earth­ly life of ex­ter­nal obe­di­ence to, and love for, his fam­i­ly, his col­leagues, his monas­tic brethren, his coun­try, and his fel­low man.

In so do­ing, he sure­ly ap­proached God, ini­tial­ly, as we all do: through the veil of the flesh, with an­thro­po­mor­phic no­tions of Him. But he was not, it seems, bur­dened, as most of us are, by the doubts about God that the Evil One sows in us, prod­ding us, if not to un­be­lief, at least to the temp­ta­tion of grasp­ing God, Who cre­at­ed us, in the di­men­sions of our own cre­at­ed thoughts and delu­sions—those cre­at­ed by God cre­at­ing the Creator in their own im­age. He had the pro­found virtue of fear­ing God, which leads to lov­ing God. And since the love of God dis­pels doubt, He dis­cov­ered the God of Un­cre­at­ed Light, Who tran­scends, as the Fathers teach, all hu­man im­ages and con­cep­tions.

St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas, again like all of us, had to con­tend with those who seek to make the Church an ex­ten­sion of their egos, en­dow­ing the in­sti­tu­tion of the Church with hu­man pas­sions: ar­ro­gance, both among the faith­ful and the cler­gy, jeal­ousy, re­sent­ments, pet­ti­ness, the bear­ing of grudges, the ha­tred of oth­ers in the name of Christ, tri­umphal­ism, and procla­ma­tions of per­son­al “pu­ri­ty” of con­fes­sion. (In­deed, what pu­ri­ty of Faith is there in any­thing that does not lead to love for our en­e­mies, for sin­ners, and even for heretics, whom we should pine with our whole souls to cure of their spir­i­tu­al ill­ness?) I am al­so sure that he saw those who, in their delu­sion and sick with sin, de­file the Church with their pas­sions and per­ver­sions, claim­ing to be holy. And like many of the Mar­tyrs and Saints, he un­der­went im­pris­on­ment, not just dur­ing his cap­ture by in­fi­dels, but al­so at the hands of the Church and the Byzan­tine “La­tiniz­ers,” who de­spised him for his de­fense of Ortho­doxy.

In con­fronting all of these things at the low­er lev­el of spir­i­tu­al life, which are re­flect­ed in the in­sti­tu­tion­al im­per­fec­tions of the Spot­less Church, he taught us a won­der­ful les­son. He did not cry out with loud cries of righ­teous in­dig­na­tion; de­clare his pref­er­ence for death, in the face of an Ortho­doxy as­sailed by the forces coun­ter­ing it; or place his blame on those who, in all truth, were in­deed blame­wor­thy by their ac­tions for his per­se­cu­tion. Rather, turn­ing the blame and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for all that be­fell him on him­self and con­demn­ing his own dark­ness (for the clos­er we come to God, the more we think our­selves sin­ful and, in this close­ness to the source of Love, for­give and em­brace those who do us ill), he in­ex­orably cried out: “Kύριε, φώτισόν μου τὸ σκότος!” “Lord, en­light­en my dark­ness!”

Hear­ing him, God poured forth the Un­cre­at­ed Light of His Be­ing on St. Gre­go­ry, who had sur­ren­dered his heart to God and his mind to spir­i­tu­al con­tem­pla­tion. The Saint’s heart be­came a burn­ing flame, a lu­mi­nous torch of mys­ti­cal in­sight, and a repos­i­to­ry of wis­dom. This trans­formed him, those who fol­lowed him, and the world around him. God, the whol­ly in­ef­fa­ble God, Be­ing It­self, was re­vealed in the heart and pu­ri­fied mind and emo­tions of St. Gre­go­ry, such that he be­came one with the Divine En­er­gies of God. He was unit­ed by Grace to Christ, be­came a “small Je­sus Christ” with­in Je­sus Christ, and came to know in an un­know­able way the God Who is and is not, Whose “Is­ness” sur­pass­es our cat­e­gories of ex­is­tence and non-ex­is­tence, Who is Be­ing it­self, and Who re­veals Him­self to those whom He in­dwells with the deaf­en­ing thun­der of a spir­i­tu­al si­lence un­heed­ed by the world.

If, in this high­er spir­i­tu­al life, St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas had a mot­to that is ev­ery­where present in his writ­ings and teach­ings, it would sure­ly be the af­fir­ma­tion that he made in ad­vice giv­en to a cer­tain nun: the af­fir­ma­tion that “Ζωὴ δέ ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἡ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν ἕνωσις, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἡ πρὸς ψυχήν ἕνωσις; that is, “The life of the soul is union with God, just as the life of the body is union with the soul.” When we unite our bod­ies to our souls, and then our souls to God, this union with Love in God be­queaths to us a New Life and an in­ner vi­sion of things spir­i­tu­al that changes—I should say, whol­ly trans­forms—our un­der­stand­ing of God and the Church.

We no longer be­lieve in God, strug­gling with the im­ped­i­ments of the ar­ro­gant hu­man in­tel­lect, the pull of the pas­sions, or the heavy, de­press­ing weight of doubt; rather, we live with­in God, com­muning with His Divine En­er­gies, unit­ed by Grace with Christ, be­com­ing true in­her­i­tors and sons and daugh­ters of God. Tak­ing our ex­is­tence from with­in His Be­ing, we pass from be­liev­ing in God to find­ing the re­al­i­ty of our ex­is­tence in Him, em­brac­ing Him through Je­sus Christ, with Whom the Father is One, as our Father by adop­tion and the source of what we were tru­ly meant to be: per­fect ser­vants and chil­dren of our un­know­able Father, Whom we have seen in His Son, the Archetype of our own true na­ture.

The Church, in the lofti­er Life of Christ, is not just a gath­er­ing. It is not just a place where we wor­ship and ap­proach God. It not just a place of fel­low­ship. It is not just a place where our im­per­fect hu­man per­son­al­i­ties join with oth­ers to strive to­wards a knowl­edge of God. It is not that in­sti­tu­tion so be­set with hu­man foibles and pas­sions that even the Evil One finds a cor­ner in it from which to throw his darts and ar­rows. It be­comes, for those who are en­light­ened, the “house of God,” sa­cred space, a “spir­i­tu­al worm­hole” from one realm to an­oth­er, and the place where we en­counter God in awe. It is for this rea­son that we make the Church splen­dorous and rich, since we match the finest and purest of what we have on earth with the in­ef­fa­ble, un­speak­able beau­ty that shines forth, in this sa­cred space, from God. What our hu­man ef­forts at beau­ty fail to pro­vide, God gives us by his Love and Grace.

