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Part 2: On Battling Pride
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Part 3: The Spirit, and Spirits
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Part 4: The Role of Christian Women
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Part 5: On Seeking the Kingdom of God
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Part 9: The Silence of the Theotokos
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Part 10: On the Monastic Life
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Part 12: The Path to Healing and Salvation
Photo: culture.ru
Family
How can mankind count on a new life, a better one, when people violate the foundation of all well-being and joy in life—the sanctity of the family?
Either our family life must be sanctified and strengthened, or the inevitable destruction of not only the state and the Church but also the people will follow!
The heart
The heart is the center of human life, and sets all feelings, thoughts, intentions, desires, and aspirations into motion.
If it’s pure and holy with sincere love for God, then the whole man is pure, holy, devoted to God, guided by the fear of God and an understanding of the truth of God. Conversely, if the heart is full of passions, devoted to vices, full of sinful aspirations, then from it proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies (Mt. 15:19).
As a man’s heart is, so is the whole man, such is his whole way of thought and judgment, such are all his desires and aspirations, such are all his words and deeds. Only the heart serves as the focus of our passions and sinful habits, and therefore everyone must be able to distinguish the state of the heart, to listen to its feeling and movements, to recognize passions and find explanations for the thoughts in the heart.
The success of spiritual struggle, true repentance, and correction of our shortcomings depends on the habit of listening to and looking closely at the movements and desires of the heart.
It’s impossible to refrain from even a single sin until the passions that generate these sins disappear from your heart. The heart, caught in its sinful inclination, will first and foremost be constrained in its freedom of action. But then, if we sincerely turn to the Lord with a tearful prayer, entreating help to uproot the passion, it will lose its former influence over our mind, and inevitably, all thoughts, desires, and aspirations will begin to change.
However, it happens that the heart doesn’t show its impurity, sinfulness, and depravity with the clarity and frankness necessary to counteract human willfulness, and it devises the most cunning ways to cover its passions by hypocrisy. Then we have to resort to proven saving and reproaching means, namely, fasting, prayer, reading Holy Scripture, and reproving the heart with the Word of God.
Hardness of heart, insensitivity, and the weakening caused by sloth are among the most dreadful ailments of the heart.
Hardheartedness is a consequence of a long sinful life without repentance, without struggle; and it leads the sinner to the point where he doesn’t see or feel his sins, doesn’t think about death, doesn’t fear the judgment of God.
The weakening of the heart by laziness leads to the disappearance of all spiritual and bodily powers: A man loses his faith, hope, love, and becomes despondent, insensitive, and useless to both himself and others.
The presence of malice or an unkind feeling in the heart is the surest sign that an unclean spirit has taken possession of it. Woe to those who recognize this unkind feeling as their own or as something just, for a Christian must have only love in his heart, and love can’t think evil!
For salvation, every man must guard his heart, destroying everything earthly and sinful in it, filling it with holy desires, God-pleasing thoughts, Heavenly and eternal blessings, turning it to the Savior, acquiring the sweetest silence of spirit, calling upon Him Who must be the only God of the Christian heart, with none besides Him.
Heart and mind
The mind is the servant of the heart, and our heart is our life.
If the mind leads the heart to truth, to peace and joy, then it fulfills its calling, which means it is truth. If, on the contrary, it leads it to doubt, anxiety, languor, despondency and darkness, then it shuns its purpose and is certainly false.
The human mind is in complete slavish submission to the heart and fulfills all its impure aspirations and desires. Therefore, people sin despite the consciousness that they’re doing wrong and despite the desire to be guided by truth and goodness. It’s quite difficult to know truth and goodness; otherwise, all people would be righteous and kind.
Mistaken are those who don’t realize that truth and goodness are also known by the heart, which guides the will of man—not reason.
Is it really so difficult to test this on yourself? Who among those who reject the possibility of constantly knowing God’s will have lived piously and without error until now, based on their own reason and on the knowledge of good and evil? No one. And therefore it’s necessary to understand and agree with the truth that our entire nature is perverted.
