Macarius the Egyptian: Anointed from the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ Sunday, May 6 2012

The Christians, who are come the nearest to the King, are at all times devoted to the cross of Christ. And when they are anointed with the heavenly unction, they commence to be kings and prophets of the heavenly mysteries.

For if the anointing oil that came from an outward plant had so much virtue that the persons anointed with it were constituted kings thereby; how much more do they who are anointed with the sanctifying and cheering oil of gladness, the heavenly and spiritual oil, receive the sign of that incorruptible kingdom, and everlasting power, the earnest of the Spirit, the very spirit of holiness and comfort?

It is called the Comforter, by reason of that comfort and support it bestows upon them that are in afflictions.

These being anointed from the tree of life, Jesus Christ, from the heavenly plant, are thought worthy to come to perfection; to the kingdom, and the adoption, being admitted to the secret councils of the heavenly King, and having free access to the Almighty, entering into his very palace, where are angels, and the spirits of the holy persons, though at the same time they live in this present world.

For though they have not actually received the inheritance prepared for them in that world, they are secure from the earnest of the Spirit, which they have received, as if they were already crowned, and in possession of the kingdom.

Nor does it seem a strange thing to them that they shall reign together with Christ, through the overflowing presence of the Spirit. For what reason? Even because though in the flesh, they have a relish of its sweetness, and that effectual working of his power.

For they that are to reign in the world to come are beforehand acquainted with the mysteries of grace. Indeed, since man transgressed the commandment, the devil has covered the whole soul with a dark veil.

But when grace comes, the veil is thrown off; so that the soul, becoming pure and regaining its proper nature, a creature free from blame or spot, ever after beholds with a clear sight the glory of the true light and the true Sun of Righteousness flashing with his bright beams upon the heart itself.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) [attributed]; Spiritual Homily 9, 1-2, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: True Christians Have Their Heart and Mind Constantly Occupied with the Thoughts of Heaven Friday, Nov 4 2011

The word that was spoken to Cain by his Maker, “You shall go mourning and trembling, and be tossed about upon the earth”, is a type and image of all sinners, as to their inward state.

For thus is the race of Adam tossed about with the incessant suggestions of fear and dread, and every kind of disturbance, the prince of this world tossing to and fro the soul that is not born of God;

and variously disturbing the thoughts of mankind, as corn that is continually shifted about in a sieve;

and shaking and ensnaring them all in worldly deceits, and the lusts of the flesh, with fears and troubles.

As from one Adam the whole race of mankind was spread over the earth, so one taint in the affections was derived down into the sinful stock of men; and the prince of malice is sufficiently able to shift them all in restless, and gross, and vain, and troublesome reflections.

[...] For in this do true Christians differ from the whole race of mankind besides: they have their heart and mind constantly taken up with the thoughts of heaven;

and, through the presence and participation of the Holy Spirit, do behold, as in a glass, the good things which are eternal, being born of God from above, and thought worthy to become the children of God in truth and power;

and being arrived, through many conflicts and labours, to a settled and fixed state, to an exemption from trouble, to perfect rest, are never sifted more by unsettled and vain thoughts.

Herein are they greater and better than the world. Their mind and the desire of their soul are in the peace of Christ, and the love of the Spirit; and they have passed from death to life.

Wherefore the alteration peculiar to Christians does not consist in any outward fashions, but in the renovation of the mind, and the peace of the thoughts, and the love of the Lord, even the heavenly love.

Herein Christians differ from all men besides. The Lord has given them truly to believe on him, and to be worthy of those spiritual good things.

For the glory, and the beauty, and the heavenly riches of Christians are inexpressible, and purchased only with labour, and pains, and trials, and many conflicts.

But the whole is owing to the grace of God.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391); Spiritual Homily 4,2-4, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: Anointed in Mind and Heart with the Sanctifying Oil of Gladness, We Receive the Pledge of the Holy Spirit Thursday, Jun 16 2011

Mature Christians who are deemed worthy to attain perfection, and to come close to the King, are always consecrated to the Cross of Christ.

As in prophetic times anointing was regarded as a most honourable rite, since kings and prophets were anointed, so now spiritual men are anointed with a heavenly unction and become Christians by grace so that they too may be kings, and prophets or heavenly mysteries.

They are sons and lords and gods, bound, held captive, overwhelmed, crucified and consecrated.

Anointing with oil from a visible plant, a tree that could be seen, had such virtue that those anointed received an undisputed dig­nity, for this was the recognized way of appointing kings.

David, for example, after his anointing, was immediately exposed to persecutions and afflictions, and then after seven years he became King.

How much more, then, do those who are anointed in mind and heart with the sanctifying and cheering oil of gladness, the heavenly and spiritual unction, receive the seal of that kingdom of incorruptible and eternal power, namely the pledge of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit?

