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===Spiritual Alphabet=== of Rev Isaac the Syrian /150 pp./
"What other occupation does a monk have in his cell, except weeping?"
"What other occupation does a monk have in his cell, except weeping?"
/ also see Notes of Clarification - https://goo.gl/MF71L9 /
===Angels===
At times the angels instructed /showed the path to/ those of the ascetics who were mistaken; at times they delivered those who fell into temptations; at times, in case of a sudden disaster and menacing danger, they abducted them from this, saving, for example, from a serpent or from (falling) rocks, or from an arrow, or from a thrown stone; at times, if the enemy had clearly attacked /upon/ the saints, they appeared in a visible manner and spoke that they had been sent as help to them, and gave them bravery, courage, and joy; and at other times made through them they healed, at times they healed the very saints, who had subjected themselves to any sufferings.
At times the angels instructed /showed the path to/ those of the ascetics who were mistaken; at times they delivered those who fell into temptations; at times, in case of a sudden disaster and menacing danger, they abducted them from this, saving, for example, from a serpent or from (falling) rocks, or from an arrow, or from a thrown stone; at times, if the enemy had clearly attacked /upon/ the saints, they appeared in a visible manner and spoke that they had been sent as help to them, and gave them bravery, courage, and joy; and at other times made through them they healed, at times they healed the very saints, who had subjected themselves to any sufferings.
===Men who abide in silence /Silencers/ ===
Question. What thoughts and reflections should an ascetic who abides in silence have in his silent cell, and what must he do without ceasing, in order that his mind should have no /point of/ touch for vain thoughts?
Answer. You ask about thought and reflections, how does a person become dead in his cell? Does a person who has a diligent and sober soul need to ask how to behave when he is alone with himself? What other occupation does a monk have in his cell, except weeping /lamenting/? Can he have the time – except to weep – to turn to another thought? And what occupation is better than this? The very abiding of the monk and his loneliness, likening himself to being in a tomb, is far from the joy of men, they teach him that his activity is lamentation. And the very meaning of his name also calls and convinces to this, because he is called lamenting /grieving/, that is, filled up of sorrow in his heart. And all the saints departed from this life in weeping. If the saints wept, and – still not departed from this life – their eyes were always filled with tears, then who /-soever/ shall not weep? The monk's consolation stems from his weeping. And once the perfect and victorious /ones/ were weeping here, then how will the one filled with plagues endure to live without weeping? Therefore, if we go for living in silence and would patiently abide in it, then, of course, in this state we would abide in lamentation /weeping/. Therefore we shall ceaselessly pray in our minds to the Lord that He grant us weeping. For, should we receive this grace, /that is/ the best and superior to other talents /gifts, grants/, then, with the help of it, we shall reach purity. And as soon as we reach it, purity shall no longer be taken away from us until the very departure from our life here.
Therefore blessed are the pure in heart, because there is no time, when they will not be rejoicing in this sweetness of tears, and in it they always see the Lord. As long as they still have tears in their eyes, they are granted the vision of His revelations at the height of their prayer; and they have no prayer without tears.
This is /the meaning of/ what the Lord says: "Blessed are they that mourn /weep/: for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5:4). For from weeping a man comes to purity of the soul /mind/. Therefore, the Lord, when saying: "for they shall be comforted", did not explain: what /kind of/ comfort with. For when a monk was granted to pass with the help of tears through the realm of passions and to enter the plain of purity of the soul, then such comfort shrouds him /for salvation/. Therefore, if any one who has received such comfort here shall stretch /out/ on this plain, then on it he shall be welcomed by the comfort, unattainable here, and then he /comes to/ understands what comfort the end of weeping receives, a comfort that God grants those weeping for their purity; because those who weep incessantly may not be alarmed /disturbed/ by passions. To shed tears and weep – this is the gift of the dispassionate ones. And if the tears of one who is temporarily weeping and grieving can not only lead him /the way/ to dispassion, but even completely cleanse and free his mind from remembering passions, then what about those who knowingly /with understanding, VEDENIE/, day and night, exercise in this labor /doing/? Therefore, no one knows of the help that comes from weeping, except for them alone who have surrendered their souls to this doing. All saints strive after this entrance (that is, to receive the gift of weeping), because through tears the door opens for them to enter the land of comfort; and in that land the most-blessed and salvific traces of God are depicted in revelations.