In the high­er life of the Church, we are lift­ed up, trans­formed, bound to one an­oth­er, and pro­tect­ed and per­fect­ed by the Mys­ter­ies that are per­formed there. In the Church, we find the nu­cle­us of hu­man life: the source of all that we seek and need. We seal it off and re­move it, if we ful­ly un­der­stand it, from all that is “ev­ery­day” and com­mon. We be­come ine­bri­at­ed on its New Wine, which does not pol­lute the mind, but cleans­es the sens­es, pu­ri­fies the emo­tions, and brings us noet­ic joy and ex­ul­tant sen­ti­ments that burst forth in tears that flow over the soul like nec­tar over an al­ready ripened and sweet fruit. In the end, when we re­al­ize the full­ness of life that is con­tained with­in the Church, it is no longer a win­dow in­to an­oth­er world; it a door from the an­techam­ber of our false life in­to true life. The in­sti­tu­tion of the Church fades as its essence shines forth with trans­form­ing beams of light.

St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas, there­fore, brings to­geth­er our earth­ly life with eter­nal life. If we heed him, we re­joice where we are: monas­tics danc­ing with joy at what they taste and what they will one day, in the oth­er life—which has al­ready in­vad­ed this life—feast up­on, the lay peo­ple join­ing them in this dance. St. Gre­go­ry brings life and af­ter­life to­geth­er in Christ; he takes us from strug­gle to tri­umph, and he gives us a glimpse, even in this life, of what awaits us in the re­turn to our True Home and our True Father.

Let me fi­nal­ly say to Sub­dea­con James, whose soul is preg­nant, at this mo­ment, with the Pri­est­hood, that he, like all but the very best of us, will serve in the Pri­est­hood by oikono­mia, bur­dened by im­per­fec­tions and past sins. In know­ing so and feel­ing this pain, I urge him to call out to God for for­give­ness. If he will do this un­til his last breath, God will, in the course of his strug­gles, grant him, from time to time, by virtue of the Grace of Pri­est­hood, a high­er vi­sion and an ex­pe­ri­ence of high­er things. Hold on firm­ly to your gift, at such mo­ments, and mov­ing from a plea for for­give­ness, thank God with tears for the gift of union with Him in your in­ner man, touched by God’s Grace. Like St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas, who passed from plead­ing for light to shin­ing forth with light, as those who saw and knew him in his time at­test, you will find great com­fort and hon­or in the Saint whom we to­day hon­or and who will, with­out doubt, bless your Or­di­na­tion.

Bοηθειά μας ὁ Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Παλαμᾶς. May St. Gre­go­ry Pala­mas come to our aid. 

Святыедня, молите Бога о нас!

Преподобный Шио Мгвимский

Преподобный Шио (Симеон) Мгвимский родился в Антиохии Сирской. Родители его были христианами и воспитывали своего сына как единственного наследника. Юноша получил хорошее образование, изучил Священное Писание. Любовь к Слову Божию так глубоко внедрилась в сердце молодого Шио, что он постоянно держал его в уме своем и даже всегда носил при себе Евангелие, послания Апостола Павла и Псалтирь. И уже в ранние годы был одарен способностью толкования Слова Божия.

Узнав о святом подвижнике Иоанне Зедазнийском, Шио тайно покинул родительский дом и направился к святому. Преподобный Иоанн возвратил юношу родителям, предсказав, что и они станут иноками. Предсказание скоро исполнилось: Шио убедил их провести остаток их жизни в иночестве, а сам, употребив в пользу бедных и монастыря оставшееся после них имущество, пришел к преподобному Иоанну, сиявшему в то время в Антиохии и, получив от него пострижение в иночество, сделался его учеником.

Спустя 20 лет преподобный Шио, в числе 12 других избранных учеников святого Иоанна, отправился в Иверию (Грузию) для проповеди Слова Божия.

Послужив этому делу, распространения веры Христовой преподобный Шио пожелал жить отшельником. И по благословению Католикоса Евлалия и своего учителя преподобный Шио направил свой путь на запад от Мцхета в непроходимые дебри лесные. Здесь в пустыне, защищенной отвесными и совершенно крутыми стенами песчаной горы от взора людского, Шио поселился в тесной пещере, им самим высеченной в скале, едва достаточной, чтобы укрыться в ней. И за суровый аскетический подвиг Шио удостоился чудных видений. В скале открылся родник, источающий для отшельника воду, а с пищей прилетал к нему голубь. Этот-то голубь, по изволению Божию, определившему не оставлять под спудом благодатный светильник, открыл людям жилище Шио.

Некто — Евагрий, знатный царедворец, охотясь по обыкновению за рекой Курой, проследил за голубем, носящим пищу отшельнику, и нашел его, погруженного в молитву, с воздетыми к небу руками. Он был так поражен встречей с этим укрывшимся от мира человеком молитвенно предстоящим в пустыне пред лицем Единаго Бога, что, пленившись этим, внезапно сознал и в себе отречение от всего мирского и стал просить дивного отшельника взять его под свое руководство и подвизаться в пещере, всецело предавшись Богу.

С этих пор о Шио стало известно и другим людям в окружности, которые стали селиться близ него, и таким образом собралось до 25 добровольных пустынножителей. На избранном по откровению блаженному Шио месте выстроили они церковь во имя образца пустынножителей — Иоанна Крестителя. Молва о святом подвижнике распространялась, и место его уединенной жизни и подвига стало превращаться в обитель. Когда царь Парсман VI навестил бывшего любимого своего Евагрия в пустыне, то с благоговением отнесся к подвижнику Шио и подарил ему землю под монастырь, доставив значительные средства для построения храмов. Главным из них был храм в честь Успения Божией Матери; второй — в честь Рождества Иоанна Крестителя, где впоследствии и почивали останки преподобного Шио. Все храмы были освящены Католикосом Макарием. Таким образом, преподобный Шио устроил обитель, которая некогда включала в себя множество иноков и называлась, по имени основателя, Мгвимскою (в 30 верстах от Тифлиса). Здесь навестил его бывший учитель его Иоанн Зедазнийский и, погостив три дня, имел отраду удостовериться в высокой степени духовного совершенства новых иноков.