And this Holy Spirit is called the Paraclete because of the encouragement and grace he gives to those who suffer.

Anointed with ointment from the tree of life, Jesus Christ, the heavenly plant, these men are counted worthy to attain perfec­tion, to become kings and adopted sons of God, sharing in the secrets of the heavenly King and enjoying free access to the Al­mighty.

Even while still in this world they enter his palace, the dwelling-place of the angels and the spirits of the Saints.

For although they are not yet in possession of that perfect inheritance prepared for them in the age to come, they are as fully assured of it through the pledge they have received here on earth as though they were already crowned, already reigning.

Christians find nothing strange in the fact that they are destined to reign in the world to come, since they have known the mysteries of grace beforehand.

When man transgressed the commandment, the devil shrouded the soul with a covering of darkness.

But with the coming of grace the veil is entirely stripped away, so that with clear eyes the soul, now cleansed and restored to its true nature, which was created pure and blameless, ever clearly beholds the glory of the true light, the true Sun of Righteousness, brilliantly shining in its inmost being.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) [this homily, like much of the Macarian corpus is generally attributed to the anonymous author known as Pseudo-Macarius): Macarian Homilies 17.1-4 (PG 34:794-6); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I.

 

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Macarius the Egyptian: They will be Permeated with that Glory which their Souls in This Life have Already Experienced Friday, Apr 29 2011

Moses shows us what glory true Christians will receive in the resurrection: namely the glory of light and the spiritual delights of the Spirit which even now they are deemed worthy to possess interiorily.

Because of this, these gifts of the Spirit will redound in their bodies then.

The saints even now possess this glory in their souls…but it will then cover and clothe their naked bodies.

It will sweep them up into Heaven and we will at last come to rest, both body and soul, with the Lord forever.

When God created Adam, he did not furnish him with material wings as birds have, but he prepared for him the wings of the Holy Spirit.

The same he plans on giving him at the resurrection, to lift him and direct him wherever the Spirit wishes.

These wings the saints already now are deemed worthy to possess to fly up mentally to the realms of heavenly thoughts.

[...] This power already they are considered worthy to enjoy in their souls through the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, also in the resurrection their bodies will be worthy to receive those eternal blessings of the Holy Spirit.

They will be permeated with that glory which their souls in this life have already experienced.

Therefore, each of us should strive and make every effort to pursue diligently all virtues.

We ought to believe and seek from the Lord that the inner man receive even now this glory and that we may participate in the holiness of the Spirit so that, purged from all sordid traces of evil, we may receive also in the resurrection what will clothe our bodies as they rise naked, what will cover any deformity, will vivify and transform them in the heavenly kingdom forever.

Christ will descend from Heaven and raise up all generations of Adam that have fallen asleep from the beginning of time, as Holy Scripture proves.

[...] Those who bear his particular sign, that is, the sign of the Spirit, he will call to himself as his very own and place them at his right hand.

He says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know mine own and I am known by mine” (John 10:27;14).

Then shall their bodies be surrounded by the divine glory because of their good works.

They themselves will be filled with the glory of the Spirit which in this life they enjoyed in their souls.

And thus, illumined by the divine light and caught up into Heaven “to meet the Lord in the air (as is written), we shall be always with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17), reigning with him forever and ever.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) Macarian Homilies 5.11-12, from Pseudo-Macarius: The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and The Great Letter, translated, edited, and with an introduction by George A. Maloney, SJ (Paulist Press, 1992) [Classics of Western Spirituality series].

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Macarius the Egyptian: The Soul has Inherited God in Heaven, and He has Inherited Her upon Earth Thursday, Feb 17 2011

When the soul is devoted to the Lord, and the Lord in mercy and love comes to her and is united with her, and when her intention thereafter remains continually in the grace of the Lord, then the soul and the Lord become one spirit, one unity, and one mind.

And though her body is prostrate on the earth, her mind lives wholly in the heavenly Jerusalem, mounting even to the third heaven, where it clings to the Lord and serves Him.

And He, while sitting on the throne of majesty on high, in the heavenly city, is wholly with the soul in her bodily existence.

For He has placed her image above, in Jerusalem, the heavenly city of the saints, and He has placed His own image, the image of the unspeakable light of his Godhead, in her body.

He ministers to her in the city of the body, while she ministers to Him in the heavenly city.

She has inherited Him in heaven, and He has inherited her upon earth.

The Lord becomes the soul’s inheritance, and the soul becomes the inheritance of the Lord.­

In heart and mind, sinners living in darkness can be far from the body, can live at a great distance from it; they can travel in a moment of time to remote lands, so that often, while the body lies stretched out upon the earth, the mind is in another country with its beloved, and sees itself as living there.

If then the soul of a sinner is so light and swift that his mind speeds without let or hindrance to far-away places, how much easier it must be for the soul from whom the veil of darkness has been lifted by the power of the Holy Spirit?

