Macarius the Egyptian: We Have Not Yet Taken to Ourselves the Gladness of Christ’s Salvation Friday, May 24 2013

(Continued from here…)

Do you wish to know why we, who were created in honour and put to live in paradise, came at last to be compared unto the beasts that have no understanding and were made like to them, having fallen from the glory of innocence?

Understand that, having become by the transgression the slaves of the fleshly passions, we shut ourselves out of the happy land of the living, and, being reduced to captivity, we are still sitting by the waters of Babylon.

And because we are still held in Egypt, we have not yet inherited the land of promise, flowing with milk and honey.

We have not yet been leavened with the leaven of sincerity, but are still in the leaven of wickedness.

Our heart is not yet sprinkled with the blood of God; for the snare of hell, and the hook of sin is still fixed in it.

We have not yet taken to ourselves the gladness of Christ’s salvation, for the sting of death is still rooted in us.

We have not yet put on the new man, which after God is created in holiness, since we have not yet put off the old man which is corrupt according to the sinful lusts.

We have not yet borne the image of the heavenly, nor been made conformed to His glory.

We have not yet worshipped God in spirit and in truth, because sin reigns in our mortal body.

We have not yet beheld the glory of the incorruptible, for we are still under the operation of the moonless night .

We have not yet put on the armour of light, since we have not yet put off the armour and the darts and the works of darkness.

We have not yet been transformed by the renewing of the mind, for we are still conformed to this world in the vanity of the mind.

We are not yet glorified with Christ, because we have not suffered with Him.

We do not yet bear in our body the marks of Him, and are not in the secret of the cross of Christ, for we are still in the affections and lusts of the flesh.

We are not yet heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, for the spirit of bondage is still in us, not that of adoption.

We have not yet become the temple of God and the habitation of the Holy Ghost, for we are still the temple of idols and the hold of the spirits of wickedness because of our propensity to the passions.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) [attributed]: Spiritual Homily 25,4, trans. by A.J. Mason DD.

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John Climacus: When the Whole Man is Commingled with the Love of God… Wednesday, May 22 2013

If the face of a loved one clearly and completely changes us, and makes us cheerful, happy and carefree, what will the Face of the Lord not do when He makes His Presence felt invisibly in a pure soul?

Fear when it is an inner conviction of the soul destroys and devours impurity, for it is said: Nail down my flesh with the fear of Thee (Psalm 118:120).

And holy love consumes some, according to him who said: Thou hast ravished our heart, Thou hast ravished our heart (Song of Songs 4:9).

But sometimes it makes others bright and joyful, for it is said: My heart trusted in Him and I have been helped; even my flesh has revived (Psalm 27:7); and: When the heart is happy the face is cheerful (Proverbs 15:13).

So when the whole man is in a manner commingled with the love of God, then even his outward appearance in the body, as in a kind of mirror, shows the splendour of his soul.

That is how Moses who had looked upon God was glorified (cf. Exodus 34; 2 Corinthians 3:14).

Those who have reached such an angelic state often forget about bodily food. I think that often they do not even feel any desire for it. And no wonder, for frequently a contrary desire knocks out the thought of food.

I think that the body of those incorruptible men is not even subject to sickness any longer, because it has been rendered incorruptible; for they have purified the inflammable flesh in the flame of purity.

I think that even the food that is set before them they accept without any pleasure. For there is an underground stream that nourishes the root of a plant, and their souls too are sustained by a celestial fire.

The growth of fear is the beginning of love, but a complete state of purity is the foundation of theology.

He who has perfectly united his feeling to God is mystically led by Him to an understanding of His words. But without this union it is difficult to speak about God.

The engrafted Word (cf. James 1:21) perfects purity, and slays death by His presence; and after the slaying of death, the disciple of divine knowledge is illumined.

The Word of the Lord which is from God the Father is pure, and remains so eternally. But he who has not come to know God merely speculates.

Purity makes its disciple a theologian, who of himself grasps the dogmas of the Trinity.