Но стремление к полному уединению преобладало в душе Шио. Он оставил основанную им обитель, простился с братией назидательнейшим словом, оставил для них 160 письменных поручений и, прервав всякое сообщение с миром, обрек себя на затворническую жизнь в темной, глубокой пещере. Пища святому спускалась туда по веревке. Кто может постичь и исчислять несказанные подвиги этого ангела в человеческом теле! Предузнав по откровению час кончины и приобщившись Святых Тайн, преподобный Шио 9 мая кончил свое земное житие. Тело великого затворника, при напутственном пении собравшихся иноков, было погребено в основанной им обители. Святые мощи его и доныне служат ограждением обители, которая одна из немногих уцелела посреди опустошений Грузии.

Преподобный Авксентий

Преподобный Авксентий, по происхождению сириец, служил при дворе императора Феодосия Младшего (418 - 450). Он был известен как добродетельный, ученый и мудрый человек, и имел дружбу со многими благочестивыми мужами своего времени.

Тяготясь мирской суетой, святой Авксентий принял сан пресвитера, а потом и иноческий постриг. После этого, удалившись в Вифинию, он нашел уединенное место на горе Оксия, недалеко от Халкидона, и стал там вести жизнь отшельническую. (Гора эта впоследствии названа была Авксентьевой.) Место подвигов святого было обнаружено пастухами, искавшими заблудившихся овец. Молва о нем разнеслась, и к нему стали приходить люди за исцелением. Именем Божиим святой Авксентий исцелял множество больных и недужных. "

В 451 году святой Авксентий был призван на IV Вселенский Собор в Халкидоне, где и прославился как обличитель Евтихиевой и Несториевой ересей. Великий знаток Священного Писания, святой Авксентий легко посрамлял вступавших с ним в спор противников. По окончании Собора святой Авксентий снова вернулся в свою уединенную келлию на горе. Духовным взором он видел на большом расстоянии кончину святого Симеона Столпника (459). Преподобный Авксентий скончался около 470 года, оставив после себя учеников и устроив многие монастыри в Вифинской области.

Тропарь преподобного Авксентия
глас 1

Пустынный житель, и в телеси Ангел,/ и чудотворец явился еси, Богоносе отче наш Авксентие,/ постом, бдением, молитвою Небесная дарования приим,/ исцелявши недужныя и души верою притекающих ти./ Слава Давшему тебе крепость,/ слава Венчавшему тя,/ слава Действующему тобою всем исцеления.

Кондак преподобного Авксентия
глас 2
Насладився, богомудре, воздержания/ и желания плоти твоея обуздав,/ явился еси, верою сияя,/ якоже сад посреди рая, процвел еси,// Авксентие отче священне.

In memory of Petko Hinov (1972-2022)

 

Petko Hinov

 

Translated from Bulgarian
VID

THOUGHTS ON THE EDGE OF ETERNITY

24.02.2019 PETKO HINOV

We all walk on the edge of eternity - no one ever returns from there, just as the infant does not return to the mother's womb. This world is like the womb in which the infant matures. The goal of this world is the fruit, the human fruit – [namely] the soul saved for eternity, just as the goal of the womb is not the womb itself, but its offspring.

Only a moment separates us from eternity. But how many realize this? Just a pushing, a stabbing, a hitting, a falling… And we are already there: naked, unprepared, with minds still wandering in the madness and mysteries of this world. Imagine infants who are in love with their mother's womb, who prefer its full-blooded darkness to the azure, fragrant [wide] spaces of eternity which we have been created for. Imagine the insult of a mother whose child does not want to be born, to see her, to learn to talk to her, [and] to love her. Imagine the insult of the Doctor who wants a new person to be born into the world. Imagine the futility of searching for eternity where time – doomed to death – conceals its miserable temporary power in the rags of earthly arrogance. What a sad humanity!

The Church - The Orthodox Church of Christ has been founded in order to give birth to us for eternity, for us to evolve from children of animals (yes, by flesh and blood!) into Children of God (born of His Spirit). Mankind, this new animal kingdom that parasitizes on God's gifts and the mercy of God's Spirit, is especially pitiful today, when ugly sin imposes its power everywhere. Prior to our baptism, prior to our deification in Christ [theosis], we are indeed animals with reason and children of animals with reason. Our thought gravitates toward the animal [side], and were it not for God's grace and mercy, we would have been living to prove our kinship with the animal world, if not our origin from it. Man begins with God. Man without God ends up with the animal. In this sense, many monkey phenomena in modern times (one of them being the complete sexual shamelessness) have human origins. Carnal wisdom is the first fruit of forgetting the eternity that makes this world, this womb, to exist. How very close to us eternity is every [single] moment! Only God's mercy protects the infant in the mother's womb so that he would not be born dead. Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord!

(P. Hinov, November 15, 2007)

Word delivered at the funeral of reader Alexyi Davidov - by Bp. Seraphim of Sozopol

 

Word delivered at the funeral of reader Alexyi Davidov [+2021, Feb. 8]

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!

Today we physically part with our beloved reader Alexyi. In his turn, he passed through the gates of death.           

Human experience has shown that death is ingrained in our bodies since conception. We live in a delicate balance of scales between life and death, which in our bodies is observed at a cellular level. When we are growing up, life prevails, and when we are growing old, death prevails.

Likewise in spiritual life. The life of Christians is always on the scales between spiritual death and spiritual revival and living in Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. We are faced with the choice of following the path of sin or the path of life. When we indulge in sin, spiritual death prevails, and when we struggle to be faithful to the Savior, when we long for true repentance, when we repent with spirit and truth, spiritual life prevails.

We Christians believe that after Christ's death and Christ's resurrection, the bodily death of those who are Christ's is not a consequence and a sign of a man's separation from God because of sin. Those who are in Christ and He – in them, have received from Him the power to transform their suffering and death, to overcome death with their [own] death, to pass from death to life.

God knows the depths of the soul, but what He has vouchsafed us to feel and learn in our communication with reader Alexyi cannot leave us indifferent.

What have we felt from our communication with him – we felt warmth, softness, goodwill, compassion and care. We felt nobility, delicacy and bright cordiality. It is possible that these are [just] natural qualities, but we know that God transforms the souls of those who seek fidelity and endows them with flashes of holiness that illuminate those who associate with them with gracious peace and consolation.

What have we learned from reader Alexyi? He was a teacher by vocation. He composed wonderful, instructive, spiritually profound readings that he read during the communion of the clergy. He read from the Holy Scriptures and from liturgical texts during Liturgies. All this was edifying for all the worshipers. But what was especially instructive for us, who communicated with him more often? I will mention just two things that impressed me strongly. Reader Alexyi suffered from a severe physical disability that often made his life quite intolerable from a human point of view. And in these unbearable trials reader Alexyi had the courage to remain benevolent, not losing faith that God sends all misfortunes for the benefit of our souls. And he thanked God for that.