The mind, the heart, the will are damaged by sin. A man is divided within himself, having, as it were, two forces in an unending struggle with each other. Therefore, man’s comprehension of truth and goodness isn’t absolute, but relative. One man takes human righteousness for truth, and another—for a lie. One man calls good what another considers absolute evil.
Only the man who has received the regenerating and enlightening grace of the Holy Spirit in his heart and has thereby modified his mind can say he possesses clear, pure, unmistakable reason.
Only the man who has inclined to renounce his free and sinful will and has united it with the will of God truly knows the truth and true goodness.
When the Spirit of God dwells in the heart, then man no longer has to be guided by his imperfect mind, but only by a heartfelt feeling; that is, the truth that lives in him.
As deeply as a seed roots itself into the ground, so tall, strong, and wide does the plant grow. The same is true of the heart: The more deeply all that is good and holy takes root within it, the more the human mind rises and expands to comprehend Christ’s truth and to contemplate all that is Divine and eternal.
Sorrows
Sorrows are the best harbingers of the will of God, and from the beginning of the age they have served as a sign of God’s election.
God acts on a man’s life as a doctor. There are painful conditions that may seem minor and non-threatening, but a knowledgeable doctor finds it necessary to use severe medical treatments to treat them.
The Heavenly Physician doesn’t always start healing a spiritual illness. His gaze penetrates into the depths of the soul, revealing there the germ of sin, passion, self-will, and the mixture of good and evil intentions. Through trials, he brings these harmful elements to the surface for healing, elevating the soul to a higher purity.
He loves, has mercy, cleanses, heals, and prepares us for blessedness; and we look and say: “How harshly He afflicts us!”
We suffer according to the will of God, according to the will of Him from Whom every good gift and every perfect gift [comes] from above (Jas. 1:17), according to the will of Him Who feeds a bird that is not even worth a farthing (Mt. 10:29), Who adorns the grass of the field more splendidly than Solomon was arrayed in his glory (Mt. 6:28-30).
How could it be that He Who cares for a sparrow and the grass would not protect a man, even if it means leading him through fire and water when He finds it necessary?
How could it be that He Who shows His mercy to evil people would not show His justice to those who suffer innocently?
“If the Good One sends suffering, then of course there is something good in suffering,” says St. Philaret.
Do tribulations and trials always lead to faith? After all, physical and spiritual illnesses and misfortunes often harden people, aggravate them, and lead them to murmuring and the loss of the little faith and love for God that they had before their tribulations. Why does it happen that these trials and woes cause some to draw nearer to the Lord and saves them, while others distance themselves and spiritually perish?
Is it not, beloved brothers and sisters, because some have the right spiritual development, knowledge of the faith, and others don’t? Some understand the love of God so much that they see it even in trials and tribulations, while others are completely beyond this understanding.
If that’s the case, it’s only natural that, given their differences, they couldn’t all respond to, accept, feel, or understand the meaning, purpose, significance, and benefit of the trials and tribulations permitted by the Lord in the same way.
A word to communicants
Beloved! Know ye not that ye are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16), and Christ Himself is in you? Guard the holiness of your temple and keep the purity of your heart! Pray to the Savior Who dwells within you—not with words but with your spirit, contemplating the Treasure within. Pray joyfully, sincerely, fervently, and without ceasing.
Praise the love of the Son of God Who voluntarily gave Himself up to death on the Cross for your salvation!
Praise His boundless mercy, which has allowed you to experience repentance, rebirth, forgiveness, and a new resurrection!
Praise Him not only with your mouth, but with all your heart, feelings, thoughts, and every breath, as do the holy angels in churches, surrounding the Lamb of God at the throne!
After all, your soul has sought the Lord and found Him! It was languishing, worried, and sick, and Christ destroyed all this by giving you His peace.