John Climacus (c.575-c.650): The Ladder of Divine Ascent, step 30, 16-24, translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959) @ Prudence True.

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John Cassian: Running Towards Christ with Devotion of Heart Thursday, Mar 7 2013

“I,” said St Paul, “so run, not as uncertainly; I so fight, not as one that beateth the air: but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:26-27).

You see how he made the chief part of the struggle depend upon himself, that is upon his flesh, as if on a most sure foundation, and placed the result of the battle simply in the chastisement of the flesh and the subjection of his body. “I then so run not as uncertainly.”

He does not run uncertainly, because, looking to the heavenly Jerusalem, he has a mark set, towards which his heart is swiftly directed without swerving.

He does not run uncertainly, because, “forgetting those things which are behind, he reaches forth to those that are before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14), whither he ever directs his mental gaze, and hastening towards it with all speed of heart, proclaims with confidence, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).

And because he knows he has run unweariedly “after the odour of the ointment” (Cant. 1:3) of Christ with ready devotion of heart, and has won the battle of the spiritual combat by the chastisement of the flesh, he boldly concludes and says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me in that day.”

And that he might open up to us also a like hope of reward, if we desire to imitate him in the struggle of his course, he added: “But not to me only, but to all also who love His coming” (2 Tim. 4:8).

He declares that we shall be sharers of his crown in the day of judgment, if we love the coming of Christ—not that one only which will be manifest to men even against their will; but also this one which daily comes to pass in holy souls—and if we gain the victory in the fight by chastising the body.

And of this coming it is that the Lord speaks in the Gospel. “I,” says He, “and my Father will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23).

And again: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the gate, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

John Cassian (c. 360-435): Institutes 5, 17.

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Theodore the Studite: Fasting Renews the Soul and Makes Us Habitations of God Sunday, Feb 17 2013

The present days of the holy fast are, among the other periods of the year, a calm haven to which all gather and find spiritual serenity –

not only monastics, but laymen as well…., for this period is beneficial and salvific for every country and age of mankind.

At this time every disruption and disorder comes to a halt, and doxology and hymnody are multiplied, charities and prayer by means of which our good God is moved to compassion and is pleased to grant peace to our souls and forgiveness of sins –

if only we shall sincerely turn to Him with all our heart, falling down before Him with fear and trembling, and promising to cease from every bad habit which we might have.

[...] Brethren, fasting is the renewal of the soul, for the Apostle says insofar as the body weakens and withers from the ascetic labor of fasting, then so much is the soul renewed day by day and is made beauteous and shines in the beauty which God originally bestowed upon it.

And when it is purified and adorned with fasting and repentance, then God loves it and will live in it as the Lord has said: “I and the Father will come and make Our abode with him” (John 14.23).

Thus if there is such value and grace in fasting that it makes us into habitations of God, then ought we to greet it with great rejoicing and gladness.

[...] If we desire that the fast be for us a true one and acceptable unto God, then together with abstaining from food, let us restrain ourselves from every sin of soul and body, as the sticheron instructs us in which it is said,

“Let us keep the Fast not only by refraining from food, but by becoming strangers to all sinful passions”.

[...] Let us guard against ill temper and self-assertion, that is, let us not appropriate things for ourselves and indulge our self-will.

For nothing is so loved of the devil as to find a person who has not forgiven another and has not taken advice from those able to instruct him in virtue; then the enemy easily deludes the self-assertive and traps him in all that he does and reckons as good.

Let us vigilantly attend to ourselves, especially in regard to the desires of the flesh; for it is just now, when we fast, that the chameleon serpent-devil fights us with bad thoughts.

Theodore the Studite: (759-826): Catechetical Homilies, 47 @ Orthodox Christian Information Center.

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Theodore the Studite: Resting in Spirit through the Grace-Filled Breath of the Holy Spirit Monday, Nov 12 2012

Continued from here…

Below, on the earth, the Holy Spirit comforts us in many ways.