(Homily 21, pp. 97-99)
Question. What thoughts and reflections should an ascetic who abides in silence have in his silent cell, and what must he do without ceasing, in order that his mind should have no /point of/ touch for vain thoughts?
Answer. You ask about thought and reflections, how does a person become dead in his cell? Does a person who has a diligent and sober soul need to ask how to behave when he is alone with himself? What other occupation does a monk have in his cell, except weeping /lamenting/? Can he have the time – except to weep – to turn to another thought? And what occupation is better than this? The very abiding of the monk and his loneliness, likening himself to being in a tomb, is far from the joy of men, they teach him that his activity is lamentation. And the very meaning of his name also calls and convinces to this, because he is called lamenting /grieving/, that is, filled up of sorrow in his heart. And all the saints departed from this life in weeping. If the saints wept, and – still not departed from this life – their eyes were always filled with tears, then who /-soever/ shall not weep? The monk's consolation stems from his weeping. And once the perfect and victorious /ones/ were weeping here, then how will the one filled with plagues endure to live without weeping? Therefore, if we go for living in silence and would patiently abide in it, then, of course, in this state we would abide in lamentation /weeping/. Therefore we shall ceaselessly pray in our minds to the Lord that He grant us weeping. For, should we receive this grace, /that is/ the best and superior to other talents /gifts, grants/, then, with the help of it, we shall reach purity. And as soon as we reach it, purity shall no longer be taken away from us until the very departure from our life here.
Therefore blessed are the pure in heart, because there is no time, when they will not be rejoicing in this sweetness of tears, and in it they always see the Lord. As long as they still have tears in their eyes, they are granted the vision of His revelations at the height of their prayer; and they have no prayer without tears.
This is /the meaning of/ what the Lord says: "Blessed are they that mourn /weep/: for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5:4). For from weeping a man comes to purity of the soul /mind/. Therefore, the Lord, when saying: "for they shall be comforted", did not explain: what /kind of/ comfort with. For when a monk was granted to pass with the help of tears through the realm of passions and to enter the plain of purity of the soul, then such comfort shrouds him /for salvation/. Therefore, if any one who has received such comfort here shall stretch /out/ on this plain, then on it he shall be welcomed by the comfort, unattainable here, and then he /comes to/ understands what comfort the end of weeping receives, a comfort that God grants those weeping for their purity; because those who weep incessantly may not be alarmed /disturbed/ by passions. To shed tears and weep – this is the gift of the dispassionate ones. And if the tears of one who is temporarily weeping and grieving can not only lead him /the way/ to dispassion, but even completely cleanse and free his mind from remembering passions, then what about those who knowingly /with understanding, VEDENIE/, day and night, exercise in this labor /doing/? Therefore, no one knows of the help that comes from weeping, except for them alone who have surrendered their souls to this doing. All saints strive after this entrance (that is, to receive the gift of weeping), because through tears the door opens for them to enter the land of comfort; and in that land the most-blessed and salvific traces of God are depicted in revelations.
(Homily 21, pp. 97-99)
===The speechless people retired from conversing with people===
If a man once opens the door for whatever reasons, then the devil will not cease to show visibly to him some of these urges [reasons] – under many pretexts – to frequent and innumerable encounters with [other] people. Therefore, if you, brother, truly love the virtue of such [keeping] silence, which in itself tolerates neither distraction, nor rejection, nor separation, and with the use which the ancients were victorious, then [if this is the case] you shall find an opportunity to do your laudable desire, as soon as you become like your Fathers and receive the intention to show their life in yourself. And they loved much perfect silence, they did not care to show love to their akins, they did not try to use their strength to calm them [down] and they were not ashamed to avoid meeting those who are venerated by people of respect [as respectable?].