I was often impressed by the manhood with which he forgave and remained large-hearted, and by his diligent, sincere and ingenuous contrition and repentance for his weaknesses and mental infirmities. We know that repentance is the most difficult and valuable spiritual exploit.

These strokes of his spiritual image, which I have been able to perceive, reveal determination and diligence in faithfulness to Christ. The pursuit of fidelity gives birth to a spiritual interest and desire of the soul for communion with Christ and His saints. A few hours before his demise, reader Alexyi sent me several materials of spiritual content, the last of these were rare videos of St. John of Shanghai. About an hour before his death, on his way to the hospital, he told me over the phone that these materials had made a strong impression on him and he really wanted to share them with me. Apparently, before his death, he was under a living spiritual impression with his getting in touch with holiness.

I am grateful to reader Alexyi for everything I felt and learned from him and this does not leave me indifferent and hopeless for his eternal destiny. I hope for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints, whom he dearly loved here on earth. May the Lord rest his faithful servant and inhabit him where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sigh, but eternal life. Amen!

† Bishop Seraphim of Sozopol
13 February 2021

Happiness, according to St. Ambrose of Mediolanum - Nikola Antonov

 

Transl. from Bulgarian 

Happiness, according to St. Ambrose of Mediolanum 

Nikola Antonov

 
Note: Biblical quotations do not follow the Synodal translation {of BOC), but the text in this work – as the author quoted from memory and we need to comply with his version in order to preserve the original. 

The issue of "happiness" has occupied a permanent place in the history of human thought for centuries. It has not been neglected by both the Holy Scripture and the patristic tradition. 

An outstanding representative of the Western branch of this tradition is St. Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolanum, – spiritual mentor of the "teacher of the West" Blessed Augustine. The literary heritage of St. Ambrose, whose memory the Church celebrates on December 7, is unmatched in richness and fertility – from his exegetic works, through his pastoral instructions. and all the way to his church poetry – he has left a trail of an original and hot inspiration. 

A Letter by St. THEOPHAN THE RECLUSE Discovered (2015) + 4 Homilies on Prayer

 

St. THEOPHAN THE RECLUSE

“For If We Do Not Have This, All Else Is Nothing”

 

Theophan the Recluse, On prayer, Homily 1

Written by Theophan the Recluse.

Delivered 21 November, 1864

On the feast day of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most-holy Theotokos, I find it timely to give you instruction in prayer - the main work of the temple. A temple is a place of prayer and arena of prayer's development. For us, entry into the temple is entry into a prayerful spirit. The Lord has the kindness to call our hearts His temple, where we enter mentally and stand before Him, ascending to Him like the fragrant smoke of incense. We are going to study how to attain this state.

Gathering in the temple, you pray, of course. And in praying here, you surely ought not abandon prayer at home. Therefore, it would be extraneous to speak to you about our duty to pray, when you already pray. But I do not think that it is extraneous in any way to give you two or three rules about how to pray, if not in the way of teaching, then simply as a reminder. The work of prayer is the first work in Christian life. If in everyday affairs the saying: "live and learn" is true, then so much more it applies to prayer, which never stops and which has no limit.

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Let me recall a wise custom of the ancient Holy Fathers: when greeting each other, they did not ask about health or anything else, but rather about prayer, saying "How is your prayer?" The activity of prayer was considered by them to a be a sign of the spiritual life, and they called it the breath of the spirit. If the body has breath, it lives; if breathing stops, life comes to an end. So it is with the spirit. If there is prayer, the soul lives; without prayer, there is no spiritual life.

 

However, not every act of prayer is prayer. Standing at home before your icons, or here in church, and venerating them is not yet prayer, but the "equipment" of prayer. Reading prayers either by heart or from a book, or hearing someone else read them is not yet prayer, but only a tool or method for obtaining and awakening prayer. Prayer itself is the piercing of our hearts by pious feelings towards God, one after another – feelings of humility, submission, gratitude, doxology, forgiveness, heart-felt prostration, brokenness, conformity to the will of God, etc. All of our effort should be directed so that during our prayers, these feelings and feelings like them should fill our souls, so that the heart would not be empty when the lips are reading the prayers, or when the ears hear and the body bows in prostrations, but that there would be some qualitative feeling, some striving toward God. When these feelings are present, our praying is prayer, and when they are absent, it is not yet prayer.

 

It seems that nothing should be simpler and more natural for us than prayer and our hearts' striving for God. But in fact it is not always like this for everyone. One must awaken and strengthen a prayerful spirit in oneself, that is one must bring up a prayerful spirit. The first means to this is to read or to hear prayers said. Pray as you should, and you will certainly awaken and strengthen the ascent of your heart to God and you will come into a spirit of prayer.

 

In our prayer books, there are prayers of the Holy Fathers - Ephraim the Syrian, Makarios the Egyptian, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and other great men of prayer. Being filled with the spirit of prayer, they were able to up that living spirit into words, and handed it down to us. When one enters into these prayers with attention and effort, then that great and prayerful spirit will in turn enter into him. He will taste the power of prayer. We must pray so that our mind and heart receive the content of the prayers that we read. In this way the act of praying becomes a font of true prayer in us. I will give here three very simple instructions: 1. always begin praying with at least a little preparation; 2. do not pray carelessly, but with attention and feeling; and 3. do not go on to ordinary work immediately after prayer.

 

Even if prayer is common for us, it always demands preparation. What is more common for those who can read and write than reading and writing? However, sitting down to read or write, we do not immediately begin, but we calm ourselves before beginning, at least to the point that we can read or write in a peaceful state. Even more so preparation for the work of prayer is necessary before praying, especially when what we have been doing before praying is of a totally different nature from prayer.

 

Thus, going to pray, in the morning or in the evening, stand for a moment, or sit, or walk, and strive in this time to focus your thoughts, casting off from them all earthly activities and objects. Then call to mind the One to Whom you are praying, Who He is and who you are, as you begin this prayerful petition to Him. From this, awaken in your soul the feeling of humility and reverent awe of standing before God in your heart. As you stand piously before God, all of this preparation may seem small and insignificant, but it is not small in meaning. This is the beginning of prayer and a good beginning is half the work.