How much easier it must be for the soul whose mental eyes have been illuminated by heavenly light, who has been completely delivered from shameful passions and made pure by grace, to be at once wholly in heaven serving the Lord in Spirit, and wholly in the body serving Him?

The mental faculty of such a soul is so greatly expanded that she is present everywhere, and can serve Christ wherever and whenever she wishes.

[...] The Lord is found and revealed to the soul in knowledge, understanding, love and faith; He has placed in her intelligence, imagination, will, and reason to rule them.

He has given her the ability to come and go in a moment, and to serve Him in thought wherever the Spirit wills.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) [this homily, like much of the Macarian corpus is generally attributed to the anonymous author known as Pseudo-Macarius]: Macarian Homilies 46.3-6 (PG 34:794-6); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Sunday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I.

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Macarius the Egyptian: The Soul’s Life and Refreshment is the Hidden and Unspeakable Communion of the Heavenly King Tuesday, Jan 25 2011

What shall God do with him that gives himself up to the world, and is deceived by the pleasures of it, or drawn away with the hurry of earthly distractions?

The man upon whom he bestows the succors of his grace, is he who divorces himself from gross pleasures.

At all times forcibly urges his mind towards the Lord, both denying himself, and seeking after the Lord only.

This is the person whom God takes into his special care. He keeps himself disentangled from the snares of this world; that “works out his salvation with fear and trembling”.

With the utmost heed he passes through all the toils of the world, both seeking after the Lord for his assistance, and hoping in his mercy to be saved through grace.

Iron, or lead, or gold, or silver, when cast into the fire is freed from that hard consistency which is natural to it, being changed into softness, and so long as it continues in the fire, is still dissolved from its native hardness…

After the same manner the soul that has renounced the world, and fixed its desires only upon the Lord, and has received that heavenly fire of the Godhead, and of the love of the Spirit, is disentangled from all love of the world, and set free from all the corruption of the affections.

It turns all things out of itself, and is changed from the hardness of sin, and melted down in a fervent and unspeakable love for that heavenly Bridegroom alone, whom it has received.

But I tell you, that if these very brethren, so much desired by him, draw back from that love, he too is turned away from them.

For that very thing is the soul’s life and refreshment – namely, the hidden and unspeakable communion of the heavenly King.

The love of that fellowship which is in the flesh [i.e. marriage] causes a separation from father, mother, and brethren, and sets one at liberty from all love besides.

How much more shall they, as many as have been thought worthy to partake of that Holy Spirit, who is the heavenly object of our love, come entirely off from the love of the world?

How much more shall all things else appear to them as impertinent superfluities, in that they have been perfectly overcome with heavenly desire…?

There are their desires, there are their thoughts employed.

There do they live, there do their thoughts rove up and down; there is the mind continually taken up, being overcome with divine and heavenly love, and spiritual desire.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391); Spiritual Homily 3, 1-3, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning (with slight adaptations) @ Patristics in English Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: “Who Will Give Me Wings Like A Dove, And I Will Fly And Be At Rest?” Tuesday, Feb 16 2010

Let us beseech God that he would divest us of the old man, because he alone is able to take away sin from us, they being stronger than us that have taken us captive, and detain us prisoners in their own kingdom.

But he has promised to rescue us from this sore bondage.

As when the sun shines, and the wind blows, the sun indeed has a distinct nature of his own, and the wind likewise another nature, and yet no man is able to make an actual separation of the wind from the sun unless God alone shall make the wind to cease, that it may blow no longer; even so is sin blended with the soul, although both retain their own nature.

It is impossible therefore to separate the soul from sin, unless God make a calm and put a stop to this evil wind which dwells in the soul and body.

And again, as a man that sees a bird flying may desire also to fly himself, but not having wings, it is impossible he should fly; just so a man may be willing to be pure, and without blame, and without spot, and to be always with God; but he has not wherewithal to compass it.

He is willing to fly up into the divine air, and into the liberty of the Holy Spirit; but, unless he receive wings for his purpose, he can never do it.

Let us therefore beseech God that he would give us “the wings of the dove”, his Holy Spirit, that so “we may fly to him and be at rest”;

and that he would separate the evil wind, and cause it to cease from us both in soul and body: for he only is able to bring it to pass.

It is only “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”.  He alone it is that showed this mercy to them that believe in him, that they are redeemed from sin.

And for those that wait for him, and hope in him, and seek after him, will he work this unspeakable salvation.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391); extracted from Spiritual Homily 2, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: The Soul Has the Light of God Within Itself Sunday, Feb 7 2010

Following on from the previous post, Macarius the Egyptian continues his allegorical interpretation of Ezekiel ch. 10.