Thus they marched and were not condemned by wise and prominent people, as scornful for the brethren, as contemptuous or negligent, or as deprived of reason [insane]; which – in their justification –was said by one who is reverent for [keeping] silence and for the life of a hermit [estrangement from the world], more than for communion with people. "A man," he says, "who achieves in practice the sweetness of [keeping] silence in his cell, does not stray away from him meeting his neighbor as being neglectful for him, but [rather] for the sake of that fruit as the one he gathers from silence." "What for," he asks, "did Abba Arseny resort to fleeing and never stopped when meeting someone? Abba Theodore, when he met someone, then this meeting was like a sword for him. He never greeted anyone when he was outside his cell. And St. Arseny did not even greet the one who came to him with greetings. For at one time one of the Fathers came to see Abba Arseny and the elder opened the door – thinking it was his attendant; but when he saw who the visitor was, he fell on his face, and – having long been implored to stand up, on the assurance of the visitor that he would accept a blessing and leave, the saint refused, saying: "I will not get up until you leave." And he did not get up until that one left. And the blessed man did this so that were he to once give them his hand, they would not return to him again.
Look at the continuation of the homily, and then you will not say that, perhaps, Arseny neglected that Father, or somebody else, due to his insignificance, and to another – for the sake of honoring him – he rendered toadyism and talked with him. On the contrary, Arseny equally fled from everyone, both small and great. One thing was in front of his eyes – for the sake of silence to ignore communication with people, be that a person great or small; and for the sake of honoring speechlessness and silence to bear reproach on himself from everyone. And we do know that he was visited by an Archbishop, Blessed Theophilus, and with him was also the judge of that country, who wished to see the saint and give honors to him. But Arseny, when he was sitting before them, did not honor their high rank even with a small [the smallest] word, although they wanted very much to hear his word. And when the Archbishop began asking him about it, the good elder kept silent for a while and then said: "Will you keep my word if I tell [it to] you?" They voiced agreement saying: "Yes." And then the elder said unto them: "If you hear that Arseny is here, do not come near here." Do you see the wonderful temper of the elder? Do you see his disdain for human conversation? There is a man who knew the fruit of silence. The Blessed did not argue [reason] that a universal teacher and head of the Church had come, but imagined in his thoughts the following: "As once and for all I have died for the world, what use is a dead man to the living?" And Abba Macarius reproached him with an admonition full of love, saying: "Why are you fleeing from us?> The elder presented him with a wonderful and praiseworthy excuse, replying: "God knows that I love you; but I cannot be together with both God and people." And this wonderful knowledge he was taught by no other than by God's voice. For it was said to him: "Flee, Arseny, from people and you'll be saved."
Let no idle and loving the conversations man be so shameless as to refute this by perverting the words of Arseny's, and let him not speak despite this that it were a human invention and it were invented for the benefit of silence. On the contrary, it is a heavenly teaching. And let us not come to think that this were said to Arseny in the sense that he should flee and estrange from the world, and not in the sense that he should also flee from his brethren! After he departed from this world, he went and settled in a Lavra, again and again he prayed to God, asking how he could [possibly] live virtuously, and saying: "Show me the way, O Lord, how to be saved," and he thought he would hear something different; but for the second time he heard again that same voice of the Master [Vladyka]: "Flee, Arseny, be silent and speechless. And although there is much benefits (it was said to him) in meeting and conversing with them, there are more in fleeing from them." And when blessed Arseny received this in a Divine revelation, and as when he was with the brethren, too, that same thing was said unto him, then he was assured and came to know that to acquire a good life it was not enough for him to flee only from the secular ones, he must flee from all equally. For can anyone resist and contradict the Divine voice? And divine Anthony was told in a revelation: "If you wish to remain silent, go not only to the Thebes, but even to the inner desert." Therefore, if God commands us to flee from all and come to love silence so much, when abiding in it are those who love Him, then who will begin putting forward any pretexts to remaining in communication and proximity with people? If to Arseny and Antony flight and caution were useful, then how much more are they useful to the infirm [ones]? And if the ones whom the whole world needed – both in word, and in contemplation, and in help – [if] God honored more for their silence, rather than for the welfare of the entire brotherhood, or we better say – of the entire mankind, then how much more is silence necessary for those who are unable to protect themselves well?