 

Having stood up in your heart, now stand before your icons, make a few prostrations, and begin with the usual prayers: "Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. O Heavenly King…", and so on. Do not read hurriedly; pay attention to every word and let the meaning of each word enter into your heart. Accompany your words with prostrations. With this effort, the reading of prayers becomes pleasant to God and fruit-bearing. Pay attention to every word, and let the sense of each word enter into your heart; understand what you are reading and feel what you are understanding. No other rules are necessary. These two – understanding and feeling – have the effect of making prayer fitting, and fruitful. For example, you read: "cleanse us from every stain" - feel your stain, desire cleanliness, and ask it from the Lord with hope. You read: "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" - forgive all in your soul, and having forgiven everyone everything in your heart, ask for forgiveness for yourself from the Lord. You read: "Thy will be done" - completely give up your own will to the Lord in your heart, and honestly be prepared to meet everything that the Lord is well-pleased to send to to you with a good heart. If you read each verse of your prayers in this way, then you will be truly praying.

 

In order to facilitate the development of true prayer, take these steps: 1) keep a prayer rule according to the blessing of your spiritual father - not more than you can read unhurriedly on a normal day; 2) before you pray, in your free time become familiar with the prayer in your rule, fully take in each word and feel it, so that you would know in advance what should be in your soul as you read. It will be even better if you learn the prayers by heart. When you do this, then all of your prayers will be easy for you to remember and feel. There is only one final difficulty: your thoughts will always stray to other subjects, therefore: 3) you must struggle to keep your attention focused on the words of your prayer, knowing in advance that your mind will wander.

 

When your mind does wander during prayer, bring it back. When it wanders again, bring it back again. Each and every time that you read a prayer while your thoughts are wandering (and consequently you read it without attention and feeling,) then do not fail to read it again. Even if your mind wanders several times in the same place, read it again and again until you read it all the way through with understanding and feeling. In this way, you will overcome this difficulty so that the next time, perhaps, it will not come up again, or if it does return, it will be weaker. This is how one must act when the mind wanders. On the other hand it may happen that a particular word or phrase might act so strongly on the soul, that the soul no longer wants to continue with the prayer, and even though the lips continue praying, the mind keeps wandering back to that place which first acted on it. In this case: 4) stop, do not read further, but stand with attention and feeling in that place, and use the prayer in that place and the feelings engendered by it to feed your soul. Do not hurry to get yourself out of this state. If time cannot wait, it is better to leave your rule unfinished than to disturb this prayerful state. Maybe this feeling will stay with you all day like your guardian Angel! This sort of grace-filled action on the soul during prayer means that the spirit of prayer is becoming internalized, and consequently, maintaining this state is the most hopeful means of raising up and strengthening a spirit of prayer in your heart.

 

Finally, when you finish your prayers, do not immediately go off to any sort of work, but remain and think at least a little about what you have just finished and what now lies before you. If some feeling was given to you during prayer, keep it after you pray. If you completed your prayer rule in the true spirit of prayer, then you will not wish to quickly go about other work; this is a property of prayer. Thus our ancestors said when they returned from Constantinople: "he who has tasted sweet things does not desire bitter things". So it is with each person who has prayed well during his prayers. One should recognize that tasting this sweetness of prayer is the very goal of praying, and if praying leads to a prayerful spirit, then it is exactly through such a tasting.

 

If you will follow these few rules, then you will quickly see the fruit of prayerful labor. And he who fulfills them already without this instruction, of course, is already tasting this fruit. All praying leaves prayer in the soul - continual prayer in this manner gives it root, and patience in this work establishes a prayerful spirit. May God grant this to you by the prayers of our All-pure Mistress, the Theotokos!

 

I have given you initial basic instruction in the ways of raising up in yourselves a prayerful spirit, that is, how to pray in a way appropriate to the meaning of prayer - at home in the morning and the evening, and here in the temple. But this is not yet everything. Tomorrow, if God helps, I will teach you a second method. Amen.

 

Theophan the Recluse, On prayer, Homily 2

Written by Theophan the Recluse.

Delivered 22 November, 1864

Yesterday I showed you one method of establishing a prayerful spirit in yourselves [see homily 1], namely, how to pray in a way which corresponds to the meaning of the prayers. But this is only the beginning of the art (science) of prayer and it is necessary to go further. Consider the study of language, for example. First one studies words and phrases from books. But this is not sufficient, one must go further, and truly reach the point where he can correctly form phrases in the given language without the aid of the textbook. It is the same in the work of prayer. We get used to praying with prayer books, praying using prepared prayers given to us by the Lord and the Holy Fathers who were successful in prayer. But we should not stop at that, we need to continue on, and having accustomed ourselves to making petition to God for help with our minds and hearts, we must attempt to ascend to Him. We must strive to reach the point where our soul by itself begins speaking, so to speak, in a prayerful conversation with God and by itself ascends to Him and opens itself to Him and confesses what is in it and what it desires.

The soul must be taught how to ascend to God and open itself to Him. I will briefly instruct you how one should proceed in order to succeed in this art.

The skill of praying with piety, attention, and feeling according to a prayer book itself leads to this higher level. In the same way that water flows out of a bowl that is overfilled, so the soul which is filled with holy feelings by prayer begins by itself to spill out its prayer to God. But when pursuing this goal, there are particular steps which each person on this path must take.

Why is it, you ask, that one can pray for so many years with a prayer book, and still not have prayer in his heart? I think the reason is that people only spend a little time lifting themselves up to God when they complete their prayer rule, and in other times, they do not remember God. For example, they finish their morning prayers, and think that their relation to God is fulfilled by them; then the whole day passes in work, and such a person does not attend to God. Then in the evening, the thought returns to him that he must quickly stand at prayer and complete his evening rule. In this case, it happens that even if the Lord grants a person spiritual feelings at the time of the morning prayer, the bustle and business of the day drowns them out. As a result, it happens that one does not often feel like praying, and cannot get control of himself even to soften his heart a little bit. In such an atmosphere, prayer develops and ripens poorly. This problem (is it not ubiquitous?) needs to be corrected, that is, one must ensure that the soul does not only make petition to God when standing in prayer, but during the whole day, as much as possible, one must unceasingly ascend to Him and remain with Him.

In order to begin this task, one must first, during the course of the day, cry out to God more often, even if only with a few words, according to need and the work of the day. Beginning anything, for example, say "Bless, O Lord!" When you finish something, say, "Glory to Thee, O Lord", and not only with your lips, but with feeling in your heart. If passions arise, say, "Save me, O Lord, I am perishing." If the darkness of disturbing thoughts comes up, cry out: "Lead my soul out of prison." If dishonest deeds present themselves and sin leads you to them, pray, "Set me, O Lord, in the way", or "do not give up my feet to stumbling." If sin takes hold of you and leads you to despair, cry out with the voice of the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Do this in every circumstance, or simply say often, "Lord, have mercy", "Most Holy Theotokos save us”, "Holy Angel, my guardian, protect me", or other such words. Say such prayers as often as possible, always making the effort for them come from your heart, as if squeezed out of it. When we do this, we will frequently ascend to God in our hearts, making frequent petitions and prayers. Such increased frequency will bring about the habit of mental conversation with God.