[...] Having such a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Invincible Power, Great Defender—God and Co-fighter, we shall not be afraid of the enemy and shall not be frightened by opposing powers.

Rather, we shall courageously and steadfastly hasten to the struggle and fight, experiencing them day after day, not being deluded by the deceptions of the snake, and not growing weary from his ceaseless attacks.

Sinful desire is not pleasure and joy, and a dangerous and fearsome sickness is not sweetness, but rather delirium and wicked darkening of the mind.

They know this, who have tamed the fury of the flesh, cleansed its defilement, and cleaved with all their hearts to the One God.

This manner of life is the most pleasant and happy; for in it, although a man be in the flesh in the world, in spirit he abides in the unseen, resting in spirit through the grace-filled breath of the Holy Spirit.

Why do we allow love of pleasure to conquer us, to so debase us, and by such deviations to cause us who, brought low to the earth, to flesh and blood, to be completely alienated from our Most Good God?

Let us flee, brothers, from all the passions. Let us flee love of money, which is the root of all evil.

Let us flee every other passion that enslaves our soul—anger, envy, hatred, vanity, self-will; so that death may not find us unprepared and distance us from God.

Alienation from God is alienation also from the Kingdom of Heaven. Condemnation and punishment will come to those who do not do works pleasing to God.

There is no flesh that can endure this condemnation, for the mere thought of it, even before consignment to torments, is already a torment.

In order that we might escape the wrath of God, which comes upon the children of disobedience (Eph. 5:6), let us do good works, that the Lord may rejoice in His works (Ps. 103:33).

Let us begin unfailingly to please God, to purify ourselves, and renew our souls. Take courage: The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him, to all that call on Him in truth (Ps. 144:19).

Let us repent daily, and God will forgive us our sins, comfort us, and grant us Life Eternal—which may we receive in Christ the Lord Himself; to Him is due glory and sovereignty, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

Theodore the Studite: (759-826) @ Pravoslavie.

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Jordan of Saxony: Their Hearts Catch Fire in Their Prayers and Meditations Thursday, Nov 8 2012

I urge you to think of those “ancient paths” by which our predecessors hastened to their rest with all the intensity of their spirit, and now reign with the Lord, forever comforted in bliss and repose; all the days of pain with which God humbled them have now been turned to joy.

When they lived on earth, it was for spiritual gifts that they were jealous; they thought little of themselves and scorned the world. It was the kingdom they longed for, and so they were strong to endure hardship, enthusiastic for poverty, on fire with love.

Surely our father Dominic, of holy memory, was one of these. When he was living with us in the flesh, he walked by the Spirit, not only not fulfilling the desires of the flesh, but actually quenching them at the source.

He displayed a true spirit of poverty in his clothing, his food and his behaviour. He prayed constantly, was outstandingly compassionate, used to intercede for his sons with abundant tears because of the fervour of his zeal for souls.

Difficulties did not daunt him, obstacles did not worry him. We could see from the works he accomplished, from his virtues and miracles, what a great man he was on earth. Now that he is with God, his greatness has been made known to us in these last days, when we were moving his holy body from its previous burial place to a more noble tomb.

Praise to our Redeemer! Praise to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for choosing such a man as this to be his servant and for setting such a man over us as our father, to form us by his religious training and inspire us by the example of his resplendent holiness.

[...] There are some among you, by the mercy of God, for me to rejoice over and thank God for. There are some whose aim is beauty, who do cultivate their consciences, who do seek perfection and who do work hard at their preaching, who are zealous in study, whose hearts catch fire in their prayers and meditations, who keep the Lord always before them, looking to him as the one who will reward and judge their souls.

Rejoice, if you are such as these, and seek to abound still more. But if you are not yet like this, work at it, devote energy and attention to it, so that you may grow towards salvation in him who called you to this state of grace in which you find yourself, not to make you lukewarm, but to make you perfect.

Jordan of Saxony (c.1190-1237): Encyclical Letter, from the Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours for the Order of Preachers, Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers (November 7^th).