We also know of a certain saint, that his brother pretended to be ill and was locked in another cell. And inasmuch as the saint, during all his illness, was overcoming his compassion and did not go to see him, then the patient, approaching his exodus from life, sent for him: "If you have not come visiting me until now, then do come now to see me before my departure from the world, or do come albeit at night, and I will kiss you, and rest to peace." But the blessed did not agree to at that [last] hour, when nature usually requires our compassion to one another and transgresses the definition of will, but said: "If I go out, then I shall not cleanse my heart before God, because I did not care to go visit the spiritual brethren, but to nature preferred Christ?" And the brother died, and he did not go see him.
Therefore, let no one by laziness lay out thoughts [to be visible], that this is impossible, let no one subvert, and toss and turn one's silence into nothing, rejecting God's Providence about it. If the saints have defeated nature itself, no matter how strong it is, and if Christ loves when honored through silence, while they leave in disregard His children, then what other need may you have that you could not neglect when you fall for this? That commandment which says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. 22:37), more than the whole world and nature, and everything that is in nature, is fully fulfilled when you abide in your silence. And the commandment of love for one's neighbor is also contained in it. Do you want – according to the Gospel commandment – to acquire in your soul your love for the neighbor? Flee from him, and then the flame of love for him will kindle in you, and you shall rejoice at contemplating him, as if seeing a bright angel. Do you also want those who love you to long for contemplating you? See them on certain days only. Experience is indeed a teacher for everyone.
(Homily 23, pp. 111-116)
If a man once opens the door for whatever reasons, then the devil will not cease to show visibly to him some of these urges [reasons] – under many pretexts – to frequent and innumerable encounters with [other] people. Therefore, if you, brother, truly love the virtue of such [keeping] silence, which in itself tolerates neither distraction, nor rejection, nor separation, and with the use which the ancients were victorious, then [if this is the case] you shall find an opportunity to do your laudable desire, as soon as you become like your Fathers and receive the intention to show their life in yourself. And they loved much perfect silence, they did not care to show love to their akins, they did not try to use their strength to calm them [down] and they were not ashamed to avoid meeting those who are venerated by people of respect [as respectable?].
Thus they marched and were not condemned by wise and prominent people, as scornful for the brethren, as contemptuous or negligent, or as deprived of reason [insane]; which – in their justification –was said by one who is reverent for [keeping] silence and for the life of a hermit [estrangement from the world], more than for communion with people. "A man," he says, "who achieves in practice the sweetness of [keeping] silence in his cell, does not stray away from him meeting his neighbor as being neglectful for him, but [rather] for the sake of that fruit as the one he gathers from silence." "What for," he asks, "did Abba Arseny resort to fleeing and never stopped when meeting someone? Abba Theodore, when he met someone, then this meeting was like a sword for him. He never greeted anyone when he was outside his cell. And St. Arseny did not even greet the one who came to him with greetings. For at one time one of the Fathers came to see Abba Arseny and the elder opened the door – thinking it was his attendant; but when he saw who the visitor was, he fell on his face, and – having long been implored to stand up, on the assurance of the visitor that he would accept a blessing and leave, the saint refused, saying: "I will not get up until you leave." And he did not get up until that one left. And the blessed man did this so that were he to once give them his hand, they would not return to him again.