You were weak, infirm, powerless to fight, and the Lord of Hosts united you with Himself in order to live with you, to suffer with you, and fight for you. You’ve been enlightened by the Divine light, and your former ignorance is gone. What more could you desire or seek? Where else could your heart be directed when you’re justified, reborn through baptism, purified, and made holy?
The past is condemned, it’s far away, it’s been erased. Would you really want to return to the life that deprived you of peace, joy, peace of conscience, purity, understanding of truth, humility, meekness, temperance, and alienated you from the Heavenly Father?
If you could be returned to childhood, to youth, to the distant past so that you could start life anew, would you repeat the same mistakes, falls, and sins? Surely, you would use your experience and begin to live carefully, guarding yourself against temptations and familiar errors.
Oh, beloved, you’ve now returned not just to the distant past, but to the very beginning of life, to your Baptism, and you’re given the opportunity to remember in both mind and heart all the sins you’ve committed, which threatened your destruction.
Begin this new life using your past experience; savor your happiness, hold on to the Lord Christ within you—your light, your strength, your peace, your joy! The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart, and He will save the humble of spirit (Ps. 33:18). Amen.
Service to God
Does the Lord need our service? It’s needed insomuch as it proves our love for Him…
In praying, we serve God, but we firstly need this prayer for ourselves, since only through sincere prayer can mankind receive all that it needs.
By refraining from idle talk and condemnation, we serve God—because we fulfill His commandment, but mainly we save ourselves from condemnation on the day of the Dread Judgment.
By studying Holy Scripture and every science, we serve God, because as we learn the law of God, the commandments of the Creator Himself, we learn to know the Creator through creation. But at the same time, we perfect ourselves.
In diligence, in obedience to parents, in caring for our neighbors and the poor, in all good things, we serve God as faithful and honest children, as true, loving disciples of Christ, fulfilling His will.
Episcopal ministry
Most secular people see the episcopal rank as the satisfaction of human vanity. This is ignorance of the sacrificial nature of the episcopal dignity, which the Holy Fathers call voluntary martyrdom!
Was it not to the bishops first of all that Jesus Christ said in the person of His Apostles: In the world ye shall have tribulation (Jn. 16:33); ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (Jn. 15:19)?
The Word of God loudly proclaims that the bishops are entrusted with the people of the Lord and that they have to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28), that they bear heavy responsibility for every soul entrusted to them and are obliged to speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority (Tit. 2:15), and that the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine (1 Tim. 5:17).
But in our difficult and wicked days, the voice of the hierarchs is drowned out by the voices and crises of the ringleaders of various sects, preachers of countless faiths and denials, and more recently, by advocates of an unprecedented madness in history—Christianity without Christ and humanitarianism without the name of God.
The modern spirit, hostile to the Church and the state, to religion and morality, is so strong that bishops are condemned to relentless, multifaceted struggles and deep spiritual anguish. They are drawn into ignorant disputes, which the holy Apostle commands to avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes (2 Tim. 2:23). They are burdened with countless legal and various other matters, complaints, requests, and demands, most of which are unsolvable, leading only to dissatisfaction among supplicants who are weakened in faith and obedience to the Church, to misunderstandings within the intellectual strata of society, and to endless martyrdom.
Humility
Humility is primarily a virtue of the mind. Therefore, this virtue is quite often referred to in Holy Scripture as “humble-mindedness.” What is humble-mindedness? Humble-mindedness is “man’s correct understanding of mankind” (St. Ignatius [Brianchaninov). Therefore, it is man’s correct understanding of himself.
Conscience
The conscience proclaims to us the laws of Heaven, obliges us to fulfill them, judges us according to these laws, and rewards or punishes. It is the strength of spirit that, aware of both the law and freedom, defines their mutual relationship.
The conscience distinguishes good from bad more clearly than the mind. You can dull, drown out, or numb your conscience through a sinful life, but it’s impossible to kill it, and it will accompany you until the Dread Judgment.