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A Monk of the Abbey of Bèze: Glorious Things are Said of Thee, City of God! Wednesday, Nov 7 2012

Continued from here….

What do we have still in common with perishable things, we to whom so much is promised in Heaven?

What could we enjoy on earth in the company of sinners, we who are called to the court of the heavenly host?

What are the pleasures of the flesh to us who ought to bear the image of the celestial?

What do we have to do with the concupiscence of the eyes, we who long to gaze upon the spectacle which is pleasing to the angels?

With worldly ambition, we to whom is promised the possession of Heaven ?

Thus, while like all our fathers, we are guests and strangers, while our days pass by like a shadow over the earth and there is no respite, while the avenging angel, the blinding cloud, the wind of the tempest, and the enveloping fire pass over the earth, let us flee from the darkness of Egypt to the shadow of the wings of God, and stay there until iniquity has passed away, until the day breathes and the shadows bow low, in order to merit being placed in Abraham’s bosom.

There are the true riches, there are the treasures of wisdom, length and joy of life.

There is full force where nothing is weakness, where nothing courageous is lacking.

There is full wisdom where there is no ignorance, where no true understanding is lacking.

There is utmost felicity where there is no adversity, where no goodness is lacking.

There is full health because there is full charity, there is full beatitude because there is full vision of God.

Vision, I say, is in knowledge, knowledge is found in love, love is with praise, and praise finds security and ail this is without end.

Who will give us wings like the dove, and we shall fly across all the kingdoms of this world, and we shall penetrate the depths of the eastern sky?

Who then will conduct us to the city of the great King in order that what we now read in these pages and see only as in a glass, darkly, we may then look upon the face of God present before us, and so rejoice?

City of God! What glorious things have they not said of thee!

In thee is the home of those who are joyous, in thee is the light, and the life of all.

Thy foundation is a single stone, a living cornerstone, uniquely precious.

Thy gates will shine with splendid diamonds. They will be opened wide.

Thy walls will be of precious stones, thy towers gleaming with jewels.

Anonymous Monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Bèze (early 12^th century?): Elevations on the Glories of Jerusalem (quoted in Jean Leclercq OSB, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God; A Study of Monastic Culture, ch 45).

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Isaiah the Solitary: The Remembrance of God and Praying with Sweetness of Heart Friday, Aug 24 2012

Our teacher Jesus Christ, out of pity for mankind and knowing the utter mercilessness of the demons, severely commands us: ‘Be ready at every hour, for you do not know when the thief will come; do not let him come and find you asleep’ (cf Matt. 24:42-43).

[...] Stand guard, then, over your heart and keep a watch on your senses; and if the remembrance of God dwells peaceably within you, you will catch the thieves when they try to deprive you of it.

When a man has an exact knowledge about the nature of thoughts, he recognizes those which are about to enter and defile him, troubling the intellect with distractions and making it lazy.

Those who recognize these evil thoughts for what they are remain undisturbed and continue in prayer to God.

[...] What…is meant by the worship of God?

It means that we have nothing extraneous in our intellect when we are praying to Him: neither sensual pleasure as we bless Him, nor malice as we sing His praise, nor hatred as we exalt Him, nor jealousy to hinder us as we speak to Him and call Him to mind.

For all these things are full of darkness; they are a wall imprisoning our wretched soul, and if the soul has them in itself it cannot worship God with purity.

They obstruct its ascent and prevent it from meeting God: they hinder it from blessing Him inwardly and praying to Him with sweetness of heart, and so receiving His illumination.

As a result the intellect is always shrouded in darkness and cannot advance in holiness, because it does not make the effort to uproot these thoughts by means of spiritual knowledge.

When the intellect rescues the soul’s senses from the desires of the flesh and imbues them with dispassion, the passions shamelessly attack the soul, trying to hold its senses fast in sin; but if the intellect then continually calls upon God in secret.

He, seeing all this, will send His help and destroy all the passions at once.

I entreat you not to leave your heart unguarded, so long as you are in the body.