Look at the continuation of the homily, and then you will not say that, perhaps, Arseny neglected that Father, or somebody else, due to his insignificance, and to another – for the sake of honoring him – he rendered toadyism and talked with him. On the contrary, Arseny equally fled from everyone, both small and great. One thing was in front of his eyes – for the sake of silence to ignore communication with people, be that a person great or small; and for the sake of honoring speechlessness and silence to bear reproach on himself from everyone. And we do know that he was visited by an Archbishop, Blessed Theophilus, and with him was also the judge of that country, who wished to see the saint and give honors to him. But Arseny, when he was sitting before them, did not honor their high rank even with a small [the smallest] word, although they wanted very much to hear his word. And when the Archbishop began asking him about it, the good elder kept silent for a while and then said: "Will you keep my word if I tell [it to] you?" They voiced agreement saying: "Yes." And then the elder said unto them: "If you hear that Arseny is here, do not come near here." Do you see the wonderful temper of the elder? Do you see his disdain for human conversation? There is a man who knew the fruit of silence. The Blessed did not argue [reason] that a universal teacher and head of the Church had come, but imagined in his thoughts the following: "As once and for all I have died for the world, what use is a dead man to the living?" And Abba Macarius reproached him with an admonition full of love, saying: "Why are you fleeing from us?> The elder presented him with a wonderful and praiseworthy excuse, replying: "God knows that I love you; but I cannot be together with both God and people." And this wonderful knowledge he was taught by no other than by God's voice. For it was said to him: "Flee, Arseny, from people and you'll be saved."
Let no idle and loving the conversations man be so shameless as to refute this by perverting the words of Arseny's, and let him not speak despite this that it were a human invention and it were invented for the benefit of silence. On the contrary, it is a heavenly teaching. And let us not come to think that this were said to Arseny in the sense that he should flee and estrange from the world, and not in the sense that he should also flee from his brethren! After he departed from this world, he went and settled in a Lavra, again and again he prayed to God, asking how he could [possibly] live virtuously, and saying: "Show me the way, O Lord, how to be saved," and he thought he would hear something different; but for the second time he heard again that same voice of the Master [Vladyka]: "Flee, Arseny, be silent and speechless. And although there is much benefits (it was said to him) in meeting and conversing with them, there are more in fleeing from them." And when blessed Arseny received this in a Divine revelation, and as when he was with the brethren, too, that same thing was said unto him, then he was assured and came to know that to acquire a good life it was not enough for him to flee only from the secular ones, he must flee from all equally. For can anyone resist and contradict the Divine voice? And divine Anthony was told in a revelation: "If you wish to remain silent, go not only to the Thebes, but even to the inner desert." Therefore, if God commands us to flee from all and come to love silence so much, when abiding in it are those who love Him, then who will begin putting forward any pretexts to remaining in communication and proximity with people? If to Arseny and Antony flight and caution were useful, then how much more are they useful to the infirm [ones]? And if the ones whom the whole world needed – both in word, and in contemplation, and in help – [if] God honored more for their silence, rather than for the welfare of the entire brotherhood, or we better say – of the entire mankind, then how much more is silence necessary for those who are unable to protect themselves well?
We also know of a certain saint, that his brother pretended to be ill and was locked in another cell. And inasmuch as the saint, during all his illness, was overcoming his compassion and did not go to see him, then the patient, approaching his exodus from life, sent for him: "If you have not come visiting me until now, then do come now to see me before my departure from the world, or do come albeit at night, and I will kiss you, and rest to peace." But the blessed did not agree to at that [last] hour, when nature usually requires our compassion to one another and transgresses the definition of will, but said: "If I go out, then I shall not cleanse my heart before God, because I did not care to go visit the spiritual brethren, but to nature preferred Christ?" And the brother died, and he did not go see him.
Therefore, let no one by laziness lay out thoughts [to be visible], that this is impossible, let no one subvert, and toss and turn one's silence into nothing, rejecting God's Providence about it. If the saints have defeated nature itself, no matter how strong it is, and if Christ loves when honored through silence, while they leave in disregard His children, then what other need may you have that you could not neglect when you fall for this? That commandment which says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. 22:37), more than the whole world and nature, and everything that is in nature, is fully fulfilled when you abide in your silence. And the commandment of love for one's neighbor is also contained in it. Do you want – according to the Gospel commandment – to acquire in your soul your love for the neighbor? Flee from him, and then the flame of love for him will kindle in you, and you shall rejoice at contemplating him, as if seeing a bright angel. Do you also want those who love you to long for contemplating you? See them on certain days only. Experience is indeed a teacher for everyone.