But in order for the soul to begin crying out in this way, one must first teach the soul to ascribe everything to the glory of God, all of its works, whether great and small. This is the second way of teaching the soul to turn to God more often during the day, for if we apply ourselves to fulfill the apostolic commandment, that is, do all things for the glory of God, even "if we eat or drink" ({bible}1 Cor 10.31{/bible}), then we will ceaselessly remember God in all that we do. Our remembrance of God will be accomplished not simply, but with care, so that in no case we would act wrongly and offend God by any deed. This will help us to turn to God with fear, prayerfully asking for help and understanding. Since we are almost always doing something, we will always be turning to God in prayer. Consequently, the art of raising up the heart in unceasing prayer to God will develop within our souls.

In order for the soul to do all things as they should be done, that is to the glory of God, one must prepare from the early morning, from the very beginning of the day, before "a man goes forth unto his work, and unto his labors until evening" ({bible}Ps. 103{/bible}). This inclination leads to the contemplation of God, and this the third way of teaching the soul to turn frequently to God. Contemplation of God is the pious reflection on divine properties and actions, and about our necessary response to them. It means to reflect on God's goodness, righteous judgment, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, knowledge of all things, about creation and industry, about the working of Salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, about grace and the word of God, about the holy mysteries and about the Kingdom of Heaven. If you start to reflect on any one of these things, your soul will immediately be filled with pious feeling toward God. Consider, for example, the goodness of God, and you will see that you are surrounded by God's mercies, both physical and spiritual, and that you would have to be a stone not to fall down before God pouring out feelings of thanksgiving. Consider the omnipresence of God, and you will understand that you are always before God, and God is before you, and thus you cannot avoid being filled with pious fear. Consider the knowledge God has of all things, and you will realize, that nothing inside of you is hidden from the eye of God, and will set yourself to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and mind, in order not to offend the all-seeing God in any way. Consider the righteousness of God, and you will believe that not one evil deed remains unpunished. As a result you will firmly set yourself to cleansing all of your sins in a heartfelt way before God with brokenness and repentance. Thus, whatever property or action of God on which you reflect, that reflection will fill your soul with pious feelings and inclinations towards God. It will align all of your human substance towards God, and it is therefore the most direct means of teaching the soul to ascend to God. The most useful and comfortable time for this is morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many worries and work issues. Specifically, the best time is after morning prayers. Finish your prayers, sit down, and with thoughts cleansed by prayer, begin to think now about one divine aspect, and tomorrow about another, and incline your soul to this aspect. "Come", says St. Dimitri of Rostov, "come, holy contemplation of God, and let us immerse ourselves in contemplation of the great works of God", and he passed mentally through the works of providence and creation, or the miracles of our Lord and Savior, or His sufferings, or something else, and warmed up his heart, and began to pour out his soul in prayer. Everyone can do the same. The work is small; one only needs desire and resolve, but the fruits are many.

>Here are three means, other than the prayer rule, by which one can teach the soul to ascend prayerfully to God: first, dedicate some time in the morning to the contemplation of God; second, turn every action to the glory of God, and third, often turn to God with short prayers. When contemplation of God goes well in the morning, it leaves a deep inclination toward thinking about God. Thinking about God makes the soul carefully order all of its actions, interior and exterior, and turn them to the glory of God. At the same time, this sets up a state in the soul that it often will be moved by prayerful cries to God. These three: contemplation of God, doing all to the glory of God, and frequent short prayers are the most active weapons of mental prayer and prayer of the heart. Each of them raises the soul to God. He who decides to practice these quickly attains the habit of ascending to God in his heart. The labor put into these leads to the heights. The higher one ascends on a mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. Thus it is also here: the more one does these exercises, the higher his soul ascends, and the higher the soul ascends, the more freely prayer can act in it. Our soul by nature is the abode of the higher divine world. Our soul should always be in this world by thoughts and feelings of the heart. But the baggage of worldly thoughts and passions leads and pulls the soul down. These methods separate the soul little by little from the earth, and then completely pull it away. When they have completely pulled the soul from the earth, then the soul lives in its own region, and will happily live on high. Here in heart and mind, and later in actual substance it will be vouchsafed to be before the face of God in the choirs of the angels and the saints. May God grant this to all of you through his grace. Amen.

Theophan the Recluse, On prayer, Homily 3

Written by Theophan the Recluse.

Delivered 29 November, 1864

I have explained to you briefly two aspects or two levels of prayer, namely: prayer which is read, when we pray to God with the prayers of others, and one's mental prayer, where we ascend mentally to God through contemplation of God, dedicating all to God, and often crying out to Him from our hearts.{footnote}See the previous two homilies in this series: homily 1 and homily 2.{/footnote}

But this is still not all. There is a third aspect or level of prayer, which makes up true prayer, and for which the first two aspects are only preparation. This is the unceasing turning of the mind and heart to God, accompanied by interior warmth or burning of the spirit. This is the limit to which prayer should aspire, and the goal which every prayerful laborer should have in mind, so that he does not work uselessly in the work of prayer.

Remember how the Word of God talks about prayer: "Be vigilant and pray," says the Lord ({bible}Matt 26.41{/bible}). "Be sober and bold," teaches the apostle Peter ({bible}1 Pet 5.8{/bible}). "Be patient in prayer, and be bold in it" ({bible}Col 4.2{/bible}). "Pray without ceasing" ({bible}1 Thess 5.17{/bible}). "Pray with all prayer and petition at all times in the spirit" ({bible}Eph 6.18{/bible}), the apostle Paul commands, explaining in other places the reason to be this way. "Because", he says, "our life is hidden with Christ in God, and because the Spirit of God lives in us, in which we cry, 'Abba, Father'." ({bible}1 Cor 3.16{/bible}) From these instructions and commands it is impossible not to see that prayer is not something done once, and in an interrupted way, but is a state of the spirit, constant and unceasing, just like our breathing and heartbeat.