But the soul which still lives in the darkness of sin, belongs not to the body of light; but is indeed the body of darkness, and still sides with the faction of darkness. They only that have the life of light, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit, belong to the light.

The soul in itself is a creature intellectual, and beautiful, and great, and wonderful, and a noble likeness and image of God. And it was through the transgression, that the affections of darkness gained entrance into it.

It remains then that whatsoever the soul mixes with, the same is it united to in very motion of the will. If therefore it has the light of God within itself, and lives therein, it belongs to the light of rest; or if it has the darkness of sin, it inherits condemnation.

But the soul that is desirous to live with God in rest and light eternal, ought to come to Christ the true high priest, to be slain and become dead to the world, and to its former life of darkness, and be removed to another life altogether divine.

[...] Let us therefore pray that we may be slain by his power, and become dead to the world of wickedness, of darkness, and receive the life of the heavenly Spirit, and be translated from the evil state of darkness into the light of Christ, and be refreshed in life to all ages.

Sin detains and stops and hinders the soul, that it should not come near to God and carry off the victory.

But where the Lord himself takes the reins of the soul into his hands, that person never fails of victory, because he skilfully governs and directs the chariot of the soul, into an heavenly and divine sense at all times.

For neither does he war against sin, but as he has the supreme power in himself, he works himself the victory.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391); extracted from Spiritual Homily 1, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: The Illuminated Soul is the Mansion and the Throne of God Saturday, Feb 6 2010

In this homily Macarius the Egyptian offers an allegorical interpretation of Ezekiel ch. 10.

The blessed prophet Ezekiel having seen a vision from God, full of glory, made a relation of it, and committed it to writing; a vision full of mysteries, surpassing utterance.

[...] And this that the prophet saw, was true and certain. But the thing it signified, or shadowed forth beforehand, was a matter mysterious and divine, that very mystery which had been hid from ages and generations, but was made manifest at the appearing of Christ.

For the mystery which he saw, was that of the human soul as she is hereafter to receive her Lord, and become herself the very throne of his glory.

For the soul that is thought worthy to partake of the spirit of his light, and is irradiated by the beauty of his ineffable glory (he having by that spirit prepared her for his own seat and habitation), becomes all light, all face, and all eye.

Neither is there any one part in her but what is full of these spiritual eyes of light; that is, there is no part in her darkened.

But she is all entirely wrought into light and spirit, and is all over full of eyes, having no hinder part, or anything behind; but appears to be altogether face, by reason of the inexpressible beauty of the glory of the light of Christ, that rides and sits upon her.

And as the sun is altogether of one likeness…so the soul that is thoroughly illuminated by the inexpressible beauty of the glory of the light of the face of Christ, and partakes of the Holy Spirit in perfection, and is thought worthy to become the mansion and the throne of God, becomes all eye, all light, and all face, and all glory, and all spirit.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391); extracted from Spiritual Homily 1, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Macarius the Egyptian: If Christ does not Dwell in the Soul Wednesday, Nov 25 2009

When God was displeased with the Jews, he delivered Jerusalem to the enemy, and they were conquered by those who hated them; there were no more sacrifices or feasts.

Likewise angered at a soul who had broken his commands, God handed it over to its enemies, who corrupted and totally dishonoured it.

When a house has no master living in it, it becomes dark, vile and contemptible, choked with filth and disgusting refuse.

So too is a soul which has lost its master, who once rejoiced there with his angels. This soul is darkened with sin, its desires are degraded, and it knows nothing but shame.

Woe to the path that is not walked on, or along which the voices of men are not heard, for then it becomes the haunt of wild animals. Woe to the soul if the Lord does not walk within it to banish with his voice the spiritual beasts of sin.

Woe to the house where no master dwells, to the field where no farmer works, to the pilotless ship, storm-tossed and sinking. Woe to the soul without Christ as its true pilot; drifting in the darkness, buffeted by the waves of passion, storm-tossed at the mercy of evil spirits, its end is destruction.

Woe to the soul that does not have Christ to cultivate it with care to produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit. Left to itself, it is choked with thorns and thistles; instead of fruit it produces only what is fit for burning.

Woe to the soul that does not have Christ dwelling in it; deserted and foul with the filth of the passions, it becomes a haven for all the vices. When a farmer prepares to till the soil he must put on clothing and use tools that are suitable. So Christ, our heavenly king, came to till the soil of mankind devastated by sin.

He assumed a body and, using the cross as his ploughshare, cultivated the barren soul of man. He removed the thorns and thistles which are the evil spirits and pulled up the weeds of sin. Into the fire he cast the straw of wickedness.

And when he had ploughed the soul with the wood of the cross, he planted in it a most lovely garden of the Spirit, that could produce for its Lord and God the sweetest and most pleasant fruit of every kind.

Attributed to Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300 -391); from the Office of Readings, Wednesday in the 34^th week of Ordinary Time.

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