(Homily 23, pp. 111-116)
===Conversations are idle. In what way to disaccustom visitors from idle conversations? ===
I went once to the cell of one of the Fathers. The saint did not often open the door to anyone. But as soon as he saw out of the window that I was coming, he said to me: "Do you want to enter?" And I answered: "Yes, honest [honorable] Father." After I entered, I made a prayer, sat down, and we talked about many things, and finally I asked him: "What should I do, Father? Some come to [visit] me, and I gain nothing, and I get no benefit from conversing with them, but I'm ashamed to tell them: do not come. They even prevent me from frequently correcting my usual rule, and therefore I grieve." To this that blessed elder answered me: "When such lovers of idleness come to you [visiting], as soon as they've sat for a while, make the appearance that you want to stand at prayer, and with a bow tell the visitor: let us pray, brother, for it is already time for my rule, and I cannot break it, it's hard for me to do it when I want to do it at another hour, and for me this is a cause of embarrassment, so without some extreme need I cannot leave the rule. And now there is no need for my prayer to be abandoned. And do not let him go without him praying with you. If he says: you pray, and I'll go – make a bow to him, and say: for love's sake make at least this one prayer with me, so that I may benefit from your prayer. And when you stand up, prolong your prayer even beyond what you do. If you act thus with them, as soon as they come to you, then – having learned that you do not indulge with them and dislike idleness – they will not come close to the place about which they've heard you are there.
Therefore see that you do not ruin the labors of God from toadyism. If you meet one of the Fathers or a wandering stranger, then being with such is imposed upon you in the stead of the longest prayer. But should the stranger be one of the lovers of vain-talking, then calm him down as much as possible and let him go in peace."
(Homily 12, pp. 52-53)
I went once to the cell of one of the Fathers. The saint did not often open the door to anyone. But as soon as he saw out of the window that I was coming, he said to me: "Do you want to enter?" And I answered: "Yes, honest [honorable] Father." After I entered, I made a prayer, sat down, and we talked about many things, and finally I asked him: "What should I do, Father? Some come to [visit] me, and I gain nothing, and I get no benefit from conversing with them, but I'm ashamed to tell them: do not come. They even prevent me from frequently correcting my usual rule, and therefore I grieve." To this that blessed elder answered me: "When such lovers of idleness come to you [visiting], as soon as they've sat for a while, make the appearance that you want to stand at prayer, and with a bow tell the visitor: let us pray, brother, for it is already time for my rule, and I cannot break it, it's hard for me to do it when I want to do it at another hour, and for me this is a cause of embarrassment, so without some extreme need I cannot leave the rule. And now there is no need for my prayer to be abandoned. And do not let him go without him praying with you. If he says: you pray, and I'll go – make a bow to him, and say: for love's sake make at least this one prayer with me, so that I may benefit from your prayer. And when you stand up, prolong your prayer even beyond what you do. If you act thus with them, as soon as they come to you, then – having learned that you do not indulge with them and dislike idleness – they will not come close to the place about which they've heard you are there.
Therefore see that you do not ruin the labors of God from toadyism. If you meet one of the Fathers or a wandering stranger, then being with such is imposed upon you in the stead of the longest prayer. But should the stranger be one of the lovers of vain-talking, then calm him down as much as possible and let him go in peace."
(Homily 12, pp. 52-53)
===Immortal Life===
Question. What is immortal life?
Answer. Feeling of God; because love stems from VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding], and understanding [vedenie of] God is the king of all desires, and to the heart that accepts it, every sweetness on earth is superfluous. For there is nothing like [that comes close to] the sweetness of the knowledge God.
Fill up, O Lord, my heart with life eternal!
Eternal life is a consolation in God; and he who has found consolation in God, he deems superfluous the consolation of the world.
(Homily 38, p. 160)
Question. What is immortal life?