[...] Up to his last breath [a man] cannot know what passion will attack him; so long as he breathes, therefore, he must not leave his heart unguarded, but should at every moment pray to God for His help and mercy.

Isaiah the Solitary (d. 489/491): On Guarding the Intellect, 12-15, Text from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (trans. and eds.) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. I (Faber & Faber, London & Boston: 1979). 

Note: The word intellect in the Philokalia translates the Greek nous, which the translators define as follows:

the highest faculty in man, through which – provided it is purified – he knows God or the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia or reason, from which it must be carefully distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or ‘simple cognition’ (the term used by St Isaac the Syrian). The intellect dwells in the ‘depths of the soul’; it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart (St Diadochos). The intellect is the organ of contemplation, the ‘eye of the heart’ (Makarian Homilies).

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Ambrose of Milan: Blessed the Soul that Enters the Inner Chambers. Friday, Jun 1 2012

The king brought me to his inner apartment.

Blessed the soul that enters the inner chambers.

For, rising up from the body, she becomes more distant from all, and she searches and seeks within herself, if in any way she can pursue the divine.

And when she can obtain it, having passed beyond intelligible things, she is strengthened in it and fed by it.

Such was Paul, who knew that he had been caught up into paradise but did not know whether he had been caught up in the body or out of the body.

For his soul had risen up from the body, had withdrawn from the bonds of the flesh, and had lifted herself up.

And he was made alien to himself and held within his very self the secret words which he heard and could not reveal, because, as he remarked, it was not permitted a man to speak such thoughts.

And so the good soul scorns visible and material things and does not linger over them or delay or tarry or despise them.

Rather, she rises to things eternal and immaterial and filled with wonders, for she rises with pure thought from a pious mind.

Intent on perfection, she strives only for the good that is God’s and considers none other necessary, because she possesses that which is supreme.

And so a man of this kind, in whom there is beauty of soul, has more than enough for himself, though he is alone, for he is himself sufficient for himself.

And yet the man is never alone who has the Lord with him as his protector.

[...] Therefore know yourself and the beauty of your nature, and go forth as if your foot had been freed of bonds and were visible in its bare step, so that you may not feel the fleshly coverings, that the bonds of the body may not entangle the footstep of your mind, that your foot may appear beautiful.

For such are they who are chosen by the Lord to announce the kingdom of heaven, and of them it was said, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace!

Such was Moses, to whom it is said, Remove the sandals from your feet, so that when he was about to call the people to the kingdom of God he might first put aside the garments of the flesh and might walk with his spirit and the footstep of the mind naked.

Ambrose of Milan (c. 337-397): On Isaac, or the Soul 4.11-12, 16; FoC 65 (1972) tr. McHugh; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2.

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Irenaeus of Lyons: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Restoration of the Image of God Thursday, Apr 26 2012

By the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not merely a part of man, was made in the likeness of God.

Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God.

[...] When the spirit here blended with the soul is united to God’s handiwork, the man is rendered spiritual and perfect because of the outpouring of the Spirit, and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God.

But if the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an animal nature, and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being, possessing indeed the image of God in his formation, but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit; and thus is this being imperfect.

[...] That flesh which has been moulded is not a perfect man in itself, but the body of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the soul itself, considered apart by itself, the man; but it is the soul of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the spirit a man, for it is called the spirit, and not a man; but the commingling and union of all these constitutes the perfect man.

And for this cause does the apostle, explaining himself, make it clear that the saved man is a complete man as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians: “Now the God of peace sanctify you perfect; and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without complaint to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now what was his object in praying that these three — that is, soul, body, and spirit — might be preserved to the coming of the Lord, unless he was aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and that they should be heirs of one and the same salvation? For this cause also he declares that those are “the perfect” who present unto the Lord the three component parts without offence.

Those, then, are the perfect who have had the Spirit of God remaining in them, and have preserved their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith of God, that is, that faith which is directed towards God, and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their neighbours.

Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century AD – c. 202): Adversus Haereses, 5, 6, 1.

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