I will explain this to you by examples. The sun is in the middle, and all of our planets go around it, all are drawn in toward it, and all turn some side of themselves towards it. What the sun is in the material world, God is in the spiritual world - the rational sun. Bring your thoughts to heaven, and what will you see there? Angels, who, according to the word of the Lord, ever see the face of their heavenly Father. All bodiless spirits and all saints in heaven and turned towards God, all direct their mental eyes toward Him, and do not wish to turn away from Him, because of the ineffable blessedness which flows from this vision of the face of God. But what the Angels and saints do in the heavens, we should learn to do on earth: get used to the angelic, unceasing standing before God in our hearts. Only he who reaches this state is a true man of prayer. How can we attain this great good thing?

I will answer this briefly as follows: one must labor in prayer without hesitation, zealously, hopefully, trying to obtain a burning spirit through sober attention to God, as if it were the promised land. Work in prayer, and praying about everything, pray even more about this limit of prayer - a burning spirit - and you will truly attain that which you seek. We are assured of this by St. Makarios of Egypt, who labored and tasted the fruit of prayer. "If", he says, "you do not have prayer, work at prayer, and the Lord, seeing your labor, and seeing how you are patient in the labor and wholeheartedly desire this good thing, will grant you this prayer (Conversation 19)". The labor has this as its only end. When the fire is kindled, about which the Lord speaks: "I have come to bring fire upon the earth, and what is it to Me if it were already kindled?" ({bible}Luke 12.49{/bible}) - then the work comes to an end. Prayer becomes easier and freer.

Do not think that we are talking about something very lofty which is an unattainable state for living people. No. It truly is a lofty state, but attainable by all. Does not everyone at some time feel warmth in their hearts in prayer, when the soul separates itself from all things and deeply enters into itself and prays hotly to God? This movement of the prayerful spirit, although it was once only temporary, must be made into a constant state, and it will reach the limits of prayer.

The means to this, as I have said, is the work of prayer. When one rubs two sticks together, they warm up and catch fire. Similarly, when the soul is rubbed in the work of prayer, it eventually leads to prayerful fire. The work of prayer consists of a proper completion of the two types of prayer of which I have already spoken, namely - pious, attentive, and feeling completion of our usual prayers, and then training of the soul to frequently ascend to God through divine contemplation, turning of all things to the glory of God, and frequent crying to God from the heart. We pray in the morning and the evening: there is a great distance between them. If we only turn to God at these times, then even if we pray whole-heartedly, during the day or night, everything will fall apart, and when it is time again to pray, the soul will feel cold and empty, as before. One can pray again whole-heartedly, but if you become cold and fall apart again, what use is it? This is just building and destroying, building and destroying; it is only labor. If now we resolve not only to pray with attention and feeling in the morning and the evening, but also to spend every day in contemplation of God, doing all things to the glory of God, and frequently calling to God from our hearts with short words of prayer, then this long period between morning and evening prayers and from evening to morning prayers will be filled with frequent turnings to God and pure prayerful actions. Although this prayer is not yet unceasing, it is still prayer repeated very frequently, and the more often it is repeated, the closer it comes to being constant. All of this work is towards this final and necessary goal. For if we resolve to do this work every day, without fail, without hesitation, look, what will become of our souls?

The fear of God is born from divine contemplation. For the fear of God is in and of itself the attainment of pious thought and the perception of God's eternal perfection and action. From turning all of our works to the glory of God, we obtain a constant remembrance of God, or in other words, walking before God. Walking before God consists of doing nothing without remembering that you are in the presence of God. Finally, from frequent calling out to God, or from frequent pious movements toward God in our hearts we will constantly call upon the name of God with warmth and love. When these three things: the fear of God, the remembrance of God, or walking before God, and this turning of the heart toward God with love (loving repetition of the sweet name of the Lord in the heart) then certainly the spiritual fire of which I spoke earlier will catch in the heart, and it will bring with it profound peace, constant sobriety, and living boldness. At that point, a man enters into that state where he needs no longer to desire anything greater or unnecessary on earth, and which is truly the beginning of the blessed state which awaits all in the future. Here, in fact, that which the apostle said is fulfilled: "our life is hidden with Christ in God" ({bible}Col 3.3{/bible}).

Add these three things to your prayerful work. They are at the same time the reward for labor and the key to the hidden temple of the Kingdom of Heaven. Having opened the doors, go inside, approach the foot of the throne of God and you will be vouchsafed a good word and an embrace from the heavenly Father, and from the depth of your being you will say: "O Lord, O Lord! Who is like Thee?" Pray about this in your work of prayer, and let each one cry out, "when will I come and appear before Thy face, O Lord? My face has sought Thee; I seek, O Lord, Thy face."

I will briefly answer him who wants to know how these three things: fear of God, remembrance of God, and this loving, constant calling on the name of God, are perfected: begin to seek them, and the work itself will teach you how to find its perfection. Hold to only one law: cast aside everything that gets in the way of these things, and earnestly seek out that which aids them. The work itself will teach you how to tell which things are which. I add to this only the following instruction:

When you begin to be contained in your heart as you are contained in your body, surrounded by warmth on all sides, or when you begin to conduct yourself as you conduct yourself around some important person, that is, with fear and attention so that you would not offend him, regardless of your desire to walk and act freely, or if you see, that your soul is beginning to remain with the Lord as a wife with her beloved husband, then know, that the Visitor of our souls is near, at the doors, and He will enter in and feast with you within yourself.

And these few signs, I think, are enough for zealous seekers. All of this is said only with the goal that those of you who pray wholeheartedly would know the limit of prayer, and having worked only a little and obtained only a little you would not think that you have obtained everything. Do not weaken your labor because of this, and thus put a limit on your further progress in the steps of prayer. Just as markers are placed on the sides of large roads so that those passing by them would know how far they have gone and how far remains, so in the spiritual life there are certain signs which indicate the degree of perfection of a life, which are also there, so that those who are zealous for perfection do not stop halfway and deprive themselves of the fruits of their labor, because they know how far they have come and how far remains to go. The fruit may be only a few turns away.

I conclude my word with the serious prayer, that the Lord would give you reason in all things, that you may become a perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. Amen.

{footnotes/}

Theophan the Recluse, On prayer, Homily 4

Written by Theophan the Recluse.

Delivered 20 December, 1864

Three times I have spoken to you about prayer{footnote}See the preceding homilies: 1, 2, and 3.{/footnote}: about how to read prayers with attention, about how to ascend to God mentally and in your heart, and how to stand constantly before God with a burning spirit. The Lord instructed us in various degrees and types of prayer, so that each, according to his strength, could be a partaker in the goodness of prayer. For the work of prayer is a great work. It is, as I have said, the testimony of the spiritual life, and also the food of the spiritual life. Therefore one must work towards perfection in prayer more than all other things.