Answer. Feeling of God; because love stems from VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding], and understanding [vedenie of] God is the king of all desires, and to the heart that accepts it, every sweetness on earth is superfluous. For there is nothing like [that comes close to] the sweetness of the knowledge God.
Fill up, O Lord, my heart with life eternal!
Eternal life is a consolation in God; and he who has found consolation in God, he deems superfluous the consolation of the world.
(Homily 38, p. 160)
===Dispassion===
Question. What is the dispassion of man?
Answer. Dispassion is not this: [for you] to not feel passions, but [rather] to not accept them into yourself. Due to many and various virtues, manifest and innermost – [as] acquired by the saints, passions have been exhausted in them, and it's not easy for them to rebel against the soul: and [so] the mind does not have to constantly be attentive to them; because at all times it is filled with its thoughts – the result of reflections and conversations about the best images that consciousness raises in the mind. And as soon as passions begin to be excited, the mind suddenly admires the rapprochement with them by some comprehension that has penetrated the mind, and the passions – as blessed Mark said – remain in it [the mind!] as if empty.
The mind, by the grace of God, performing virtuous deeds and coming nearer to VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding], feels little that which is the worst (passionate) and unreasonable part of the soul. For VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding] elevates it in the heights [to the on-high] and alienates it from all that is in the world. And because of the saints immaculacy and of the subtlety, the easy [and proper] mobility and acuity of their minds, as well as because of their exploits, their minds are cleansed and prove [to be] enlightened, according to the dryness of their flesh. And, in result to their learning silence and their long abiding in it, everyone is easily and soon granted an inner [vision, VEDENIE?] and this leads to exaltation in contemplation. At the same time, they usually abound in contemplations, and their minds never lack in understanding the objects, and they never are without what brings in them the fruit of the spirit. The long-term custom irons out in their heart their memories, which excite passions in the soul, and it also empties the strength of the devil's power. For when the soul does not become friends with the passions of thought about them, inasmuch as it is occupied with another concern, the power of passions cannot retain its [the soul's] spiritual senses in its claws.
Question. What is the dispassion of man?
Answer. Dispassion is not this: [for you] to not feel passions, but [rather] to not accept them into yourself. Due to many and various virtues, manifest and innermost – [as] acquired by the saints, passions have been exhausted in them, and it's not easy for them to rebel against the soul: and [so] the mind does not have to constantly be attentive to them; because at all times it is filled with its thoughts – the result of reflections and conversations about the best images that consciousness raises in the mind. And as soon as passions begin to be excited, the mind suddenly admires the rapprochement with them by some comprehension that has penetrated the mind, and the passions – as blessed Mark said – remain in it [the mind!] as if empty.
The mind, by the grace of God, performing virtuous deeds and coming nearer to VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding], feels little that which is the worst (passionate) and unreasonable part of the soul. For VEDENIE [true, spiritual, understanding] elevates it in the heights [to the on-high] and alienates it from all that is in the world. And because of the saints immaculacy and of the subtlety, the easy [and proper] mobility and acuity of their minds, as well as because of their exploits, their minds are cleansed and prove [to be] enlightened, according to the dryness of their flesh. And, in result to their learning silence and their long abiding in it, everyone is easily and soon granted an inner [vision, VEDENIE?] and this leads to exaltation in contemplation. At the same time, they usually abound in contemplations, and their minds never lack in understanding the objects, and they never are without what brings in them the fruit of the spirit. The long-term custom irons out in their heart their memories, which excite passions in the soul, and it also empties the strength of the devil's power. For when the soul does not become friends with the passions of thought about them, inasmuch as it is occupied with another concern, the power of passions cannot retain its [the soul's] spiritual senses in its claws.
(Homily 48, pp. 210-211)
The Goodness of God
Be a preacher of the goodness of God, because God nourishes you the unworthy, and because you owe a lot to Him, and His demands are not visible to you, and He grants you great things for the little things you have done. Do not call God just, for His justice may not be known in your doings. Although David calls Him righteous and upright [in His justice] (Psalm 119:137), but His Son revealed to us that He is exceedingly good and sweet. For he says: "for he is kind" unto the unthankful and to the evil. (Luke 6:35). And why do you call God upright in His justice when in the chapter on reward to the doers you read: "Friend, I do thee no wrong: ... I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. ... Is thine eye evil, because I am good" (Matt. 20:13-15)? And further why does a man call God upright in His justice when in the chapter on the prodigal son, who has prodigally lavished his wealth, you read that in a compassion he had (the father, – the son – affliction), he ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and gave him power over all his wealth? (Luke 15:20-22). For no one else has said these things about God, that we should doubt Him, but the Son of God Himself testified of Him this. Where is the justice of God? Is the fact that we are sinners, and Christ died for us? And if He is so merciful, then we shall believe that He will not accept [any] change.
Let us never think of this lawlessness, that God should be called unmerciful: the essence [property] of God does not change like [that of] the dead [does], and God does not acquire what He does not have; He does not lose what He has; He does not receive increments like creatures do. What God has had since the [very] beginning, He always has and shall have unto infinity, as the blessed Cyril said in the interpretation of the book of Genesis: "Fear Him," he says, "for love, and not for the name of [being] a cruel one, that He was given later [imbued with] (i.e. not due to the fact that people gave Him the name of "cruel"). Love Him, the way you are obliged to love Him, and not for what He shall give you in the future, but for what we have received in this world, created for our sake. For who [ever] is capable of repaying [recompense] Him? Where is His recompense for our labors? Who prompted Him in the beginning to bring us into being? Who begs Him for us when we do not remember Him? When we were not yet [put into being], who brought this body of ours to life? And further, where does the thought of knowledge [VEDENIE] sink into the dust? Oh, how wonderful the mercy of God [is]! Oh, how amazing the grace of God and our Creator [is]! What a force that abounds in everything! What immense goodness, according to which He elevates again the nature of us sinners unto re-creation! Who will have strength enough to glorify Him? He restores the offender (of commandments) and His blasphemer, He renews the unintelligible dust, makes it intelligible and verbal, a mind diffused [distracted] and insensible [indifferent, unfeeling] and diluted [wasted] sensations He makes into a nature intelligent and worthy of Divine thoughts! A sinner is unable to imagine [on his own] the grace of his resurrection. Where is the Gehenna that might grieve us? Where is the torment, terrifying us in multiformity and overwhelming the joy of His love [the love for Him]? And what Gehenna be [mean] compared to [before] the grace of His resurrection, when He shall raise us from hell, and He shall make [so] that this corruptible shall put on incorruption (I Cor. 15:53-54), and He shall raise the one fallen into hell unto glory?
Come, you reasonable, and be amazed! Who, if having a wise and wonderful mind, shall adequately marvel at the mercy of our Creator? There is a reward for sinners, and instead of rewarding the righteous He grants [rewards] them resurrection; and instead of corruption of the bodies [of those] that have hindered His law, He clothes them in the perfect glory of incorruption. This [is] mercy – to resurrect us after we have sinned, and superior to mercy – to bring us into being, when we did not exist. Glory to [Thee, Oh] God, for Thy immeasurable grace! Behold, O Lord, the waves of Thy grace have compelled me to go silent, and in me there was no thought left before the gratitude to Thee! (I.e. any thought in me has go silent [ceased], defeated by the gratitude to Thee). With what lips do we glorify Thee, Oh good King, Who loves our life? Glory to Thee for these two worlds, which Thou hast created for our growing and enjoyment! Raising us from all that Thou hast created to the knowledge [VEDENIE] of Your glory! Glory to Thee from now on and unto the ages. Amen.
(Homily 90, pp. 430-432)
as time grit is running out...
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For BOOK Inventory
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17 чувств - не споделите
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Copy of 17 senses /states of mind/
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ЖИТИЯ СВЯТЫХ - свт Димитрий Ростовский
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Letters of Fr. Seraphim Rose (being added, anyway)
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