I have reminded you how to succeed in each type of prayer. Now I want to remind you, as a warning, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to succeed in prayer, if we do not at the same time work on other virtues.

If we compare prayer to a perfume, and the soul to a bottle for perfume, then we will understand that as perfume does not keep its fragrance in a container full of holes, also the soul cannot continue to pray if there is a lack of virtue. If we compare someone who prays to the whole body, then we see the following lesson: as it is impossible for a man without legs to walk, even if the rest of his body is healthy, so it is impossible to approach God, or reach God in prayer, without active virtue. Look in the apostolic teachings, and you will see that in them prayer does not stand alone, but together with a whole host of virtues. For example, the apostle Paul arms a Christian in spiritual battle and dresses him in the full armor of God. Look at what this is: The belt is truth, the armor is righteousness, the shoes are the gospel of peace, the shield is faith, the helmet is hope, the sword is the word of God ({bible}Eph 6.14-17{/bible}). Such weapons! After all of this he places his warrior in prayer as if in some sort of fortress: "pray at all times in the spirit with all sorts of prayer and petition" ({bible}Eph 6.18{/bible}). It is, of course, possible for prayer alone to defeat all enemies, but in order to be strong in prayer, one must be successful in faith, hope, truth, righteousness, and all the rest. In another place, the same apostle adorns the soul with bridal clothing as the bride of Christ, saying, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" ({bible}Col 3.12-16{/bible}). In many other places in the word of God, prayer is bound up tightly with all the other virtues, as their queen, after which they all strive, and which draws all of them after itself, or even better, as their fragrant flower. As it is necessary for a flower to be covered with leaves as well as having a stem, branches and root, in order to attract attention, it is also necessary for prayer to be accompanied by other good spiritual inclinations and labors in order to blossom like a flower in the soul; faith is the root, active love is like a stem and branches, and labors of a spiritual-physical nature are like leaves. When such a holy tree is planted in the soul, then in the morning, and in the evening, and during the course of the day, according to its state, the flowers of prayer will freely blossom and fill all of our inner chambers with fragrance.

I remind you of all of this, so that no one would think: "I labor in prayer, and that is enough". No - one must work and be zealous for all things together, both praying and working at all the virtues. It is true that it is impossible to succeed in virtues without prayer, but it is also necessary to work at the virtues while praying, so that the prayer can show its cooperation in these virtues. In order to succeed in prayer, one must pray, but the labor of prayer should be used as the means to virtues. One must be concerned about all things, and always strive to be on the right side. The same thing happens in a clock. A clock works properly and shows the correct time only when all of the gears and other parts inside are complete and in their correct place, and joined together properly. This is the same in our inner spiritual mechanism: the striving of the soul will be true like an arrow, directed straight toward God, when all other parts of the soul are whole and are established in their correct places, so to speak, put in place by virtue.

I will teach you what sort of virtues should surround your prayer, or what sort of prayerful, virtuous life a Christian should plant in himself, not in my own words, but in the words of the holy hierarch Dimitri of Rostov, who briefly lists these things in the following instructions (from Christian Spiritual Instruction, part 1, p. 288):

1. When you wake up, let your first thought be about God, your first word be a prayer to God your creator and keeper of your life, Who is always able to give life or destroy it, who can strike with illness and heal, and who can save or destroy.

2. Bow and give thanks to God Who raised you from sleep, and Who did not allow you to perish in your sins, but with long-suffering awaited your repentance.

3. Make a start for better things, saying with the Psalmist: "I said, now I have made a beginning" ({bible}Ps. 76.11{/bible}) For no one completes the path to heaven except he who makes a good beginning everyday.

4. From the morning pray like the Seraphim, act like the Cherubim, and be surrounded with angels.

5. Do not waste time any longer. Do only those things which are necessary.

6. In all deeds and words, keep your mind in God; do not write anything in your mind except Christ, and let no image touch your pure heart except the pure image of Christ our God and Savior.

7. Awaken yourself to the love of God in all things, whenever you are able, especially say to yourself with the Psalmist: "in my meditation a fire was kindled" ({bible}Ps. 38.4{/bible}).

8. You desire to love God, Whose visitation you always see and gaze upon with your interior eyes, therefore turn away from all evil deeds, words, and thoughts. Do, say, and think all things honorably, humbly, and with the fear of a son.

9. Let meekness with praise and humility with honor be together.

10. Let your words be quiet, humble, honorable, and useful. Let silence decide the words that you say. From henceforth, let no empty or rotten word escape your lips.

11. If something funny happens, allow yourself only a smile, and this not often.

12. You will fall into prodigality through anger, wrath, and arguing: keep yourself moderate in anger.

13. Always observe moderation in eating and drinking.

14. Be condescending in all things, and God will bless you, and people will praise you.

15. You must pray about your death, which is the end of all things.

See what sort of wonderful life is taught to the praying Christian. It is true that in one place we have spoken more about prayer, that is, of mental and heart-felt turning to God, but in another place, other virtues have been mentioned, and yet without all of them together, it is impossible to get a foothold in prayer. Let everyone strive in knowledge: standing in prayer and exercising is according to your instruction. How can you stand to pray if you are weighed down with intemperance, or carried away with anger, or if you do not stand in peace, or you are distracted by work and lack of attention and so on? If we are to avoid these things, then we are to strive to attain the opposite: that is, virtue. For this reason, St. John of the Ladder speaks of prayer, saying that it is the mother and the daughter of virtues.

Hearing this, some might say, "what great demands! What a heavy burden! Where can I ever find time and the strength?" But be strong, brethren! Very little is necessary, and one must only take up one thing: zeal for God and salvation in Him in your soul. By its nature, the soul has much good in it and it is only misdirected into all evil things. As soon as zeal for salvation and the pleasing of God is born in one's soul, all of the goodness gathers around this zeal, and immediately no small amount of good appears in the soul. Then zeal, strengthened by the grace of God, with the help of this initial good, begins to find more goodness, and enriches itself with it, and all begins to grow by degrees. Zeal itself has the beginnings of prayer already. It is fed at first by natural virtue, and then begins to feed on the works of virtue that it engendered, and grows and becomes strong, and blossoms and begins to sing and hymn God with a harmonious and prayerful song in the heart.

May the Lord help you succeed in this. Amen.

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Translated from the Russian by Rev. Fr. Michael van Opstall – January 2007